I worked for Xanterra in Glacier National Park for two summers, and it was the absolute greatest experience of my life. That being said, seasonal work is not for everyone, and many employees quit midway through the season. If you are interested in working in a national park, read on to discover the reality of seasonal work.
My Job Descriptions
Summer 2023, I was the lead dining room attendant at Nell’s of Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. I was a cashier while the other dining room attendants ran food and bussed tables. I loved this job so much—it was easy, my managers and coworkers were amazing, and I got to chat with customers about their days in Glacier. The biggest challenge was that we would often run out of food items due to our remote location, and there would be no way of restocking until our next weekly shipment. We even ran out of burger patties a few times, which is the main item on our menu. Fortunately, most customers at Nell’s were understanding of the challenges that came with operating a business in the remote wilderness.
Summer 2024, I was a server at the Swiss Lounge in Many Glacier Hotel. This job was emotionally and physically exhausting. Once, the manager, chef, and lead cooks disappeared mid-shift, so I had to jump on expo while my tables were full. (I had never been expo before, and I had no idea what I was doing.) On the bright side, servers made more money than pretty much everyone else working in Many Glacier, including our managers. I still loved talking to guests, and it was so rewarding to give advice about activities in the park (hence why I wrote this blog).
Working at Nell’s, I couldn’t believe there were people who complained about working for Xanterra. I was having the time of my life every day, even at work. Working at the Swiss Lounge, I could have hour-long complaining sessions with my coworkers. But we would never even consider quitting because we loved Glacier and each other above everything.
Work-Life Balance
Xanterra employees work hard and play hard. At Nells, I worked the breakfast and lunch shift from 6:30am-2:30pm five days a week. I had entire afternoons free to hike after my shift. At the Swiss Lounge, we worked four-day weeks, and my shifts were 10-12 hours. It was nice in theory, but I was too exhausted to make the most of my three days off.
In general, seasonal work is not easy. The training is brief and intense, and everyone has their first day on the same day, including your managers. You are probably working in a high-volume tourist area with limited resources. Everything moves really fast.
As for the “life” part of the balance, my life has never been richer than when I was in Glacier. But I’m saving all the good stuff for the end.
Housing, Food, and Transportation
At Swiftcurrent, I lived in the sweetest little cabin in the world. It was two rooms, each with a bunkbed, and there was a single sink between the four of us. Most of the cabins were identical to mine, but there were a few larger ones with private rooms reserved for managers. The bathroom and showers were in a separate building and shared with the other employee cabins. The communal bathroom was nice enough, and the walk there only took 30 seconds. However, it was unpleasant to walk back from the shower with wet hair on a cold day, and I had to be careful not to drink too much water before bed.
We lived very close to nature in the cabins. Sometimes a bear would wander into the cabin loops, and we once had a mouse living in our cabin for a couple days. And let’s just say, after an incident with a cockroach, I always shined a flashlight into my shoes before putting them on.
There was a variety of employee housing at Many Glacier both inside the hotel and around the property. The majority of the employees live in one of the two main dorms, Upper Dorm and Lower Dorm. Most of the rooms have two bunk beds, and there are multiple communal bathrooms in each dorm building. Couples may request a private room with one shared bed.
I lived in Upper Dorm. Since my friends and I were “returners” this summer, we got to choose our room. Upper is newer and slightly nicer than Lower, but the walk over the hill to Upper is not a light task in the stormy valley. The ceilings in Lower are not accommodating to the bunk beds, and overhanging pipes pose hazards to your head. However, I was no safer from the elements in Upper Dorm—I once got into bed after a long shift only to discover a spider had built a web between the folds of my blanket.
There is also a “secret” employee housing property outside of the park that has RV hookups, private rooms, and a communal kitchen.
In the dorms, we are not allowed to have a microwave, mini-fridge, or similar appliance. Instead, we get three meals a day at the employee dining room (EDR). Housing and food cost approximately $400 a month, and it’s automatically taken from our paychecks.
The EDR food is not great. As a vegetarian, I was only fed out of the goodness of my coworkers hearts. If you don’t work in F&B, you may not be so lucky.
Xanterra has an employee shuttle between all the properties in East Glacier. There were shuttles approximately every hour from 7am-10pm (to the best of my memory). Xanterra employees also have access to the NPS shuttle on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. I did not have a car my first summer, and I got around just fine.
The Good Stuff
THE biggest perk about working for Xanterra that no other employer in Glacier offers: free, unlimited, skip-the-line access to the Going-to-the-Sun Road and Many Glacier Valley. Because Xanterra has properties inside the park, we get to use the employee access lane to skip the line of cars at the NPS entry stations. All we need is our employee ID.
So, in our free time, we had unrestrained access to explore Glacier National Park. In 2022, I was a tourist in Glacier that struggled on the hike to Avalanche Lake. In 2024, I hiked 20 miles to summit a 10,000-foot mountain in a single day. Glacier taught me that I am capable of things that I never could’ve imagined.
If you want to sample my hiking knowledge, I made a guide to Glacier’s most popular hikes.
Not a big hiker? No worries! We got up to plenty other shenanigans in Glacier. We hammocked and swam in glacial lakes. We had bonfires at least once a week (until fire season). We played foosball and pool in the employee rec room. We drove into Saint Mary for karaoke nights at Kips or all the way to West Glacier to the rodeo and bars overrun by raft guides. We went camping for the 4th of July and attended the insane fireworks “show” in Hungry Horse.
How to Apply
Are you ready to Find Your First Seasonal Job in a National Park?
If you want to work in Glacier, Xanterra is far from the only seasonal employer in the area. A timed entry pass is not currently required to access the Going-to-the-Sun Road from East Glacier, so you can get in without a Xanterra ID. I met employees from Pursuit at Saint Mary, and they seemed happier with their jobs than us at the Swiss Lounge.
There are tons more places to work in West Glacier, which is further from the best hikes but closer to town. Also, the weather is more suitable for camping and lake days. The raft guides have the coolest job ever, they appear to always be having a good time.
If you’re interested in seasonal work elsewhere, so am I! I’m still searching for my summer 2025 job. Xanterra does have locations in other national parks, though I don’t think any of them will live up to my Glacier-level expectations. CoolWorks.com is a great jumping point for finding seasonal jobs.
If you decide to work in Glacier, I hope you love it as much as I do. And check out my other posts on my Insider’s Guide to Glacier National Park!
Latitudes with Lucy 