Glacier
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| Glacier National Park - The Dawn Wall |
Radium Hot Springs/Kooteney National Park
Day 1
Of all the big parks in the National Park System, there’s very few of the “big” (read famous) parks that we haven’t been to and the biggest we've yet to visit is Glacier, the Crown Jewel of the Rockies. Known for its glaciers and jagged peaks, wildlife and the engineering marvel known as Going-To-The-Sun Road.
With ‘big’ parks like Glacier, Yosemite and Yellowstone you have to start planning quite a ways out and then with some luck it will all fall into place for you. Last year, we tried to play the planning game with Yosemite but due to a record breaking snow pack the previous winter the section of the park that we hadn’t visited was still closed when we were due to go there. Glacier tried to set us up this year with a snow fall in late August that actually closed Going-To-The-Sun Road but seems like the snow was short lived but Glacier is last on our agenda so hopefully the weather plays nice.
This trip originated as a 10 day trip, but with my new role at work and being able to work from anywhere I asked my boss if I could work from the road on Tuesday and Wednesday (Monday being a holiday) and he was like “sure.” With that sign-off, we extended the trip to include the Labor Day weekend too.
Our flight out left at 715am (430am wake up) and after a connection in Sal-tlay-Ka-Siti (Salt Lake City) and we arrived in Kalispell, Montana around noon local time and then 3.5 hours drive up into Canada for our first location of the trip (Radium Hot Springs). We checked into our hotel, which appears to be run by a cute family, and the lady who checked us in seemed to be shocked that we were going to stay for 4 nights and was curious as to what in the world we were going to do for that many days. As it turned out, in typical Matt and Rebe fashion we didn’t really have a concrete plan for these 4 days but we figured we could find something to do. If not, we could just chill in the hot tub, though it seems to be wasp and mosquito season up here.
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| Austrian Dinner |
Dinner was at this excellent Austrian restaurant just a 6 minute walk from the hotel, after which we relaxed in the room before getting in the giant swim spa (hot tub) that is onsite at the hotel. Then it was time for some detailed planning of the next few days and to bed.
Day 2
First full day in Canada while staying in Radium Hot Springs, the plan that was developed during dinner was for us to spend the day in Kooteney National Park. It’s not a HUGE park, but since it is situated next to Banff and Yoho National Parks one would expect it to also be a beautiful place.
We got up at 8am for breakfast at the local ice cream shop, our hotel actually has a deal with the ice cream shop which serves crepes and other goodies. We had a breakfast sandwich, we also picked up a sandwich for lunch while on the trail but we also needed some bear spray so we headed to the gas station for chips and bear spray. Of course the gas station didn’t have bear spray… oh what’s bear spray you ask? Think of it as an industrial pepper spray that shoots 30 feet as a deterrent for bears. Does it work!? I don’t really want to find out. The grocery store DID have bear spray, so we grabbed some and a few other snacks for the day and then got on the road for our destination deep into the park.
Driving through the park we stopped at the usual viewpoints to take a few snaps, but mainly pushed on through down to Numa Falls. We had spoke to our hotel manager at check in and she told us about Numa Falls and said it was a short hike, well we got there ready for short hike and the falls were literally at the end of the parking lot. We had put on our hiking boots and we should have just kept the crocs on.
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| Early pic from the trail |
Then it was over to the main event for the day, Stanley Glacier. It was just a simple hike to the base of the glacier but of course there was a the bonus half mile from hell at the end, which was not apart of the official trail but if you’re daring enough you can hike up another 1000’ (300m) to see the tongue of the glacier and a few secret waterfalls deeper in the back of the canyon. Before we ventured into the half mile from hell, I tried to dissuade Rebe but she was adamant in her new fitness levels that we attack this last bit. The last bit was all skree from when the glacier was active and churned up the rocks and pulverized them into pea gravel, and when climbing up and down the face of the valley it makes it a bit slick. But we made it.
While at the top, I was feening for a snack and usually Rebe keeps a safety snack for me but this time she was coming up short, but deep in the bowels of her backpack she pulled out 2 snacks from the Costa Rica trip from back in June. Classic Rebe.
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| Rebe and Stanley Glacier |
The hike down was uneventful and when back in the car we drove toward Alberta for a bit just to see a little more of the road before heading back in to Koontney and a final stop at Marble Canyon. Marble Canyon is a tight slot canyon formed by a waterfall at then end which has cut a magnificent canyon.
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| Marble Canyon |
But while in the canyon we saw a man and a woman suiting up to go into the canyon? This couldn't have been sanctioned by the park, and after we were done touring the canyon we waited and watched them. They then repelled into the canyon while wearing wetsuits, they then body surfed through the canyon in the glacier water.
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| Note the guy on the bottom, woman on the line |
From there we headed back to Radium Hot Springs, dinner was at a pub with live music. Good music, good food.
Day 3
Same morning routine with breakfast at the ice cream shop, but yesterday the gate attendant at the park messed up our entrance fee so we had to fix it at the Kooteney Info Center in town which was basically next to the ice cream shop. While there we got to bug the rangers for things to do up in Golden, BC where we were going for the day.
First stop for Golden was the Golden SkyBridge, this is a tourism spot situated on the edge of a canyon with 2 large cable suspension bridges that span the canyon. Also on site they have a ropes course, a single rider roller coaster, and a zip line that goes over the canyon. We opted for the coaster, the bridge is simply included in the admission. It’s a really cool location for a park and the canyon is spectacular but the site still oozes of tourist trap and the prices show it. We crossed over the upper bridge to where the coaster was located, rode it twice and then crossed the lower bridge. We hung out for a bit before heading to our second location, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (KHMR).
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| One of the skybridges |
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| Us on the coaster |
KMRH is a ski resort in the winter but during the summer time they have created a large number of mountain bike trails down the mountain and today was business as usual with hundreds of people and their mountain bikes going up the gondola so they could ride the trails back down the hill. While Rebe and I didn’t have bikes we did take the ride to the top, there is a restaurant at the top but it was booked solid for a party so we just ate sandwiches we had purchased last night in preparation for today.
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| Bike trails on the mountain |
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| Trail at the top |
After lunch the weather turned and a storm rolled in, so we were trapped at the top of the mountain until it cleared, you know wind, rain, a little lightning, the whole shebang. When it finally cleared we did a few short hikes/walks around the top of the mountain, took a quick nap in some Adirondack chairs before catching one of the last cars back down the mountain.
We had one more stop planned for the day and that was at the Lower Bugaboo falls, and now that I read the name again I think the name could be apt. We had read that this area was buggy, but I do not think I’ve ever seen this many mosquitoes at once in my life easily counted 12 on Rebe alone at one point. We were the only people at the trailhead, but we DEET’ed up and hiked to the waterfall all while swatting mosquitoes the entire time. Luckily the waterfall was worth the bugs, and they seemed to abate while we were gazing at the waterfall which was powerful and maybe one of the best we have ever seen (and if you’re a frequent visitor of the blog, you know we’ve seen quite a few).
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| Lower Bugaboo Falls |
From there it was back to Radium and dinner again at the Austrian place, we could have tried somewhere new but since it was a holiday everywhere else was probably booked so we just played it safe with what we knew.
Day 4
Before I left Houston, I spoke to my boss about working from the road for two days before going on my official vacation so most of my day was sat in the hotel room banging on the keyboard and making phone calls with my team and others in the company. Shout out to the guy from France who cornered me for an hour somehow.
Before the work day was complete, Rebe ran into town to grab our breakfast and called me to let me know that bighorn sheep were just out walking down the street. I wasn’t in a meeting at the time so I walked down to the street to capture a few images of them up close.
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| Big Horn in town |
After work was complete Rebe and I took an afternoon nap, cause why not, and then it was over to the Radium Hot Spring, not the town because that was where we were staying but to the actual spring. Okay it’s not a spring but the town has a pool that is heated by the spring and they also have a normal temperature pool in case you want to soak or swim in normal water. We hung out at the hot pool for a few hours chit chatting with some people from Utah and two other couples from Edmonton. Sitting in hot water for a long period of time requires a dunk in the cold pool and the facility had a small what one would think is a hot tub size but it was filled with ice cold water. The water is so cold that after about 1 minute your hands and feet start to feel tingly, at least mine do, this is good to rejuvenate the body so you’re then ready to get back in the hot pool. After quite a few hot-cold cycles it was dinner time and thinking we had eaten at all the good places in Radium we headed down to Invermere, which is a town just 10 miles away with plans to eat at Birchwood. Drove all the way there and the restaurant was closed due to being open yesterday which was Labour Day in Canada, now we had to find a new place to eat and granted everything in these small towns closes at 7 so it’s not like you can sit around until 7 and start making dinner plans. We found a cute place called Fuze which did bowls, wraps and burritos and happened to be quite amazing.
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| The Hot Spring (this actually the cool pool) |
When we checked into the hotel, the manager told us about Invermere and its “beach.” I think beach is a stretch of the imagination but it’s definitely a nice area along Windermere Lake that is worth checking out for a cool hangout. We sat in a bench swing for a while just enjoying the lake and the surrounding mountains, then it was time to get some dessert but we kept being distracted by animals. First a deer in the middle of town, then a herd of elk on the main road, then another deer back in Radium. Ice cream was at Screamers (the breakfast location), we took it to an overlook just outside of town to enjoy the sunset and then called it a night.
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| The "beach" |
Waterton National Park
Day 5
A mostly uneventful day, as I spent most of the day working starting at 530am. But once work was done it was a moving day as we were on our way down to Waterton National Park, the sister park of Glacier National Park just across the US border.
The drive down was uneventful with only one stop at a small waterfall just off the highway.
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| Lundbreck Falls |
Then it was into Waterton for the night, our plan for tomorrow was to hike up to Crypt Lake. It’s a doozy of a hike but you can get a head start by taking a boat ride across the lake, but you have to sign up for tickets. Well, the ticket office closed before we got there so we wondered around and I took a few pictures from the lake shore. We headed back into town to scoop up some lunch at the local Subway (there’s always a Subway in a town no matter how small) for our hike tomorrow.
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| View from the town shore |
We then made our way over the the Prince of Wales hotel, the historic hotel of the park which is obviously named after the Prince of Wales who was actually in Alberta at the time the hotel was finished but he never stayed there. We had dinner over looking the Upper Waterton Lake and after dinner we listened to a history given by one of the staff of the hotel.
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| History story time at the hotel |
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| View down Upper Waterton Lake |
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| Prince of Wales Hotel |
Day 6
The boat for the Crypt Lake hike leaves at 9am, ticket office opens at 830am so we woke up at 8am and headed over to the marina with all our gear ready to go. There was a short line but we easily got tickets for the boat, we skipped breakfast but decided to eat half our footlong subway for breakfast while waiting in line for boat tickets. Tickets were acquired and then we were on our way.
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| View once we got above the treeline |
The boat got to shore around 9:15am as it was a short ride to the trailhead and since Rebecca and I were sitting near the boat ramp we were off to the races to start this 12 mile hike which would gain 2400’ (730m) in elevation before reaching the destination of Crypt Lake. Crypt Lake is an alpine lake nestled in the mountains away from Upper Waterton Lake. The first section of the hike was through an old growth forest and straight up hill after a mile or so the trail flattened out for a few miles as it wondered through the valley between the mountains. At the end of the valley the trail started heading upwards and upwards and then it left the thick forest and headed above the tree line. Then a waterfall comes in to view, our boat captain told us that before you get to the lake you’ll see a waterfall and that waterfall is fed by the lake.
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| The second waterfall |
What the boat captain didn’t mention that there is a waterfall before the waterfall that he was talking about. So as we crest the hill looking at this majestic waterfall I notice that the other boat riders on the trail ahead of us are WAY up the path and clearly not going to a place just about the waterfall that I can see. We keep walking and it’s official THAT THIS NOT THE END THE HIKE… we were probably half way and not even half way in terms of elevation gain. We keep hiking past the waterfall and slowly another one comes in to view and it is a LONG ways away. Well…keep walking.
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| Where we were heading |
On this hike there is a ladder, which leads into a tunnel, yep a natural tunnel that is shaped like an hourglass. In the middle of the tunnel it is 1.5’ wide and 4’ tall so you have to squeeze through a little bit but you could see straight through it so little feeling of being trapped. After you come out of the tunnel you are lead onto a ledge and need to hold on to chains as you are over a 600’ drop. After the chains it’s another few switchbacks before you come on to the lake.
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| The sketchy ledge before the chains |
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| The Tunnel |
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| Crypt Lake |
The thing about this hike is that you have to do the hike in a certain amount of time, because other than the boat there’s not really a way to get back to the marina (the marina is across the lake from the trailhead so it’s not an easy walk around the lake if you miss the boat). The boat captain said, “if you don’t make it to the lake by 1pm, go ahead and turn around as you’re probably going to miss the boat.” We got up the the lake by noon, so we had plenty of time to enjoy the lake, soak our feet in the lake and Rebe even went for a dip.
The hike down was uneventful but still a slog as the legs had had enough (downhill isn’t a joke), and we caught the boat with plenty of time. We walked through Waterton (the town) and got dinner at Weiners of Waterton, the local hot dog shop. The shop sells sausage and hot dogs with custom sauces and toppings, we sat outside at a picnic table and enjoyed the nice weather. Afterwards we took a shower and then went back out to look for animals on the Red Rock Parkway, made it to the end of the road and didn’t see damn thing, but on the way back we got a glance of a momma bear and her cub, tried to turn around and see them again but they had vanished. We also saw a couple of deer… boooooo. By this time it was quite dark so we called it a night.
Day 7
I woke up at 6am but didn’t really get up until 7am and I thought I would take a stab at going back to over to Red Rock Parkway and seeing if I could find some animals in the morning light, maybe snap a few pics too. Rebe heard me trying to sneak out, so she wanted to tag along and see some animals too. Of course we didn’t see a damn thing but we tried. We had a 10am boat ride down the Upper Waterton Lake down to the ranger station in Glacier National Park on the US side of the border and after a 20 minute Power Nap we headed to the marina for the boat ride. The boat had ample seating up top so we sat up top and during the trip down the boat captain stopped the boat in the middle of the lake because a bear decided he was going to swim across the lake. Apparently a rare sighting, but it happens.
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| Northern edge of Glacier Park |
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| More Glacier |
Once down in Glacier everyone on the boat disembarked for 30mins, we all listened to the US Ranger give a talk about the area of the park which was named “Goat Haunt.” After the talk we all piled back on to the boat and headed back to Canada. No swimming bears on the way back, just a few bald eagles flying overhead.
After the boat ride we headed to the outdoors store, which was closed for lunch, so we then headed to lunch and the spot we picked wasn’t even open for lunch. We then tried to go to the visitor’s center of the park for a post card and they didn’t have any post cards or souvenirs…just striking out all over the place. So back to the hotel to figure out an actual lunch plan, found a place called Zum’s, called in an order to-go, picked it up and then headed for the Akamina Highway to enjoy another scenic road in the park (We also stopped again at the outdoors store because I finally realized that hiking poles might save my legs on these hikes so I invested in a pair while on this trip). We ate our lunch at a picnic area all while shooing away the local squirrel. Oh, right be before lunch we saw a mother black bear and her two cubs.
At the end of the Akamina Highway is Cameron Lake, just like Crypt Lake it is an alpine lake sat in a bowl but just at a much lower altitude. We took a walk along the west side of the lake, just a little out and back along the lake. After the hike we headed back into town to prep for tomorrow’s mega hike with another Subway breakfast/lunch combo that we would carry with us. Then it was back to Red Rock Parkway to go see the the Blakiston Falls and the actual Red Rock Canyon itself.
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| Blakiston Falls |
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| Red Rock Canyon |
When all of that was finished it was 8pm and Waterton being the small town that it is, all the restaurants close at 8, or before so our options were limited. We settled on the Thirsty Bear, and while it looked nice the food was a bit of a let down. Then it was to bed to rest before the slog tomorrow.
Day 8
Another day, another slog. Today we found ourselves on the second leg of the Waterton Triple Crown, this was the Cathew Anderson trail (the first leg being Crypt Lake). This was a hike from Cameron Lake back to Waterton Park (the town). Yesterday while I was buying my hiking sticks at the outdoors store, we actually signed up for the shuttle from town to Cameron Lake with the intentions of hiking 12 miles over a mountain. We were on the fence yesterday about what hike to do for the last big one but the ranger from the Goat Haunt Station said it was one of his favorites, we had the time and said “why not?”
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| The Shuttle |
We caught the shuttle at 830am along with 21 other people, the bus driver dropped us off at the lake and she gave us her 3 minute spiel that she’s being giving since ’78 (she literally said that’s how long she’s been driving the bus) and then we were on our way. We stopped at the restroom and gave everyone else a head start as today, unlike when we were on our hike to Crypt Lake, there was no time limit of getting back to the boat so we had time to spare. We finally made it to the trail head and started our hike up the hill next to Cameron Lake, yesterday when we were hiking around Cameron Lake we were looking up the hill trying to figure out where the trail was, I still think we were looking at the wrong ledges from the lake.
After cresting the mountain, we hiked across a flat section and reached Summit Lake. Nothing really to look at but a good place to take a break and scout for bears and we actually did spot a grizzly on the far side of the lake. The bear was not a threat to us but cool to see. While at the lake I was trying to flag down other hikers as my new hiking poles needed adjusting and I needed someone with a screwdriver or one of those fancy multi-tools. EVERYONE HAS A KNIFE but not a damn muliti-tool with a screwdriver. Whatever, carry on up the hill, but this is where the hike starts to get serious as you exit the tree line and start on the the steeper section of the hike out in the open up to the top of the ridge. Such a great part of the hike, the hike takes place in the most southern section of the park and looks directly into the awesomeness that is Glacier National Park (sadly the direction of the sun kills the epicness).
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| Summit Lake |
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| Summit view from Waterton in Glacier |
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| View looking south back into Waterton |
We ate our lunch at the top of the ridge and enjoyed the views of Glacier National Park and we even hiked up to an even higher point on the ridge but the views from there were somewhat worse. By the time we finished lunch and the higher viewpoint the rest of the crew that was on the trail with us had started down the backside of the ridge and headed towards the other alpine lakes that were on this route, and we soon followed.
Nothing really eventful on the hike down, just steep terrain and beautiful lakes where would we dunk our shirts to keep cool. We finally stopped again at Alderson Lake to rest our feet and give them a good soak in the water, also had a chance to eat our second snack. From Alderson we had another 2.5 miles (4.8km) until we were back in Waterton, the trail from the lake was mostly flat and through thick forest. This would probably be prime bear country so we kept speaking aloud to alert the bears of our presence and typically when they hear the humans coming they move along. We were getting close the end of the trail and we were crossing a small drainage stream and I tried to step over a rock but kicked it forward instead and it prevented me from putting my foot down. Gravity then decided it was time for me to take a closer look at the ground. Got two nice gashes on my hand and bruised knee because of that one, luckily some hikers right behind us had some alcohol wipes and a large bandage. After reorienting myself, Rebe and I finally made it down the hill back into town right beside Cameron Falls.
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| Cameron Falls |
We then headed straight for the pizza joint in town for dinner, tonight would be a two beer night. From dinner we made our way over the the lake for a quick knee deep soak before calling it a night after a very long day on the trail.
Glacier National Park
Day 9
I didn’t sleep well but after getting back to sleep at 3am I slept until about 8am which is about the time that the sun comes up, which meant there was going to be good light for photography. I had already warned Rebe that I would get up and go take pictures and she could sleep in. First I went over to the Prince of Wales hotel to catch a last sunrise glimpse of the lake, I then told myself that I would leave the park and take some photos of the mountains from a distance, we had seen the views of the park on the way in and they looked interesting but before I could get to the exit of the park I saw a few people pulled over on the side of the road. Whenever you see a few people pulled over you have to wonder what in the world are they looking at. BEARS, a momma bear and two cubs.
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| Early morning Upper Waterton Lake taken from the back of Prince of Wales Hotel |
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| Prince of Wales Hotel from a distance |
After the bears I headed to the exit and noticed that it was kind of hazy out, as it had been all week so I turned back around to catch a few more pics of the bears and this time the crowd was even larger. The second session of the bear pics lasted slightly longer than the first session but I had had enough so I headed back into town. Yesterday I had an issue with my hiking poles so I was going to stop in to the outdoor store for a repair but as soon as I popped the trunk I realized that I had left the pole in the room with sleeping Rebe. I then headed over to Cameron Falls with my trusty tripod to get a few blurred water shots of the waterfall.
I got back to the room woke up Rebe and then we checked out of the hotel, packed the car and headed to breakfast at Zum’s for a nice breakfast out on the patio (wasps included). Before leaving town we stopped at the outdoor store for a repair and the bus driver from yesterday just gave me a new set of hiking poles, something something faulty… I don’t know I let her do her thing.
We were then on the road for Glacier National Park, and we were gonna have a go at seeing the Many Glacier section of the park but today was the absolute last day that you needed to have a reservation to drive in the park. We knew about the reservations and knew they would be ending during our time just didn’t remember which day it was happening. With that plan scrapped we headed to our hotel to see if we could check-in in early, apparently there was a mix up with our reservation and they didn’t have a room for us on our last day. She told us not to worry and that it would be sorted in 15 minutes, we could wait around or we could go explore.
We decided to explore and headed down to the Two Medicine Lake area of the park, this is a much less traveled part of the park and being that we thought it wouldn’t be crowded especially towards the end of the season. WE WERE WRONG. Got to the gate and the ranger told us to come back at 3pm as the lot was full and it was 220pm. We drove back up the road and took a nap, at least I did and when 3 rolled around we pulled right through the gate and found a parking space. We had a few options, take the leisure boat tour down the lake and then potentially tag on a hike? Just hike some shorter trails or do a long trail and see it all? We decided on a few quick short hikes to Aster Falls, Paradise Point and Running Horse falls.
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| Two Medicine Lake from Paradise Point |
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| Aster Falls |
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| Running Horse Falls |
We opted for dinner in East Glacier Park as we figured back near our hotel would be more populated and thus a longer wait for dinner. Found a nice spot for a burger and then headed back to St. Mary to meet our tiny house.
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| Tiny Cabin, separate bathroom on the left |
Day 10
First big hike of Glacier would be the hike up to Grinnel Glacier, Rebe being the super researcher and planner that she is she locked down boat tickets for us weeks ago before we got to the park and this alone saved us 4 total miles off the hike today. So instead of hiking 12 miles we only would have to do 8 miles up to the glacier.
The day started with a quick breakfast sandwich pick up at the hotel and we needed to get over to the Many Glacier hotel parking lot early to catch our boat. The parking lot was surprisingly full at 8am, but being a national park, I don’t know why I was surprised by the sheer number of people who are willing to get up early to get a space. The spaces are hard to come by so I totally get why the lot was packed, but the lot was also full due to the the giant hotel on site, I doubt the hotel was full but it’s a pretty big hotel and if the hotel was full I doubt that lot would have many extra spaces.
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| View from the trailhead |
We caught our 830 boat across Swiftcurrent Lake, then walked .25 mile over to Josephine lake to catch our second boat to the trailhead, this was our 2 mile head start on our way up to the glacier. The views from the hotel, and all the way up to the glacier we just stupendous. This hike alone has me thinking that this might be the most epic National Park in the system. I’ve gushed about the Valley in Yosemite, the massive mountain in Denali, and all the cool stuff in Utah but this place deserves all the hype just from this one hike alone… and I’ve only been here one day.
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| Grinnel Lake and mountains |
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| Grinnel Lake and the mountains again |
The hike to the top was rough enough but nothing too too wild, and at the top we sat around talking about the glacier (or lack thereof) and the surrounding geology. After going through the Grand Canyon and all the Utah parks I have become fascinated with how stuff was formed and in Glacier (and Waterton) you can really see ALL of the layers of history just laid out in the mountains. I found this really unique band in the mountains and then in an another section you can see that same band but twisted vertically.
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| Upper Grinnel Lake |
We started our hike down and after the steep section there is a bathroom on the trail (hole in the ground) and there just happened to be a big horn sheep standing around eating. (No good pics as he was behind a lot of trees)
Cool, first animal on the trail. Keep working our way down the trail and we see 5 more big horns just running around in a valley above the trail (still far away).
We stood around and watched these for a few before we continued further down the trail, we were telling others about the sheep so they could see them and then a guy says, “Well there a bighorn just posing next to the trail down there!” We’re coming down the side of the mountain and we’re still a good 20 minutes away from the location he’s pointing at and sure enough you could see the sheep just posing on this rock literally just off the trail. We kick it into high gear and speed walk down the trail, pushing slow walkers out of the way (not really). But we get there and he’s still posing and even after we had took enough photos, he just stayed there.
Found another sheep doing the same thing above the trail.
After all the posing animals we made it to the bottom and then had a choice of what to do, catch the boat back to the car or walk another mile to see blue Grinell Lake and Hidden Falls. We picked the extra mile, but before we tried to get on the wait list for the 415 boat but the guy with the clipboard said no. We had a little more than an hour to cover the required two miles and get back for the boat so we hightailed it to the lake.
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| Grinnel Lake from the shore |
Then scrambled up the hill to see the falls
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| Hidden Falls |
Then RAN back to get in line for the 415 boat, of course now more people had gotten in front of us and since all the people riding the boat didn’t actually get off the boat we now had to wait for the 5pm boat… Long story short, 5pm boat, couldn’t get a table for dinner until 610pm and then tried to see moose at Fishercap Lake but none showed. Though we did see a moose right before we tried to sweet talk the boat guy.
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| Lady Moose |
Day 11
What a day… After seeing inside Glacier National Park and the Going-to-the-Sun Road and it’s traffic I don’t know why anyone would want to try to park a car inside the National Park with their personal car. The place is a zoo/madhouse, and this is literally the end of the season before everything shuts down. Our plan for today was to hike from Logan’s Pass, the main Visitor’s Center in the center of the park, to another section of the park and ride the shuttle back to Logan’s Pass. The Shuttle runs until 420pm in the end of the season so you have to be moving on the trail if you don’t start early… we didn’t start early. So we roll into the park around 9am because Rebe wanted to sleep in a little, doesn’t matter why but what matters is by the time we got to Logan’s Pass the parking lot was full and there were already lines of cars circling the parking lot like vultures.
We then moved on to plan B which was to park where we were going to end our hike and then ride the shuttle to Logan’s Pass and then just hop in our car when we finished. We FOUND A PLACE TO PARK! After finding a place to park we walked over to the shuttle stop and the people who were waiting for the shuttle had been waiting for an hour already and 2 shuttles passed them by. An Australian family decided it was time to stick a thumb out and hitchhike back to Logan’s. After 15 minutes of failure, someone actually stopped! The family hopped in and they were on their way, then another family tried the same and they also got picked up. Well it was our turn, Rebe was out with the thumb and then the actual shuttle rolls up but only 2 spaces on the bus since it was coming from the hotels further down the hill. We made it to Logan’s, and as we got there we saw all the other hitchhikers and the the family who was hitchhiking behind us.
After a little shopping and 20 mins waiting in line of the toilet we finally got on the trail. Plan was to cover the Highline Trail which goes from Logan’s Pass to The Loop (a famous turn on The Sun Road). This would cover 12 miles of trail, parallel the road for a while and gaining a little elevation in doing so.
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| Granite Chalet |
It was a good slog, with wonderful views and if you can’t really see the park while driving, the Highline Trail delivers the views. We ran into a few people on the trail who were gonna run out of time to catch the shuttle or going to have to walk back to the their car. One couple parked 2 miles from their car and walked up to Logan’s Pass just to do the trail, as we were driving home we saw the guy just walking down the road back to his car (there is no sidewalk on the Sun Road). If you play the shoulder season game, make sure you time it right or you could be in for a long walk or hitching a ride back to your car.
After the hike, we took a few stops on the road one to catch a black bear foraging and then another for some sunset/good sky pics. Then it was over to dinner back at our hotel.
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| Black Bear |
The aurora was supposed to be great tonight, I gave it a shot but didn’t see much so we just went to bed.
Day 12
After trying to break Rebe for two days straight we (read Rebe) decided we would take today easier. I woke up at 630am or so and tossed around thinking I should go out and take some pictures since this was our last morning to start on the east side of the park. I got the itch and finally got up and drove over to the Many Glacier area, it was 30 minutes away but close enough that I was easily able to get parking.
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| Grinnel Point |
This was one of the iconic places of the park so I thought I would try to capture it again, I took some shots and then moved back over to Fishercap lake in hopes of seeing a moose. Of course I didn’t see one or anything else at the lake.
I left the lake to return to pack up the hotel with Rebe, we had breakfast before driving to the St. Mary’s Visitor’s Center to catch the shuttle. One would expect a location with a shuttle pickup to have a very large parking lot but St. Mary’s DOES NOT have a large parking area for shuttle riders. I’m still trying to figure out what the park service is doing in offering a shuttle but no where for shuttle riders to park?! We must have timed it perfectly because we pulled up and someone was leaving and we got a good spot. We quickly went in to check out the visitor's center and then packed up and caught the shuttle over to Sun Point. We had slightly bigger plans for the day but due to timing and what all we were going to do from Sun Point it just didn’t make sense to try and squeeze the rest of the plan into the day. From Sun Point Shuttle stop we of course went to Sun Point which is a beautiful spot on the edge of St. Mary Lake that overlooks the mountains of the park. If it wasn’t so hazy it would be an awesome spot, maybe I’ll try to sneak back over here if I have time later in the week and the weather is nicer.
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| Sun Point |
From Sun Point we hiked to three waterfalls over 3 or so miles (5km), the falls were Baring Falls, St Mary Falls, and Virginia Falls.
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| Baring Falls |
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| St. Mary's Falls |
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| Virginia Falls |
We then hiked to a closer shuttle stop with the intention of getting back to our car, and as we got to the shuttle stop it was packed with at least 12 people. Since we arrived last it would mean we would probably have to wait for the 2nd shuttle. Learning from yesterday, we thought why not try this hitchhiking thing like our Aussie friends from yesterday and less than 5 minutes of thumbing a guy with a truck from Alberta who was going to the Visitor’s Center pulled over and we hopped in. We got a nice open top ride through the park and he dropped us off right where we needed to go.
We then headed back into to the park, it was now getting close to 5pm and the park is usually thinning out by this time, we stopped at a pull out to check out a mountain goat up on a ridge.
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| Swole Goat |
Then we continued up to Logan’s Pass just to have a look around, wasn’t really expecting much and we were looking at some exhibits on a nature trail of sorts and Rebe says, “MATT…BEAR!” I was shook as she didn’t give me any reference as to how close the bear actually was, was I in immediate danger or was this a “hey come check out this cool grizzly I found.” The bear was a good distance away but he/she just walked out of the trees RIGHT BEHIND the visitors center and then causally walked back into the trees. We were the only people who saw this bear and of course we told everyone and since I got pictures they knew we weren’t lying but the bear never came back out of the trees. For all we know the bear could have gone in the opposite direction.
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| Causal grizzly appearance |
From there we headed west down to Lake McDonald area where we are spending the rest of our nights here in the park. Dinner was at the lodge and then it was off to the room for the night.
Day 13
First full day from the Lake McDonald side of the park and staying here in retrospect might have been a mistake as all the “good” stuff relative to the great hikes all leave from the west side or Logans Pass, either way we’ll make do because that’s what you do. The weather has taken a bit of a turn and yesterday we saw that the main and only road through the park was to be closed today due to the weather, fearing for landslide due to the rain. Knowing this we planned to do something on the Lake McDonald side of the park since we were already here and trapped.
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| Avalanche Creek |
Our plan was to hike up to Avalanche Lake from the Avalanche Creek area of the park which is just a short drive from the Lake McDonald area. This area, being inside the park, there would be a battle for parking spaces and though we got there just before 9 there was luckily a space (and quite a few by Glacier standards). After getting our space, we settled into our gear and started along the trail, but before getting to the main trail we had to walk through the Trail of the Cedars, which goes through an area of the park that is very similar to what you would experience in the Pacific Northwest and is the furthermost area in which one can find Western Red Cedar trees, and these trees are much larger than the typical tree that is found the eastern side of the park.
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| Avalanche Lake |
The hike up to Avalanche Lake was a slight elevation gain but nothing compared to the monster hikes we had done earlier in the week, we got to the top, had our snack and took our time just walking around. From where we had our snack you could see some waterfalls that feed into the lake, but they were not quite close to the lake. Another group popped out of the woods saying they had just come from the waterfall, and it was definitely worth the hike through the woods and down the creek bed. Pure bear country… yep we did it. The hike was a bit tough up the creek bed, twisted ankles, trees trying to stab you in the face and leg and of course not trying to get our hiking boots soaked from criss-crossing the stream as we got closer to the waterfall. In the end I think the view was worth it, now if it was summer time, hotter and I had my patented pair of crocs to wade in the stream we probably would have gone farther.
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| Memorial Falls - worth it right? |
The hike back was nothing to write about, but then we had a few more hours and we thought maybe we could squeeze another hike in and maybe even do Hidden Lake trail, which leaves from Logan’s pass. We hopped in the car, oh… they did indeed open the main road through the park a few minutes before we started our morning hike. Up the road we went and by this time of the day we easily found parking at Logan’s, but the visitor center was closed AND the weather which was forecasted to close the road (but didn’t) did bring in some major clouds into the upper sections of the park so much so that you couldn’t really see anything but clouds/fog. Since the weather was crap and the Visitor’s Center was closed we headed BACK down the road to the Apgar Visitor’s Center to speak with the rangers and formulate a plan for Friday and Saturday which again would be weather dependent.
Speaking with the rangers gave us some ideas for tomorrow, we then had dinner in West Glacier, picked up some breakfast and lunch for tomorrow, gassed up (4.11/gallon) before heading to the room to call it a night.
Day 14
“I drove a lot, I walked a lot, it rained a lot, I ate a lot..I slept a little”
Today was our last BIG day in the park, we were going to go hard again tomorrow but decided it was time to take a break and I was actually getting tired of dealing with the crowds of the park and driving so far into the park. We could have take the shuttle but there’s a level of stress to that too. For today we were actually going back to the Many Glacier area of the park and from our current hotel it was about 2 hours away. Seems like a lot of the “good” hikes are on the east side of the park, so if you ever come to Glacier and plan to do the big hikes you’ll probably want to stay in St. Mary as it’s kind of “central.” I put that in quotes because the park is big and everything this is far.
Fear of getting a place to park is still a thing this late in the season, we got up at 6am with the intention of getting to Many Glacier by 820am or so. Usually in small towns or rural areas of the country if you get up at this hour and you are on the road you would probably have the road to yourself, but not in a national park and especially not Glacier. We pulled up to the main road back into the park and we see nothing but a steady stream of headlights and taillights passing by all going in to the park. I found a large enough gap and joined the train in to the park. Going was steady into the park, no big drama until we got within 2 or 3 miles (3.2 or 4.8km) of the top (Logan's Pass) and the fog/clouds just covered the road. The road at the top is 3500 feet (1066m) higher than where the hotel is so of course the weather is different and as we got near the top the lead car came to a crawl. Looking in the rearview you could see the stream of headlights 20, 30 deep back down the mountain. It was really interesting to see how many people got up this early to get a spot at the top of the mountain, and it is also interesting that the park service hasn’t expanded the parking lot at the top but I guess doing so would destroy the habitats of the animals that live up near the parking lot. Remember we saw a bear, less that 200yds(~200m) away from the parking area at the top, we checked if the lot was full at the top and it wasn’t so it did give us and idea of what time you’d need to get up to get a space.
But we weren’t going to the top we were going to the complete other side of the park, and we exited the lot and continued down the other side of the mountain. Quickly came out of the fog and down the road, mostly in second and third gear to not burn up the brakes. And after the 2 hour drive we arrived at our destination and there was PLENTY of parking but the area where we had parked was the Swiftcurrent Motel and just a few days ago the area was buzzing but now the motel and all the cabins were boarded up for the season and all the restrooms were closed. Luckily the RV sites still had a restroom available.
We ate breakfast in the car, and then it started to rain lightly. We were prepared for the rain with our rain jackets and hiking boots so a little rain won’t be that bad, or so we thought. The goal was to get to Iceberg Lake, only a 5 mile (8km) hike to the lake with a gradual incline to get there. As we got on the trail, the rain got heavier and heavier but never reached outright downpour but 2 and a half hours of rain did get us pretty wet and as it turns out our rain jackets which are now 14 years old turn out to not be as effective as they originally were so our jackets just soaked through (time for new rain jackets). Meaning not only was our jacket wet, the shirts under them were wet too, oh and yes the temperature was dropping and why not add some wind to the mix. Mud too? Yep, you guessed it. We did make it to the lake and I was getting hungry as the breakfast I had wasn’t enough so I was keen to eat my sandwich I had brought with me, Rebe asked, “do you want to find a tree to eat under?” I responded, “Why, we’re already soaked through, might as well enjoy the view while eating.”
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| No photo of this place could do it justice |
Just as we sat down, the rain stopped. The clouds did not really clear but they did let a bit of sunlight in and all the rain that was falling had created numerous waterfalls that flowed into the lake, it was quite majestic. Not an ideal day for a hike but the reward this time was worth the suffering.
The hike back down was eventful also, just before leaving Rebe spotted 4 mountain goats up on the ridge just above the lake, I didn't take a pic of the white specs.
Then people who arrived after us commented on seeing a momma grizzly and two cubs near the trail, there is always mixed emotions about seeing a bear. Of course you want to see wildlife and of course you don’t want to piss off a 400-600 pound (180-270kg) animal. The bears had left the trail area, but we did see them scurrying along at the top of the ridge and were able to follow them for a while. By the time we got to the end of the trail it was mostly sunny and gorgeous in the Many Glacier area.
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| Swiftcurrent Valley |
We got back in the car to take the 2 hour drive back across the park, up over the mountain pass. Many Glacier and the main road are actually not that far from each other as the bird flies but going up the mountain proved that the weather was not the same. The same clouds and fog that we saw in the morning still persisted, though not as thick, and was raining and even sleeting while cresting the hill at Logan's Pass. We were going to get out, but just decided to keep on going back to the hotel.
Rebe took a shower, I took a power nap, I took a shower and then we headed to Coram, MT for dinner. We ate at Josephine’s Speakeasy, a kitchen that is associated with the Glacier Distillery. Hands down the best meal we have had on this trip. We finished the night hanging out by the fireplace at the Lake McDonald Lodge.
Day 15
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| McDonald Falls |
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| Sacred Dancing Cascade |
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