Glacier National Park: Backcountry

...and here we are at the most exciting part of our trip! We spent only 2 nights backcountry, but you could easily spend a month and still have so much more to see. My overall thoughts and experiences: the trails are very well-kept, and very well marked. You know where you are at every intersection, there is a map of each campsite, and always somewhere to hang or store your food (you do still need your own rope!). There were little log bridges over every creek (if the creek was too big to jump over), and while we didn't see a bear, we saw a moose, lots of marmots, jackrabbits, and more! The campsites were all full, which made for a unique backcountry experience: one where you share conversation around the "dinner table" and share your experiences with other campers. I very highly recommend a backcountry experience in Glacier National Park, and I especially recommend the route we took. We were told time and time again that we got the best 2-day trip possible in the park!

This was our basic itinerary:
Day 1: Many Glacier to Poia Lake
Day 2: Poia Lake to Elizabeth Lake Foot (via Red Gap Pass)
Day 3: Elizabeth Lake to Many Glacier (via the Ptarmigan Tunnel)

Day 1: Many Glacier to Poia Lake

Brian and I were all packed up and ready to go after lunch. We left from the Poia Lake trailhead, near the trail to Apikuni Falls.

Day one was a full half-day, 6.4 miles from the trailhead to Poia Lake. The trail is beautiful, but unlike I expected. Lots of flowers and mountain meadows, as well as wooded areas.

Here is an example of what you see when you get to a backcountry campsite:

Clockwise from top left: Actual campsite (there are multiple of these at each larger campsite), the map that shows you where everything is, campers' food hanging on the pre-strung line, the food prep/eating area.

Poia Lake was beautiful, though it was a windy day! We spent the evening enjoying the view before having dinner. While eating, we met some other campers who were headed the same direction we were. We decided to travel the next day as a group.

Day 2: Poia Lake to Elizabeth Lake (Foot) via Red Gap Pass

Luckily for us, the wind had died down some for day 2. It was a beautiful day, and our new friends set quite the pace! This day was a total of 10.2 miles with a GREAT elevation change - up and down! I was completely worn out, but boy was this worth it. A few tips for this stretch of trail:

• There is no water in the middle of this day, so make sure you have enough for the day before you leave, or fill up before you get too close to the top of the pass.
• The top of the pass is very windy and quite chilly! Make sure you have enough warm layers, and a wind-blocking layer.
• There is a peak off to the side of the pass if you want to take a side-trip in the middle of this long day, but it is farther up than it looks! There are multiple false-peaks before you reach the real one.

And the view from the top of the pass? SPECTACULAR! Worth every step!

There is seriously no beating this view! After all the hard work to get there, your jaw just drops at the beauty and vastness of it! We had the perfect day with the high puffy clouds and sun shining!

We finished our day around 1pm, thanks to our friends' crazy pace, had a late lunch, and lounged around the rest of the day at Elizabeth Lake. We played cards (I always bring a deck backcountry), enjoyed the rocks on the beach, and Brian even tried making a fishing pole. One of my favorite parts of being able to eat with other campers was hearing their recommendations for other places to camp (both at Glacier and other parks), and their tips on gear, food, etc. We stayed up past dark (which really isn't that late) playing cards, which we scored with rocks.

Day 3: Elizabeth Lake Foot to Many Glacier via the Ptarmigan Tunnel

Day 3 was another doozy! 10.1 miles with similar elevation change as the day before. I wasn't sure I was going to make it another day, but the trails are so well-graded, and the views amazing as always! The Ptarmigan tunnel is a tunnel through the mountain that is about 250 ft. long. It had just been opened the day before we left on our trip, so we were some of the first visitors of the season! Here is the tunnel, and the view from either side:

The foot of the lake on the left is where we camped the night before.

The way down from the tunnel to Many Glacier gets busier and busier the closer you get. There are many other things to see along this trail, so it is a popular one for day hikes! The trail is a piece of cake the rest of the day, but started to feel long once I knew how close we were! Arriving at Many Glacier, we celebrated with some beer (for Brian) and huckleberry ice cream (for me)! If you need a place to hang out at Many Glacier while waiting for a shuttle or ride, the picnic area is a great place. We set up our tent to air out, washed up a little in the bathrooms, and even took a nap!

Cheers to another great adventure!

Glacier National Park: Day 3

Day 3 will be a short post! While we spent our morning day-hiking, we left for our backcountry adventure right after lunch. Since our backcountry trek will be covered in another post, there's not a lot to write about day 3! We headed up to the Many Glacier area today. There are beautiful lodges, some great campgrounds, and lots to explore in this area.

Swiftcurrent Nature Trail

Swiftcurrent Lake is a beautiful sight! One of the lodges is right on the lake, and there is also a trail that goes around the edge of the lake. This is the 2.5-mile Swiftcurrent Nature Trail. It is basically flat, and it's short, but it was a beautiful walk! If you're looking for something easy to take a load off for part of a day, it's a good choice. Here are some of the sights:

There is also a picnic area just off of the Swiftcurrent Nature Trail, which is a great place to stop for lunch. This is where we stopped to eat before heading off on our amazing backcountry experience!

Glacier National Park: Day 2

We started day 2 much more rested than the day before, having actually slept in beds! For this day, we drove up to the East end of Going to the Sun Road and drove from there. Our adventures started with a beautiful rainbow over the mountains before we even reached Going to the Sun Road! We had another full day with lots of great stops, and plenty of photo ops! In addition to the trails listed below, we stopped at many other places along the road to take pictures and enjoy the view. From waterfalls to lookouts, and wildlife sitings, every single stop is worth it - take your time and enjoy the drive!

Hidden Lake Overlook

Our first stop of the day was the Logan Pass visitor's center. From here we hiked up to the Hidden Lake Overlook. Even in July, with the warm temperatures we were experiencing, this trail was covered in snow! I was amazed how many people were hiking it despite this fact - it was VERY busy!

This picture really doesn't capture the vast number of people who were on this trail, but it sure shows the snow!

These were some park workers who were digging out the real trail from under the snow.

Despite the snow and the people, this trail was well worth it! We saw lots of wildlife:

And not only was the view of the lake spectacular, but there were amazing views all along the way, as well.

One of the mountains we hiked around on the way there

The view from the hidden lake overlook

St. Mary Falls

This wasn't in our original plan, but we heard someone talking about it (actually, they were saying there had been bears sighted there in the morning), and we decided to give it a shot! It's an easy hike (1.6 mi round trip), and the falls are beautiful. Definitely a good trail for just about everyone!

Sunrift Gorge

This gorge is right off the road, but completely worth the stop. The photos are some of my favorite from the trip. There is a trail headed up from the gorge that is supposed to be great for wildlife and wildflowers, but it is pretty much straight up.  It is not an easy hike. We went up the first quarter to half mile and saw some great views from there, but after a full day, we weren't willing to go any farther. 

Glacier National Park: Day 1

And so continues my adventures in Glacier National Park! We arrived by train early in the morning, and the first thing I noticed was the smell! This may seem odd, but the smell of pine and fresh air was overwhelming as we stepped off the train. Incredible! We stayed at the Whistling Swan Motel in East Glacier, and the owner was wonderful! They set us up with a rental car, and had everything ready to go for us every step of the way. The rooms were small and simple, but clean and comfortable. Exactly what we needed for crashing at the end of a busy day. East Glacier is a very small town, but has a nice strip of restaurants and shops along the main road. We could walk to everything, which was great.

To start day 1, we drove around south of the park and over to the west entrance. We stopped at Apgar Village to look around the shops (a really neat area!), and then drove East on Going to the Sun Road. We drove just to the edge of Lake McDonald on this day, and did two day hikes along the way:

Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake

Trail of the Cedars is a short trail that is kind of like a boardwalk. It is accessible and goes through a beautiful cedar forest. If you continue past this loop, you can follow the trail to Avalanche Lake. The trail follows Avalanche Creek, which is a loud, rushing stream down in a little gorge: 

The trail is beautiful, and was a great way to start our trip! We saw multiple mule deer:

And if the trail wasn't great enough, this is your reward at the top:

This is a great place to eat lunch or stop and take a load off. It was pretty busy, but by walking away from the main "beach," we had plenty of space to ourselves for lunch. I would put this hike on a "must see" list for Glacier National Park for sure!

John's Lake

Okay, there really isn't much to tell here. John's Lake was not impressive, and our plan was to go on to McDonald Falls, but we couldn't figure out where to go (we didn't have a good map with us - we thought we knew where we were going), and we eventually gave up. Note: we were not the only ones on that same path looking for McDonald Falls, so I guess the moral of the story is, "If you want to go to McDonald Falls, make sure you know where you're going!"

Our day ended with a dip in Lake McDonald:

I highly recommend doing this whenever possible during your trip! It really eases the muscles and joints at the end of the day. I have bad knees and did not have any problems during this trip. I credit this to 1) knee braces, and 2) "icing" them in mountain lakes/streams whenever possible!

Glacier National Park: Amtrak Travel

We had the great pleasure of traveling to Glacier National Park this summer! Our goal as a couple is to eventually make it to every National Park in the country, but we have a long way to go! This is park #2, only preceded by Hot Springs National Park (hard to call this one a National Park - more like a historical site or something. I will post on that adventure another time). We traveled with my in-laws, so we had 4 in our party, and this is one trip I did not plan myself! I thought rather than making a huge long post about our trip, which was INCREDIBLE, would split it into different parts, starting with our trip there!

Our trip started with a drive up to Minnesota, to catch the train!

We took Amtrak there and back, and while it wasn't a short trip, it was a lot of fun! Many people have asked me whether I recommend taking the train for travel. Here's my take:

• Don't take the train if you need to be somewhere at a certain time (a wedding, a graduation, an important meeting, etc), unless you are planning to get there like 3 days early. Our train was 10 hours late getting to Glacier. As long as you're on a flexible schedule, that's just fine! 10 hours late is not normal, but 1-2 hours late is considered "on time."
• If you want to be able to enjoy your trip, and your company, the train is great! If you just want to get there, fly! The great part about a train is that, while it takes about the same amount of time as driving once you figure in stops, etc, you can move around, play games, etc, while you're on your way! So as long as you are willing to just chill, go with the flow, and enjoy yourself, go for it! Kids can get up and walk around instead of having to stay in their seats, and everyone can join in the fun instead of the driver getting left out.
• I loved the friendly atmosphere on the train! When you fly it is all rules, stress, and "let's get this over with!" Everyone is on a time-frame, and while you might have a good conversation with the person next to you on the plane if you're lucky, most people are ready to just get in and get out. On the train, everyone (including the staff) is quite friendly! At meals in the dining car, they combine parties to fill each table. My husband and I had a wonderful meal and conversation with an older couple from Wisconsin. It was such a joy! My husband took Amtrak along once, and he was playing games with other passengers, talking with them, etc. 
• You can take more luggage on Amtrak, and more items that are not allowed on planes. There are technically limits on bags, but they are not very strict, and include a lot of luggage. We checked a few bags, but were able to carry on our backpacking packs, which would have been more difficult to check on a plane (and nerve-wracking with all those straps and everything!) There are luggage areas in the downstairs where you can leave things that you don't need/want by your seat, but you can still get to them if you needed to. We had a couple boxes of food, and a cooler!
• I will admit I was a little stir crazy by the time we got back to MN (about 5 hours late), especially when I realized I still had hours to go in a car! However, I would definitely do it again! If you have the time to spare and the patience to not care if it's running behind, it's a great trip!