Hiking at Glacier

Today was my idea of Heaven- hiking in a beautiful place. In fact I did 3 hikes in different parts of Glacier National park today! In order to get a parking spot at Logan’s Pass I was out the door at 5:15, which also meant I got to enjoy seeing the sunrise as I made my way along the Going to the Sun road. 🤩 

My first hike was to the Hidden Lake Overlook. I had planned to hike down to the lake but the trail after the overlook was closed due to recent bear activity, so I had to satisfy myself with these views, including a big horn sheep. On the hike back I met a lovely couple from Virginia, he has another 18 months before he finishes his 20 years in the Navy. She’s originally from Australia and they are trying to decide where they’re going to live when his time with the Navy is up. We had a great conversation about kids spending time overseas and the differences between living in Australia/New Zealand and the US (we both agreed that vacation leave is much better in Australia and New Zealand)

After that I hopped on the shuttle to Avalanche- and was one of only two passengers! It was great to just stare out the windows at the jaw dropping views. The hike to Avalanche Lake was enchanting – gorgeous falls, green, green forest floor, sunlight peeking through the trees and friendly fellow hikers. 

Avalanche Lake was so peaceful, even with lots of people there. It was the perfect place to eat my lunch and soak up the sun.  

I headed back to the shuttle then drove to Many Glaciers and hiked to a lovely lake and waterfall, Red Rocks. 

Finally it was time to drive home via East Glacier. 

One thing I noticed is how friendly everybody was, especially on the quieter less traveled trails everybody said hello and seemed genuinely happy to be a greeting fellow hiker, the vast majority of people were older couples and everybody just seemed so happy to be there. I guess that makes sense, but there definitely have been times I’ve been hiking where people have not responded to a greeting or seemed very intent on getting from A to B as quickly as possible. It’s nice to see so many larger women like myself who are out hiking and enjoying the outdoors.