The Northwest Road Trip: Spokane, Idaho, British Columbia, Glacier, and a little bit of Yellowstone

It has been a while since we posted, so good to be back at it again! (Winter weekends are more conducive weather-wise to catching up on the blog)

Since it's been a while, we thought we would put up a mega-post about our Northwest road trip. We previously showed our targeted agenda: flying to Spokane, WA, with a meandering road trip through Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint, ID. Then Nelson and Creston, British Columbia; Glacier National Park (West Glacier, Many Glacier; and finally Bozeman, Montana. From there, we took an opportunistic short trip to get a small glimpse of a tiny portion of Yellowstone. It was our first time in three states (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) and in the province of British Columbia!

Let's get right to it!

Part 1: Spokane, WA, through Coeur d'Alene, ID, to Sandpoint, ID:

When you have the opportunity to pass through a town that The Head and the Heart name a song after, you do it! And that's exactly what we did. We had a gorgeous day for our arrival, and a walk by the lake did not disappoint.

And a small glimpse at views around the mountain town of Sandpoint, ID, the southern point of the International Selkirk loop. This scenic drive was the base of our road trip to Glacier National Park.

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Part 2: The Selkirk Loop Road Trip - Sandpoint to Nelson, BC, and looping into Montana

A beautiful drive to the scenic mountain river town of Nelson, British Columbia, where we stayed for a few days, enjoying the hiking and the views.

Now let's play "Where's the marmot?"

On the way back to Montana, we ferried the car across Kootenay Lake and had phenomenal views on the sailing part of our journey:

A final evening view in Creston, BC, before we would begin the Glacier National Park portion of our trip:

Early evening in British Columbia

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Part 3: Into Montana and exploring Glacier National Park from West Glacier

On the way from Creston to Glacier, we stopped for our first Montana hike at Kootenay Falls.

And some shots from our stay at the Glacier Homestead near West Glacier, along with shots around the McDonald Lake area located in the western part of Glacier National Park.

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Part 4: A few days on the east side of the park, based at the Many Glacier Hotel

Staying at Many Glacier put us in close proximity to many hikes in the park, and the hotel was right on Swiftcurrent Lake. The views never disappointed us over our four-day stay, no matter the weather.

Some hiking highlights are below, drawn mainly from two longer journeys: one to Red Rock Falls and another to Grinnell Lake (and most of the way to Grinnell Glacier).

In Glacier, you do have to be prepared and very aware, as you could encounter bears anywhere. On our way back from Red Rock Falls, about a quarter mile from the hotel, we happened upon this black bear. We definitely kept our distance, but we're happy we got to see a bear in this awesome park!

A black bear is looking at us from a distance. We took a quick photo and were on our way. We didn't want to wear out our welcome.

And photos from the Grinnell hike - in all of our 2025 travels, this may be the most scenic hike taken this year. Looks like a North American Patagonia.

I love this shot of a freshwater stream running into a Glacial water lake:

A merge of freshwater stream into the turquoise glacial lake.

Below are some views from a "Red Bus" tour of the central part of the park, as well as snapshots from our final day in Glacier and a visit to Logan Pass. During our time in the park, we covered all but the middle 10 miles of "Going to the Sun Road," which were still being prepared for the season. The road fully opened two days after we left, creating the perfect excuse to go back to Glacier.

A video of the west side of Going to the Sun Road on the approach to Logan Pass.

A Saturday morning drive on Going to the Sun Road

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Part 5: A couple of days in Bozeman, MT and sneaking an "appetizer" trip to Yellowstone National Park

As we were completing our northwest roadtrip, we rounded out the adventure with a stay in Bozeman, MT, before heading back. After so much travel, we weren't sure how we would feel, so we gave ourselves the option to "Take it easy." We didn't. On our last day of the trip, we decided to take advantage of our proximity to Yellowstone. A great "appetizer" for this park, as we no doubt will need to return on a future visit, but we enjoyed our first visit to the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

What a trip! Amazing to maneuver through such a beautiful part of the country. Hope you enjoyed!