Glacier NP

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Glacier National Park

Day 6 – July 15

Drove 510 miles

Had the continental breakfast at the Williston Microtel in North Dakota, and then got on the road toward Glacier National Park around 10:15 am. It was a long, long ride along Route 2 West.  Lots of “Big Sky” vastness and several small depressing looking but charming towns, and lots of oil derricks along the way.

I updated the journal and re-checked the Chimani Glacier NP app and my road trip spreadsheet to review our agenda for the Park.  Since we really weren’t sure when we’d end up in Glacier when planning the road trip we had no reservations for this night yet, but we called and really lucked out and got the last room at the Swift River Motor Inn in Glacier NP. We decided not to camp since we would be getting in around 8:00 pm and would be folding up the tent the following morning. Our rule of thumb was that, whenever possible, we would only camp if we were to stay at a campsite for more than one night. Got to the Many Glacier Road access road into the park around 7:30 pm. The road dead ends at our motel, and along the way we dodged many cows in the road. Arrived at the lodge around 8:00 pm and checked in. A very nice, rustic, and busy motel/lodge, very professionally run.  It was also located at the junction of several trailheads.

We ate food and got a beer and some wine at the lodge restaurant and ate out on the porch on a bench in the shadow of a mountain. Then, upon a recommendation from people on the porch, we went to Fishercap Lake, about .3 miles down a trail from the lodge parking lot to hopefully see moose in the water, and lo and behold, we saw a moose in the water. We stayed for about 10 minutes to watch her eating in the lake. We left toward the lodge as it was getting dark, and a very large, swift deer ran right in front of us on the trail, then it stopped to look at us from about 20 feet away, then took off.  Off to bed around 11:00 pm.

Iceberg Lake Trail & Going to the Sun Road

Day 7 – July 16

Drove 63 miles

Got up early, put our backpacks on, and started the Iceberg Lake Trail hike around 8:00 am. Early starts on popular hiking trails was the smart thing to do on the whole trip. Iceberg Lake Trail was a 9.5 mile round-trip hike, and the trailhead was walking distance from our room.

We spotted sure-footed goats way up in the rocky mountains along the way. It rained on us for about 15 minutes. There was very little human traffic for most of the 4.8 miles in to the lake, and we were a little nervous about bears. We found ourselves singing and making loud conversation to ward off any bear attacks. At 2.8 miles was the beautiful and pure Ptarmigan Falls. Stopped for about 10 minutes here. A bit after that, along the trail we hooked up with a couple and their college age daughter. Turned out that the mom used to work at Glacier Park and had written a book about the foliage in the park. They had bear spray, and they asked if we could all stay together since it is known that bears don’t typically attack groups of 4 or more. So we hiked the rest of the way with them. Iceberg Lake was absolutely, stunningly, spectacular. There were really icebergs in the water. The lake was surrounded on most sides by a towering wall of rock. We saw a mountain goat defying gravity up in the cliff. The ambience was almost surreal out at the edge of the lake. There were about 20 other people there all just admiring the sheer beauty and awesomeness. We met another hiker who recommended that on our way through Idaho towards North Cascades that we spend the night in Coeur d’Alene. After about 30 minutes, we pulled ourselves away from Iceberg Lake and headed back.

After the hike, we had a much needed and well deserved lunch at the Swift River Motor Inn restaurant. It started to rain hard just as we sat down for lunch…great timing! Went to Fishercap Lake again after lunch and saw a bull moose on the grass at edge of the lake. Then we drove to the famous and perilous Going to the Sun Road to check into our next motel, The Rising Sun Motor Inn in another section of the Park. We actually had made prior reservations for the next two nights here. This motel is a bit more remote, less active, and more plainly rustic than the Swift River Inn. But it is also in a great location.

Then we did part of the truly spine tingling Going to the Sun Road, up to just past Logan Pass (about half way). This cliff-side two-way road is just insane, but amazing. It is extremely hazardous due to its narrowness and steep drop offs, yet magnificently gorgeous. Emilie did most of the driving on this road since I was sure I would drive off the cliff. On the way back we saw a herd of big horn sheep in and beside the road.  We followed them to a pull-off and watched as they hovered around the cars and then took off into the alpine forest.

We had dinner at Two Dog Flats Grill at the Motor Inn. Very good food, and the only internet access in the area.

Off to bed around 11:30 pm.

Hidden Lake Trail & Highline Trail

Day 8 – July 17

Drove 85 miles

Woke up early to get to Logan Pass early to be sure we got a parking spot. The day before we noticed that when we drove by Logan Pass, the parking lot there at the Visitors Center was full, and we needed a spot to get to the Hidden Lake trailhead.  It was busy but plenty of parking left. This was at the Continental Divide. We started hiking Hidden Lake Trail from Logan Pass starting at 8:00 a.m.  We hiked over a lot of snow on this trail which was wide open for the first mile, and there were only a few people on the trail.

Along the trail we saw a small herd of goat eating at a bunch of bushes beside the trail.

Then we continued along the slippery, snowy trail and got to Hidden Lake which was breathtaking. This was truly a hidden lake until we got to the lookout platform, and we were above the clouds as well. Magnificent colors and lake reflection. We could not go further on the trail beyond this lookout at 1.5 miles because of a recent grizzly bear siting just beyond. There were several very cute and friendly hoary marmots running around us. From the lookout we watched another herd of goat come down from cliffs in the near distance all the way right down to us at the lookout deck.

The hike back down was a bit difficult with the steepness and snow combination. A lot more people were coming up by then so we definitely beat the rush…sweet. Near the bottom we saw a park ranger giving people looks into her tripod mounted binoculars at a large grizzly bear and her cub…we took a look and got glimpses of them.  We then rested and ate an early lunch on some rocks along the perimeter of the Logan Pass parking lot, which by 10:00 am was full. Em bought walking poles fairly cheaply at the Logan Pass Visitor Center after the Hidden Lake hike….she now realized she really wants them!  We also bought bear repellent spray! We then walked across the road to the other side of Logan Pass and hiked part of  Highline Trail. We only did a part of this 11 mile trail since this was our shorter trail day. But the 1.5 miles up Highline were quite the adventure. A quarter mile of it was along a very narrow cliff side trail that included a rubber hose handrail along the cliff side to avoid falling down a very steep drop down on to the Going to the Sun Road. The views were amazing, though, and not many people (likely due to that scary first quarter mile). Just beyond the handrail portion we ran into mountain goats just sitting along the trail, and then some walking on the trail. We hiked along a part of the “Garden Wall”, which was just as the name implies, a wall of flora along the cliff side, this wall also marks the continental divide.

After returning from Highline Trail we left the Logan Pass parking area and drove the rest of the Going to the Sun Road toward the end of the west side of Glacier.  We stopped at a few overlooks such as Jackson Glacier, and the Sun Drift Gorge.  We also stopped along the river to just rest a bit. We went down off the roadside a few feet and sat on some rocks with our legs cooling in the crystal clear, but very cold water.

We then stopped at Red Rocks Restoration Trail in West Glacier (at Red Rock Point) and took advantage of the sunny 73 degree weather and jumped into a small unofficial swimming hole to cool off from our hiking.  We needed to climb below the viewing station and across some fallen trees and some big rocks to get to where some others were swimming and sunning on the rocks. I changed into my swimming trunks in the car, and Em just jumped in with her hiking clothes. The water was very, very, cold but refreshing. The other 10 or so people at the swimming hole were friendly and fun. It was neat having been on a snow covered trail the same day as swimming a nearby river’s swimming hole.

Then we drove back east along the Going to the Sun Road back to the Rising Sun Motor Inn for dinner at Two Dog Flats Grill.

Then off to bed around 11:00 pm.

Grinnell Glacier Trail

Day 9 – July 18

Drove 36 miles.

We left the Rising Sun Motor Inn at 7:30 am toward Many Glacier Rd. to see about getting a boat to cut off a few miles of the Grinnell Glacier Trail which, without the boat cut-off, is 12 miles round trip. We saw a small herd of elk on the way out of Rising Sun on The Going to the Sun Road. The boat dock was at the very swanky Many Glacier Hotel which was undergoing some renovations. We found there were no spots on the boat so we started out on the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead near the hotel. This trail was truly spectacular with constant vistas of snowcaps, mountains, rolling meadows, steep drop-offs, lakes, and waterfalls. We stopped every few minutes just to take it all in. The variety of colors all around us were stunning. We literally had to pass through one waterfall that was cascading on the narrow trail along a rock wall. There we not many people on the trail as it was a bit challenging, and longer than most casual tourists go. We passed one park worker digging out about 3 feet of snow to clear a part of the trail. We finally got to the top when we discovered there was still .4 miles to go to actually get to the glacier. This .4 miles was very steep and rocky…there were stone masons there hammering out the rock to improve the trail. This was the most grueling part of any trail we did. But it was well worth it. The reward was access to the Grinnell Glacier. Beautiful beyond words (it was on the cover of National Geographic the following month).  Ice, ice, and ice, with reflections of the cliff sides in the ice and water. Towering cliffs all along the perimeter of the glacier. There was a big horn sheep just hanging out up there, with the hikers. We got within 10 feet of the ram.  We walked down to the glacier and put our hands in it, and then hung out on some rocks where dozens of fellow hikers were sunning themselves to soak it all in.  Also amazing is that we were in shorts and t-shirts hanging out at a glacier. We had to pull ourselves away finally to start our way down. Not far down, maybe a mile or so, we heard the thunder of detaching rock, and saw falling rock nearby…very scary waiting and hoping the noise would stop…it did. We cooled off in the waterfall falling on the trail on the way down. This was a lifetime experience hike.

Here are a bunch of random pics of the Grinnell Glacier hike.

 

Again, not knowing how long we were going to spend at Glacier, and now having spent another full day here, we had no reservation for the night..but again, we lucked out and got a room at the Swiftcurrent Inn due to a late cancellation, so we could chill right there without having to travel to find a room or set up camp after the long Grinnell Glacier hike. We had dinner at Swiftcurrent’s restaurant.

We went to Fishercap Lake again near dusk, and once again saw moose, but this time also a yearling, and across the lake we saw a baby moose on the edge. There were also deer, and it took us a minute to distinguish the baby moose from the deer. Off to bed, and our final night at Glacier.

Coeur d’Alene

Day 10 – July 19

Drove 225 miles

We slept late on our last morning in Glacier. On recommendation from a hiker we met at Iceberg Lake we decided to pit stop in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on the way to the North Cascades in Washington.

We got into town around 6:00 pm and parked the car to tool around. Coeur d’Alene is a very nice, artsy town with lots of sidewalk cafes and restaurants, and apparently a lot of Seattle money. We walked the “floating boardwalk” around the marina on the lake. At the marina we saw signs posted for a two-hour sunset dinner cruise on the lake that started at 7:30 pm, so we bought two of the last three tickets left, and did it. The dinner cruise on Lake Coeur d’Alene was very nice. The food was excellent. The weather was perfect. There were very expensive, gorgeous homes surrounding the lake, there were nice views all around, and we got a really great sunset. We sat with a couple in for the weekend from Canada on the top deck of the boat. We found a local Super 8 Motel after the cruise and did laundry at the motel, and went to bed.

 

Next: The North Cascades