Without looking it up, guess by the pics the total mileage/EG from this trail!
All pics from this second round at Glacier:
http://weathercrazy.smugmug.com/Landsca ... 15-Part-II
Opening pic:
A few pics from the pre-hike:
Lots of goats on this trip to Glacier...
Such a beautiful park, and such a contrast to the fall colors/grey skies and clouds I saw in September last year.
This year:
Fall last year:
If you don't know already, I love aspen trees, in fact, I have two in my yard.
Blue Hour at Two Medicine:
And sunrise at Two Medicine:
More aspens!
Moose in the road!
I was there on Friday the 18th, the first day the road was open all the way through. The gate opened at 8 AM and I was there
FINALLY:
Onto the trail. The trail was "closed" the day before, but opened the same day as the pass.
It starts at Logan Pass and heads north, mainly level, then actually loosing some elevation gain to start.
The reason the trail was closed was this one section of snow near the TH that had a very steep slope. They blasted it out the day before.
The views are sweeping, especially to the west and northwest.
Waterfall on the trail:
Looking back toward Logan Pass
AMAZING VIEWS!
Another look back toward Logan Pass, including the Going To Sun (GTS) road.
This is the first look into the basin above the Weeping Wall
It's also where I first saw these goats...
Weeping Wall from above
The two goats walking along the Highline Trail
More great views! This looking NW.
And this more westerly and SW.
After photographing and watching the goats for some time, I finally caught up to them, and they were in no hurry to move.
Um, could I get by???
Finally, as they were at this watering hole, I scooted by, trying not to disturb them. Several times I got "the look"
Here's where the Glacier Lilies started.
They weren't as carpeting as the avalanche lilies at Vista Ridge, but they were much, much more widespread!
That yellow tinge is alllllllll glacier lilies
Absolutely incredible views! It was slowing my progress!
Cool little cloud rolling over the mountains in the strong winds!
Not a lot of snow to cross, but some, I'm sure of which is mainly gone now!
After being in meadows, then rock, then meadows/scrub, then meadows, you finally break out into just rock again.
The water features are awesome here, they are very "visible", not hidden by our dense underbrush.
This is where I turned around. About 4 miles in, just after the high point of the trail at 7,300'. The trail from here descends 900' before gaining again to the Granite Park Chalet. The clouds were threatening and I didn't have a full day to hike.
Looking west, the GTS road visible on the bottom.
Well lookie here, they had walked the trail up the entire way!
This time, I stepped onto some rocks off the trail, and they walked by.
Back to Glacier Lily land!
I love the cloud shadows here!
And very similar:
Not long after arriving back at the TH, here comes a thunderstorm!
And this newly "refreshed" Glacier. Everything dripping wet but the sun out.
And down by the river, it was still raining, but alas the sun was out!
All in all, a really well maintained trail.
Ok, you saw the views, so it must be some horrendous elevation gain and distance right????
Nope. 8 miles RT and only 1,100' in elevation gain! The trip to the Chalet doubles the distance and adds about 1,700' elevation gain to the trip.
