Jessie Spangler

For the last few years, my group of high school friends and I have picked a national park to visit during the summer. It’s been a way for us all to connect and see each other at least once a year since we’re now flung all over the country (and one living in London most of the year). And since we all like to be active and be in nature (can you tell we were all cross country runners at one time?), hitting up the national parks seemed like a great and affordable way for us to travel together.

We originally wanted to visit Glacier National Park in summer 2021, but since half the park was still closed due to COVID, we decided to put it off until we could access more trails. At the beginning of this year, we first played around the idea with going to Iceland, our first trip together out of the country, but 1.) Iceland isn’t the best place to travel with a group and 2.) It’s pretty expensive. So we landed on the national park we had planned on going to two years ago–Glacier National Park, tucked in the rockies.

Just a little over a week ago and after months of planning, we finally found ourselves landing in Missoula, Montana. We stayed there for a night (shout out to our very gracious hosts) before driving to Whitefish, where our cabin, rented off Airbnb, was located.

The first thing you need to know about Glacier is that it’s not for timid hikers. Most have steep uphill climbs at some point or other, and most are long–it’s difficult to find a hike that’s under three miles. The easiest of these is Trail of the Cedars, with it’s raised boardwalk structure and basically no incline.

Trail of the Cedars leads into Avalanche Lake, if you so wish (which you absolutely should if you can!), and these combined made for the perfect first day. Trail of the Cedars proved to be a great warm-up, while hiking to Avalanche Lake was a great challenge to start the week with, and a beautiful payoff at the end.

When we emerged from the forest, the views of Avalanche Lake were breathtaking. It was the kind of view that made you stop in your tracks and smile from the sheer beauty of the surrounding mountains (glaciers? I’m actually not sure) and the expanse of glittering lake.

I’ve found the older I get, the more I treasure hikes like these. I like to feel my body working and my mind spinning at the same time, let the two remember it’s a part of the surrounding world, not apart from it. And it’s so worth it at the end, when you see something your eyes can barely believe, the type of view you know will be imprinted on the inside of your eyelids each time you close them the next few days. I grew up with a never-ending feeling of restlessness, something that’s been slightly soothed as I’ve grown up and gone on more adventures, but it’s always there, waiting beneath my skin. I can’t wish it went away, not when that restlessness has been the reason for so many of my travels (and will be the reason for many future ones, no doubt).

In Glacier, all this came flooding back, the feeling of finally feeling like I was scratching an itch that’s been there since I can remember. I could be present, and soak in the sounds of my friends talking and laughing. There really was nothing like our first morning in the car together, heading to the park as the early morning sunlight streams into the car, all of us happy to be together after so many months of planning.

Part II coming soon!

-J