Visiting Bowman Lake and Polebridge in 2023 – Glacier National Park Montana

IMPORTANT For Summer 2023: Glacier National Park has put in a reservation system for the North Fork Area. This means in order to visit Bowman Lake (or Kintla Lake), you must have a reservation between the hours of 6am – 6pm. To book a reservation, click here. You do not need a reservation to visit the small community of Polebridge, as it is not inside of Glacier National Park (so, YES, you CAN get a huckleberry bearclaw without a reservation!)

Visiting Glacier National Park during its busy but short summer season is a recipe for crowds. Lots and lots of crowds! In order to get away from said crowds, you usually need to do a long hike. However, there is a section of Glacier National Park where you can drive to – and escape the crowds. It’s the Bowman Lake and Polebridge Montana area of the park and it’s fabulous – let’s explore it!

How to get to the Polebridge Mercantile – the Road to Polebridge, MT

Before setting out on your adventure, you’ll want to make sure your car is able to handle the roads out here. You’re going to encounter paved, unpaved, and downright bumpy roads on this day trip.

Polebridge itself sits 25 miles north of Agpar Village in Glacier National Park. The road to Polebridge is fine – it’s paved the majority of the way, and the unpaved sections are made up of very well-maintained gravel. Any car can make it out here. Though it’s 25 miles, it’ll take you about 40-50 minutes to get out here.

You’ll see some beautiful scenery out here – including the North Fork of the Flathead River. The road passes through areas not part of Glacier National Park – lots of private property – and signs will remind you of this along the way.

Once you see the Welcome to Polebridge sign, you can rejoice — you made it! Your first order of business will be stopping at the Polebridge Mercantile. This shop was built in 1914 and was a stopping point for early explorers of Glacier National Park.

This bakery/cafe/gift shop is famous for its Huckleberry Bear Claws – you’ve got to try them! Additionally, they have sandwiches, souvenirs, coffee, and other baked goods for sale. My sister and I each had a huckleberry bear claw and enjoyed sandwiches on picnic tables in the town. There’s also a small saloon here where you can get hot food, but we weren’t too impressed with the menu.

There is a trail located right in ‘town’ – the Transboundary Flathead River Interpretive Trail. We briefly hiked a small portion of this before turning back and getting into the truck, as we wanted to make it to our next destination – Bowman Lake.

The Road to Bowman Lake – Glacier National Park

Beyond Polebridge, Montana lies the road leading to Bowman Lake. I’ll be honest, I was a bit nervous to tackle this road – I heard so many varying opinions on this road – it’s easy/it’s hard/it’s bumpy/it’s gnarly. Wasn’t quite sure what to expect but being that I was driving my husband’s jacked-up, lifted-to-the-sky Toyota Tacoma 4×4, with gigantic tires, I knew I was probably being overly cautious. So off my sister and I went!

Again, for the 2023 summer season, you must book a 1-day vehicle reservation to visit Bowman Lake! Book here.

The first surprise of the trip to Bowman Lake was the Glacier National Park Service pay booth. I didn’t expect that all the way out here, but here it was, manned by a staff member, collecting fees or checking passes. I had an annual pass, so it was no big deal, it was just surprising to see this all the way out here in this remote area. This is also where the road splits – go right if you want to go to Bowman Lake, go left for Kintla (I heard that the road to Kintla is much more treacherous – and a longer journey – than the road to Bowman Lake). From the ranger station, it’s only 6 miles to Bowman Lake, but it took us at least 25 minutes to reach the lake.

After the pay station, the road will start getting a bit bumpy and very dusty. Do NOT drive with your windows down! There were several sections on this road where I felt like turning around – the potholes were very deep! But I pressed on, as I had a vehicle more than capable of driving this – I was just being paranoid – especially since I saw RVs, trailers, and sedans on the road. Bowman Lake road is also very narrow, so if a car is coming from the other direction, you’ll have to pull over as far as you can to let it pass.

Once you reach Bowman Lake, the scenery is gorgeous! The water is crystal clear, the entire setting is serene and the mountain backdrop make everything here just picture perfect! We spent some time relaxing near the shoreline, snapping photos, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery. We also spotted a few deer, one which enjoyed a dip in the lake!

Like other mountain lakes, the water in Bowman Lake is ice cold, so no one was swimming here, despite it being a warm 85 degree day. Swimming is allowed, but you’ll freeze your ass off. Dipping your toes in Bowman Lake is all that anyone was doing here. Even that deer!

The ride back to Agpar Village/West Glacier seemed to go much faster than getting out here (isn’t that always the case?!).

Lodging in Polebridge, Montana / Bowman Lake

If you’re interested in spending the night out here, you’ll find limited lodging. Polebridge has some cabins for rent, as well as the North Fork Hostel. And of course, there are plenty of campgrounds in both Polebridge and the Bowman Lake area.

Hiking near Bowman Lake and Polebridge

Plenty of hiking trails are in this area, though I haven’t done any hiking here personally. When we were here, rangers were everywhere around Bowman Lake, warning would-be hikers of a high amount of grizzly bear activity in the area.

Other places in this area you can hike to are Quartz Lake, Akokala Lake and Goat Haunt.

Polebridge Montana and Bowman Lake – Final Thoughts

If this is your first visit to Glacier National Park, and you only have a few days, I’d skip this. Driving out here eats up a half of a day – or more – depending on how much time you want to explore this area. I didn’t visit Polebridge/Bowman Lake until my third trip to the park. I’m not saying it’s not ‘worth it’, it’s just that if your time is limited in Glacier National Park, you’ll want to spend it along Going to the Sun Road, hikes in East Glacier – that kind of thing.

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