Glacier - Take Six

As promised, I owe you a Glacier trip report. This was my sixth trip to Glacier National Park in four years and it was my favorite trip yet. A simple report on a place like Glacier just couldn't do it justice, so I'm going to let my pictures do most of the talking:

Day 1-2: I took the Empire Builder (24-hour train trip) out to East Glacier this time, met Nathan, and stopped at Johnson's for dinner. July 19th was a special day as it was our Pi Anniversary and we celebrated with some delicious Huckleberry Ice Cream Pie. The next day, I decided to start off easy with a 7-mile hike to Rockwell Falls in Two Medicine. About 5 minutes into my hike we saw a moose with two calves. My trip could have ended there and I would have been happy:




Day 3: Nathan had 3.5 days off starting today, which is not normal, but was great! We started off hiking the 10.5-mile Ptarmigan Tunnel trail near Many Glacier. It's been on my list for a while and didn't disappoint!





Day 4: Nathan, his friend Matt, and I went up to Waterton (Canada) to do the Carthew-Alderson trail. I'm not sure if I dare say it was the best trail I've done in both Glacier & Waterton so far, but I think it was my favorite. The first part is through a lush, green forest with beautiful views up to a mountain pass. Then you descend onto three lakes that look like they were stolen from the cliffs of Ireland.





Day 5: Nathan and I decided to venture into the North Fork region of the park, the seldomly-visited NW corner of the park. On the way we stopped at the delicious Polebridge Bakery and then relaxed on the beach of Bowman Lake all afternoon.



Day 6: Nathan had a half-day off, so we did his favorite trail, the Beaver Pond loop. I've never seen it so full of flowers and we found some of the earliest strawberries were ripe - they were so delicious that they actually made up for the huckleberries not being ready yet!





Day 7: Nathan happened to be leading a group on the Highline Trail, the nation's 10th best trail according to backpacker magazine in 2005. I'd never done the whole thing and I added on a grueling vertical climb up to Grinnell Overlook, which I'm really glad I did! I have to say, the whole thing really did live up to the hype.





It was a fantastic trip and I was especially sad to leave. The next time I'll see Nathan we'll both be in Tanzania!