Glacier National Park: 9/3 to 9/8

[Sotol Vista]

This report is for our 6 day trip up in Glacier National Park. We got to enjoy more of the park because the Sun Road was completely open.
We stayed in one of the motel rooms right on Lake McDonald on the west side of the park. This is the view from our room


Day 1:
This was pretty much just get to the park, check into the room and make a quick run up the sun road and back kind of day.

Day 2:
We hiked out to Hidden Lake, this was a total amusement park ride. The first half of the trail was a friggen board walk??? There were more people than I could shake a stick at, but I guess this is par for one of the tourist parks. Anyway the hike was nice and offered some splendid views.


Then we pretty much just drove around and check out some other things, nothing note worthy.

Day 3:
This was to be a big hike day. First hike was up to Apikuni Falls, this is a short hike, about a mile or so one way, but it was totally UP hill the whole way, but the payoff was tremendous. We were greeted by a very beautiful water fall.



After this was going to be the BIG hike out to Iceberg Lake, 10 miles round trip. My wife felt she would not be able to make it so she just dropped me off and she did some relaxing. This was another very nice trail, but again loads of people, some friendly, many were not, or just REALLY loud and obnoxious, makes me even more grateful for the solitude of Big Bend. The hike was up hill some, it had about a 1,200 ft elevation gain over 5 miles which is not bad at all. Iceberg lake was way more beautiful than any of the pictures I have seen or that I took my self.



Also on this Hike I ran into “Super Hiker” who felt it was necessary for him to tell me how I was not pre paired for hiking in the mountains, because I was NOT on my way down the trail already like he was and that afternoon storms were common in the afternoon in the mountains. I wanted to tell him this is not my first hike, and it certainly would not be the first time I have been rained on, but I played it cool and slightly stupid and said I had a poncho, shrugged my shoulders and when about my merry way.
I found a nice spot away form the bus load of people to sit and enjoy the scenery and my lunch. Just before I finished my lunch the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was a beautiful day from then on out.

I head back down and take my time to explore some off trail a little. Then when I get back to the camp store to meet my wife she was glad I made the hike and she was SUPER excited to tell me something.

While I was on my hike, she saw 3 black bears, one was just about 1 ft away from her, the 2nd was up on a scree slope eating some berries, and the 3rd ran across the road about 50 foot in front of her on the road.



 I still have absolutely no luck when it comes to bear sightings, Im still striking out on the bears, I must have some bad karma or something

[Sotol Vista]

Day 4:
This was just another sightseeing day. We headed up to Polebridge to get some cinnamon rolls from the bakery at the store there, good pastries here and worth the drive.
On the way up before we got out of the park we saw some Willow Ptarmigan’s. These guys turn white in the winter for camouflage.  I have never seen one of these so it was a real treat to watch them for a few minutes.




Then we headed up to Big Mountain to ride the ski lift up to the top to have a look around, then came on back down.


Day 5:
This day was going to be for a boat ride across Two Medicine Lake and take a Ranger guided hike on the other end. On our way to Two Medicine, it began to rain, then some hail. We got to the store in Two Medicine, got some coffee and bought our tickets for the boat ride. It continued to rain, then we could see it was snowing up on the mountain tops and we were treated by a nice rain bow also. Silly me left the day pack in the car with the water and food, so we did nto take the hike and the wife did not realize it was going to be an 8 mile hike round trip, so she was kinda glad we bailed out on taking the guided hike. Plus once we got back across the lake the weather really turned bad and it was some serious rain / snow getting dumped on the group we did not follow.



Day 6:
After packing up and checking out of the room, this day was just going to be a last effort to see some critters and we had absolutely no luck, so we headed out of the park and came on home…..

[txhiker]

What great pics! They make me look forward to winter and the cold. We've had enough heat in Texas for the summer.

[BigBendHiker]

Nice pictures.

BBH

[homerboy2u]

That was not another ordinary trip,SV...wow!!,specially the lake (Glacier Lake).

[bjbriggs]

Nice trip and good photo's

[SA Bill]

I'm jealous! What a nice trip...even with "super hiker" lecturing you about how unprepared you are. What a laugh! 
  Bill

[RichardM]

I still have absolutely no luck when it comes to bear sightings, Im still striking out on the bears, I must have some bad karma or something

You and me both! It was suggested that maybe I just needed a shower....

Nice pics. Sounds like a nice trip.

[Sotol Vista]

thanks everyone..

James

[dkerr24]

Sure is some beautiful scenery...  although I would trade a bit less scenery for more solitude and quiet.  I think that's what scares me away from the feature parks like Glacier and Yosemite.  Grand Canyon is crowded near the rims, but it is so spread out that actually once you get off the main corridor trails, you can find plenty of peace. 

[badknees]

Sure is some beautiful scenery...  although I would trade a bit less scenery for more solitude and quiet.   

My thoughts exactly. Nice anyway James!

[Burn Ban]

fantastic!  thank you for sharing some of your trip with us.