Glacier National Park

After lack of internet access for a while, finally able to post another update! After leaving Three Forks, I headed for Glacier National Park, which has been on my "to-visit" list for a while. I'll do a quick day-by-day recap.

Day 1

Arrived mid/late afternoon, and got a campsite at the Two Medicine campground, in the southeast area of the park. The campground was actually almost full when I arrived, and I was lucky to snag a spot just in time. The campground was along a couple lakes, with some big mountains around it; very picturesque:

Two Medicine Lake

Since it was going to be light out so late (almost til 10pm), I decided to knock out a quick hike once I'd claimed my campsite and set up basic stuff. I did a hike up to "Scenic Point", an aptly named lookout with a trailhead that started not far from the campground. It was an out-and-back hike, 3.8 miles one way with 2,260 ft in elevation gain, so I put in some good work and knocked it out with in a few hours.

View along the Scenic Point hike

That evening at the campground, they also had a guy from the nearby Blackfeet Indian reservation community come and talk about the Blackfeet tribe and their connection to the area. He was thoughtful and amusing, so that was an interesting talk to hear.

Day 2

I had been thinking about backpacking at a backcountry campsite the next night, but Glacier has pretty strict rules about where you can camp, and you have to reserve sites, and there wasn't much availability for the areas I wanted, so I delayed that to the following evening, and did a long day hike that day instead. I did a loop connecting two mountain passes, Dawson Pass and Pitamakan Pass, which was mentioned in the park guide and started in the Two Medicine area. About 18 miles and 3,600 ft of elevation gain (from what I could tell from the internet - park didn't have official elevation numbers for the full loop). I had a beautiful day, and got probably the best views I had for my entire time at the park. Nearly half the hike was between the two passes and that whole distance was spectacular.

Starting out near Two Medicine Lake

Getting a little higher towards Dawson Pass

At Dawson Pass

More views

The trail goes...along there?

Spectacular

Coming down from Pitmakan Pass on the other side

Further along, continuing down from Pitimakan

Day 3

For the next night, I'd gotten a permit for a backcountry site more towards the center of the park, so I checked out of Two Medicine that morning and made my way toward that area via the eastern part of Going To The Sun road, the main road that crosses Glacier east-west. Much of that is along St. Mary Lake, which is quite large, and looked beautiful. Also ringed by dramatic peaks, made for very nice viewing.

View of Saint Mary Lake

View further up on Going to the Sun road

That afternoon, I got to the trailhead for Gunsight Lake, which was my backcountry destination. It was 6 miles in, dipping down into a valley, and then climbing back up to a mountain lake. There was a further mountain pass that was supposedly a good hike, but it was impassable due to snow conditions, so I was limited to the lake (which is why I took my time earlier in the day and set out later in the afternoon). The hike to Gunsight was just "ok", I'd say - pretty woodsy for the first 4 miles or so, before climbing breaking out for some nice mountain and lake views. The campsite itself was nicely situated, but it was unfortunately super buggy that evening with aggressive mosquitoes, so couldn't do a whole lot. I did have some good conversation with a few of the other campers there (two pairs of couples, all from California), so that was nice.

View in the morning of Gunsight Lake and the mountains

Day 4

For the following evening, I'd booked a site on the shores of Lake McDonald, in the southwest corner of the park. I had actually booked a different site originally, sort of in the same area, but a more alpine setting, but by happenstance, I found out that site for which I had received a permit was not actually available. The previous day, I stopped by Saint Mary visitor center and chatted with a ranger, and mentioned my plans, and she told me that the second backcountry site I planned to visit was not actually open due to construction/maintenance work, and the ranger who gave me my permit should not have done so, so she booked me this new site. I'm not sure what would've happened if I hadn't had the conversation and just showed up as planned, but I guess I'm lucky I stopped there.

Before setting out, I decided to get some elevation in by knocking out another hike in the area - again, made possible because it stays light so late, so I could do an afternoon hike and then still have time to hike in to my site. So I did the "Apgar Lookout" hike, which was an out and back, 3.6 miles one way with 1960 ft of elevation gain. Solid hike with some nice views at the top.

View from Apgar lookout

So then it was off to my new backcountry site, which was on Lake McDonald, a very large lake. The hike there was actually somewhat weird because the area along the western shore that I was hiking through had undergone a big forest fire, and about 80% of the hike was through a burned out forest, with new-growth vegetation spilling over a semi-maintained trail. So that was kind of disappointing, but the lake itself was pretty, and I had a good time chatting with a group of three other campers at the site. They agreed the hike there was not the best, but rather than a last-minute switch, they had actually gone there on the full recommendation of a ranger who called it "one of the most underrated areas of the park", so we laughed about that, because we didn't quite share his assessment.

Early in the hike, before entering the burned out forest

Another nice view of the lake before the forest burned.

Day 5

For my last full day in the park, I decided to give myself a bit of a break from more heavy hiking, and explore the western portion of Going to the Sun road and Logan Pass, the high point along the road near the center of the park (and the Continental Divide). So I hiked out from the Lake McDonald site, and drove to the campground campsite that I'd booked for the final night. This was also on the shores of Lake McDonald (it's a big lake), and I actually went for a quick swim (emphasis on the quick - water was cold!) in the early afternoon to relax and refresh myself.

As I drove along Going to the Sun road, he weather started to turn, with clouds moving in, and Logan Pass itself was actually cloud-covered. I got some good sight-seeing in though, and by the time it actually started raining, I was on my way back to the campground.