Glaciers and Grasslands

Straddle the Continental Divide in Kalispell, Montana

Glacier National Parkย is on many travelersโ€™ bucket list, including mine. One of the 10 most visited of the countryโ€™s National Park Service, it also features the worldโ€™s first International Peace Park and its first transboundary International Dark Sky Park, as it shares a border with Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. Where the Great Plains jut up against the Rocky Mountains, the stunning landscapes of Glacier begin, with the Continental Divide passing through the parkโ€™s spectacular mix of grasslands and craggy peaks.

In the heavily forested region of northwest Montana, the small city of Kalispellย is just 32 miles from the southwest entrance of the million-acre Glacier National Park and offers a perfect launch point to explore not only the park, but the attractions and culinary experiences unique to Kalispell.

Kalispell, population about 25,000, not only is the Flathead County seat, itโ€™s also considered the geographical, cultural, and economic center of the region โ€“ albeit rather undiscovered by tourists. Kalispell is an authentic place, a place where I smiled when I saw a table of plaid-shirted older guys at a diner โ€” some with cowboy hats, others with John Deere caps โ€” gossiping over black coffee and pancakes. Itโ€™s a town where giant hot popovers are served at every table before gargantuan steaks, and where locals throng to an independent bakery to enjoy Montana wild huckleberry sweet rolls and berry Danishes. It is not where one would find the usual tourist trap fudge and T-shirt shops. However, you will find plenty of products made with those ubiquitous huckleberries and sweet Flathead cherries, both harvested locally from mid-July to mid-August.

Photo of Lake McDonald Lodge by Irene Middleman Thomas.

Glacier International Airport is a gem in these days of crazy-huge airports. Passengers easily get in and out of the small and tidy airport, where they can marvel at the taxidermy animals present throughout. It is just nine miles from Kalispell, 70 miles to the Canadian border, and less than 30 miles to the Parkโ€™s entrance. Approaching Kalispell, towering Tamarack and Western Larch trees loom on both sides of the highway. Flathead Lake, the largest natural lake in the western continential U.S., is just nine miles from Kalispell. The lake is nearly 200 square miles and 370 feet deep, with 185 miles of shoreline. Seven state park locations provide beach access, boat launches, fishing charters (lake trout, yellow perch, and mountain whitefish,) 12 islands, and campsites.

Summer months โ€“ July and August in Kalispell โ€“ include the International Peace Park hikes, during which visitors can trek along with the U.S. National Park Service and Parks Canada staff to explore. Each hike does include a boat trip fee and requires a passport and other documentation to cross the border. Another โ€œdonโ€™t-missโ€ is the two-hour, 50-mile-long drive on Going-to-the-Sun Road, with iconic views of the parkโ€™s glacier sculpting. The road typically closes early October.

The famous Red Bus Toursย offer interpretive tours of Glacier National Park. The 33 vintage 1930s buses with roll-back tops provide full views of the mountains and the areaโ€™s signature Big Sky. The guides are seasoned park veterans. The fleet in Glacier is considered to be the oldest touring fleet of vehicles anywhere in the world. The red buses seat 16 people โ€” four travelers across each bench seat. The Red Bus Tours tend to sell out on a daily basis, and prices vary according to length of tour and route.

There is plenty to do and see in Kalispell and the surrounding area, such as trekking with llamasย to a clearing in the forest for a wine and cheese tasting โ€” no, the llamas did NOT spit on us โ€” horseback riding, fishing, bicycling on the nearly two-mile long Parkline Trail (which connects to the 22-mile-long Great Northern Rail Trail), and visits to three excellent museums.

Photo of Hockaday Museum of Art by Irene Middleman Thomas.

I found the 13,000-square-foot, fully restored Conrad Mansion Museumย particularly fascinating among the three museums in Kalispell. Charles Conrad founded Kalispell in the 1880s and made his fortune as a freighter and trader. Unlike most historic mansions now open to the public, the 129-year-old shingle-style Norman residence contains 90 percent of its original furnishings and fixtures, as well as gorgeous flower gardens and grounds. The last family member was a bit of a collector, to put it nicely, and therefore most everything was covered up and protected, albeit purposefully. Currently closed for seven weeks of deep cleaning and holiday decorating, the museum reopens with winter hours on Dec. 4.

Other museums in town include the Hockaday Museum of Art, with year-round rotating art exhibitions and permanent galleries, as well as the Northwest Montana History Museumย focused on the early peoples, ecology, and industry of the region.

Gastronomy is much more than one might expect for a relatively small city far from urban centers. Glacier Distilling, with its cheery red cabin-like site in the nearby town of Coram, opened in 2010. Serving up a tantalizing, extremely creative selection of spirits as well as โ€œMontana specialties,โ€ I reveled in the Huckleberry Liqueur, Huckleberry Gin, and the Bearproof Huckleberry Whiskey. For a change, I couldnโ€™t resist the Cherrycello, made from Flathead Lake cherries. (There are more than 10 pounds of cherries in each bottle!)

Photo of Glacier Distilling by Irene Middleman Thomas.

Ceres Bakery has a long line each morning waiting for its tempting pastries and breakfast sandwiches, and of course, huckleberries are omnipresent. A heartier breakfast is at Sykes, a favorite for locals where coffee is only 10 cents if you arrive before 9 a.m. For lunch and dinner, check out the DeSoto Grill, where I almost couldnโ€™t finish my enormous plate of wild salmon tacos, but I did, and topped them off with a huckleberry ice cream-topped cobbler. For a special occasion dinner, the Mercantile Steakย is the place to go. Start off with its piping hot, huge eggy popovers. Then, move on to a wide array of a la carte top-flight steaks.

I had always fantasized about a trip to Montana, even though I live in Colorado, another beautiful Rocky Mountain state. Kalispell fits my fantasies so well: blissfully uncrowded and authentically Western, with the small town ambiance often lacking in tourist areas. Being so close in distance to Glacier National Park, and yet so far in aesthetics, Kalispell is a real town where real people with generational history live. Huckleberries, 10-cent coffee, and some of the best craft beers served with peanut shells on the bar floor … now that’s Montana!

Irene Middleman Thomasโ€™ย thirst for exploration fuels her writing career, whether sheโ€™s pedaling along the Rio Grande Trail in Colorado, learning the perfect cheese-and-port pairings, or documenting her 50th birthday while on an African safari. When not traveling the world, she calls Denver, Colorado, home.

Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen is the managing editor of Evansville Living and Evansville Business magazines.

Related Articles

Latest Articles