Hello hello, I did not expect it would take me until mid-August to write this. Received some unfortunate news right after I got back from this trip, hence the delay in posting…but life goes on!
Glacier was a really challenging but beautiful trip. I had never hiked that much in my life haha. However, having tried backcountry camping now, I can understand the appeal. It made me feel like I was time-traveling in a way, experiencing life before civilization and urbanization took over.
Day 1: Arrival & Many Glacier boat tour
We landed in Kalispell, Montana and drove straight to Many Glacier for an evening boat tour.
The views in Many Glacier were stunning! I saw my first bear of the trip (a black bear) meandering the hillside on the northside of Lake Josephine on the return boat ride.
Day 2: GTTSR & flat tire
We unfortunately got a flat on the Going-to-the-Sun Road on our second day. We hitched a ride with a ranger up to Logan Pass, and eventually hitched another ride with a tow truck heading down to Kalispell.
However, we did get a see cute mule deer buck grazing around Logan Pass. We also ended up getting a cool Jeep Wrangler as our rental replacement that thankfully gave us no issues for the rest of the trip.
Day 3: Hidden Lake Outlook & St Mary Falls
We saw Glacier’s iconic mountain goats also near Logan Pass on our third day. The kids were so cute! We parked at Logan Pass in the morning and hiked to the Hidden Lake Outlook. Most of the trail was covered in snow so it was fun to finally get to use my Yaktrax that I got for Christmas a few years ago.
After we got back to the visitor center, I saw my second bear (a teen grizzly bear) hanging out near the bathrooms. Thankfully there were rangers around and kept the hikers aware and away. We also saw a moose on our second hike to St Mary Falls! A good day for animal spotting.
Day 4: Otokomi Lake
My first foray into backcountry camping! We hiked up to Otokomi Lake (we kept calling it Okonomi like okonomiyaki haha) to camp overnight. It was a 5.5 mile hike with a 2,497 ft elevation gain, and we kept coming across these cool flowering plants called bear grass on the hike up.
When we got to the campsite, it was so buggy (mosquitoes, biting flies, yellow jackets) that we decided to skip dinner and go to sleep. We set an alarm at 2am to wake up and look at the stars, and I saw the Milky Way for the first time! It was quite faint, but it was really special because I also saw my first shooting star and made a wish of course 🙂
Despite the bugs, I do remember feeling really calm standing by the lake and looking at the trout swimming nearby. Maybe it was fatigue from a long hike, but I could feel the serenity of the environment seeping into me, and it was the most connected to nature I had felt in a long time.
Day 5: Otokomi Lake & Many Glacier Hotel
We woke up early, packed up camp, and hightailed it out of buggy hell. The hike down from Otokomi Lake was a lot quicker compared to the trek up, and we came across a fresh pile of bear poop! My friend kept saying we should have taken a picture of it haha. Just grateful we didn’t actually encounter a bear because hikers on the way down said that people before us saw a grizzly :O
We ate lunch in a picnic area by St Mary Lake before hearing back to Many Glacier to stay at the Many Glacier Hotel for the night. (I was so excited to stay in a hotel after camping.) We ate dinner while the sun set, and it was really picturesque 🙂
Day 6: Grinnell Lake
Was this my favorite day of the trip? Probably. We did a nice, flat hike to Grinnell Lake and were met with beautiful views of the lake, mountains, and waterfalls. I did not realize at the time that we’d be hiking to the top of that pointy-looking mountain in the background the next day.
Day 7: Highline Trail, Grinnell Glacier Overlook & Columbia Falls
The Highline Trail was the longest hike I’ve ever done in my life, and I’m pretty sure I left a piece of my soul on the trail.
We parked at the Loop, took the shuttle up to Logan Pass, started hiking just before 10am, and got back to the Loop at 8pm X.X
The trail itself was long (11.8 miles, 2,388 ft elevation gain) but doable, but the offshoot up to and back from the Grinnell Glacier Overlook (which adds a couple miles and brings the total elevation gain to 3,607 ft) killed me.
I felt bad for my friend because I was not a fun person to be around that day, but he was very encouraging and helped bandage my blisters T.T
But the views were spectacular all along the hike because you’re so high up. Sweeping! Mountain! Views! And also marmots, a lot of them. They will also come up really close to you and try to lick your hiking poles if you stop to rest.
And yes, at the Grinnell Glacier overlook, I did finally see a glacier for the first time! It’s a stunning blue that is beautiful to behold on a windy mountaintop. I just remembered, it was the 4th of July that day, and naturally my friend belted out the Star-Spangled Banner and some hikers down the mountain clapped haha.
That was the end of the trip! We drove down to Columbia Falls and passed through several towns’ 4th of July fireworks, ate Domino’s pizza and did laundry at our Airbnb, passed tf out, and woke up the next morning to catch our flight back home.
Wow, thinking back, there were a lot of firsts on the this trip 🙂 Also the first time trying huckleberry-themed food (huckleberry ice cream, pie, burgers, lemonade, etc.), it’s everywhere around there.
Can’t believe September is just around the corner, and with it, another national park(s) trip! Stay tuned 😀 (I’ll try to keep up with posting this time, sorry!)
madelaku 