Parking
Use the 1913 Ranger Station / Red Eagle Trailhead parking area, about 0.2 mile east of the St. Mary Entrance. Follow the gravel access to the station; NPS lists car and bus/RV parking and a vault/composting toilet.
Overview
About Beaver Pond Loop Trail
Why go
- Pond, meadow, aspen and fire-scarred forest make a varied easy walk
- The 1913 Ranger Station and relocated Lubec Barn add a good history stop
- The pond and optional lake spur offer two worthwhile pauses
Heads up
- The main loop is more forest-and-meadow walking than a dramatic alpine view hike
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Glacier map
Full mapElevation4,508–4,760 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Glacier alert
- ClosureTwo Medicine Campground closed for 2026 constructionTwo Medicine Campground is closed throughout 2026 because of construction in the Two Medicine developed area.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Glacier Tour Guide
Your drive to Beaver Pond Loop Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Glacier National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Glacier audio tourRecorded for this area
St. Mary Visitor Center0:00 / 0:34
“You’re approaching St. Mary Visitor Center, just inside the east entrance. Stop here if you want help choosing walks or understanding what you’ll see along the road.”
Plays on the road 0.6 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Glacier Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Three Hundred Miles in the Saddle
- One Root System, Many Trunks
- The Boat That Arrived by Road
- Two Dog Flats
- 204 audio storiesacross Glacier’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Wolverine, Mountain Goat, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 157 trails, 91 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Our first time to glacier and we used the audio portion for Going to the Sun Road. Wonderful information with perfect advice of what to see and do along the road.”
Trail guide
Hiking Beaver Pond Loop Trail
A gentle half-day loopBeaver Pond Loop is a 3.
Beaver Pond Loop is a 3.3-mile circuit from the 1913 Ranger Station through conifers, a fire-scarred ridge, aspen and meadows to its namesake pond, then back on the Red Eagle Trail. It’s a good choice for a relaxed walk with a bit of history and wildlife; don’t expect a big alpine viewpoint. Allow about two hours with stops. NPS calls it relatively flat, though its trailhead page lists 418 feet of climbing and the St. Mary hiking list gives a much lower figure. Plan for rolling ground, not a level boardwalk.
Go clockwise and keep rightStart on the east branch from the Ranger Station parking area and follow Beaver Pond Trail…
Start on the east branch from the Ranger Station parking area and follow Beaver Pond Trail south. After about 1.9 miles, at the Red Eagle junction, turn right to close the loop. The left branch continues toward Red Eagle Lake and is a much longer hike. The core circuit is 3.3 miles; a short side path near the end drops to the St. Mary Lake shore and adds walking, so the shoreline detour is not part of the mapped loop.
From conifers to fire-scarred meadowThe trail climbs a low ridge through older conifers, then levels among open grass and aspen.
The trail climbs a low ridge through older conifers, then levels among open grass and aspen. Around a mile in, charred trunks mark the 2006 Red Eagle Fire, which burned more than 34,000 acres across Glacier and Blackfeet Tribal Lands. Late spring and early summer bring wildflowers to the ridge meadows.
Take time at the pondYou reach the main beaver pond before the junction.
You reach the main beaver pond before the junction. A short spur, about 100 yards beyond it, leads down to marshy shore. Moose use this wet edge as habitat, especially in morning and evening, though sightings are never a sure thing. Past visits have also recorded buffleheads, red-winged blackbirds and cedar waxwings here. Keep the stop quiet and give wildlife room.
The Ranger Station and lake spurThe historic station is just off the start.
The historic station is just off the start. Built in 1913, it was among the first Park Service structures on Glacier’s east side and housed rangers until 1969. It was added to the National Register in 1972 and restored to its early appearance in 1976. The Lubec Barn nearby was built at the park’s southern boundary in 1926 and moved here in 1977. Near the end of the loop, the optional St. Mary Lake shoreline spur is the best place for a lake-and-mountain photograph.
Winter and dogsNPS describes this as a summer hiking route and a winter ski or snowshoe route.
NPS describes this as a summer hiking route and a winter ski or snowshoe route. Dogs and other pets aren’t allowed on Glacier trails, including this one.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Glacier
404 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
11 sightingsWolverineMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
1,173 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
1,000 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
395 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
506 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Glacier. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
