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Writer's pictureBob Palmerton

Seven Glorious National Park Views for the Casual Hiker

Updated: Nov 15

I'm on a tirade to hike all of the National Parks. My wife and I are in our mid-60's, and we're not the type to handle back country hiking or hikes lasting much longer than a full morning or afternoon. By researching blogs such as those by Earth Trekkers, we are able to decide ahead of time, which hikes work best for us to capitalize on the best views in the parks.


Views are important, as I paint landscapes in pastel, with a focus on the great National Parks.


Here are seven hikes with glorious National Park views for the Casual hiker. This blog covers highlights of our recent treks to Glacier National Park, and Badlands National Park. The images you see are my pastel paintings inspired by those glorious views in the National Parks.


Glacier National Park


Our first mandatory stop at any park is the Visitor Center. Glacier National Park has three visitor centers. Stop in and head to the information desk, where a gleeful park ranger can share best tips. Tell them how much time you have to spend in the park, and what your desired hike length is. They will enthusiastically share their best ideas. Then it's off to hiking.


St. Mary and Virginia Falls


Here is a 3.2 mile round trip hike that takes you through a forest recovering from a vast wildfire, to two waterfalls. Here is more detail on this moderate hike.

St. Mary and Virginia Falls, 18x24 pastel.

To reach this area of Glacier, you would need to drive across the Going to the Sun Road (just under 50 mikes), or take the east entrance to the park near St. Mary.


This waterfalls hike takes you along a firm path passing over streams and colorful foliage.

Recovering from the Fire, 9x12 pastel.

We visited the park in early August, and the forest recovering from a July, 2015 forest fire, was draped with orange and red foliage, which contrasted with the deep blue and purple haze of the distant mountain peaks.


For the more adventurous hiker, slabs of smooth-surface stone drape around the waterfalls, allowing you to explore the further reaches of the waterfalls and the river below, which drains into St. Mary lake.


The elevation of this hike is about 250 feet up and down, to see both St. Mary and Virginia Falls. It's great for the casual hiker.



The Great Divide at Glacier National Park


The Logan Pass Visitor Center is a great starting point for two popular hikes with great views.


Just across the "Going to the Sun Road" at the Logan Pass Visitor's Center, you can find the trailhead for the Highline Trail. Although this one-way, moderate trail is 7.6 miles, we hiked about 3 miles round trip, returning to Logan Pass. You'll have a glorious, panoramic view of the Great Divide. In the painting below, a thunderstorm was emerging from the west. We returned on the Going to the Sun Road during an August hailstorm!


Tempest Approaching the Great Divide, 12x16 pastel.

The start of the Highline Trail can help a hiker overcome their fear of height! The trail quickly becomes a ledge along steep rocks, with a frightening vertical drop that enables the expansive view of the park. A chain rail embedded in the rock wall offers the hiker a bit of confidence during this part of the trek.


The Hidden Lake hike trail is behind the Logan Pass Visitor's Center. During this easy, 3-mile hike, you will pass carpets of wildflowers, step across billion year-old slabs of rock that were once part of an ancient sea, and pass a waterfall, all on the way to viewing Hidden Lake and its surrounding mountains. A portion of this easy trail is a wooden boardwalk.


Here's the view behind the Logan Pass Visitor's Center:

View from Logan Pass, 12x16 pastel.

Hidden Lake Falls

Here is the Earth Trekkers guide to Glacier National Park.


From a distance, especially at the north eastern end of Glacier near the St. Mary entrance, the peaks at Glacier appear to be dancing giants of irregular shapes and angles. This park is such a unique body of geology that one can spend a lifetime discerning its nuances and absorbing the billions of years of its history.


Click here for a comprehensive guide to all of the hikes at Glacier National Park.


Avalanche Lake Hike


This 4.6 mile easy-to-moderate, generally flat hike takes you along the rushing glacial waters of Avalanche Creek, to the serenity of Avalanche Lake and its mountain vista. Enjoy the stroll along the boardwalk at the Trail of the Cedars to start the hike.

Fog Lifting at Avalanche Lake

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one of the park's most popular hikes, to Grinnell Glacier. The glacier is just about gone, but the hike takes you through a breathtaking vista of mountain and blue green glacial waters.


This is a long 7.6 mile round trip hike. My recommendation is to take a nice long lunch break once you reach the glacier at the half-way point.

Valley of the Giants, 18x24 pastel.

Badlands National Park


You can spend as little as a half day at Badlands National Park, and still enjoy a couple of hikes and great views! You can find some great, easy national park hikes here! Badlands Vista (below) was inspired by a viewpoint near the eastern entrance to the park. Trails, stairways and platforms offer expansive views. Try to get there at sunrise and see the colors pop in this glorious vista!

Badlands Vista, 12x16 pastel.

For a short but steep hike, try the Saddle Pass Trail. The trail is only 0.7 miles, but a steep climb. Use those hiking poles! You ascend a hill of sandstone, to emerge at a plateau with a colorful view of striped buttes and the prairie grasslands.

Saddle Pass Trail, 12x16 pastel.

There are a variety of easy hikes available at Badlands National Park. Notch Trail is an easy-moderate 1.5 mile hike. The hike includes a climb up (and down) a wooden ladder. Leave the hiking poles behind on this one.


Here is the Earth Trekkers guide to hiking at Badlands.


Badlands Symphony, 12x16 pastel.

Hiking Essentials Chip Off The Old Block, 9x12 pastel

A Chip Off The Old Block, 9x12 pastel.

For the casual hiker, hiking poles are real handy at this stage of our lives. We are fans of Trail Buddy. Their hiking poles are helpful when traversing rocky terrain, climbing steep hills, and softening the blow on those knees when heading downhill.


Click here for the REI guide "Day Hiking Essentials Checklist."


Life as an Artist and a Hiker


In painting the landscape, an artist travels a journey of discovery and contemplation, delving deeply into nature's curiosities. Intuition and soul yield nuances of light, color, and shade. A painting evolves into an interpretation of one's innermost feelings and creative tendencies. The outcome is a scene of harmony and delight. Artists tease out the features of the landscape to convey the emotion that dwelled in them as they gazed at a fantastic panorama.


Thank you to my National (and State) Park hiking fans for admiring and purchasing my original pastels of these awesome landscapes. In the coming months, I will be adding original landscape pastels of the "Mighty Five" National Parks in Utah, having recently returned from a hiking adventure is those surreal landscapes.


It's HOLIDAY SALE time! Visit my shop and use the coupon code Holiday2024 for 20% off original pastels and prints! You can find my original pastels and prints by visiting my shop here. If you have a scene from a trip of yours that you would like painted, please reach out to me at bob@palmertonimages.com.






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