August 20, 2024 - Many Glacier Boat Tour and Hiking

We had booked a Many Glacier Boat tour in the morning in the Many Glacier area, therefore we can use it as the car permit to enter this area.  It was a 9am tour, so we had to get up early and drove a little more than half hours to the Mary Glacier Hotel with the boat tour starting behind the hotel.  The surprising part to us was that we had to drive on dirt road with a lot of holes after we drove pass the park entrance. 

The Many Glacier Hotel is a beautiful hotel right on the Lake Swiftcurrent.  It was a 45 minutes boat ride on the Chief Two Guns tour boat across Lake Swiftcurrent, to the head of the lake, we disembarked and walked 1.2 mile for about 15 minutes to the shores of Lake Josephine.  Then we boarded the Morning Eagle cruise boat and cruised to the head of the Lake Josephine, disembarked and started to hike on our own. 

Originally we planed to hike the Grinnell Glacier Trail, then we learned that it is a difficult hike straight uphill for 5+ hours and a 7.6 miles roundtrip with 1600 foot elevation gain.  The option was to hike to Grinnell Lake Trail which is a 6.9 total (out and back) moderate hike. The boat rides shorten the hike distance significantly (about 5 miles). After we disembarked the Morning Eagle, we only had about 1 mile hike to the Grinnell Lake.   Of course, we chose the Grinnell Lake Trail.  We finally got to the lake and to our surprise that it is a beautiful lake with not too many visitors.  We were able to walk around the lake to find a wonderful and peaceful spot for our lunch.  We stayed there and enjoyed the turquoise-colored water and surrounding mountains for quite a long time.  This turquoise coloration is due to the finely ground-up rock particles suspended in the water known as "glacial flour”. The glacial flour isn't itself turquoise-colored, it's actually grey.  But when the blue sky reflects off these tiny particles in the water, it makes the water appear turquoise-colored.

On our way back, we ran into the Hidden Falls trail junction.  Since it is only 2.1 mile round trip, we got on it and saw a beautiful falls.  

When we got back to Lake Josephine waiting for our boat ride back, we decided to hike a little bit on the Grinnell Glacier Trail,  At the beginning, it was an easy boardwalk to the other side of the lake.  On the way we were able to view the Grinnell Glacier in distance.  After we started the uphill hike of the trail, it was difficult.  Therefore, we just hiked for about 200 ft and then turned around.

After boat rides, we got back to Many Glacier Hotel.  Since we were not planning to do any other hike, we just browsed around the hotel to enjoy the beauty of this old classic hotel.  The last thing we did for the day was to go to the nearby Range Station to get my NP stamps.

When we asked the ranger regarding what to do in the nearby area, she told us that we could go to the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and there is a short hiking trail at the end of the parking area. If we hike little bit we might be able to see moose there. That interested us and we did.   There were a couple of moose in the nearby lake, and we stayed there along with a lot of other tourists to watch these moose in action in the water.  On our way back, we saw more, a mother moose with her baby moose.  

It was an enjoyable day with beautiful hiking and some animals.  After we got back to St Mary Village, we decided to try the hackberry ice cream.  Then we just got some cup ramen from the market and ate them in the room.

Aug 21, 2024 - Visited Two Medicine Area and Hiked Virginal Falls Trail

This morning, we got up at 7AM and tried to be at Logon Pass at 8AM, and to hike the famous Highland Trail.  However, when we got there a little before 8AM, the parking was full and we could not even find a parking spot in nearby area.   Therefore, we decided to change the plan to visit the Tow Medicine area.

On the way passing the Sunrift Gorge Overlook area, we saw a parking spot, so we took it and hiked to see the Sunrift Gorge Falls.  On the way back we saw the Baring Creek Falls junction, so we hiked to visit the Baring Creek Falls.

After that we drove to Two Medicine area and got some info at the entrance about the nearby easy Running Eagle Falls Trail.  So we got on it and visited the Running Eagle Falls and then the natural walking area.  

There is no visitor center in this area, only a Ranger Station.  We got some info from the ranger about the area.  She recommended to hike the Aster Creek.  At this time, it was raining again, so we had to visit the Two Medicine General Store to wait for the rain to die down.  After that, we hike to Paradise Points to view the Two Medicine Lake.   

Then we got on the Aster Creek Trail to visit the Aster Falls.  

On our way back we decided to try the Aster Park Overlook Trail to reach the Aster Park Overlook area. Turnout it was a 4 miles round trip with difficult level at 5.56(rated by NP).  But the view on the top is just breathtaking.

We got back to parking lot about 3PM and drove back to St Mary Village by 4PM.  Since there is still some day light, we decided to drive to St Mary Falls Trailhead to try our luck about finding a parking spot.  Luckily, we found one and we decided to try it.   

Our intention was to visit St Mary Falls and the Virginia Falls on the same hike.  It was about 0.9 miles with difficult level 2.13 to St Mary Falls, and it is beautiful and we enjoyed it very much.

Then we tried to hike further to Virginia Falls.  After a while we came to this beautiful falls, however, there is no sign to tell the name of the falls.  We asked other visitors there, and they were not sure and thought it might be the Virginia Falls.  We stayed there for quite a while and took a lot of photos.

When we ready to leave, there were some other visitors coming down from the trial, Fei just asked them to see if they know the name of the falls we were at.  Then they told us that this is not Virginia Falls.  Virginia Falls is further down the trail and it is much bigger and more beautiful than this one.  Therefore, we decided to head to the Virginia Falls. The remaining trail to Virginia Falls is rated with difficult level 4.65.  So it took us a little bit longer at this hours of the day to reach Virginia Falls.  Once we got there, it was amazing and totally worth the extra effort to hike to it.  We got a lot more Kodak moments there.

After that it was almost 7PM, we had to hurry to get back to the trail and try to come back to parking lot when there was still some sunlight.  

When we got back to hotel, it was past 8PM and we just grabbed some more  instant ramen and ate in hotel room.

August 22, 2024 - Tried Highline Trail Again

We got up an hour earlier and arrived Logan Pass around 7AM, still could not find any parking spot.  We were told that the last parking spot was taken around 6:30AM.  However, we found a roadside parking spot and had to walk 0.7 mile to Logan Pass.  This was the best we could do, therefore we did.  

First thing was visiting the exact location of Continental Divide.  We took some photos there to indicate that we were here. 

Then we moved along to Highland Trail which is the most famous trail in Glacier NP.  It is 11.8 miles round trips with difficult level of 15.7.  Of course we could not do this hike.  However, we were told that just do the 1 mile in then 1 mile out will be good enough for the scenery and the excitement.  That was our plan.  In about 300 feet into the trail, the scenery has become so impressive and the excitement of having a chain for holding on was an extra factor of having fun.  We enjoyed it very much and we took it slow and enjoyed every moment on the trail by viewing the scenery and taking photos.  

As a matter of fact that we enjoyed so much which led us to do a 2 miles in and 2 miles out.  The trail is just magical and every turn we discovered different beautiful scenery.  Immediately, we can said Highline Trail is our most favorite trail in Glacier NP.

After that we visited the visit center and talked to Ranger for more info.  Then We found out the Hidden Lakes Overlook Trail started just in the back of the Visitor Center.  Therefore we decided to try it.  At the same time, the Ranger also recommend Avalanche Lake Trail and we decided to try it next day.

Hidden Lakes  Overlook Trail is 2.7 miles round trip and is rated with difficult level 3.78.  In the 1st part of the trail, there is boardwalk built by some voluntary group.  It makes walking on the trail easy by just walking on boardwalk stairway, however, each step of the stairway is too high for us to step up.  So the going up portion was not that easy and it did take a heavy toll on our knees.  On the way, 8760-foot Clements Mountain dominate the landscape directly in front of us.  At 1.35 miles into the trail we arrive at the Hidden Lake Overlook where we enjoyed outstanding panoramic views of the lake and surrounding mountains.

On the way up to the overlook point and on the returning trail, we spotted some Mountain Goats just eating the grass on the meadow.  There were some Kodak moments for us.

When we got back to Logan Pass Visitor Center, it was about 3PM, therefore we just hike another 0.7 miles to our parked car and head back to St Mary Village.