On our way back to Apgar from Avalanche, we decided to explore North Lake McDonald Road. The North Lake McDonald Road intersection with the Going-to-the-Sun Road is 10.4 miles from the four-way stop at Apgar.
The road is paved to and beyond the bridge over McDonald Creek. It devolves to a gravel road at some point, but I did not record exactly where. At 0.8 miles, we turned left toward the lake on a gravel lane and parked. We had an impromptu picnic while sitting on driftwood and watching the lake. Just west of us was the Burton and Lulu Wheeler cabin. Burton Wheeler was one of Montana's US senators from 1923 to 1947. Sitting on the lakeshore, we can certainly understand why the Wheelers bought a cabin here in 1916 and rebuilt it in 1942 after it burned in 1941. The cabin has been owned by the National Park Service since 2014. The 2018 Howe Ridge Fire scorched part of the cabin as it burned the outbuildings.
We visited the park in May 2021.
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| Burton and Lulu Wheeler cabin |
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| View down the lake |
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| Teakettle Mountain (5936') |
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| Belton Hills |
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| Apgar Mountains beyond Howe Ridge |
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| Reflections of earth and sky |
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| Almost calm |
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| Waterfowl on the lake, possibly a bufflehead |
After our picnic, we made our way back toward the Going-to-the-Sun Road. We stopped just before the one-lane bridge over McDonald Creek and walked out onto the bridge to take some pictures.
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| North Lake McDonald Road bridge over McDonald Creek |
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| View upstream |
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| McDonald Falls |
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| View downstream |
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| Lake McDonald with the Belton Hills, Teakettle Mountain, and the Apgar Mountains |
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| Gravel bar just upstream of the bridge |
A Glacier National Park entry fee of $35 per vehicle, $30 per motorcycle, or $20 per person is valid for seven consecutive days. Other fee payment options include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($80 for a lifetime), Access Pass (free with a documented disability), and Military Annual Pass (free for active-duty personnel). Also available is a Glacier Annual Pass for $70.
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