Glaciers National Park-July 2019

If their is one destination that is closest to my heart and the one that I would visit again and again is Glaciers National Park. With all its beauty, I would steal a Persian Sufi couplet by the 13th century mystic, bard, scholar and polymath Amir Khusro to describe it… it goes as this..

“Gar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.”

meaning..

“If there is a paradise on earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this.”

May be there are many more places that we are yet to explore that are as beautiful and pristine but in our small travel world GNP shall always rule. This was Sheesh’s bday trip and we perfectly timed it, probably for the first time, to be traveling and hiking these beautiful mountains as I wished him his special day.

For our travel, we flew to Kalispell MT. The flights were a little expensive but this is the closest and probably the only airport to fly to. The park entrance is only 45 mins drive from the city.

Despite all our planning, given that this was peak summer time we could not get an accommodation within the park but we found a very cute little lodge called “Smokey Bear Lodge” only 20 mins away from the west entrance. The lodge is a true BNB, with 4 guest rooms, a common area with dining room, a small office and kitchen and owners residence. We got the smallest of all rooms but boy we like tiny & cozy wooden lodges to death, they fit my tiny personality just so well and since Sheesh comes with no frills is happy with just anything :).

The first afternoon we made ourselves comfortable at the lodge and set out for a drive to the park entrance. Below is the spot we sat for almost an hour or two, sitting quietly and soaking in the mesmerizing view. The lake is gorgeous and seems to never end.

As I write further just a heads up that I will be mentioning “Going-to-the-sun” road very often as its our favorite road in this area but honestly this is the main route to drive through the park from west to east :D. On the image below, the first hut sign on lower left is the Apgar visitor center at the west entrance, next to Lake Mcdonald. The yellow line is the sun road leading to the loop, logan pass and to the last hut which is the St Mary visitor center at the east entrance to the park. Route 2 is what we used, one of the days to quickly reach some of the trails we wanted to explore on the east side of the park. While sun road is more scenic, speed limits are lower and traffic could be slower. Route 2 will be quicker if you are trying to hit trails like Grinnell Glacier and want to secure a parking spot at the trail, which of course during peak season fills up fast.

For each day we had a trail on our mind (with a plan to start as early as 6 am), so as it began the first trail that we hit Day 2 of the trip is the most famous and trekked at GNP, the highline loop trail. The Highline Loop begins from the north side of the Going-to-the-Sun road at Logan Pass. Although this hike includes the word “Loop” in its name, this is actually a one-way hike. The “Loop” refers to a bend in the road on the west side of the park where this hike ends. The best way to do this hike is to park at The Loop, located 13.1 miles east of the McDonald Lodge on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and then take the free shuttle up to Logan Pass. However, we did not do this research before hand and parked at Logan Pass and hiked from there to the loop to take a shuttle back. This ignorance will cost us a bit, but more on that later :).

Logan Pass is beautiful on its own, and even before we hit the trail we saw many big horn sheep’s just wandering around the area and also enjoyed clouds floating around us. The entire hike was breathtakingly beautiful filled with amazing valley views and wildflowers. We stopped at many spots to soak in the views quietly and to capture many moments. There was a lot of cloud cover as we were hiking but time and again the cover would clear to a spectacular view.

As we progressed through the trail uphill, we reached a spot where the weather started to turn a little rough. While many people returned from here, we along with another group kept going on. The peaks of this hike is famous to get notorious with thunderstorms but the weather is also known to clear up very fast. As we kept on walking the weather eventually cleared and yes to more amazing views.

The Chalet which is where you can take a quick break and start your way down to the loop

The way back was “EASY”.. yes easy in bold but it was a long way down and a gradient we did not expect.. and this is what turned out to be a bad decision for both of our knees. By the time we hit the loop, we were hurting and hurting bad. Guess this is what happens when you don’t train your knees for a long downhill walk. Lesson learnt :). But nevertheless a hike we will never forget!!

While most days we left the BNB very early in the morning to hit trails and more so to grab a parking spot at most busy trailheads, there were a few mornings that we spent at the lodge grabbing a nice breakfast.

Here is a small clip of humming birds feeding on honey and water mix at the BNB. Peaceful.

Few glimpses of the pretty lodge, you could spot bear roaming around in the area

While this picture was meant to capture our lodge owners Dog, but here we are shining in the morning sun. The Dog really became a friend. She was huge and her owners fav 🙂

The next trail that we hit was our most awaited Iceberg Lake. Iceberg Lake Trail is a 9.3 mile heavily trafficked trail located near Siyeh Bend, more to read here https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/montana/iceberg-lake. This trails ends at a spectacular lake, but the view will completely depend on the time of the year and the weather on a given day. We were extremely lucky to be witness to a sea green pristine lake and clear blue skies.

Iceberg Lake, the day was beautiful.

Sheesh, the wind and the lake

It took us a while to take in the view , the color of the lake and magnanimity of the mountains surrounding the lake. Since Sheesh is a spotter, he was (without the use of binoculars) was able to spot a herd of mountain goats climbing down this steep mountain. It was an incredible experience overall.

After the breathtaking experience at Iceberg lake the next day we hit the Hidden lake area near Logan Pass, it was an easy trail that we picked to give us some break and prepare ourselves for Grinnell glaciers to conclude our hiking ventures at the park. Hidden lake as the name suggests turned out to be another gem in the area, with beautiful lake views from the top and serene experience down at the lake. Despite a bear scare that day, we were unlucky enough to not spot any bear at all.

To hit the Grinnell trail, we had to start the day around 4 am as it was some driving time to the trail head from our Lodge. The trailhead is located on Continental Divide Trail, the road that connects the Many Glacier Hotel with Swift current Motor Inn and the Many Glacier Campground. Its a small parking lot but if you start early you can secure a spot. It’s roughly a 10.6 mile trail but many a people shave off the first 3.5 miles by taking a ferry to Lake Josephine however we did not opt for that.

Witnessing the last of Glaciers melting away was truly an experience.