Our first hike in Glacier National Park was the Packers Roost Trail.
We went on a 12 mile(total) out and back to the flattop campground.
I was really happy to see that a lot of the campgrounds have outhouses!
One of my least favorite things about backpacking is the lack of privacy.
We did not backpack this time but I am going to remember this for next time.
There is a pretty big elevation change on this hike so you legs will definitely get a workout!
It looks like a fire has been through there in the last couple years so a lot of the forest is burned up.
We only saw TWO hikers on this trail though!
I was so happy to be away from the crowds!
We camped that night at Bowman Lake.
The road to get there is called a trail for vehicles, not a road.
Trailers would have a pretty rough time getting there.
The next day we hiked Bowman’s Lake to the Quartz Lake trail.
It ended up being a very rough 15 mile(could be shorter if you do not lose the trail like we did) loop.
They are building a new bridge and we missed the existing one, adding a mile onto our hike.
The trail leads to a beautiful campground on Quartz Lake.
We then travelled around the lakes and started our way back up.
We stopped for breaks several times on the way up.
I was pretty sure it was a magic hill that never ended.
Since the hike took most of the day we decided to spend another night at Bowman Lake.
We slept in our vehicle on a platform my husband built.
We meant to bring a tent just in case but forgot it.
We did not really need it though.
He built it so two of these underbed storage tubs could fit under it.
One held most of our food and the other clothes.
I used clips to hold the curtains up, I saw that idea here.
I used a bungee cord for the front curtain.
We took one of the pads from our popup to sleep on.
An air mattress would have worked as well.
Good things to bring also would be a lantern that you can hang and a fan.
I bought a little USB fan and it worked great.
My husband built us a little stove for cooking on.
These pieces fit together.
It boils water really quickly!
The next day we drove over to the Many Glaciers Area for a hike and shower(there are not many places to shower in the park, you have to pay for all of them).
We got there early enough to get a camping spot and go on the Grinnel Glacier Trail.
It is an 11 mile out and back.
This was another leg killer(for me) trail.
It probably did not help that you kept meeting people on their way back down saying how far you had to go and how hard it was…
It was a beautiful place at the glacier though.
The next day we drove back down to Logan’s Pass for the more popular Highline Trail.
It was really crowded on the weekend so we saved this hike until Monday.
It was a beautiful foggy morning.
When we first started we could not see anything so I started joking with Nick about the amazing views.
I also tried to pretend that the edge just led to a gentle slope and not a sharp drop.
It did clear up though so I had to deal with the reality and my fear of heights…
This trail had breathtaking views!
We saw a LOT of chipmunks(they were all yelling at us!).
I thought it would be funny if we drove all the way up there and that is the only animal we saw but we did end up seeing others finally towards the end.
This guy was on the side of the road.
I kept my distance and was okay with this shot.
Other people were crazy and wading into the brush to get nice and close to the wild animal…
We saw three bears while there but this is the only good picture I got of one.
We had a really good time and it was a beautiful place!
If you are planning to go I would definitely try to avoid weekends and the busy season.
They shut a lot of campgrounds down mid-september so I would think the beginning of September would be a really good time to go(we got there just as they closed a lot of campgrounds).
We hiked in Bighorn National Forest and the Rocky Mountain State Park on the way to and from Glacier.
I will be sharing some of those pics in another post!
What is your favorite place to go on vacation?
I am a mountain girl for sure!
My husband did the Pumpkin Holler Hunderd(that is how they spell it) this weekend.
The race started at a campsite so we set up the camper the friday night before the race.
He had to do a 50K loop twice so he came back to the campsite for his halfway point.
My oldest joined him for his last 9 miles at 6am Sunday morning.
He did it!