dust and starlightMontana
Glacier National Park
Late May, with snow still on the peaks and the valleys running green: Lake McDonald, Avalanche Lake, Many Glacier, St. Mary and Two Medicine, and the night sky over the lake.
- Photographs
- 18
- Made
- May 2025
- Months
- May
18 photos
Field notes
When to go
Late May 2025: snow still on the peaks, the valleys running green, and clear enough at night for stars over Lake McDonald. That early, Going-to-the-Sun Road isn't open over Logan Pass. It usually opens all the way between mid-June and mid-July (June 22 in 2026), and when we were there it was closed to cars at the Trail of the Cedars. Until it opens, you reach Many Glacier, St. Mary and Two Medicine by driving around the south end of the park on US 2. Glacier rewards planning ahead.
Access and rules
As of 2026, Glacier doesn't require vehicle reservations anywhere in the park. Instead it is piloting a three-hour parking limit at Logan Pass and $1 ticketed shuttles to Logan Pass, booked on Recreation.gov, both starting July 1; Many Glacier and Two Medicine may turn cars away for a while when their lots fill. Entry is $35 per vehicle for seven days ($25 from November through April), and non-US residents 16 and over pay an extra $100 per person unless they hold an annual pass. The rules have changed nearly every year lately, so check the park's vehicle reservations page before you go.
Entry and passes
Entry: $35 per vehicle, 7 days ($25 from November 1 to April 30). The $80 America the Beautiful annual pass covers it. Non-US residents 16 and over also pay $100 per person, unless they hold an annual pass. The Glacier annual pass is $70. No vehicle reservations anywhere in the park in 2026. The park doesn't take cash.
Our story
One trip, two days, and most of the park's west and east sides. Day one was Lake McDonald: the boardwalk through old cedars on the Trail of the Cedars, Avalanche Creek cutting through its mossy gorge up to Avalanche Lake, and McDonald Creek running teal over the ledges. After dark, the lake held still enough to double the stars and the far shore.
Day two worked the east side from south to north. It started with two horses grazing in a meadow and Two Medicine: Sinopah Mountain over Two Medicine Lake and Running Eagle Falls running high with snowmelt. On the drive north, snow still lay on the Lewis Range above the green valleys. We stopped at St. Mary Lake for Wild Goose Island and finished at Many Glacier, with Mount Wilbur and Grinnell Point over Swiftcurrent Lake and Mount Gould from the footbridge.
Everything here is from that one late-May window, which is early enough in the season that the valleys were green but the high country still had snow on it.
Where the photos were made
Avalanche Gorge2 photos
Avalanche Lake1 photo
Fish Creek, Lake McDonald1 photo
Lake McDonald Lodge1 photo
Many Glacier4 photos
McDonald Falls2 photos
Running Eagle Falls1 photo
St. Mary Lake near Rising Sun1 photo
Trail of the Cedars1 photo
Two Medicine Lake1 photo
Glacier National Park: the spots are rounded to about a kilometre.
Nearest places
All placesAs the crow flies, from the center of Glacier National Park to the center of each.
