Today started early. We definitely did not want a repeat of yesterday where we couldn’t find parking and had to add mileage onto our hike, so our plan was to leave the RV park by 5am. Thankfully, we were off by 5:09!
We warmed up a combination of savory egg cups and breakfast sandwiches that my mother in law made (egg, cheese, Canadian bacon and English muffins), and we passed them out in the car on the drive to Logan Pass. Today we got to drive the Going to the Sun Road while the sun was rising and it was as breathtaking as I remembered from four years ago!
We arrived at Logan Pass and were able to park in the very front. This area now has a 3 hour parking limit, enforced by a permit that you get upon arrival. This is to prevent people taking the Highline Trail from parking there and taking up spots all day long. We didn’t tackle this epic trail yet due to time and the age of our kids, but it is on our bucket list to do the entire 11+ mile version of it one day! When we do that, if the current 3 hour limit remains in effect, we’ll have to park at a different lot and ride the park shuttle up to Logan Pass.
But today our timing was perfect for a hike to Hidden Lake! This is a 2.6 mile hike in the most beautiful alpine atmosphere ever. As my momma said at the top, “THIS is the hike of all hikes.” I agree! We climbed through beautiful alpine flowers, went through snow runoffs and trekked over patches of ice and snow. We saw marmots, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. And once we reached the top, Hidden Lake was fully visible! When we did this hike 4 years ago, it was super foggy and we had to wait 15 minutes for the fog to clear for only about 5 seconds for us to see the lake. It was clear the entire time today and we enjoyed staying at the top for a while, eating snacks and snapping a few pictures. It’s definitely another can’t-miss hike!
Behr and I also stopped and took a pic in front of a “not a hiking trail” that we hiked up four years ago. We followed a group of about 20 people up this trail and when we came down received a prompt lecture from a park ranger about staying on the main trail. We didn’t try it today!
I was proud of our three year old – she did almost all of the hike on foot, and I didn’t carry her on my back until the very last part of the descent, at which time she quickly fell asleep! She was exhausted!
We had just enough time to use the restroom and purchase some souvenirs at the Visitor Center. When we got in our cars to leave, we had 2 minutes left of our three hour parking!
Since it was only 9:30am at this point, we decided to continue east on the Going to the Sun Road and see a few of our stops originally scheduled for tomorrow. We paused briefly at Jackson Glacier Overlook, which is a great place to see a glacier and read about glaciers in the park, what they are and how the park got its name.
Then we drove on to Sun Point Nature trail and enjoyed a brief (0.25 mile) but phenomenally rewarding view! This is another quick but can’t-miss stop! The pictures we took here may end up being my favorite.
At this point we drove back west to work our way closer to our campground. We stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge to show our parents the beautiful new from the back of the lodge. We skipped a few rocks in the lake, told stories from our previous visit to the same spot, and then returned to our cars to head back to our RV.
It was now time for lunch and then time for us to move our RV to a different site (due to the previously mentioned mistake with our reservation). We took care of that just in time to leave for our next scheduled activity: a guided scenic river float!
This was unique and super fun. Think white water rafting but not rapids, ha. The 9 of us enjoyed floating down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River for two hours, stopping once in the middle of it for a swim for the kids. We enjoyed our guide, KeeKee, and the views were incredible. Such a fun way to rest our legs and still be out in God’s creation in Montana!
After changing into dry clothes at our RV park, we returned to West Glacier for dinner at Last Best Pizza – our favorite pizza we ordered was the Sausage and Onions, and the salad we had was great, too!
We then drove down the street to a place our float guide recommended, a restaurant attached to a gas station that had a pie menu – goodness, we indulged there! Among the slices we ordered and shared was Glacier Chocolate, Huckleberry Lemon Cream, Raspberry Rhubarb, Double Decker Key Lime, and I can’t remember anymore, ha. It was all so good and we could all do with a very long nap now. I can’t believe as I type this that this morning’s activities were still today, ha. It was full and wonderful!
jami lee gainey 