A Little Disappointed While Hiking the Hidden Lake Trail in Glacier NP

Posted from Coram, MT  (Click on Pics to Enlarge)

To view many more photos on our Google+ Album for the Hidden Lake Trail click here.

This past Wednesday we set out to hike the Hidden Lake Trail.  The trailhead begins just to the rear of the Logan Pass Visitor Center, heads out to an observation point overlooking the lake at 1.5 miles, then descends another 1.5 miles down to the lake.  We were immediately disappointed when we reached the trailhead.  The sign indicated that the lower half of the trail is closed because of bear danger.  The rangers indicated that the bears are currently actively fishing for the spawning cutthroat trout in the lake.

The second disappointment had nothing to do with nature and wildlife, but just the busy time of the year in the park.  The trails leading away from the Logan Pass Visitor Center are always very popular for tourists this time of the year.  Couple that with the fact that this is an easy hike of 3 (shortened) miles roundtrip and the hike turns into more of a walk in the mall. (Well, perhaps that's a bit harsh, but there were a bunch of folks out there.)

The hike begins across a pretty meadow area with clear views of the surrounding peaks. You can count on a bunch of folks when you see a boardwalk at the beginning of the trail. The boardwalk made this part of the hike easy, but it was also there to protect the delicate ground cover in this area.

Although it's August, there are still snow fields melting in the warm summer sun.

One thing that's always a certainty in this park is the beautiful scenery in all directions.

Not too far into the hike we spotted our first mountain goat.  I kiddingly say that wildlife are placed at strategic points to keep the tourists happy.

It was pretty warm today, so I guess this group was very happy laying up there on the snow.

After a relatively quick 1.5 miles we reached the Hidden Lake Overlook.  It was really crowded here.

The views from the Overlook are amazing.  Every direction is a picture in itself, but I'll spare you here.

This is a closer look at the north end of the lake in which the bear activity is supposed to be heavy as they fish.  We scanned the entire area with binoculars and saw exactly 0 bears.

Well, we've reached the half way point in the hike, so that can only mean one thing, it's lunchtime.  We certainly never get tired of our views while eating lunch in this park.

Time to head back to the Logan Pass Visitor Center.  One nice thing about out and back trails are that you have different, and equally beautiful, views on the return trip.


We ran into a couple of the mountain goats again on the return trip, so I took a very short video of the little guy with his mom (I guess).

            (Best viewed in 1080p resolution and full screen.)

We made it back to the Logan Pass Visitor Center and were standing in the shuttle bus line waiting for the bus ride back to the Apgar Center (on the west end) when we noticed that several folks had their binoculars trained on the rocky slope across the road.  With the naked eye, I couldn't see what they were watching.  Do you see them immediately? They blend in pretty well.

Zooming in with the camera I could see what everyone else was watching.  There was a group of 12 bighorn sheep lounging in the sun.



Just another day in paradise here in Glacier National Park.  Next blog, I detail our longest, highest (and I think) neatest hike yet!

Thanks again for stopping by to take a look!