Day 0: Sunday, August 18th
We drove all day Sunday, and reached Lake McDonald Lodge and
checked into our cabin by 6 PM local time.
There was no cell reception, and the lobby had slow wifi. We
had dinner at an Italian café close-by and watched the sunset on the shores of
Lake McDonald.
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| Lake McDonald Lodge Lobby |
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| Lake McDonald |
Day 1: Monday, August 19th
Trail: Hidden Lake, Distance: 5.2 miles round trip, 1,240 feet elevation
I woke up very early and checked my Facebook feed in the
lobby, when I read an update from the Glacier National Park account, announcing
that all trails to the Granite Park Chalet were shut down last night, based on
bear activity near the chalet. We were to scheduled to stay at the Chalet Wednesday
night, so I hoped for a quick re-opening in time for us.
We had an early breakfast in the lodge restaurant at 6:30
AM, and then drove up the Going to the Sun road, not stopping until we got to
Logan Pass. The visitor center parking lot was already full when we got there just
after 7:30 AM, but we found plenty of space in a turn-out within walking
distance.
From the Logan Pass visitor center, we hiked the Hidden Lake
trail, going up until the lookout, and then descending to the lake, encountering
a mama goat with her kid on the way – we had to step out of the trail to let it
pass.
The sun was out, and the lake water was very clear – we dipped
our feet in the lake and had our bars and coffee before hiking back out to the visitor
center.
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| Hidden Lake from the trail |
After our hike, we drove to Many Glacier hotel, where we had
reservations for two nights. We checked in around late afternoon – our room had
a complete view of Swiftcurrent Lake and Grinnell mountain, and the Garden wall
behind it. We took a nap before having our dinner at the Ptarmigan Dining room.
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| View from our hotel room |
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| The Ptarmigan Dining Hall |
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| View of the hotel from the trail to Swiftcurrent Motor Inn |
After dinner, we watched the sunset, and I went outside
after dark to photograph the starts and the milky way. There were some low
clouds that spoilt the view, but I was happy with what I got.
Day 2: Tuesday, August 20th
Trail: Iceberg Lake, Distance: 11.6 miles round trip (from Many Glacier), Elevation: 1,200 feet
Received good news on Tuesday morning, when the Granite Park
Chalet website posted an update saying all the trails were re-opened.
We walked to the Iceberg lake trailhead a mile away behind
the Swiftcurrent Inn motor lodge, and to our surprise, a park ranger was just
beginning to lead a guided hike to the lake.
The ranger stopped multiple times to talk about plants,
trees, animals, and the geology of the park. The trail had gradual elevation
gain, and when Iceberg lake came into view, it was a beautiful sight. I soaked
my feet and we had our lunch before heading back to the hotel.
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| Iceberg Lake |
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| The last part of the trail to Iceberg Lake |
Day 3: Wednesday, August 21st
We had an early breakfast as usual, and took a hiker’s
shuttle leaving at 8 AM to St. Mary’s transit center, from where we boarded a
shuttle that took us to Logan Pass visitor center.
From Logan pass we got on the Highline trail, and it was
another clear sunny day with all the sights you see from the Going to the Sun
road, except you are at a higher elevation. We had the Grinnell Glacier
overlook spur hike in our plans, but we first decided to check into the chalet,
and leave most of our stuff in our room before taking this hike.
The chalet dining hall was full of dayhikers, we checked
into our room, which was basically two bunk beds with bedding, put our food in
the kitchen in our allocated bin, then went back to the Highline trail up to
the glacier overlook, a steep climb.
The glacier and the lake looked beautiful from up top, and I
finally had T-Mobile coverage (there are some places in the park you get
AT&T and Verizon, but no T-Mobile). Anyway, we climbed up a little more and
got a view of lower Grinnell glacier, and Lake Josephine as well.
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| Grinnell Glacier and Upper Grinnell Lake |
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| Upper Grinnell lake, Lower Grinnell lake, and Lake Josephine |
Hiked back to the chalet and cooked our dinner – we had
pre-ordered some dry food – the chalet has no running water, you bring your own
water from a quarter mile away, where the park service treats water and stores
in a tank. We boiled our water in one of the 12 burner gas stove, and prepared
our dinner.
The chalet has thin walls, you can very clearly hear your neighbors,
but what woke us up multiple times during the night was the sound of rain.
Day 4: Thursday, August 22nd
Trail: Swiftcurrent Pass trail, distance: 8.7 miles, elevation gain: 548 feet
Woke up to a cloudy morning, but there wasn’t any rain
falling. We had our breakfast, and headed on to the Swiftcurrent Pass trail,
with great views of Swiftcurrent glacier, and the downstream lakes. It was
breeze and cool as we descended to the streams and lakes, headed back to the
Swiftcurrent Inn, to our car.
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| Swiftcurrent Glacier |
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| Bullhead lake and Redrock lake |
We got into our car and drove through the Going to the Sun
road, towards Kalispell, where we checked into our hotel for the night, had
some Mexican food and relaxed, catching up over the Internet.
