2015-07-21 - MT - Day 55 - Apgar to Glacier Campground
Brian and I enjoyed breakfast with the route leaders and a woman named Hannah and her friends. Hannah had ridden on a previous trip with our route leader Emily for Bike The US For MS, and now was hiking for the week in Glacier National Park. The two of us then took the shuttle back up to Logan Pass, switching to a smaller bus at Avalanche Creek, as the winding road limits the size of vehicles that can go up.
From there, we started on our thirteen and a half mile Highline Trail hike along the Continental Divide's Garden Wall arête (or rock spine). Almost immediately the trail revealed itself to be a good choice. Soon enough we were walking along narrow four to six foot ledges skirting hundred foot drop-offs. The trail continued to hug the Garden Wall as millions of wild flowers exploded before us and dozens of peaks rose in the distance. We took a break after hiking up the Haystack Pass, about an hour and a half in.
From there, we started on our thirteen and a half mile Highline Trail hike along the Continental Divide's Garden Wall arête (or rock spine). Almost immediately the trail revealed itself to be a good choice. Soon enough we were walking along narrow four to six foot ledges skirting hundred foot drop-offs. The trail continued to hug the Garden Wall as millions of wild flowers exploded before us and dozens of peaks rose in the distance. We took a break after hiking up the Haystack Pass, about an hour and a half in.
We passed by butterflies and crickets and even spotted a caribou grazing above us. Brian and I grew closer as friends as we chatted. It felt good to talk about undertaking future adventures together.
Soon we reached the steep Garden Wall Trail, which climbs up 950 feet over 0.87 miles to the top of the Continental Divide and rewards hikers with a view of the Salamander and Grinnell Glaciers as well as Grinnell Lake. Salamander and Grinnell used to be connected as one single glacier. Now, the two might not even be big enough to qualify as glaciers at all. Glaciers have to be moving multi-year ice deposits over one hundred feet thick and at least twenty-five acres in size.
Brian was a lot faster than I was going uphill. I took a break along the way to eat and drink something. That mile and a half or so up and down the side trail felt more like three. It was so worth it though. We were at about 8000 feet elevation and only about a thousand feet from the glaciers.
Brian was a lot faster than I was going uphill. I took a break along the way to eat and drink something. That mile and a half or so up and down the side trail felt more like three. It was so worth it though. We were at about 8000 feet elevation and only about a thousand feet from the glaciers.
We hiked down the side trail and went to Granite Chalet, one of the last remaining Great Northern Railroad Chalets, where patrons could stay in the summer and be close to trail country. We chatted with a staff member who was living and working there for the summer before heading the four miles down to the Loop. I couldn't resist running down the rocky downhill terrain and Brian followed behind me. We discovered that I was much faster going downhill. It was my favorite terrain to run on and the first time we ran together. I loved it. We ran about three and a half of those four miles at around an 8 mph pace, passing twenty or thirty hikers along the way.
We took the shuttle down from the Loop bus stop and heard about a spreading wildfire to the east of Logan Pass. Later I also learned that a Jeep truck had gone over the cliff near the loop shortly after we left, stopping all traffic east of Lake McDonald. The fires would spread to over five thousand acres over the next few days. Our group had missed the resulting chaos by a day while Brian and I missed it by mere hours. After ice cream and dinner, Brian biked the thirty odd miles to Whitefish as I headed to Glacier Campgrounds for some welcome solitude and rest.
We took the shuttle down from the Loop bus stop and heard about a spreading wildfire to the east of Logan Pass. Later I also learned that a Jeep truck had gone over the cliff near the loop shortly after we left, stopping all traffic east of Lake McDonald. The fires would spread to over five thousand acres over the next few days. Our group had missed the resulting chaos by a day while Brian and I missed it by mere hours. After ice cream and dinner, Brian biked the thirty odd miles to Whitefish as I headed to Glacier Campgrounds for some welcome solitude and rest.
