=== Tuesday, Swiftcurrent Lookout =====
R decided he was done with hiking for this trip, so I had some decisions to make! Originally, the plan was to go to Cracker Lake, my absolute favorite (and a hike I know he enjoys, too). But now I had the opportunity to do something new (although taking a rest day, too, sounded pretty appealing). I eventually decided to do a hike I never thought I would consider - Swiftcurrent Lookout from the Swiftcurrent Pass trailhead. I looked at three different references and came up with some stats I thought were manageable - 16-17 miles and 3500-4000 ft of elevation gain. (It ended up being 16.7 miles and 3,900 ft gain, according to my GPS watch track.)
I was a little sad that I didn’t get to Cracker this year, though.
After another great breakfast buffet yogurt meal, I drove over to Swiftcurrent Motor Inn (plenty of parking, though there was a long line waiting for a spot at the campground - at least 15 cars) and was on the trail by 7:15 am.
I sped through the first 3 miles with the goal to get through them in an hour (goal achieved, but barely!) - after passing a few people before Fishercap Lake, I was totally alone on the trail until past Bullhead Lake, where I did encounter some backpackers at the bridge before the switchbacks start.
I did pass what appeared to be fresh bear scat, so I made a lot of noise. The other hikers warned me of a moose “somewhere up there”. I saw it when I turned the first switchback. It was heading directly down the mountain with no regard for the trail. Luckily, the trail took me the opposite direction of the moose and I could eventually see it below me, so I knew I wasn’t in danger of being trampled.
Later, I caught a glimpse of a second moose on the top of the grassy ridge above me, but never saw it again, or where it went.
I encountered a few hikers on the way down the trail, but not many. One group was stopped to look at a ptarmigan - I encountered three this day (one jumped out in front of me on the trail first thing in the morning, and another was blocking my path to the pit toilet at the lookout). Otherwise, not a lot of wildlife on the trail after the moose.
This was my first time hiking up to Swiftcurrent Pass (both other times had been coming down from Granite Park Chalet), so it felt much longer than usual - my mind had conveniently forgotten several parts of the trail. But eventually I arrived at Swiftcurrent Pass, where I ate a snack while looking up at the lookout - it looks so close!
The side trail to the lookout starts just past the pass, not too far. While I was resting, I could hear a couple of people start to head up, making bear calls along the way. The trail up is pretty interesting, with some dead trees, some small stands of live trees, small patches of flowers, and lots of rock. The trail itself was pretty nice, too, no super steep scree sections (like on the Grinnell/Garden Wall Overlook trail). It was still a tough enough climb, but great and changing views the whole way.
There are lots of great views of Heaven’s Peak on the way up, and distant mountains, but there was a haze in the air. I could even see some concentrated brown smoke in the vicinity of the Lake McDonald valley. Things were still pretty clear in Many Glacier that day, though.
What a relief to make it to the top - again, it turned out to not be a very windy day.
I sat and rested while some bees buzzed around me, but they never got too close (or I was too tired to care). My lunchtime view was pretty nice.
I saw a super-crazy trail runner come up and make it all the way down before I even got up to leave! I walked around to see the view from all angles, and filled out the hiker register.
On the way down, I made sure to stop at the pit toilet. It’s just hanging out there, on the side of the mountain. Probably the best view I’ve ever had from a pit toilet in my life (though I hear one or two on backpacking routes are pretty good).
The hike down from the lookout goes by fast.
Back on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail, the views down the valley were much better in the afternoon (since you’re not looking into the sun), with the reds really showing in the mountains, and the lakes a nice blue.
There were fewer people on the trail than I expected between Bullhead Lake and the trailhead - it’s been packed some days. I didn’t make any scenic stops this time through.
I was happy to make it to the car and rest my feet. There were spots available in the Swiftcurrent parking lot, but I was still dreading the Many Glacier lot. And of course it was full (around 3:45). I circled for about 10 minutes - lots of people were walking from their cars to the hotel. How? Where did they find these spots that didn’t seem to exist?! Finally, I was in the right place at the right time, and an older couple directed me to their spot as they were leaving.
We went to the Lounge again for dinner instead of waiting for the dining room to open (I might have been a little hungry). We grabbed a spot in the lobby to hang out for a bit, and then drove back over to Swiftcurrent to check out Fishercap Lake. We lucked out and found two moose there, feeding in the lake. There were also some bears in the distant hills - eventually I saw one, but they were very hard to find. I’d rather watch the moose right in front of us. We also encountered a deer on the trail on the way back.
We enjoyed our balcony and some cloud watching before going to sleep.
=== Wednesday, Flight out =====
Since we had a 12:13 pm flight out of Kalispell, we targeted 6:30 am to leave Many Glacier to give us enough time to have breakfast, drive the GTTSR, and get to the airport in time for our flight. We were mostly packed the night before, and woke up just before 6am to finish up. We were ready early, so we sat on the balcony one last time to enjoy sunrise (which was really just watching the low clouds move around and slowly reveal mountains behind them).
After checking out and a drive down the bumpy Many Glacier road (with plenty of cattle to negotiate), we stopped for breakfast at Glacier’s Edge Cafe. We were the first customers, and we were out in half an hour, well ahead of schedule. We drove slowly through the Two Dog Flats area, but didn’t note any wildlife this morning. Since we had the time, we stopped at Wild Goose Island Overlook and Sun Point. The low morning clouds were clearing and mostly gone by this time.
It was pretty smoky in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish/Kalispell area - not a pleasant day to be outdoors there. The air in the park was much better that morning, but the smoke seemed to be headed in that direction.
Returned the rental car. Retuned the punctured bear spray (I didn’t know how to properly dispose of it, so I just took it back, double wrapped in ziplock bags - the woman at the counter seemed like they’d never had a puncture occur before). We checked our bags, and relaxed before our flight. Another fun and successful trip was over.