Overnight to Glacier - Kintla Lake

[realbtl]

I spur-of-the-moment decided to check out Kintla Lake in Glacier before the 4th of July crowds descend. It is up past Polebridge on the west side of the park about 15 miles past Polebridge. You don't need 4wd but it's slow going, took me about 1 hour for the 15 miles. There are no motors allowed on the lake but there were several canoes and kyacks out fishing. There are about a dozen campsites either on the lake or on Kintla Creek and 8 or 9 were occupied by the time I left.

 

[realbtl]

I had a typical thunderstorm blow through in the afternoon, lots of thunder but very little rain on me, only got driven inside once for about 10 minutes. The drive out today was beautiful, especially the Big Prairie section of Kintla road.

The Good: great scenery driving in and at the lake, campsites right by the creek, of course the Polebridge bakery.
The Bad: Campsites are very close together, the 20-somethings were talking and chopping wood until late at night, you could hear the tired 5 year olds at the other end of the camp.

This would make a great spot in the fall after the tourists leave and I'll probably go back then. If you are headed that way I'd recommend Bowman Lake instead. There are about 30 campsites and when I was there last Sun. mid-day there were about 10 taken. Sites are also much more private. Of course this is local for me (3 hrs away) so I may be more picky.

 

[Barko1]

Looks great! Love the area, yes September sounds best.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Nice photos, Beetle. You should post some to the Glacier National Park section.

 

[ski3pin]

Great looking country that we haven't yet visited. Thanks for the nice photos and report.

 

[kcowyo]

Kintla Lake... one of my absolute favorites. And yeah, you're kind of piled on top of each other in the campground, but that lake view is worth it. That was my only complaint about Bowman Lake, is there weren't any sites that close to the lake.

And Polebridge... you just can't beat the Huckleberry Bearclaws at the bakery. Good dinners at the Northern Lights Saloon too! I really enjoyed my trip up there in the summer of '07, especially the Aurorafest Concert they put on in August. We went back in '08, but there were some bad fires in Idaho and all of the smoke blew over into the Flathead Valley. You could barely see Bowman Lake from the shoreline...

But I gotta get back for more of those huckleberry bearclaws, good stuff!


Smokey in 2008...

..but at least I got my bearclaws!

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