August 2019
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:23 pm
I was in the park July 31 - August 7 this year for my seventh annual trip. I brought R with me again for his 3rd trip - he did well, but I hiked him out and he chose to sit out the last day. This was my first trip in early August - we lucked out with great weather and only a little smoky haze, though I could have stood for some cooler temperatures.
This year my new experiences were: Apgar Lookout, a Logan Pass Star Party, Hidden Lake (got to the actual lake), Dawson Pass as an out-and-back, crossing the outlet stream at Grinnell Glacier, and hiking to Swiftcurrent Lookout (a really unexpected bonus).
=== Wednesday, Flight in =====
We had a super early set of flights and arrived in Kalispell earlier than scheduled, sometime before 11:40 am. The rental car (Thrifty, now on-site and located with Hertz) was originally reserved for a 12:30 arrival, but we had no problem picking it up early. We also stopped at the Glacier Outfitters location in the airport to rent bear spray - it was an easy process. We were out of the airport by noon.
Up next were two quick stops for supplies - the Super 1 for a few groceries, and Glacier Distilling to replenish my stash of Northfork whiskey.
Luckily we were able to check in to our room at the Village Inn at Apgar when we arrived, even though it wasn’t even 2pm yet. We sat and evaluated our options since we had such an early arrival - originally I had planned to drive to Polebridge (and maybe even Bowman Lake) to eat and enjoy the scenery. But I was way too tired, and the drive sounded very unappealing. Instead we decided to eat lunch at Eddies, take a short rest, and hike to Avalanche Lake to help us “wake up” finally.
We headed up to Avalanche and arrived just before 4pm. The hike to the lake was pleasant. It was a hot day, so I started out in shorts, which is rare. There were still hikers out, but the trail didn’t feel too crowded. It was my first visit to the lake in the afternoon, and the light was pretty nice looking at the mountains across the lake. It still doesn’t compare to my first visit at the end of June, with some lingering snow and lots more waterfalls. But still a very worthwhile hike.
On the way back we were told a black bear had just been spotted - we kept a lookout, but didn’t see it. We stopped at Avalanche Gorge on the way out, but late afternoon is definitely *not* the best time for this feature.
We stopped at the lounge at Lake McDonald Lodge for a light dinner - it was full when we got there, but a seat at the bar opened up soon. We didn’t stay too long, as I was ready to shower and go to bed! We watched sunset from the chairs outside the room and called it a night.
=== Thursday, Apgar Lookout =====
Since Apgar Lookout isn’t a super long hike, we didn’t set our alarms. I was still up early enough to catch sunrise, and we made it to Eddies to be first in the door for breakfast at 7 when they opened (5 minutes late).
The drive took 15-20 minutes on some gravel roads - driving over the Quarter Circle bridge is neat. There is a fairly large parking area at the trailhead, and only 2 cars there when we arrived. The trail was very uncrowded - we ended up seeing 2 groups on the hike up, 2 groups at the Lookout, and passed 2 groups on the way down. No animal sightings to speak of - another pretty warm day.
The first section of trail is pleasant, but wooded without any views and not much in terms of wildflowers at this elevation. Once you start climbing there are some nice views of the surrounding hills to the west and south. You can hear the train pretty well most of the hike.
After a pretty steady climb, you finally pop out at the tower.
We rested in the shade for a while, and then spent about 30 minutes in front of the webcam trying to get a screen capture. It was a little hazy, and the light is probably better in the afternoon, but I enjoyed looking down at Lake McDonald and surrounding areas.
The hike back down went quickly. We made a stop at the Apgar Visitor center to use the restrooms and purchase our Star Party ticket, and it was a zoo (around 1:30, I’d guess). I let R out and circled for a while looking for a spot, eventually pulling into a long RV spot that was shared with another car.
We decided to head out to Polebridge to eat, since we had skipped it the day before. I found the road to be worse than the last time I visited - very washboardy and dusty. We stopped at Home Ranch Bottoms to eat. The ‘menu’ is 4-5 sandwiches written on a board behind the counter when you enter. We got pulled pork sandwiches and beer - it was good, but nothing special - I doubt I’ll return. We did continue on to Polebridge to make a stop at the Merc - we got a huckleberry bear claw (it was excellent!) and pizza roll for later.
We then started the drive back to the GTTSR on our way to Rising Sun for the next 3 nights. We pulled in to Oberlin Bend; I hadn’t been in a few years since I’m rarely passing by in the afternoon (it’s full of people walking up to Logan Pass in the morning). We walked the boardwalk and watched some mountain goats eating beargrass. We watched a ranger try to shoo away a goat that was stuck in the parking lot licking up something someone had dumped out of their car. *Don’t* dump anything out of your car - even liquids you think will ‘wash away’ are still considered littering and endangers the animals.
We checked in at Rising Sun (Motor Inn room), relaxed outside in our chairs, ate our Merc goodies, and went to bed.
This year my new experiences were: Apgar Lookout, a Logan Pass Star Party, Hidden Lake (got to the actual lake), Dawson Pass as an out-and-back, crossing the outlet stream at Grinnell Glacier, and hiking to Swiftcurrent Lookout (a really unexpected bonus).
=== Wednesday, Flight in =====
We had a super early set of flights and arrived in Kalispell earlier than scheduled, sometime before 11:40 am. The rental car (Thrifty, now on-site and located with Hertz) was originally reserved for a 12:30 arrival, but we had no problem picking it up early. We also stopped at the Glacier Outfitters location in the airport to rent bear spray - it was an easy process. We were out of the airport by noon.
Up next were two quick stops for supplies - the Super 1 for a few groceries, and Glacier Distilling to replenish my stash of Northfork whiskey.
Luckily we were able to check in to our room at the Village Inn at Apgar when we arrived, even though it wasn’t even 2pm yet. We sat and evaluated our options since we had such an early arrival - originally I had planned to drive to Polebridge (and maybe even Bowman Lake) to eat and enjoy the scenery. But I was way too tired, and the drive sounded very unappealing. Instead we decided to eat lunch at Eddies, take a short rest, and hike to Avalanche Lake to help us “wake up” finally.
We headed up to Avalanche and arrived just before 4pm. The hike to the lake was pleasant. It was a hot day, so I started out in shorts, which is rare. There were still hikers out, but the trail didn’t feel too crowded. It was my first visit to the lake in the afternoon, and the light was pretty nice looking at the mountains across the lake. It still doesn’t compare to my first visit at the end of June, with some lingering snow and lots more waterfalls. But still a very worthwhile hike.
On the way back we were told a black bear had just been spotted - we kept a lookout, but didn’t see it. We stopped at Avalanche Gorge on the way out, but late afternoon is definitely *not* the best time for this feature.
We stopped at the lounge at Lake McDonald Lodge for a light dinner - it was full when we got there, but a seat at the bar opened up soon. We didn’t stay too long, as I was ready to shower and go to bed! We watched sunset from the chairs outside the room and called it a night.
=== Thursday, Apgar Lookout =====
Since Apgar Lookout isn’t a super long hike, we didn’t set our alarms. I was still up early enough to catch sunrise, and we made it to Eddies to be first in the door for breakfast at 7 when they opened (5 minutes late).
The drive took 15-20 minutes on some gravel roads - driving over the Quarter Circle bridge is neat. There is a fairly large parking area at the trailhead, and only 2 cars there when we arrived. The trail was very uncrowded - we ended up seeing 2 groups on the hike up, 2 groups at the Lookout, and passed 2 groups on the way down. No animal sightings to speak of - another pretty warm day.
The first section of trail is pleasant, but wooded without any views and not much in terms of wildflowers at this elevation. Once you start climbing there are some nice views of the surrounding hills to the west and south. You can hear the train pretty well most of the hike.
After a pretty steady climb, you finally pop out at the tower.
We rested in the shade for a while, and then spent about 30 minutes in front of the webcam trying to get a screen capture. It was a little hazy, and the light is probably better in the afternoon, but I enjoyed looking down at Lake McDonald and surrounding areas.
The hike back down went quickly. We made a stop at the Apgar Visitor center to use the restrooms and purchase our Star Party ticket, and it was a zoo (around 1:30, I’d guess). I let R out and circled for a while looking for a spot, eventually pulling into a long RV spot that was shared with another car.
We decided to head out to Polebridge to eat, since we had skipped it the day before. I found the road to be worse than the last time I visited - very washboardy and dusty. We stopped at Home Ranch Bottoms to eat. The ‘menu’ is 4-5 sandwiches written on a board behind the counter when you enter. We got pulled pork sandwiches and beer - it was good, but nothing special - I doubt I’ll return. We did continue on to Polebridge to make a stop at the Merc - we got a huckleberry bear claw (it was excellent!) and pizza roll for later.
We then started the drive back to the GTTSR on our way to Rising Sun for the next 3 nights. We pulled in to Oberlin Bend; I hadn’t been in a few years since I’m rarely passing by in the afternoon (it’s full of people walking up to Logan Pass in the morning). We walked the boardwalk and watched some mountain goats eating beargrass. We watched a ranger try to shoo away a goat that was stuck in the parking lot licking up something someone had dumped out of their car. *Don’t* dump anything out of your car - even liquids you think will ‘wash away’ are still considered littering and endangers the animals.
We checked in at Rising Sun (Motor Inn room), relaxed outside in our chairs, ate our Merc goodies, and went to bed.