Posts Tagged With: logan pass

Glacier National Park

I can’t believe how long it’s been since my last post! We have been busy, and we’re already back on the east coast, so I guess it’s time to catch up. After we left Canada we headed back to Montana to visit one of my favorites, Glacier National Park.

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We last visited this park in 2016, and we did so much hiking and exploring back then. This time we didn’t do much at all, and I attribute that to the fact that we were all exhausted after our adventures exploring Banff, Jasper and Kootenay in Canada.

After my parents left Canada and we headed to Montana, it seemed we were all a little burned out on hiking and we were starting to miss friends and family back east. Sometimes when we’re out west I think I could never get tired of it, but I guess there really does come a time when you just want to go “home”, wherever that may be. So, we only hiked a couple of our favorites, then we pointed our wheels back east.

Our first hike was to Avalanche Lake. We started out on the Trail of Cedars and continued on to Avalanche Lake, approximately 4 miles out and back. The beginning of the trail has some pretty river views and waterfalls.

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This hike is pretty crowded, but starts to thin out after you get past these water views. The hike continues through woods and ultimately ends at beautiful Avalanche Lake.

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Another day we hiked to Hidden Lake from Logan Pass. This is one of my favorites, but it’s also very crowded.

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The crowds thin out significantly once you get past the scenic overlook. We like to continue past there and hike down to the lake. It’s challenging climbing back up though which is probably why that part is much less crowded.

Hiking down to the lake is wonderful, the views are incredible and the lake is so peaceful. We brought snacks and hung out at the lake for awhile until we mustered up the energy for the long hike back.

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Chris and Jesse skipping rocks

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My little Jake who is now taller than me

We saw lots of mountain goats on the hike!

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My favorite hike we’ve ever done in our travels was to Grinnell Glacier. We didn’t do that this time, but I wrote about it last time if you are interested: Grinnell Glacier. Like I said, we were all feeling a little burned out and just didn’t have the energy for that one this time, but I would love to go back and do it again someday.

When we left Glacier, we spent 4 long travel days heading towards St. Louis to visit some friends and tour the city. That was a blast! I’ll write about that next.

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Glacier: Going to the Sun and St. Mary Falls

In my first post about Glacier National Park I mentioned the long shuttle bus ride up to Logan Pass.  Because that took so long we drove our truck the next day.  What a difference!  We were up to Logan Pass within an hour, and the drive was spectacular!

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Going to the Sun Road

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At one point beyond Logan Pass we went through a tunnel that literally looked like we were “Going to the Sun”!

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Jackson Glacier

We stopped to hike to St. Mary Falls which was incredible!  The trailhead parking lot was full so we ended up parking at the Sunrift Gorge trailhead just a little further down the road.  That turned out to be such a blessing!  I think the round-trip hike from the St. Mary Falls trailhead is only a mile or two, but from the Sunrift Gorge trailhead the round-trip hike was about 4 miles.  Trust me, it’s worth it!  The trail starts under this bridge.  To the right you can walk up some stairs to see the Sunrift Gorge, then go to the left and walk the short trail to Baring Falls.

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After Baring Falls, we hiked along the St. Mary Lake which was such a spectacular turquoise color.  I was so glad we had to park farther away; otherwise, we would have missed this.

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St. Mary Lake

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We also got to see a moose along the trail.  I’m not sure if you can see it, but there is a moose in between the trees in the middle of the picture below.

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Soon we arrived at St. Mary Falls.  Two waterfalls flowing into the most beautiful blue-green water — amazing!

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St. Mary Falls

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What a beautiful day!  Next up, my favorite hike we did at Glacier — Grinnell Glacier.

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Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park in northern Montana is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I know it seems like I say that about every place, but seriously it is!

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Going to the Sun Road is the main road that goes through the park.  It’s a very scenic drive, but with many tight twists and turns.  We were not sure if we should drive our big dually truck on that road, so on our first day we parked at the Apgar Visitor Center and rode the shuttle bus up to Logan Pass.  The shuttle bus took a really long time!  From the time we parked at the visitor center it was about 2 1/2 – 3 hours before we finally got to Logan Pass to start our hike to Hidden Lake.  It took about an hour of waiting in line just to catch the first shuttle bus.  That bus only takes you as far as Avalanche Lake where you wait to catch another bus to continue on to Logan Pass.  During the long bus rides we realized there shouldn’t be any problem driving our own truck up that road which is what we did the next day.

Anyway, it was so nice to finally get up there and get started on this amazing hike!  The hike starts right behind the Logan Pass Visitor Center.  The beginning of the hike was crowded, but started to thin out the further we went.  These are the views at the beginning of the trail. It was surprising to still see snow in August!

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A little past this point we got our first glimpse of the incredible blue-green water of Hidden Lake.  Many of the lakes at Glacier are this beautiful turquoise color which is caused by the glacial melt.  Speaking of which, if you want to see any of the remaining glaciers, plan to come soon.  The glaciers are melting and are expected to be all gone by 2030.

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Hidden Lake

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Most of the crowds stop at the Hidden Lake overlook and turn around, but we decided to continue on the trail down to the lake.  This is not to be missed in my opinion, although the hike back up was quite challenging.

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We rested on the little beach at the bottom for awhile and enjoyed some snacks.  Just look at that beautiful, clear water!

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Chris taught the kids how to skip rocks over the lake.

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I enjoyed this spot so much; I didn’t really want to leave, but we had a long hike back and then another long bus ride back so it was time to go.  After climbing back up the hill we were rewarded with getting to watch these really cute mountain goats.

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Thankfully the bus ride back went much quicker!  There was an empty bus ready for us as soon as we got back to the Visitor Center.  And on the way back down the bus driver told us he would take us all the way back to Apgar rather than dropping us off at Avalanche because this was his last ride of the day and he was going home.  What a blessing!

The next day we skipped the bus and took our own truck.  That was so much faster and very scenic!  I’ll write about that in the next post.

Categories: Montana, National Parks | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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