Glacier National Park
We left Keuka early largely to allow a visit to Glacier before the weather turns wintery. Still, we underestimated how crowded the park would be.
Lake Saint Mary
We entered through the east side of the main park at St. Mary, which brings you in immediately to Saint Mary Lake. This is the starting point of the west-bound Going-to-the-Sun Road, the main dramatic throughway in the park. With the long day of driving (we came from east of Havre MT) we didn’t have any big hikes planned - just some short scenic hikes.
Our first was Sun Point viewpoint and Baring Falls, an easy 1.75 mile hike with some great views of Saint Mary Lake. We then drove up to the pinnacle of Going-to-the-Sun Road at Logan Pass, hoping to hike the Hidden Lake Overlook. The lot was full, with many cars and camper vans orbiting and hoping for a spot. We moved on and finished the spectacular descent from Logan Pass down to the Avalanche Creek area for another hike.
There we combined the Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake for about 4.5 miles of beautiful wooded hiking. And a big black bear that we were mostly following through about a quarter mile of our return. The bear kept returning to our trail and seemed immune to any of our callouts and cries for it to leave. I did not mind.
Boat tour of Lake McDonald
Our final stop before checking into the campground was at the north end of Lake McDonald near the lodge for a boat tour. The sun was out and the lake was flat; the 21-year-old narrator was just OK.
We camped in the Apgar campground, one of the better National Park sites we’ve had. One of the loops even has a shower, unusual for the parks. We also appreciated the dump station where we were able to refill our fresh water tank.
To drive the east-bound Going-to-the-Sun Road between 7am and 3pm during the summer (and shoulder) season you need a pass; ours was for 1pm-3pm, the only time I could get and it was mainly as a backup. In order to get a parking spot at Logan Pass we knew it would be smart to head up early in any case, so we left just after 6am to get to the parking lot just after 7am; the lot was already half full.
Julie hiking on the Highline Trail
Our plan was to hike the Highline trail to Haystack Butte, the final part of the trail being unofficial and not part of the park trail network. The opening portion was majestic, with a narrow high-consequence trail running above and parallel to the road below.
Chris near Haystack Butte
At Haystack Pass we made a left turn seeking out the social trail to take us to the top of the butte. It was steep at times but not too rough, and the payoff was very high. We were alone on the butte and the views of the valley while we enjoyed our lunch were dramatic.
We have more we’d like to do in Glacier: a backpacking trip to include one of the chalets, and a visit to the Many Glacier area.
