Avalanche Creek (Trail of the Cedars)
Two of the park's most popular short hikes share one small lot, and in 2026 the shuttle no longer stops here. Trail of the Cedars is a 0.9-mile boardwalk loop with 83 feet of gain, wheelchair accessible, and about the best hour available to anyone in the park who isn't hiking hard. Avalanche Lake is 2.3 miles each way with 741 feet of gain and one of the highest-traffic trails in Glacier.
NPS publishes no capacity for the lot. What changed this year is the fallback: the 2026 Logan Pass Shuttle stop list runs Apgar, Lake McDonald Lodge, The Loop, Logan Pass, St. Mary and Rising Sun. Avalanche Creek is not on it. Full means full.
The facts
- Trail served
- Trail of the Cedars (0.9 mi loop, 83 ft gain, wheelchair-accessible boardwalk) and Avalanche Lake Trail (2.3 mi one way, 741 ft gain), which branches off the Cedars loop
- Cost / pass
- Parking free. Park entrance $35/vehicle for 7 days ($25 Nov 1 – Apr 30), $30 motorcycle, $20 per person. America the Beautiful accepted. Non-US residents 16+ pay an extra $100 unless admitted on an annual or America the Beautiful pass. No vehicle reservation required in 2026
- Lot size
- NO PUBLISHED COUNT. NPS gives no figure on either trail page. Hikers describe it as small and note it filling before 7 a.m. in midsummer — unofficial, but consistent across accounts
- When it fills
- No NPS-published time for this lot. Visitor reports put it before 7 a.m. in July and August, helped by the fact that this stretch of Going-to-the-Sun Road usually opens weeks before Logan Pass does
- Overflow option
- None in 2026. The Logan Pass Shuttle does not stop at Avalanche Creek — its stops are Apgar, Lake McDonald Lodge, The Loop, Logan Pass, St. Mary Visitor Center and Rising Sun Picnic Area. If the lot is full there is no park-provided alternative
- Tow / citation risk
- No published towing or citation policy for this lot
- Restrooms
- Yes
- Road to the lot
- Directly off Going-to-the-Sun Road, paved. Sits inside the size-restricted segment — Vehicles longer than 21 ft (including bumpers) or wider than 8 ft (including mirrors) are prohibited between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun — so oversized vehicles and trailers cannot reach it on this stretch at all
- Busy season
- June through September. This section of road typically opens well before the alpine stretch to Logan Pass, which means the lot gets busy on its own schedule even in years when the full road opens late
Getting there
Get directions →The most accessible trail in the park, behind one of the least accessible lots
Trail of the Cedars is a genuine rarity: a 0.9-mile boardwalk loop with 83 feet of elevation gain through old-growth red cedar and hemlock, wheelchair accessible for its full length. For anyone travelling with someone who can't manage Glacier's usual terrain, this is the trail that makes the trip work.
Getting to it is the hard part. The lot is small, NPS publishes no count for it, and it also serves Avalanche Lake — a 2.3-mile climb to a cirque lake that is one of the most-hiked trails in the park. Two completely different audiences, arriving at overlapping hours, competing for the same spaces.
The timing works against you too. This stretch of Going-to-the-Sun Road usually opens weeks ahead of the alpine section, so in a late-snow year Avalanche Creek absorbs the demand of everyone who came to drive to Logan Pass and can't.
The 2026 shuttle change nobody announced as a downgrade
This is the fact worth crossing the page for. Glacier's old free shuttle ran the length of Going-to-the-Sun Road with stops along it, and Avalanche Creek was one. If the lot was full you parked elsewhere and rode in.
The 2026 Logan Pass Shuttle has six stops: Apgar Visitor Center, Lake McDonald Lodge, The Loop, Logan Pass, St. Mary Visitor Center, Rising Sun Picnic Area. Avalanche Creek isn't among them.
So the park removed the reservation requirement — genuinely good news for getting through the gate — while simultaneously removing the transit fallback for one of its busiest trailheads. Those two changes point in opposite directions for anyone arriving here at 9 a.m. There is now no park-provided way to reach Trail of the Cedars or Avalanche Lake other than parking in that lot.
One more constraint that catches RV travellers: this lot sits inside the 21-foot / 8-foot restricted segment between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun. An oversized vehicle can't legally drive to it.
Plan B
Early, and earlier than Logan Pass logic suggests. Hikers consistently report this lot gone before 7 a.m. in July and August. It's lower and closer to the west entrance than Logan Pass, which means it catches people who aren't willing to drive the whole road before dawn.
The evening is the genuinely good option here, and it's better than the morning. Avalanche Lake is a manageable evening hike, the cedar forest holds light beautifully well into the day's end, and the crowd that arrived at 7 a.m. is long gone by six. The trail's short length makes a late start reasonable in a way it wouldn't be at Logan Pass.
If the lot is full, keep going rather than circling. Circling a small lot on a two-lane road that has no shoulder is how the corridor backs up and how rangers end up closing it to incoming traffic. Lake McDonald Lodge is a few minutes back down the road with its own shoreline walks, and it's a shuttle stop if you want to ride up to Logan Pass instead.
Frequently asked questions
How many parking spaces are at Avalanche Creek?
NPS publishes no capacity for the Avalanche Creek lot on either the Trail of the Cedars or Avalanche Lake trail page. Hikers describe it as small and report it filling before 7 a.m. in midsummer, but no official count exists.
Does the Glacier shuttle stop at Trail of the Cedars in 2026?
No. The 2026 Logan Pass Shuttle serves only Apgar Visitor Center, Lake McDonald Lodge, The Loop, Logan Pass, St. Mary Visitor Center and Rising Sun Picnic Area. Avalanche Creek is not a stop, so there is no park-provided alternative if the lot is full.
How long is the Trail of the Cedars?
A 0.9-mile loop with 83 feet of elevation gain, on a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk. The Avalanche Lake Trail branches off it and runs 2.3 miles one way with 741 feet of gain, so the two share the same trailhead and the same parking.
Can I bring an RV to Avalanche Creek?
No. Avalanche Creek sits inside the restricted segment of Going-to-the-Sun Road, where vehicles longer than 21 feet including bumpers or wider than 8 feet including mirrors are prohibited between Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun.
Are there restrooms at Avalanche Creek?
Yes. NPS lists toilet facilities at both the Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake trailheads, which share the same parking area.
Facts on this page last verified July 28, 2026. Fees, hours, and access rules change seasonally — confirm with the official source before a long drive.