After we hiked to Cyclone Lookout, we continued south on the North Fork Road, hoping to find a campsite that was close to the West Glacier entrance to the park. We had heard that we needed to get into the park early to be able to get a parking spot near the hikes we wanted to do, so we were really only looking for a spot to park our tent for the night. We headed toward Blankenship Bridge and found the river’s edge teeming with people and tents and pushed on to try to find a quieter spot. After scouting a couple of other possibilities, we wound up just off the road at a spot we found on iOverlander. Clearly a bunch of other people use the same app, as we heard several vehicles slow down/ pull into the road/ path that led to the site before seeing that it was occupied.
The next morning we got up in the near dark to pack up and head into Glacier. We tried to figure out if we needed to pay to enter, but nothing was open that allowed us to do so… so free entrance! We made our way into the park as the day lightened and were parked at the trailhead to Avalanche Lake before the sun was up. By the time we had our hiking shoes on and were ready to go in the still cool and dark morning, all of the parking spots were full. We took our time heading down the trail to stay out of the crowd all heading in the same direction.
This hike was the first time that we actually felt fairly fit! Hiking up Hefty made us feel pretty out of shape, but moving with and past a bunch of other people made us feel like we were doing ok.
We climbed up to the lake through a forest of giant western cedar and black locust trees and made it to the lake before the sun came over the mountain tops. Waterfalls cascaded down the far end of the valley and we walked down along the lake’s edge to explore as much as we could. We hung around to watch the growing light change the look of the lake and valley and were happy to warm up enough to take off jackets for the walk back to the car.
We continued the drive into the park on the Going to the Sun Road. It was a little hazy, but the views were just as amazing as I remembered from my last visit here. It truly is an awe-inspiring place with phenomenal views around every turn. We took our time driving through, pulling off often to take pictures and just look. We got to Logan Pass and found the parking lot full so continued on to Rising Sun by Saint Mary Lake, which is the end of the road right now. We walked along the lake and had some lunch and then turned around, hoping to be able to get a spot at Logan Pass, but it was not to be.
We headed back down to McDonald Creek and found a lovely spot called Sacred Dancing Cascade. We decided to spend a little time here, changing into swimsuits to enjoy the freezing, clear water. We watched some young guys jumping and diving into a deep spot in the creek and then headed upstream to find a quiet spot for ourselves. Mike decided to brave the water to swim up to a waterfall while I barely got my whole body in because the water was so cold.
Since we were only able to do one hike in the park, we picked up some food in the nearby town of Hungry Horse (and I got huckleberry ice cream) and found a new spot for the night, determined to get up even earlier the next day in order to snag a spot at Logan Pass.
A 5:30 am alarm woke us and we quickly made coffee and packed up to head into the park. It was dark for a lot of the drive in, but we made it to the parking lot in time to get a spot. If we had been 10 minutes later, we would have been out of luck. The hikes available in Glacier are pretty limited right now since you can’t back-country camp and the shuttle is not running to facilitate through-hikes. We headed out on another popular and available hike to Hidden Lake. We again watched the sun come up over the mountains as we headed up from the Visitor Center and over the pass, seeing some mountain goats and snow off in the distance on Clements Mountain.
We headed down to the lake with the crowds, but most of them stopped at the edge of the lake closest to where the trail comes down. We headed on around the lake and soon left most of the people behind. We have been so happy to have the time to meander and explore and this was one of the best days. We crossed through meadows and clambered over rocks on the edge of the lake as we made it to the other end of the lake and then followed the shore back into the lake on a peninsula. The rocks were so interesting, the water was crystal clear and we watched as the sun came into the valley and changed the whole look of the lake.
View above Hidden Lake 
After trekking back up to the parking lot, we took a quick detour to check out the start of the High Line Trail and then headed back down to McDonald Creek. There was a trail that led to our spot that we enjoyed the afternoon before, so we parked farther south and walked up. We only saw a couple of people on the trail and enjoyed the quiet and solitude among more cedars. We are able to hike to the waterfall that Mike had swum to the day before and Mike took a turn jumping into the water along with the young ‘uns that were back at it.
