Glacier Park Chat
I'm just settling down and unwinding after a great trip to Glacier last week. It was my first time in the park (and first time in Montana), and just incredible. I have to give all of the credit to (1) unseasonable weather - it was sunny and clear every day, with highs in the mid 50s to low 60s, and 30s-40s at night, and....
(2) Pete! What an absolutely amazing guy. We met at the airport and he got me situated with food and additional camping gear. We then had lunch and planned out a few potential routes I could follow/hike over the next week. I feel really lucky to have had his guidance, and am glad we were able to get a hike in together at the end of the trip.
I had been wanting to go to Glacier for a few years now, and found the opportunity during a two-week break between jobs. Since I was going out by myself (and trying to meet folks at Glacier to hike with), I tried to plan an open-ended trip depending on what would become available to me. First thing I found was that much of the park was shutting down - many campsites were closed, and those that were open, were in "primitive" status. Ptarmigan Tunnel was closed. Also, Going-to-the-Sun road was closed after Logan Pass, and I believe was no longer open at Logan after Oct 16th.
So, there was an extra ~1 hr of driving around the bottom of the park to get to the East side, which was fine because everything is gorgeous. I picked up an Elizabeth Lake permit after spending my first night at Apgar, and drove to Many Glacier hoping to find folks I could persuade to do the backpacking with me. At MG, I found many similar hikers (folks by themselves, looking to clear their heads) - none particularly interested in a group hike
. A benefit to this, though - I got to do Cracker Lake, Grinnell Glacier, Swiftcurrent Pass (and then Highline with Pete) and there were 2, 12, 7, and 6 people on the trails those days, respectively. It was enough that I didn't feel completely alone - but I also really never saw anyone except for the points in which we passed each other. There were quite a few grizzly sightings by others in the camp, but none by me (which was fine). I did pass mountain goats, grouse, and mule deer on the trail. At Cracker Lake, I stood over the Flats and there was a herd of 50-60 elk about 50 yds off of the trail.
I also had steak at the Cattle Baron Supper Club in Babb - insanely good - and had quite a few beers at the Stonefly Lounge in Coram as Stanford whipped up on UCLA. It was a great introduction to the park, and I'll definitely be back. With what I know now, my itinerary would be to (1) bring a buddy, (2) backpack Belly River, and (3) do it in early- to mid-September as things are winding down but still open.
Thank you again, Pete! My photos are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... d84470ed9f
By the way, I am happy to attach some photos in another posting - but I can't seem to figure out how to do it in this chat!! I'm not having any trouble with the dancing bananas, though.
Brad
