Lake McDonald Lodge — Hotel in West Glacier

Lake McDonald Lodge is one of five hotels/lodges run by Xanterra in Glacier National Park. The others are the Village Inn at Apgar, Rising Sun Motor Inn, Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, and the 100 year old Many Glacier Hotel. St Mary's Lodge just outside the eastern entrance to the park is not run by Xanterra. ||||2. Lake McDonald Lodge and the Village Inn at Apgar are located on Lake McDonald a the extreme western end of the 53 mile long Going To The Sun road.||||3. Rising Sun is located on the eastern end of GTTS road, on St. Mary's Lake and was closed due to fire during our stay. Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and the Many Glacier Hotel are located on or near Swiftcurrent Lake in the Many Glacier area of northeast Glacier Park, 20 miles from the eastern entrance to the GTTS. ||||4. The Many Glacier Hotel is the largest and most historical hotel in the park, and is the most in demand, being close to the Grinnell Glacier hike and the Iceberg Lake hike, the most popular hikes in the park. ||||5. We drove from Many Glacier passed St Mary's Lake, through Logan Pass, and to Lake McDonald Lodge, covering 63 miles including 43 miles of tne GTTS road in 2 hours.||||6. We were given room 7-4, one of 13 cabins, each with 2 to 6 units. There are 37 rooms in the cabins, and about the same number of rooms in the 3 story main building. ||||7. We parked right next to our cabin, which had only one window with a view of the wall of cabin 8, and a screen door with a view of our parked vehicle. There was a vent window in the bathroom.||||8. The cabin had one full size bed -tough to get used to if you sleep in a queen size bed at home. Comfortable bed, but had to watch for my wife's elbow flying, when turning at night!||||9. Our room was very small -about 10'x16', or 160 square feet. This was the second smallest hotel room I've ever stayed in -the smallest was at Wawona in southern Yosemite.||||10. It was so small that the bed was against one wall, so as to leave room for the door to open. So the inside person had to climb over the bed to get out. Naturally I slept on the outside, with the wife on the inside, even though she was the one going to the bathroom in the middle of the night!||||11. No TV, no AC, no microwave, no cooking, no smoking, no internet access, except in the lobby. No sound insulation. You are out of luck if your neighbor has a crying baby or snores louder than my wife!. ||||12. Small desk, box fan, land line phone -cell phone coverage is very limited. Iron and ironing board -they expect you to have freshly pressed clothes without wrinkles in the restaurant! ||||13. Sink outside the bathroom, with the shower the size of a phone booth -about 30" square. No room to turn around, unless you are toothpick thin! ||||14. Cabins 8 and 9 have porches facing the lake, with chairs and tables. Numerous picnic tables between the cabins and the lake. Paved and dim lighted pathway between the cabins and the main building, so bring a flashlight at night!.||||15. The main building had a lobby, a lounge with internet access where one could read e-mail, and watch the mounted animal trophy heads hanging from the rafters of the second and 3rd floors. Springs on the sofas were shot, so hard to get up!||||16. Also in the main building were rest rooms for visitors, a gift shop, a sports bar, and Russell's Fireside dining room with a view of the lake. No ice machine -get ice from the sports bar.||||17. Main building had a public veranda with sitting chairs with lake view. Numerous benches behind the hotel with lake view. , ||||18. The most desirable rooms are the 2nd and 3rd floor rooms on the corners of the main building facing the lake. The third floor rooms facing the lake have a shared patio facing the lake. Some of the other rooms in the lodge have balconies. Rooms with balconies with a lake view reserved 13 months in advance on the Xanterra web site. ||||19. There is a beach right on Lake McDonald right in front of the cabins. There is a boat dock with a wheel chair accessible pathway for boat tours.||||20. We made reservations through the glacierparkboat web site for the Lake Josephine boat crossing on the way to Grinnell Glacier.||||21. Beyond the main building is an auditorium for naturalist lectures, and a reading room.||||22. Lake McDonald Hotel complex has a camp store, a post office, public rest rooms, and a pizza joint called Jammer Joes. Several hundred parking spots, with lots of parking, whereas most hiking spots full by 10am. ||||23. Red Bus tours stop in front of the Lodge main building. ||||24. Free shuttle bus stop at complex entrance going to Avalanche Creek, with hikes to Avalanche Lake via Cedar Natures Trail on boardwalk -the only wheelchair accessible hike in the park.||||25. Transfer to shuttle van at Avalanche Creek for traveling to Logan Pass, where there are the Highlite hike and the Hidden Lake hike. , ||||26. In 2015 the hotel was open from late May through late September, but the GTTS at Logan Pass was not open until early July, so no direct access to the eastern section...

We've just returned from an early season week here, and here's my thoughts;

The Lodge; it's an old rustic building. Inside it therefore looks that way - there's exposed wood and animal heads everywhere. The flipside of that rustic nature is that there aren't any of your 'luxury' services. If you want a pool....swim in the lake. If you want wi-fi, huddle in reception with everything else for the 40kb/sec bandwidth. Remember, it's 'rustic' for real, not fake rustic. The Rooms; we had a cabin rather than a lodge room, and it was a small cabin at that. Again, think rustic. The room featured a surprisingly comfortable bed, bedside dresser, another dresser, wash hand basin, fan (no A/C - we didn't need any for our trip), and a shower and toilet - that's it. There's no TV. There is wi-fi and it's a bit better than the reception area, but is still erratic and slow. We made the room work, but again, set your expectations. The Food; only the main restaurant and the bar/restaurant were open for us, Jammer Joe's cafe wasn't open so I can't comment. The main restaurant was a bit too fancy for us so we ate at the bar. The menu is rather limited - 3 burgers, caprese sandwich, chicken sandwich, a couple of salads, couple of appetizers - but what we did get, was really very good. The Location; the good side is that you're in the park (it's about 9 miles inside from the West park entrance and that drive up the lake can be sloooow), it's on the lake - so you can soak your feet after your hike or take a cruise on the lake, and it's near Logans pass and some of the hikes. The bad is that some of the more strenuous hikes are over near Many Glacier meaning it's a drive, and in June, before the pass is open, that makes it a 120 mile drive round the park. The Service; excellent. Despite it being early season (they told us July 4th to end of August is peak), and there being a handful of new staff being trained up, everyone was without fail happy, cheery and there to help. The one caveat I will add is regarding hiking. The lodge is ran by a company and not the National Parks Service. Although they have some hiking information at reception, I found that by using the NPS website, I frequently had better information than those on reception - so do your own research then check with a ranger.

We loved our stay there - but we went for hiking and were aware of and accepting of the rustic 'limitations'. However we were there at the beginning of the season and it was still pretty busy at some points (the bar has about 6 tables), so if you're staying at peak season you'll likely have a different experience.

Get your bear spray and...

Date: 8/29 - 8/31/23 Room Booked: Large ADA Cabin 2 Doubles Full

Pros: Location: This lodge, along with the Motel next door (operated by a different company) are the closest places to Logan Pass on the west side of Glacier, meaning that it is relatively easy to get to Kalispell. The large cabin was of a decent size. That being said, we did have a ADA cabin, and as far as I can tell, there is no regular large cabins with 2 doubles, only small cabins, which are likely similar size to the Rising Sun cabins (which are quite cramped). The lobby was very comfortable, with additional seating on the 2nd floor. WiFi was also much more stable and strong here compared to some of the more eastern lodging.

Cons: The view: despite it being on the lakefront, the view from pretty much all the rooms other than maybe some of the lodge rooms (which are very limited and pricey) is obscured by trees. Plus, the other side of the lake is pretty much all burned down, so if you're expecting a breathtaking view, that'll be found at either Many Glacier Hotel or the Village Inn at Apgar. Rusell's Dining Room was a bit of a mixed bag. Their breakfast buffet was decent (the same buffet as in Many Glacier), but the lunch and dinner options was so-so. What really puzzled me is that I ordered trout for dinner and what arrived looked like, and suspiciously tasted like, salmon, which is odd given that salmon isn't even on the menu. When asked, the waiter insisted it was trout. I'll include a photo below and let you decide for yourself. At the time, Jammer Joe's was closed. If that place was open I would have probably ate there and enjoyed that much more than the more formal dining room.

Overall conclusion: This hotel is decent, but I would say it isn't anything special. If you're focused on location, I would argue that Rising Sun is better, since the drive to Logan Pass is easier on the east side compared to the west. If you're looking for views, then Many Glacier is the clear winner. If you're looking for affordable lodging, then you probably shouldn't be looking for inside the park, but otherwise Swiftcurrent and Rising Sun are your best choices. Most of the lodging is located in cabins nearby, not in the actual lodge. Despite all this, it's probably the best place to stay if you want to be on the west...