peakn
New member
Just returned from a very civilized trip to Glacier National Park. We hiked 7-10 miles a day on some of the more well known trails, nothing especially challenging. Most were at 5-7000 feet and ranged from 300 to 1600 ft of elev gain.
We stayed at three different Park Lodges. The lobby/restaurant areas were beautiful. The rooms small, old but completely adequate. Surprisingly, (because we had read some negative reviews), the food in the Lodges as well as at a few local spots was excellent.
We did spot some wildlife- 3 grizzlies (comfortably far away), just missed 1 Black Bear by a few minutes, 3 Bighorn Sheep, tons of Goats, a few too many Homosapiens, a Hoary Marmot, Moose, 3 Deer, Columbian Ground Squirrels, Bald Eagle. Because of late snow and a late snow melt, the berries weren't as ripe for this time of year as they sometimes are. If they were, I think we would have had more and closer encounters. Some of the trails are really narrow (like 18 inches) and shrubbed in with berry bushes. In these instances you could easily come around a bend in the trail and find a large furry friend enjoying the berries.
We rarely felt isolated as there were lots of people out on the trails, especially close to the trail heads, but never did we feel overwhelmed with humanity. We did hike with a small group (13 in all) and 2 Guides so that gave us a lot more confidence as well.
The trails we hiked were:
The Garden Wall to Haystack Butte, Iceberg Lake, Grinnell Glacier, Avalanche Lake, Upper Two Medicine Lake.
The Garden Wall and Grinnell Glacier Trails are both cut into the side of the Continental Divide, one on the East side, the other on the West side.
The Park is just awesome!!! I don't think I've ever seen anything more majestic and awe inspiring, and this just repeated day after day. We hiked in Switzerland last year and I found Glacier to match it in every respect. For those interested in a more extreme climbing experience, probably Switzerland would be a better choice because of the nature of the rock here. It is a softer sedimentary rock. The local joke was "if you don't like the hand hold dig your fingers into another spot" .
For a backcountry backpacking expedition I don't think you could beat Glacier. Just be real careful as far as wildlife practices are concerned. The bears are there in numbers. We also heard a story of a frightening Mountain Lion encounter, so they are there as well.
One of the obvious facts is that the glaciers are melting. Rangers showed us pictures of where they were 40-50 years ago compared to now. It's a dramatic change. However, it was also pointed out that the glaciers have completely melted in the past and then redeveloped. There was the major ice age 10,000 years ago, but I wasn't aware that there was another mini ice age just 3,000 years ago. Something to think about.
Posted pics on webshots, in 3 volumes here
We stayed at three different Park Lodges. The lobby/restaurant areas were beautiful. The rooms small, old but completely adequate. Surprisingly, (because we had read some negative reviews), the food in the Lodges as well as at a few local spots was excellent.
We did spot some wildlife- 3 grizzlies (comfortably far away), just missed 1 Black Bear by a few minutes, 3 Bighorn Sheep, tons of Goats, a few too many Homosapiens, a Hoary Marmot, Moose, 3 Deer, Columbian Ground Squirrels, Bald Eagle. Because of late snow and a late snow melt, the berries weren't as ripe for this time of year as they sometimes are. If they were, I think we would have had more and closer encounters. Some of the trails are really narrow (like 18 inches) and shrubbed in with berry bushes. In these instances you could easily come around a bend in the trail and find a large furry friend enjoying the berries.
We rarely felt isolated as there were lots of people out on the trails, especially close to the trail heads, but never did we feel overwhelmed with humanity. We did hike with a small group (13 in all) and 2 Guides so that gave us a lot more confidence as well.
The trails we hiked were:
The Garden Wall to Haystack Butte, Iceberg Lake, Grinnell Glacier, Avalanche Lake, Upper Two Medicine Lake.
The Garden Wall and Grinnell Glacier Trails are both cut into the side of the Continental Divide, one on the East side, the other on the West side.
The Park is just awesome!!! I don't think I've ever seen anything more majestic and awe inspiring, and this just repeated day after day. We hiked in Switzerland last year and I found Glacier to match it in every respect. For those interested in a more extreme climbing experience, probably Switzerland would be a better choice because of the nature of the rock here. It is a softer sedimentary rock. The local joke was "if you don't like the hand hold dig your fingers into another spot" .
For a backcountry backpacking expedition I don't think you could beat Glacier. Just be real careful as far as wildlife practices are concerned. The bears are there in numbers. We also heard a story of a frightening Mountain Lion encounter, so they are there as well.
One of the obvious facts is that the glaciers are melting. Rangers showed us pictures of where they were 40-50 years ago compared to now. It's a dramatic change. However, it was also pointed out that the glaciers have completely melted in the past and then redeveloped. There was the major ice age 10,000 years ago, but I wasn't aware that there was another mini ice age just 3,000 years ago. Something to think about.
Posted pics on webshots, in 3 volumes here
