Here is a summary of our time in Glacier!
We hiked every day we were in Glacier, below is a summary of each of our day hikes. Each lake won its own award in accordance to our very complicated and official rating system.
Day 1- St Mary and Virginia Falls. So day 1 didn't really include a hike to a lake, but it wins for the most crowded day! Woot! It was the 4th of July, which is one of the busiest days in all national parks. We hiked to see St Mary falls, which was a quick 2 miles. Lots of families with kiddos there having some lunch and whatnot. We carried on another few miles to a nice view of Virginia falls and stopped there for a lovely snack break. Then we continued all the way to the base of the falls and the "splash zone"! We walked out to the base where the freezing cold spray soaked us! It felt awesome to cool off, especially while hiking in the hot sun! Then we drove west on the Going to the Sun Road. WOW. Beautiful! So much to look at! Mountains and beautiful cascading falls everywhere. Without a doubt the most scenic road I've driven on. And that's saying something considering I've been on the entire Alaska Highway (twice!) and through the Canadian Rockies, American Rockies and the Sierras. We took the road all the way to the other end and stopped at Lake McDonald to dip our toes in the lake. We looked around the lodge at Lake McDonald, which reminded me a bit of the Ahwahnee hotel in Yosemite: old, historic, gorgeous and rustic. Then we headed back east on the Going to the Sun Road and saw everything that was behind us when we were driving west! Taken again by the beauty of it all! We headed back to camp and made some dinner then watched fireworks all around us. Later in the night the last hurrah of fireworks were visible from our tent! It was fun to watch them.
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| St Mary falls |
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| Virginia falls. Look at how small Verde, my backpack, is! There was nothing really in her in this pic, she was level with the top of my head on the JMT! |
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| Splash zone of Virginia falls! Brrrr, it was super windy and the spray was SO cold! |
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| Going to the Sun Road |
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| The last section of road to be cleared before the road can open is the area of this snow drift, at times it can be 60 feet tall! Here it's melted a bit and is only about 10 feet tall. |
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| Trunk lunch on the Going to the Sun Road, talk about lunch with a view! |
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| Dipping our toes in Lake McDonald |
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| Lake McDonald |
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| Adventure is Out There! |
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| The beautiful cascading Bird Woman Falls |
Day 2- Iceberg Lake: Most Adventurous- Iceberg Lake would turn out to be the most adventurous hike of our week spent in Glacier. The trail was mostly exposed which allowed for uninterrupted views of the surrounding mountains! Just beautiful! After a few miles we came to Ptarmigan Falls, which was a pretty waterfall with a super narrow chute that the water funnels through before cascading over the edge. The bridge to cross the falls was partially down; part of the bridge had washed out and the rest of the trail to Iceberg Lake was “closed”... whelp, we went ahead and crossed the bridge anyways. There was only a gap a few feet wide to get onto the bridge. Daveed went first, then took my pack for me. We figured if the bridge would hold him, it would hold me. We crossed with no issues and continued on. About 2 miles from the lake small snowfields started to cover parts of the trail. We crossed them with no issues, I was glad to have my trekking poles for balance. Then about a mile from the lake, the trail was covered by a snow field that would end up taking us all the way to the lake. We lost the trail a couple times, Daveed broke through a thin part of snow and post holed up to his knee which resulted in his shoes getting wet. I followed Daveed up and over a ridge and we came to a small lake, with icebergs floating in it. This must be it! Iceberg Lake!...but it’s so small...I thought it would be bigger...and it’s not butted up against the wall of the mountains...and there’s no glacier running into it like in the pictures… Turns out it was not Iceberg Lake! We continued up and over another ridge, finally finding a trail in the snow. When we crested the ridge, there it was! The real Iceberg Lake! It was almost completely frozen over, only the first few feet off the shoreline was water. The wind off the lake was cold so we put on our layers, had a great backpacker’s lunch and took in the scenery. We rested for an hour or so, then after drying out our socks and shoes as best we could, we packed up and headed back. The hike back was rather uneventful, we were able to find the trail back across the snow with no problems. The beautiful scenery surrounded us again as we hiked back!! When we got back to the car there was a crowd of people around a pair of binoculars that a ranger had set up--- mountain goats! Up on the mountains above the parking area there were 3 or 4 white mountain goats hanging out. That was neat to see.
So, Iceberg Lake wins for most adventurous hike. The snow the last mile or more of the trail slowed us down a lot and made finding the trail difficult. I will say that it was unexpected but fun to hike in snow in July! The backs of Daveed's legs got sunburned from the glare off the snow :)
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| Snow! |
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| Iceberg Lake |
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| Too cold for anything more than a toe dip! |
Day 3- Wild Goose Island- Most Scenic. Wild Goose Island wasn’t actually a hike, you can see it off the Going to the Sun road. I have been looking at pictures of Wild Goose Island for nearly 20 years. There is a picture of it in every naturescape calendar I buy, every year. Well, I finally got to see it with my own peepers!!! The road where Wild Goose Island is located is under construction, so the look out/trail to go see it is closed. Well….I didn’t drive 2000 miles to Glacier NP to not see it...so… after some recon, when no other cars were around, I pulled over in a no parking area and we sprinted up the road to the lookout. I had just snapped a couple pictures when Daveed said, ummmm, there’s a ranger… GAH! Busted! Where did he come from!? Was he hiding in the bushes or something?! From the time we parked the car to when the ranger appeared, no more than 2 minutes had passed: 1 minute to sprint to the lookout, 1 minute to take 2 pictures on the camera and 2 pictures on my phone. Crap. So the ranger walks up and I’m expecting us to be in big trouble and he says “would you like me to take your picture?”. I say “ummm, yes please?”, then he says “great, cuz I’m about to kick you out of your parking spot”. Word. He took a couple pictures of us, then escorted us merrily back to our car. He reminded us that the area was closed due to construction and that “monkey see, monkey do happens pretty quickly around here, we don’t want other people to think they can park where it is clearly marked no parking”. Right. Sorry about that. And the lookout/access point is also marked with a “No Public Access” sign and is closed… Right. Sorry about that... So although my viewing of it was rushed, I’m so glad I got to see Wild Goose Island!! It’s no wonder it’s the most photographed spot in the park- it’s beautiful!
We took the rest of the day to relax, shower, do some laundry and eat our first piece of huckleberry pie at the Two Sisters Cafe. I thought about going swimming in the campground’s super clean pool, but ended up getting lost in the guidebook and maps, picking out some more hikes while Daveed took a nap.
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| Wild Goose Island. YESSS!! |
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| Thank you nice Ranger Man for taking our photo! |
Day 4- Otokomi Lake- Best Weather- Otokomi Lake wins for best weather, it was mostly overcast and cooler on this hike- which was a relief as my skin had already had enough of the sun already. I have been diligent with putting on sunscreen as the exposure and slightly higher elevation seems to make the sun stronger. My shoulders are super dark and crispy! I’ve been hiking with a baseball hat on to help keep the sun off my face, which has worked nicely. ¾ of the trail was in the woods, passing many small creeks and meadows with the prettiest wildflowers! There were also a lot of skeeters in the woods... A couple in front of us on the trail saw a small momma black bear and a cub, they made some noise and encouraged the bears to be on their way, then double backed to find us as they didn’t want to hike through that section by themselves :) They had been told that a grizzly was in the campsite at the trailhead that morning, so they were already a little spooked. We saw all the hubub with the grizzly as we pulled into the parking lot: many rangers, flashing lights etc etc. Only one thing could cause such a fuss: a grizzly. Anyways, we hiked with them through the bear section, making plenty of noise, but their earlier encounter had already scared the bears off, there was nothing to see. Daveed was disappointed as he would have liked to see the bears, but they were gone.
After 5 miles of mostly wooded trail, we reached the exposed mountainside where we crossed a few small snow fields, then dropped into the valley where the lake was. The outlet stream of the lake had trout! They were just hanging out in the current, so perfect looking! We got to the lake and met the same couple again, took each other’s picutres and then they headed back. We ate lunch on the tiny shore and enjoyed the views. The lake was calm and provided an awesome reflection of the mountains behind it! We bundled up as the breeze off the partially frozen lake was really cold, and then relaxed for a while and rested. The hike back wold have been completely uneventful but… as I was rock hopping across a creek, both of the rocks each of my feet were on dumped me off at the same exact time and into the creek went my feet. The water went up and over the tops of my boots completely soaking my socks and shoes. Oh boy...so I hiked on a couple more miles with super wet feet, hoping the blister on my right foot wouldn’t get any worse and that no new blisters would form. We stopped to rest on a log bridge where I took off my socks and shoes and tried to dry them out. We realized after 15 minutes that this wasn’t going any where, thankfully Daveed had packed a couple extra pairs of socks, so I wore his socks and we hiked the rest of the way out. My socks finally dried overnight and it took my boots 2 days to dry out, even after leaving them in the sun for 4 hours! Gortex is great except when you get the inside of your boots wet!
Otokomi Lake wins for best weather as it was probably only 70 when it was overcast, the sun makes all the difference when at higher elevation! There was also a nice cool breeze the entire day.
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| Otokomi Lake |
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| Lunch on the shore |
Day 5- Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake- Most Beautiful Backdrop- Avalanche Lakes wins for most beautiful backdrop as the half dozen or so mountain streams flowing into it make for the most beautiful scenery! The color of the lake was a pretty turquoise, as are most of the glacial lakes. The silt in the water from the glaciers refracts only blue light, so that’s why all the glacial lakes have such a bright blue/green color.
We were tired from our previous days hikes, so we decided to take it easy. It was really hot and Daveed wanted to go swimming in Lake McDonald, so we headed west on the Going to the Sun road and stopped to hike Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake. The guidebook warns that this is the most popular and crowded trail in the park with more “bear bell bedecked tourists” than you can shake a stick at. Well, it was right. It was super crowded and most of the children had bear bells tied to their shoes! The easy 5 mile trail only gains 500 ft of elevation and the view of the lake at the end of the trail is incredible. The trail is incredibly wide too, making it family friendly for everyone to string out and hold hands. I swear the trail is 5 or 6 people wide at some points! We had a very enjoyable stroll to and from the lake as we didn’t carry anything except a 1 L camelback. I even wore my trail running shoes, partly because my hiking boots were still wet inside but also because I wanted something lighter on my feet. We flew up the trail, feeling light as feathers! The Trail of the Cedars was a short boardwalk through the woods with pretty greenery and lots of big cedar trees. After hiking it was time to swim, it was nearly 90 degreez and sunny- lake time! We drove the short distance to Lake McDonald and “swam” up to our knees… the water was a bit chilly to really swim in but it did the trick- we cooled off and felt refreshed!
On our way back to camp driving east on the Going to the Sun road, we stopped at Logan Pass to eat a snack and as we pulled into the parking lot, several big horn sheep came up and over a ridge, walked into the lot and right up to our car! It was a bit scary as they have really big horns! We talked to a ranger who said they have been having a lot of issues with the sheep coming into the parking lot looking for salty foods. These particular sheep found some almonds on the ground and were headbutting each other over them. Someone’s car got dented before the ranger could shoo them away. She picked up the almonds and put them in the garbage… A good reminder to everyone around to be mindful about food prep and eating- clean up well and do not eat food around wildlifes!
So, Avalanche Lake wins for most beautiful backdrop, just look at all those pretty cascading mountain streams!
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| Avalanche Lake |
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| Lake McDonald |
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| Sheeps! |
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| Little Chief Mountain |
Day 6- Cracker Lake- Best Color! Cracker Lake wins the prize for the best color, drop dead gorgeous turquoise! We had seen many pretty lakes by this time, but Cracker Lake made us both say “oh wow!” when we first saw it! And it saves its view until the very last moment: you don’t get to see the lake unitl you come up and over several ridges that seem like they’d give you a view, but don’t. You finally get to see the lake when the trail comes up and over the final ridge and comes along the side of the lake. Wow. The color was just stunning! The hike to Cracker Lake was the longest we did, and we did it on our last day in Glacier, starting at noon… We spent some extra time in camp to repack the car to get it ready to depart early the next morning to head to Portland. The trail was just over 12 miles. The first 3 or 4 miles are in the woods, with lots of skeeters and flies...the first couple miles of trail are shared with horses, so all the manure dodging and flies got really old really fast. But, once you clear horse country, the trail cleans up and crosses a couple of big creeks. We had to rock hop to get to the log bridges, which after my boots got soaked, I was a bit nervous about, but had no issues :) Feet were nice and dry apart from my own sweat :) When the trail emerges from the woods you are rewarded with amazing views of the surrounding mountians. The tallest vertical alpine wall in the lower 48 borders Cracker Lake, someone said it’s around 9000 sheer vertical feet!
We took a nice long break at the lake and enjoyed some lunch along with watching some curious but not rude ground squirrels. You could tell these guys didn’t get fed people food like some of the other rude squirrels we had met. They watched us from a distance rather than coming up to us and running on top of our packs. We took off our shoes, aired out our feet and dried our socks in the sun. This has become one of the things I look forward to the most: taking off my boots. My feet still hurt, on every hike. Our backpacking friends have assured us that it will go away, but man it’s a buzz kill! Everytime we take a break I feverishly take off my boots and socks.
On our way back from Cracker Lake, we met a ranger who said there was a “pretty sizeable bull moose off the trail about a half mile back, laying in a snow field...so just be aware”. Daveed and I looked at each other and said “YESSS! A moose!!”. Seeing a moose was the last and only thing left on our wildlife viewing list! We so badly wanted to see a moose, and a “sizeable bull moose” at that! So we tip toed up the trail trying to be as quiet as possible so we wouldn’t scare it off. We came to the first snow field and looked around...no moose. Then we came to a second, larger snow field: no moose, but there were moose tracks! And you could see where it had been laying down in the snow! So we tried to track it! Haha, we followed it about 10 steps and then its tracks went into the deep brush and that was the end of our “tracking”. Dang. We missed seeing Bullwinkle by like 15 minutes! Bummer!
Our goal was to finish the trail in time to go to the Two Sisters Cafe for dinner and more importantly hucklberry desserts. Given our late start time, we thought the timing would be tight, but it was no problem! We finished the trail a lot faster than we thought we would and made it to the cafe by 8! Plenty of time to feast before they closed at 10! We ordered 3 or 4 desserts and had big ol burgers. I wouldn’t mind hiking 12 miles a day with 2000 feet of elevation gain and loss in order to keep eating like this! Nomnomnom! Eat all the huckleberry things!
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| Cheesin on the start of our hike near Many Glacier |
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| Alpine Forget-Me-Not, my favorite flower in Glacier! There's nothing in this pic for scale but these flowers were tiny, this cluster was smaller than a dime! |
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| The most sturdy and stable bridge we crossed on the trail |
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| Over Daveed's left shoulder is the tallest alpine wall in the lower 48! |
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| Cracker Lake |
We headed west on July 10 with the autopilot set for Portland! On our way out of the park, once again taking the Going to the Sun Road all the way west, we saw some trail workers clearing a section of the Highline Trail. They were several hundred feet above the road clearing snow. The Highline Trail was on our to-do list, but it was closed due to heavy snow still on the trail. It's the most rad trail in the park. You basically ridge walk from Logan Pass to Many Glacier. It's about 15 miles and breathtaking! AND you are pretty much guaranteed to see baby mountain goats on this trail! I will be back and will do the Highline Trail! Til next time Glacier, keep it real.
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