Monday, November 2, 2020

Hiking in Glacier National Park

  In September 2020 daughter Susan and I went to Glacier NP in Montana for a week of hiking. I drove to Madison, WI on Sept. 22, and on Sept. 23 we flew to Kalispell, MT. We picked up a rental car at the airport and headed directly to the Western Park Entrance, stopping at Columbia Falls to pick up some groceries. Once inside the park we drove on the Going-to-the-Sun Road along the shores of Lake McDonald and stopped at the Trail of the Cedars trailhead. We then hiked onto the trail to Avalanche Lake, spent some time at the lake, then hiked back to the car.  We picked up some more groceries at a store in Hungry Horse and then headed to Martin City and self-checked ourselves into Glacier Getaway, our rented apartment (found on airbnb) for a week.                                                                                           Our apartment was only a 15-20 minute drive to the park entrance, and each morning we left early to visit different areas of the park and hike the trails.  Because of COVID large sections of the park were closed off to visitors and the Eastern Entrance to the park was closed as well, so we could only drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road as far as Rising Sun. On two occasions we couldn't go further on the trail we were hiking, because signage warned us to turn back because of Grizzly bears in the area. Still, there was much to do and see, and the weather cooperated wonderfully, except for the brief periods of rain, sleet, or snow. During our 6 days of hiking in the park, we hiked about 56 miles in total.  Here are some photos taken on our hikes.


Lake McDonald

Huckleberry Mt. trail



Howe Lake

Lake McDonald

View from Howe Lake

Snyder Lake

Snyder Lake

Snyder Lake

Trail to Trout Lake

McDonald Falls

Hidden Lake

Trail to Hidden Lake

Highline Trail with Going-to-the-Sun road below

On the Highline Trail

Highline Trail

Virginia Falls

View at Rising Sun

St. Mary's Falls

St. Mary's Lake

On the trail to Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

On the trail to Avalanche Lake

Large Cedar on the Trail of Cedars