Travel Blog #12: Glacier National Park Day 2
Road to the Sun, Nikon F2
Sadly, this is the last full blog for our 2023 National Park road trip. It was an amazing 2 1/2 week excursion and served as the final western US sampler trip for us. Going back into the park for day 2, we felt much better prepared for traffic and getting where we needed to be in a timely manner. We got up a little earlier and made it to Logan’s Pass around 8am. The drive up to the top was just as awe inspiring even though we had seen it all the prior day. Heaven’s Peak was magnificent and worth the few minutes to pull off and admire its grandeur. It was much easier to find a spot at the visitors center early in the day, maybe circling for 10 minutes feeling much less rushed. Most of us were still pretty trail weary from the Avalanche Lake hike the day before but were very much looking forward to spending a few hours hiking to Hidden Lake. We had a full day ahead of us, with a plan to start driving toward home once we were done.
Being in a place like Glacier National Park brings a set of hazards people don’t normally encounter. One of the biggest threats in the wilderness are apex predators, and in Montana that means bears. The morning we arrived at the trailhead the park service had made the decision to close it due to fish spawn activity, which also means bears were actively in the trail area. This was an unfortunate start to the day, one we were not willing to let ruin our last day in this majestic place. The disappointment in not being able to make the full trek was short lived once we looked past the trail map and realized we would still be able to make a full mile up to the trailhead and see a lot of amazing views. Even more importantly, as we crested one of the hills there was a family of bighorn sheep sunning themselves no more than 50 yards away without a care in the world. The U-shaped valleys were on full display for miles.
After spending an hour or two at Logan Pass, it was time to move on down the mountain toward the opposite exit. We had planned to stop for a few short waterfall hikes and ran into the very familiar overfilled lots and slow traffic trying to find spots. At this point we had resigned ourselves to being too tired to make any long hikes, but we did discover a very helpful traveler tip. The trailhead to St Mary and Virginia Falls was super packed. If you travel down the mountain back toward the East entrance, there is a lunch area with a trailhead which will take you past both St Mary and Virginia falls, in addition to one other I can’t remember the name of, on a 3 mile out and back trail with much less trouble getting a spot. This lot was literally almost empty with access to the exact same trails and had a decent set of restrooms. While we didn’t end up making the trek, it was an amazing spot to stop and eat lunch.
Our final stop was a small overlook a couple miles inside the park named Goose Island. On the map I had made some assumptions that the views would be outstanding because everything else here was. This is an excellent example of the National Park Service understanding exactly what the public wants to see. Leading up to the main overlook it does look very nice, but the official spot was a perfect way to end our day. The framing of the trees around the lake, Goose Island in the middle and snow-covered mountains in the background are literally the way I will remember this park for the rest of my life.
