The best hikes for viewing wildflowers in the Pacific Northwest

I’d never seen more wildflowers in my life before the summer of 2021. Travelling through the Pacific Northwest in July and August was a treat and nothing could compete with our experience of being completely intoxicated by the smell and sight of multicolored wildflower fields. We were in Wyoming, Montana and Washington during the peak wildflower season so this list is a compilation of the best wildflower viewing spots we saw in those states.

1. Montana – Glacier National Park, Highline Trail – Hard, 15 mile or 11 mile option, 2600 ft of elevation – visited Jul 4th, 2021

2. Washington – Mount Rainier National Park, Skyline Trail – Moderate, 6 miles, 1800 ft of elevation – visited July 31st, 2021

3. Montana – Glacier National Park, Grinnell Glacier – Moderate (until waterfall, hard to glacier), 7.2 miles, 1000 ft of elevation – visited Jul 5th, 2021

4. Montana – Big Sky, Beehive Basin Trail – Moderate, 7.1 miles, 1650 ft of elevation – visited July 18th, 2021

5. Wyoming – Grand Teton National Park, Delta Lake Trail – Hard, 8.2 miles, 2400 ft of elevation – visited June 26th, 2021

Montana – Glacier National Park, Highline Trail

This hike is absolutely incredible. It’s not one of those hikes which you slog through for a view at the end. The whole hike is just endless gorgeous vistas of wildflowers with snow-capped mountains and evergreens in the backdrop. There is no shortage of color here and we witnessed expanses of yellows, purples, pinks, oranges and whites.

Although the out and back version of the trail is 15 miles long, there is a shorter option. You could end the hike at the Granite Park chalet (7.5 miles in) and then hike 4 miles down to the Loop and take the park shuttle (needs tickets) back to the Logan Pass Visitor center where the hike starts. Even though the hike requires you to dedicate at least half the day to it, it is 100% worth it.

Washington – Mount Rainier National Park, Skyline Trail

This hike gets the closest you can to Mount Rainier without actually having to climb it. Even though the day we went was cloudy, the views were still incredible. The hike has close up views of Mount Rainier with wildflowers throughout.

The second part of the hike (going clockwise) also has views of wildflowers and volcanic peaks in the distance. The hike is 6 miles and around 1800 feet of elevation so should be complete in 2-3 hours.

Montana – Glacier National Park, Grinnell Glacier

Unfortunately, the hike still had snow when we came in early July so the glacier was not open. However, we made it to the waterfall which had beautiful views of Grinnell Lake. The hike is 7 miles to and from the waterfall, so again, it’ll take a couple of hours to complete. We saw mainly pink and yellow wildflowers here decorating Grinnell Lake.

Montana – Big Sky, Beehive Basin Trail

Beehive Basin Trail can easily pass for a national park hike. The trail first passes through endless wildflower fields on both sides. As the name suggests, there are bees and horseflies in this section but bug spray helped us keep them at bay.

After about a mile, the view opens up to mountains that looked like they belonged in the Dolomites. There’s a small lake at the base of these mountains where a lot of people were picnicking and lazing in the sun. The highlight was definitely the densely packed pink and purple daisies everywhere.

Wyoming – Grand Teton National Park, Delta Lake Trail

The highlight of this hike is definitely Delta Lake but the densely packed wildflowers all along the trail come a close second. The first portion of the hike goes through tall sunflower fields.

The steep portion of bouldering at the end feels like a slog while going up but we were rewarded views of wildflowers while coming down.