August 2016: Visiting Glacier National Park (Part 2)

Many Glacier lodge

After hiking up to Sperry glacier and back, Laura and I drove to the Apgar backcountry office and reserved our next hike to begin in two days. We were lucky enough to get another great couple spots, camping at Upper Two Medicine Lake and Oldman Lake. But first, we would spend a night in style at the Many Glacier lodge. 

Dinner with a view

Many Glacier lodge was one of the first major buildings to grace the park. We learned the history of the building and the park and had a wonderful fancy dinner, complete with live piano music in the background. We got a top floor room with a great view looking over the lake behind the lodge.

You don't even blink, do you?

Sunset from the window of our room

Mount Grinnel

Relaxing by Swiftcurrent Lake

After a wonderful and restful night of sleep in a soft bed, we packed up and left for our next hike. But first we had a meal at the nearby motor inn. The motor inn was build to serve the middle class when they started buying cars and driving to visit parks. Unlike the ritzy lodge, the inn was required by the government to be affordable to the lower classes back when it was build! And it still is pretty affordable. While there, we did some laundry.

One last look at the lodge

Swiftcurrent Motor Inn

Laundry Time!

St. Mary Visitor Center

On the way back to Two Medicine, we stopped at the St. Mary visitor center and learned more about the history of the park. Sad fact: The US stole it from the native people in a shrewd (and not quite ethical) land deal. Many of these tribes are sad that some of their sacred places were taken away but they are happy that they are being preserved... I think that is gracious of them.
  

Boating across Two Medicine Lake

This beats walking!

When we got to Two Medicine lake, we realized that there was a boat tour across the lake. We chose to ride the boat because it would be fun, feature some great views, and we wouldn't have to walk as far to our campsite. On the way to Upper Two Medicine lake, we stopped to look at twin falls and I took a short swim to fend off the heat.

Going for a dip at Twin Falls

Moose!

We arrived at our campsite early in the evening and met our neighbors. It is always great to meet people on the trail and learn about them! I have met people of all walks of life and from all around the world hiking.

Upper Two Medicine Lake

Lots of friendly neighbors

Amazing evening light

As the sun went down, we sat and took in the scenery. There was a family of goats scaling a rock wall in the distance and we watched them as they worked their way across the sheer face. The next morning was amazing! The sunrise cast a beautiful light over everything and the lake was perfectly still. We were up before anyone else and there were no sounds but nature.

Sunrise

Lone Walker Mountain in the morning

Upper Two Medicine and Lone Walker Mountain

Getting water  in the morning

After breakfast with a few of our neighbors, we packed up and started our hike up to Dawson pass. Today would be a 10 mile hike over two passes and down to Oldman lake. We started by heading back toward Two Medicine but soon turned left and headed past No Name Lake toward the pass.

Laura looking bad ass!

Break time!

Break at No Name Lake

We took a short break to see No Name Lake. It was very green and warm looking. Around thew campsite there were countless little marmots running around in the tall grass. They were really fun to watch! We met a trio of other hikers here who were just leaving to hike the same route as us. We would get to know them really well over the next few days!

Seem high? This is nothing!

Laura gives some perspective of the size of things

Feeling good!

As we climbed up to Dawson pass, the valley below shrunk until Two Medicine lake looked like a small pond in the distance. Toward the top of our climb, Laura and I spotted a family of bighorn sheep and watched them for a while. Finally, we reached Dawson pass and had lunch with an amazing view in nearly every direction!

Looking back from Dawson pass

Looking west from Dawson pass

View north from Dawson pass

View south from Dawson pass

There is something amazing about the moment when you reach a pass and can suddenly see the miles of landscape on the other side that were hidden before. I always feel like the new view is beckoning me to come and explore. We certainly were not done exploring for the day. After our lunch, we headed north around the west side of a couple mountains and across the saddles between them. The trail traversed a pretty steep and dizzyingly high slope with views for miles to the north, west, and south.

Climbing north from Dawson pass

Looking at Lone Wolf mountain from the northwest

Hiking north with a great view!

Looking back along our trail to the south

Oldman Lake with Pitamakan pass behind it

After an hour or two of hiking, we came into view of Oldman Lake, our destination for the night. It seemed so close to us but we had quite a few more miles to go around another mountain and down the far side of the valley. When we arrived at the northwest corner of the mountain (Mount Morgan), we took time to admire the amazing view before heading back down into the valley where we would camp.

Flisch Peak

Mount Morgan

Laura looking amazing

Me flirting with death

Pitamakan and Seven-Winds-Of-The Lakes

Looking west on Pitamakan pass

On our way to the lake, we met a few day hikers from different countries and ages. A couple girls took a picture of us before we hiked down from Pitamakan pass. The hike down was nice. When we arrived at the lake, I started setting up camp while Laura got to know some of our neighbors. She was in for an interesting conversation because there were Grizzlies in the area! According to our neighbors, a mother and cub had been working their way around the lake and were very near our sites. Nobody wandered off alone into the woods but I did get a chance to swim in the lake. That evening, we got to know the trio of hikers that we had met on our way up to Dawson pass. Their names were Larry, Jim, and Claudia and they had a lot in common with us so it was really easy to talk over dinner.

Heading down to Oldman lake

Great place to swim, except for the bears...

Made it back to Two Medicine

The next morning, Laura and I got up early and headed back to Two Medicine campground to get a regular campsite. We wanted to get there quickly so that we could stake our claim before many people arrived. There were more bear spottings by others and we were wary but did not see the mother and cub on our way back to Two Medicine. There, we quickly got a camping site and moved our car to it. After setting things up, we relaxed and planned our next hike together.  Larry, Jim, and Claudia arrived later in the day. They ended up sharing our campsite with us and we all had another great dinner together, this time with a campfire! Laura and I would go on our final hike the next day. I will talk about that in my next post.

Oreo s'more at the campground