The Best Hike to Waterfalls in Glacier NP: Virginia Falls

Virginia Falls

The Virginia Falls hike is on the eastern side of Glacier National Park. The entrance is about 10 miles beyond the St. Mary Entrance on Going to the Sun Road. If you look up onto the mountainside, you can actually see the waterfalls through the trees.

After a walk through a well-worn trail, you'll find a bridge over the cold, clean water of the St. Mary River. On hot days, you'll see people taking the plunge of the bridge to cool off.

Taken from the bridge

From there, you'll start to climb toward the main waterfalls.

You'll find a first set of cascades, which are nice to relax in.

The main falls are nearly a two-mile hike in, and you'll start to hear the roar pretty quickly.

The power of the main waterfall is evident by the wind it produces. You can walk right up to the water as it drops and pools. Some of the flow runs off into a crystal clear side stream, while most of the water takes another drop off a cliff in front of the main falls.

Walking up to the main falls

The trailhead is near the St. Mary Falls shuttle stop. Parking is scarce, but you'll find a few different small lots to park in on the side of the road. We had to cycle around a couple times before a spot opened up on a warm afternoon in July.

From the road, you'll quickly notice, the first part of the park you walk through is recovering from a wildfire. The Reynolds Creek Fire burned through this area in 2015. You'll see burned trees, still standing, appearing as spikes or spears. Down below, wildflowers, trees, and shrubs are now growing again.

You could easily accomplish the Viriginia Falls hike after a morning at Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake. We went on to watch the sunset at Many Glacier in the evening.

New growth in a wildfire burn scar from a few years ago