Montana meets Alberta at historic Pursuit lodges that bridge international border
Canadians are so accustomed to the spectacular scenery of their own Rocky Mountains that they tend to forget that the show continues south of the border, from Alberta into Montana and beyond.
This bilateral beauty can be experienced by taking an international road trip that includes overnight stops at a trio of lodges located in Canada and the USA. This can be accomplished in a matter of days, giving visitors access to Rocky Mountain vistas, mountain lakes and hikes, followed by stays at very untypical lodgings.
The Glacier Park Lodge and the Belton Chalet in Montana, plus the Prince of Wales Hotel in Alberta, are all heritage properties with histories stretching back to the early 1900s. They are now all owned and operated by vacation supplier Pursuit, and offered as part of a Pursuit Collection.
This tour can be accomplished using Hwy. #6 from the Prince of Wales Hotel, in Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park, and proceeding south a short distance to the U.S. border. The Chief Mountain Border Crossing is open during the summer season only, closing on Sept. 30.
Upon crossing into Montana, that road becomes US Hwy. #17, which then intersects Hwy. #89 – the road to the St. Mary entrance gate to Glacier National Park.
Scenic views of the Prince of Wales Hotel in Alberta.
The park is “a showcase of melting glaciers, alpine meadows, carved valleys and spectacular lakes. With over 700 miles of trails, Glacier is a paradise for adventurous visitors seeking wilderness steeped in human history,” says the US National Park Service.
The mountains there are considered as part of the Rockies, and the park is home to 150-plus peaks that measure over 2,438 metres (8,000 ft.) within two mountain ranges: the Livingston Range and Lewis & Clark Range.
This easternmost gate to the park also provides access to the Going-To-The-Sun Road, a spectacular ribbon of narrow asphalt that leads to the heart of the national park. But more about that later.
Prince of Wales Hotel
First, it’s worth reviewing the starting point for this road trip – the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Of the three properties in the program, the Prince of Wales Hotel is tops in terms of a supremely scenic setting. It sits astride a bluff located at the head of Upper Waterton Lake, and mountains rise on each side of the lake, providing a stunning backdrop for the hotel. A convenient pull-off on the entry road is a short distance from the hotel, giving visitors the opportunity to capture views of the Prince of Wales within this dramatic mountain landscape.
The soaring log interior atrium of the Glacier Park Lodge and a view of one of the guest rooms.
The wind rushing down the lake between the mountains blows with considerable force, and proves the structural strength of the all-wood hotel. The Prince of Wales has occupied this challenging location since 1927, and the construction of the hotel was marked by ongoing battles with the elements.
It was the sole Canadian link in a chain of mountain luxury lodges built by the Great Northern Railway in the American Rockies near the turn of the century. As such, these Pursuit properties recall an era of railway tourism that also happened in Canada around the same time period, founding storied Canadian properties like the Banff Springs Hotel.
The Prince of Wales is not so sprawling as that famous Banff landmark, but what it lacks in grandeur is compensated for by the hotel’s striking setting. Visitors can take in that view through a wall of picture windows facing the lake within the cradle of mountains, while relaxing in the central atrium. Dinner and breakfast await in the adjoining Royal Stewart Dining Room, and a bar beckons on the other side of the atrium.
After a day of hiking on nearby mountain trails, retirement to one of the small, basic rooms will be a welcome prospect, with television neither necessary nor provided. There are 86 rooms at the Prince of Wales hotel, and pricing is only available for the months of May to September, after which the doors are closed for the winter.
A historic photo of Glacier National Park.
Glacier Park Lodge
The Glacier Park Lodge is located just outside the boundaries of the Glacier National Park in Montana, and also has an impressive mountain setting, though not the equal of the Prince of Wales.
It is situated near the southeast corner of the national park on Hwy. #2, which intersects Hwy. #189 and circles the lower reaches of the park in a long loop that rambles south and then back north.
The hotel has spacious, grassy grounds and two large, three and four-story lodges that house 161 rooms. Those with rooms on the back of the hotel have views facing the Rocky Mountains.
But some of the best views are actually within the original main building, which has a tall, wooden ceiling above its lobby and atrium, much like the Prince of Wales. But the roofing at the Glacier Park Lodge is bigger and more impressive, using massive Douglas fir and red cedar wooden columns measuring 12 metres in height for support.
Soaking up the scenery of St. Mary’s Lake and the surrounding mountains in Montana.
The U.S.-based Great Northern Railway envisioned the Glacier Park Lodge as a signature hotel for the company, which was generating business for its rail tourism ventures at the time. The first building was completed in 1913, and the hotel celebrated its 110th anniversary this year.
There are excellent photos positioned around the main lobby floor that help illustrate the hotel’s long, colourful history. It was at one time a principal destination resort for visitors seeking a luxury vacation in the Rockies, and the East Glacier Park train station that welcomed those vacationers is still in operation, an easy walk from the hotel. These days, an Amtrak train stops twice per day there on a route between Seattle/Portland and Chicago. Amtrak still markets the national park as a tourist destination for the train, and some of the guests at the Lodge arrive by rail at the nearby station.
The rates are relatively reasonable, and stays at the Glacier Park Lodge can be booked for between about US$200 and US$320 per night. Accommodations are modest in the historic main building, with mostly small, basic rooms (no TVs or AC) that echo frontier accommodations in the past. They are similar in style to those offered at the Prince of Wales.
A view of Glacier National Park from the Belton Chalet.
Belton Chalet
The same can be said about the rooms at the Belton Chalet, which is located on the other side of Glacier National Park, giving it easy access to the park’s west gate at the village of West Glacier. The Glacier National Park Headquarters are located just outside the West Glacier entrance, and the Apgar Visitor Center is located just inside this entrance. The west gate is a favourite entry point to the national park, given its proximity to the small city of Kalispell, Montana and its international airport.
More history is in store for stays at the Belton Chalet, which is much smaller than the other two and has a more humble presentation. It also has a location connection to the nearby West Glacier railway station, and the hotel’s front driveway runs into Hwy. #2, for easy access to Kalispell.
As the first of the iconic lodges built by the Great Northern Railroad, the Belton Chalet has served as the original gateway to Glacier National Park for over a century. When it opened its doors in the summer of 1910, the Belton Chalet was viewed as the pinnacle of modern hospitality in the west and it welcomed visitors by train from across the country.
Mountain landscape of Glacier National Park from the Going-To-The-Sun Road.
Logan Pass
There are lots of recreational opportunities in Glacier National Park, including boat cruises on St. Mary Lake with Rising Sun Boat Tours, which affords spectacular views of the mountains that border the park.
Then there is the option of a half-day scenic river float with the Glacier Raft Company – a leisurely journey on the Flathead River, offering more great mountain views from water level.
But maybe the biggest kick is driving the narrow two-lane Going-To-The-Sun Road up into the Rockies to Logan Pass. This is the highest drivable point in the park, at 2,025 metres in height (6,646 ft.) and the weather can be chilly, maybe even snowy at the top, despite summer weather far below.
A wide-angle view of the exterior of the Prince of Wales Hotel.
In fact, the entire road does not usually open until mid or late June depending on the completion of snow removal, and stays open through mid-October, contingent on when snow starts covering the road. The alpine sections of the Going-to-the-Sun Road typically close for the winter around the third Monday of October, but this can happen before that if winter makes an early appearance.
Logan Pass is very popular with visitors and the parking lot is generally full between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. Visitors should consider the option of using the available free shuttles to avoid the tight parking situation, or plan on arriving very early or late in the day if possible.
Those early and late time frames offer the advantage of excellent light for photography, and the chances of seeing wildlife are also greater, preceding the arrival of more tourists. Hikes on two of the most popular trails – the Hidden Lake trail and the Highline trail – are recommended, and are a scenically fulfilling way to build an appetite for dinner back at your accommodations of choice.
