Our Rocky Mountain road trip through northern Montana and southern Alberta stands strong as one of our best trips of all time. In ten amazing days we visited four national parks, saw countless glaciers, and hiked over 50 miles all while camping and relaxing in some of the most beautiful places in North America.
We absolutely loved every minute of our time on this road trip and are already planning on returning to explore even more of the hiking trails and scenic drives that we had to pass up the first time around.
Depending on your interests and availability, the opportunities are endless for finding the perfect way to enjoy and appreciate all four of these national parks.
Here’s an overview of our trip to hopefully help you plan yours!
Road Trip Overview
The below map contains all of the details from our trip including hikes, points of interest, campsites, showers, and more. Expand the map in the right hand corner to see a map key and location descriptions.
Road Trip Resources
If you’re interested in taking this road trip for yourself – or even just checking out one of the four national parks/regions, we’ve compiled a few different resources to help you plan a trip of your own!
- Glacier National Park Guide
- Icefields Parkway Guide
- Banff Guides
- Backpacking Checklist
- General Travel Resources
Day 1: Travel Day
- Drive from the Midwest to Montana
- 1,200 Total Miles, 19 hours
- 6:00 a.m. departure from Minneapolis, MN
- 2:00 a.m. arrival to Glacier National Park
- Sleep in the Two Medicine Lake parking lot until dawn
Day 2: Glacier National Park – West Glacier Region
- 8:00 a.m. campsite selection & camp set up in Two Medicine Campground
- Drive to Apgar park entrance on the west side of the park – 67 miles
- Explore western half of the Going to the Sun Road via the free park shuttle
- Lake McDonald
- Apgar Visitors Center
- Trail of Cedars Nature Trail – .7 miles
- Avalanche Gorge
- Avalanche Lake – 4.6 miles
- Logan Pass
- Hidden Lake – 1.5 miles
- Overnight: Two Medicine Campground
Day 3: Glacier National Park – Many Glacier Region
- Drive to Many Glacier in the northeast quadrant of the park – 52 miles
- Hike to Grinnell Glacier – 10.6 Miles
- Attend evening ranger program at Two Medicine Lake
- Overnight: Two Medicine Campground
Day 4: Glacier National Park – Lake Otokomi
- Hike to Lake Otokomi – 11 miles
- Alpine fly fishing and picnic lunch
- St. Mary Visitor’s Center: celebrate the National Park Service’s 100th Birthday
- Overnight: Two Medicine Campground
Day 5: Glacier National Park – East Glacier Region
- Hike around Two Medicine Lake and Twin Falls – 7.7 miles
- Drive and explore the eastern half of the Going to the Sun Road
- Saint Mary Lake
- Goose Island
- Weeping Wall
- Barring Falls
- St. Mary Falls
- Virginia Falls
- Wild Goose Island
- St. Mary Lake
- All major viewpoints & pull-offs
- Overnight: Two Medicine Campground
Day 6: Waterton Lakes & Banff National Parks
- Drive to and explore Waterton Lakes National Park and explore – 80 miles
- Red Rock Parkway
- Red Rock Canyon
- Crandell Lake
- Prince of Wales Hotel
- City of Waterton
- Akamina Parkway (closed during our visit)
- Continue driving to Banff National Park – 373 miles
- City of Banff
- Lake Louise
- Scenic Drives
- Overnight: Lake Louise Campground
Day 7: Banff National Park
- Through-Hike from Lake Louise to Moraine Lake – 20.5 miles
- Lake Louise
- Saddleback Mountain
- Lake Annette
- Paradise Valley
- Pinnacle Mountain
- Sentinel Pass
- Larch Valley
- Moraine Lake
- Overnight: Lake Louise Campground
Day 8: Icefields Parkway and Jasper National Park
- Drive 350+ miles through Icefields Parkway & Jasper National Park
- Icefields Parkway
- Peyto Lake
- Athabasca Falls
- Sunwapta Falls
- Crowfoot Glacier
- Jasper National Park
- Maligne Canyon
- Maligne Lake
- Jasper Town
- Overnight: Icefield Campground
Day 9: Icefields Parkway and Athabasca Glacier
- Columbia Icefield Discovery Center
- Banff Jasper Collection Glacier Adventure
- Athabasca Glacier
- Glacier Skywalk
- Begin 2,600+ miles drive back to Wisconsin
Day 10: Travel Day
- Full day of travel through the day and night to complete the 2,600+ miles back to Wisconsin
All in all this was one of the best road trips we’ve ever taken filled with amazing views, challenging hikes, and breathtaking scenery. This slice of North America has definitely captured our hearts and we can’t wait to return one day to explore even more!
