Travels, Trails and Tales: Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is truly my favorite spot on this earth, at least so far. It is a magical place filled with stunning natural beauty and serenity. My second trip here was in early June, 2010…the first day that the Many Glacier Hotel (which is amazing by the way) opened for the season. Within 5 minutes of driving into the park, we spotted a black bear and a bull moose right next to the road. As we entered the MGH parking lot, we were greeted by at least half a dozen big-horned sheep strolling around the lot. Little did we know that this was a portent for things to come during our week-long stay. While the weather was still quite chilly at the beginning of June, the wildlife could not be beat. We saw several moose cows with their calves, bull moose, black bears, grizzly bears with their cubs (who were frolicking in the snow!), big-horned sheep, mountain goats, deer, elk, trumpheter swans..and probably others that I am forgetting. All in all it was a spectacular week of wildlife, hiking, nature and really nice people. I look forward to returning to the park again and again and again…..and again!

On Day 1 we went hiking in the Two Medicine area. We started off with a short hike to Running Eagle Falls and then hiked to Aster Falls and Scenic Point. The hike to Scenic Point was a bit more than I signed up for, but we made it and the view was worth it! On the way back to MGH, we stopped off at The Park Cafe in St. Mary's for an incredible Razzleberry pie ala mode....delicious! As if all this wasn't enough, when we got back to the hotel, we walked the Swiftcurrent trail at dusk, which was simply beautiful. We had hiked this trail a few times, usually in the early mornings, but nothing compared to that dusk hike.

On Day 2 we headed off on a hike to Redrock Falls and Bullhead Lake (about 7 miles round trip). We just barely made it to Bullhead Lake when we had to turn back due to the amount of snow on the trail. We did see several grizzlies and two grizzly cubs playing in the snow during this hike. We were thrilled! At dusk, we headed out in the car to drive the east road coming into the park again in search of wildlife...we were not disappointed. We saw a couple black bears and several moose.

Day 3 we were up early and heading to Waterton Peace Park in Canada. We took the boat from Waterton across upper Waterton Lake to Goat Haunt. We decided to do the Kootenai Lakes hike which was about 6 miles roundtrip. We heard strong rumors that moose were almost always seen at these lakes, unfortunately, this was one time that we did not see much wildlife...the only thing we did see were LOTS of bees and mosquitos! It was very beautiful though, but my camera batteries died, so I didn't get any pictures of the actual lakes. However, on our drive back to the MGH, right before crossing the Canadian border, we saw a young grizzly (picture below) in the trees right off the road and a bunch of crazy deer running all over! Oh, and we did make a stop at the Prince of Wales Hotel (also pictured below) before leaving Waterton so I could pick up batteries. At dusk, we headed out to walk the Swiftcurrent trail again and found two large bull moose right off the trail.

On Day 4, we decided to drive the Going-To-The-Sun Road as far as we could and then do the Baring Falls/St. Mary Falls hike again. We had done this hike on our last visit to Glacier and just loved it. We were somewhat limited in hikes this visit due to the earliness of the season. I can't recall what else we did this day...but we either hiked the Swiftcurrent trail again or went out wildlife watching somewhere. We may have relaxed by the incredible fireplace at the MGH with a good book. We may have gone to The Park Cafe again for dinner and pie too!

On our last full day, we wanted to hike to Grinnell Glacier, but the trail was closed part way up due to snow and bear activity. So, we hiked Swiftcurrent trail to Lake Josephine and then on to Hidden Falls. It was quite the hike and it was raining the entire time. However, once again, it was all worth it...we saw two momma moose and their babies...one pair eating tall grass literally right next to the trail and the other pair running through the water on the other side of the lake. It was pretty cool. We also saw lots of mountain goats on the sides of Grinnell. There was a Grizzly alert out near the Hidden Falls area...the day before a horse and rider were chased by a mom grizzly...so we made LOTS of noise on that trail. It was a long and wet day. That night we just relaxed at the MGH hotel by the beautiful fireplace and enjoyed our last night in paradise. I would miss this fireplace and view. Every evening, after a long day's hike and a hot shower, I would take my book and a glass of wine out to one of the big comfy chairs in the lobby with this incredible fireplace overlooking Swiftcurrent Lake and just relax. I am not sure I have ever felt so relaxed as I did in that spot.

The next day we had to leave this beautiful place. It was very hard to do. We did make one last stop at The Park Cafe for breakfast and then we drove until we reached Pocatello, Idaho. It was a very long drive. Below are a few pictures from this trip and a link at the bottom to all the pictures from this trip.

The east road to Glacier National Park