Your Favorite Day Hike in Glacier

[toddnick]

Remember general guideline that you must differentiate your favorite but are allowed to list 2 (but no more...make a decision....even if it like choosing your favorite child) honorable mentions (kind of like bronze and silver medalists).

What is your favorite day hike?? Please reserve peak bagging for the favorite climb thread coming soon.....

I have done about 20 day hikes in the Park and there are so many great ones.....but for me.....

Winner

Pitamakan/Dawson Loop - It takes a little effort to reach Pitamakan Pass but the next four miles are simply spectacular with new peaks and vistas around every corner. I did it in September and didn't see another person (but I did encounter a grizz on the trail just before Oldman Lake) until I was almost to Dawson Pass; being on the divide alone for so long is incredible. I was also blessed to have perfect weather the day I did this exposed hike, never encountering winds over about 10 mph.

Honorable Mention

Gunsight Trailhead to Sperry Chalet - This was just reinforced in the latest issue of Backpacker Magazine which for their lead photo for this feature article on "reader's favorite hikes" chose a shot from Glacier; it was Gunsight Pass looking down on Lake Ellen Wilson with a mother and baby goat in the foreground. I love the ascent from Gunsight Lake to Gunsight Pass where I also saw a mother and baby goat just below the Pass. Crossing the waterfall below Gunsight Pass was also an interesting adventure (must be worse earlier in the season) and getting to Sperry and being offerred a hot drink on a 35 degree day was fantastic!!!!

Hockey Ref (Logan Pass to Many Glacier via Swiftcurrent Pass) - No four-mile, two-thousand foot ascents to break out of the forest and get wonderful vistas to start this hike. The views of Heaven Peak are outstanding for several miles. This year in less than an hour I passed a deer and a mountain goat on the trail and also spotted a Grizz sitting on a rock and scratching himself just below the trail. Grinnell Glacier Overlook has some great views but be warned; it is crazy steep (950 feet in 3/4 of a mile). Love having lunch outside at Granite Park and of course the views from Swiftcurrent Pass into the valley are legendary.

[scott-atl]

IMHO logan pass to many glacier via swiftcurrent pass is tha seminal hike in the park. granite park chalet along the way...

also love the siyeh pass hike. i still long to do the daw/pit hike.

[ND Sol]

I would vote for Grinnell Glacier. You get to do a couple of boat rides, a hike up to a glacier and the great views of a necklace of turquoise lakes.

The Hockey Ref hike is great (with a jaunt up to the Swiftcurrent Lookout or the Grinnell Glacier Overlook) as well as a combination of Ptarmigan Tunnel and Iceberg Lake.

[elscout198]

Although highly traveled the hike to Avalanche Lake was a fun time and the trip over the boadwalk on the trail of the cedars is so green, one of the nice short hiles you can take







"Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses,
we'll ride them some day
Wild horses couldn't drag me away"

[Hockey Ref]

I'll go with Highline/Swiftcurrent Pass for sentimental reasons as it was my favorite hike from the summer I worked at MGH. (And I continue to be humbled by the reference to it as the "Hockey Ref Hike.")

Daw-Pit is a great second choice. Iceberg Lake and Grinnell Glacier tie for third.

All four of the above are on my list for next July.

[paul]

Siyeh Bend loop!

[mxfuel]

My vote is for the hockey ref hike. I will vote for Grinnell Glacier for 2nd. Cracker lake would be up there if the hike to the lake was better. I loved the destination but the hike to it wasn't as spectacular.

[slowhiker]

I tend to be more of a stroller than a high powered hiker, but hey, at least I am out there. My favorite "stroll" is St. Mary Falls. Red Rock Lake is a very close second with Aster Falls coming in third.

[Glowski]

Hard to choose... but here goes:

WINNER!

Favorite hike: Grinnell Glacier to Angelwing.
It was a great hike, wonderful company, and a lovely day.



HONORABLE MENTION:
Highline to Swifty starting at Logan Pass, Scenic Point, and the list could go on and on...

[Marmotman]

I would have to say that the Floral Park hike is currently my favorite (Logan Pass, Hidden Lk, Floral Park, Sperry Glacier, to Lake McDonald). Its challenging, scenic, and very few people.

Second place would have to be a tie between Gunsight to Lake McDonald and the Dawson Pit Pass Loop. Dawson/Pit may edge out since it doesn't have the dreaded Sperry to Lake McD trail out .

[mattB]

Favorite: Logan Pass to Swiftcurrent Parking lot, via Granite Park Chalet. Awesome views, some "interesting" sections of trail, I love Granite Park Chalet and its such a nice lunch break spot. The views of the valley from Swiftcurrent Pass are great. And ending at the swiftcurrent parking lot is nice, since there refreshments readily available and there's usually lots of people setup with spotting scopes watching the bears up on the mountain-side. PLUS most of the elevation gain is done in a car or bus!!

Honorable Mentions:
Pitamakin-Dawson Loop from Two Medicine Campground, close to The HockeyRef hike, except there's no bus for the uphill parts!
Siyeh Pass, from Siyeh Bend to Sunrift Gorge

[Beargrass]

Without a doubt

[southernguy]

This is a tough one.
My latest favorite is Dragon's tail. It's a good down day. Only 6 miles round trip, 1,500 ft gain and great views.





Second, hmmmmm
I'll go for Gunsight pass to Sperry

[Tara]

I love the Shangri-La hike....next year I'll probably have a different favorite but that was the first that came to mind.

[calicotraveler]

Last summer we finally were able to do Iceberg Lake. It had been closed the previous several summers for bears and this was our first time. The flowers were amazing! The water in the lake was beautiful and since we got out early it wasn't crowded. It's my favorite for now but the Highline trail from Logan Pass to the loop comes in a close 2nd. Here's a short video of some of the flowers:

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5765841/15100178