We were there last Oct, just at the peak of leaf color season. The traffic through Acadia was so bad that we had to keep going around as the road up to the top was so backed up with traffic, they closed it and then would open it back up for limited traffic for limited times. We had been up to the top the day before and were fogged in while we listened to the park ranger give his speech. He kept saying, "If you could see that would be..." . The wind was so bad, it nearly blew us over and it was like 20 degrees colder than just a short distance down the mountain. We went back the next day and it was gorgeous but lots more traffic!

IdaClaire mining companies think that they should be open for mining, so that they can extract whatever gold is left, pollute the rivers with arsenic, and then expect the taxpayers to pay to clean up their mess, when the mining companies do not even own the land. Logging companies are just as bad. They think they should be allowed to clear-cut forests in parks on land that they do not own - just so that they will have jobs. However, once the gold is gone and the lumber is gone, the jobs are gone too - except for the jobs to clean up the mess. This is why we need strong regulation of our natural resources, as they can be gone in an instant and then (like gold) never return or take centuries to recover, in the case of redwood forests - if they ever do recover. Some people believe that a deity created the earth for humans to exploit in any way that they please, and some people believe that the earth itself is sacred and should not be desecrated. Basically, some people are just very selfish, thanks to their capitalistic beliefs. My father read one of my books on American Indian religions, and he told me that he believed like the Hopi Indian Tribe, as they were better stewards of the land.

We did stay in the park on the west side for 3 nights and it was incredibly convenient to access the trails nearby or drive a few miles early enough to get a parking spot for the others. Then we moved outside the park to Whitefish and stayed a couple of nights, then to Kalispell. A lot of moving around but we did it for convenience as we only had a little over a week that trip. The second time we went concentrated on the eas5 side. We used park lodging near Two Medicine (beds were terrible but the lodge was beautiful). I have heard they updated the rooms since 2017 and they needed it. Then we moved to a small motor lodge outside St Mary near the East entrance and it was surprisingly nice and convenient. I cannot recall the name at the moment. Then we spent 3 nights at Many Glacier Lodge which was very nice. There were several trails accessible frim the lodge. They had regular transportation over to the campground side which was also the trailhead for many nice hiking trails. Good luck with your planning. With several family members, i dont blame you a bit for staying in a VRBO if convenient to an entrance. It allows for laundry, some meal and snack prep and for everyone to spread out a little. And wifi! We didnt have bear spray but we did use Bear Bells. On almost every trail we saw a park ranger or two and they were advising hikers if they had seen bears. We never saw any except on a boat ride late one evening.

I put this idea of creating a wildlife oasis into action in what was a postage sized row house backyard at my last place, and I saw a dramatic difference in my quality of life and the quality of the yard in just about five years. There was actually immediate improvement but the whole picture really came together after a few years of establishment. I was able to enjoy a diversity of birds, butterflies and other wildlife in what was a very urban situation. Also my yard went from hot, dry, windy and sterile to much cooler, with enjoyable ambiance and we spent a lot of time out there, particularly in the evenings after work and early mornings for coffee on weekends and days off. It became another room for our tiny home. It really doesn't take much money, just a little thought, hard work and creativity and you can see dramatic results. I was lucky in that I had a fantastic native plant nursery a few miles away, started by some wonderful former colleagues of mine. I used a lot of non-natives but they were cousins of the natives that could thrive in that environment. A lot of them were dwarf varieties due to the small size of the yard. I had a raspberry plot in the back that the birds loved. They loved the native musclewood that I planted too, which is shown below, that was on the others side. The yard was an homage to my native beech maple forest, with the "blue beech" small tree standing in for the full sized one, and the Japanese maple standing in the for other maples. Here's a transition, the before, immediate after, and five years later. That little orange plastic pot thing became a tiny birdbath fountain. The beautiful fireglow japanese maple died though. The native musclewood on the other side of the patio thrived, it became a showstopper.