Rising Sun Boat Dock — Attraction in West Glacier

Approximately five miles inside the Saint Mary Entrance to Glacier National Park, is Rising Sun Boat Dock. Here you'll find a large parking lot, for the Saint Mary Lake Boat Tour. Walking downhill, toward the water, you'll notice a small building, on your right. You'll check in here for the boat tour, 30 min. prior to launch. They have public restrooms situated right behind where you check in.

It was $40.50 per adult ticket, at the time of our online booking, $20.25, for children 3-12. You may line up in front of the dock, after this. The captain will let you know, when it's time to climb aboard Little Chief, the oldest of Glacier Boat Tour Co's boats. It holds 40 people, when full.

Dense cobwebs of clouds hovered over a bowl-shaped grouping of glacial peaks, which surround the back of St. Mary Lake. These clouds blocked most of the bright light, during our tour. Periodically however, the sun broke through small holes in the cloud cover, turning pieces of glassy water an amazing shade of turquoise. Escaping sunlight also dialed up the shoreline color in random areas, though only for fleetingly brief moments.

This boat tour, especially tailored to nature lovers, glides slowly along, allowing patrons priceless views of one of the prettiest places in North America. Large, clean glass boat windows, which can also be opened, don't block the views of all the glorious scenery going on, all around you.

Along the shoreline, lichen-coated rocks plunge into the water & tall evergreens cover the lower slopes of towering glaciers. At a certain altitude, trees no longer grow, & reddish-brown peaks, take over, reaching toward the sky. In early summer, only small white panels of snow adorned the mountains. As Little Chief glided by Wild Goose Island, the tiny trees that grow on this seemingly out-of-place rocky isle, are mirrored by the glassy water.

As we motored toward the back of the lake, the boat captain got on the P.A., & announced there was a female moose, at the 2 o'clock position, eating plants at the waterline. This was the first time I'd ever seen a moose, in the wild, so this was an added treat.

The captain eased the boat up to a dock, near the back of Saint Mary Lake, & told us we could disembark, & hike to Baring Falls, if we chose to do so. It was a short uphill jaunt, & the payoff at the top was priceless. A flat, wide plume of water leaped out, near the peak of a rocky cliff, before plunging into a churning pool of water below. The surging water careened past us, before vaulting over & around rocks & fallen trees. It then continued downhill, eventually disappearing from our view.

After all the passengers had soaked up the majesty of the moment, it was back to Little Chief, followed by a smooth boat ride back to Rising Sun Boat Dock. I loved this hour and a half tour, & I'd highly...

There is lots of parking at the boat dock for both small cars and larger vehicles. This is the correct boat launch if you’re taking a boat across Saint Mary lake. The staff at the office is super friendly and even just coming to the boat launch offers a nice view...

Great tour of St Mary Lake. Kyle was a fantastic guide, very informative and funny. The views are breathtaking! We were able to ride on Little Chief, the 99 year old wooden boat....