Exploring Glacier National Park and Backcountry Llama Trekking
Credit: Swan Mountain Llama Trekking
Trip Type: Custom-Made Travel
Territory: North America
Region: Rocky Mountains
Trip Price: $3,000
Duration: 9 days/8 nights
Trip Begins/Ends: Whitefish, Montana / Kalispell, Montana
National Parklands: Glacier NP
All custom travel is tailored to the desires and interests of our traveling clients (see How Custom Travel Works tab). Trip pricing detailed is an estimate of the per person pricing for the sample itinerary detailed and includes all of the lodging, activities, and guided experiences described. Actual pricing for the trip designed expressly for you and others traveling with you will depend on the features and elements developed during the trip planning process. Travel with Off the Beaten Path requires agreement to our standard Terms & Conditions.
No Sweat - 1-2 miles of walking or hiking per day, plus easy activities
Nice & Active – 3-6 miles of hiking or walking per day, plus physically active exploration
High Five! – 5-12 miles of hiking per day, plus possible peak bagging or other action-oriented fun
The Energy Index detailed above relates to the level of exertion associated with the sample trip detailed. This would be modified to fit the style and ability of your group as a part of the custom trip planning process
We’ve been tailoring custom journeys for clients since our very inception in the mid-1980s! The process is all about connecting the interests of the travelers with the best that a given destination has to offer. To achieve this, we rely upon good ol’ fashioned conversation! Our geographically focused travel designer love to meet new people and learn about their interests for travel. Understanding your goals informs the process immensely and serves as the foundation for the development of a bespoke travel experience for you and yours.
The trip detailed on this web page is a sample of something we’ve done for other clients over the years. In order to start the process of designing your own custom travel experience, just call us at (800) 445-2995 and ask to speak with one of our Travel Advisors. After a bit of time on the phone, you will then have the opportunity to connect with one of our travel designers.
The entire planning process is very personalized and works in an iterative fashion until a final, perfect trip has been created. We then secure all of the lodging, activities, and guided experiences associated with your trip and send along abundant trip materials capturing these details – and much more about your travels!
A Montana adventure begins! Fly into Kalispell and head to the vibrant, outdoorsy town of Whitefish, set at the edge of Whitefish Lake at the foot of the Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort. Spend what’s left of the afternoon browsing around local shops, art galleries, and the fine and fun restaurants that fill the town’s historic district, then head up to your high-mountain accommodations at the base of the Whitefish Mountain Resort, at Kandahar Lodge. With one full day to explore, consider a morning at the Aerial Adventure Park and a private downhill mountain bike lesson. Or, take a scenic chairlift ride to the top of Whitefish Mountain and hike or bike back down, zipline, fly fish, or rent your vessel of choice and paddle on Whitefish Lake.
You’re off to Glacier National Park! With a deluxe, safari-style tent camp base just a short distance from the park’s west entrance, you’ll enjoy easy access to adventure. On your arrival day, plunge into the wilderness with a half-day whitewater rafting trip on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Spend one of your two full days on a private, naturalist-guided hike on the west side of Glacier National Park, an opportunity to learn about the park’s flora and fauna with a local. The next day, take to the open road with a trip up and over the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier’s centerpiece. Keep an eye out for mountain goats and grizzly bears as you travel along one of the most gorgeous ribbons of roadway anywhere! Stop at overlooks and take a short hike or two – Hidden Lake and the Highline Trails are excellent options!
Ready, set, GO – deep into the backcountry on a llama trek, where llamas carry your gear and you hike unencumbered. Llamas are endearing and excellent company – as are your capable guides! This wilderness adventure takes you through forests, along ridgelines, and below mountain peaks to a backcountry campsite at day’s end. Camping brings the opportunity to relax, enjoy hot, hearty meals, fish, and spend evenings under a sky full of stars.
Return to civilization and spend your last night in the small, artsy town of Bigfork on the shores of Flathead Lake, the largest natural, freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. From Mountain Lake Lodge, stroll Electric Avenue, enjoy a nice dinner, and consider an evening theater production at the renowned summer playhouse.
Make the short drive to Kalispell for flights home.
This intimate European-style lodge provides lodging at Whitefish Mountain Resort with an elegant lobby, 50 luxurious hotel rooms and suites and a gourmet restaurant with an extensive wine list. Kandahar Lodge is perfectly situated slopeside at the resort, an excellent option for taking advantage of winter skiing or summer adventure activities.
Glacier Under Canvas is located 7 miles from the breathtaking Glacier National Park where peaks touch the sky, glaciers move the earth, waterfalls carve the rock, and wildlife roam as freely as they always have. Once you’ve spent your day experiencing the beauty and adventure of the Park, you return to your luxury camping tent and unwind in style. Glacier Under Canvas offers you the opportunity to enjoy the wild without giving up the comforts of home.
Mountain Lake Lodge - Located 5 miles south of Bigfork and steps away from Flathead Lake, the Mountain Lake Lodge is a prime lodging option in Flathead Valley. Offering 30 fireplace suites, spa, pool, putting green, fire pit and a deck overlooking Flathead Lake the lodge provides you with everything you need to make you feel comfortable and stress-free! Sitting above the lake with breathtaking views of the surrounding Rocky Mountain’s, centrally located to several restaurants, shopping and art galleries, and only forty minutes from Glacier National Park, Mountain Lake Lodge is a perfect option for your time in Flathead Valley. Offering 30 luxury fireplace suites, the well designed rooms provide nothing but enjoyment and comfort. Mountain Lake Lodge offers signature pillow-top mattresses, queen sofa sleepers, jacuzzis and wet bars in every room. There are also two onsite restaurants providing and array of casual and find dining experiences!
The American Southwest is an incredibly rich – and endlessly diverse – travel destination. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern Colorado each offer unique landscapes, vibrant and fascinating culture and history, cool towns and cities, rivers to fish or raft, mountain and canyon trails to hike or bike, wildlife to watch, and national parks at […]
The Serengeti of North America. The world’s first national park. Wonderland. Whatever you want to call it, Yellowstone National Park is a place unlike any other. With half the world’s thermal features – not to mention iconic wildlife and gorgeous Rocky Mountain scenery – Yellowstone has a lot to offer a curious traveler. The park […]
As an in-house writer for Off the Beaten Path, a good chunk of my day is spent researching travel destinations – reading magazine articles, perusing traveler reviews, gaining insight from travelers’ blogs, and speaking with locals. And whether I’m writing about Sedona, Steamboat, San Francisco, or Silver City (New Mexico, in case you didn’t know), […]
The little girl gripped the edge of the folding table. “Billy is not afraid,” she told me with a steely look as her brother handed over Billy for the slug race weigh-in. I peeled the surprisingly sticky Billy from my latex-gloved hand and laid him on the digital kitchen scale. Ten grams. A small contender […]
