Friday 8.5 Happy Birthday Danny!
This mornings hike would start at Logan Pass (just like yesterdays) on a short 3 mile hike to Hidden Lake...we knew that both of today’s hikes would be crowded...neither one are big hikes & that brings out the masses
We could see people on the trail because most all of the trail is on SNOW....lots of it
As how its been with most of our Glacier hikes, the views were wonderful...& there were mountain goats along the way & in the bottom pic our first spotting of bighorn sheep
Hidden Lake was a lot larger than I thought it would be...it still had lots of snow & ice on top, but was a beautiful mountain lake. The bottom pic is a great view of the Garden Wall....& the beginning of yesterdays hike that goes all along the wall...I’m still “high” from that hike!
Our next hike of the day was called Avalanche Lake...this hike was also known for it’s “water chutes” formed by tons of water carving a path in the rock....we by passed the chutes, passed the crowds & made our way to the lake....it seemed like the masses had stopped just at the point where you can first see the lake (this is common....if you just hike a little further, you can escape from the crowd)....so we hiked to the very end of the trail ....to peace & quiet (although, we were paying close attention to the surrounding woods as, while we were still on the trail, we passed a fresh pile of bear scat)
The lake has at least 5 large waterfalls flowing into the lake...the most I’ve ever seen into one lake...we had the beach to ourselves, so we dipped a bandanna & cooled off
The sky started to darken & we heard a little thunder...so we eventually started back towards the trailhead...& most everyone had already started down the trail so our hike back was relatively quiet with only a few rain sprinkles & thunder in the distance
Since we’d by passed the water chutes on the way up, we took our time checking them out on the way down....amazing the amount of water flowing through here...quite beautiful & violent looking at the same time
This was going to be our last day in Glacier...but we wanted to stop by the Lake McDonald Lodge on our way out....its really nice. There was a fire going in the lobby which felt good since a storm was starting to blow in for the evening. We decided to wait it out in the bar trying out more Montana/Wyoming beer & a yummy appetizer. By the time we’d finished, so had the worst of the storm, & we started the drive to Whitefish, MT where we were going to enjoy a nice dinner for Danny’s birthday
Well, Whitefish is a nice little town, but the only place we found to eat without a huge long wait was a pizza place....however, the pizza was good (but I def owe him a home cooked Mexican dinner!) We did, of course, find the Black Star tap house & tried (& bought) some of their beer. It was getting late & we had to make a stop at the grocery store then we headed out south....to spend the night whenever we couldn’t drive anymore....in the car in some random spot along the way....
our goal was to eventually get to Yellowstone National Park
I hope Danny had a great birthday...there sure couldn’t have been a prettier place to spend it!
My thoughts on Glacier...I LOVED THIS PARK! especially the Many Glacier area...there’s a ton of hiking here (even if it’s crowded), & on our next visit, we can go backpacking & find some glaciers!
Danny & I hiked about 70 miles in the past 5 days...
so much W O N D E R F U L L N E S S!!!!!!