Glacier · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
One of the few American parks genuinely reachable and enjoyable without a car.
Campgrounds and Whitefish beds
Apgar, Many Glacier and Two Medicine take the demand; hiker-biker sites are cheap and rarely full. Whitefish, forty minutes out, has the nearest hostel bunks.
What a day costs
About $50–90 a day: campsite $20–25, food from Columbia Falls or Whitefish $20–30, plus the vehicle entry spread across a week.
Arriving by train
The Empire Builder stops at West Glacier and East Glacier, walking distance from park lodging — no car needed at either end. Book sleeper or coach months ahead in summer.
Free shuttle, paid reservation
A free shuttle runs the Going-to-the-Sun Road roughly July to early September. Driving it yourself in peak season needs a timed vehicle reservation booked online.
Free by day
Trail of the Cedars, the Avalanche Lake path, evening ranger talks at Apgar, and the pebble beach at Lake McDonald, where the stones really are that colour.