Hidden lake logan pass drivers#
Hidden lake logan pass series#

Even during the last days of June, the snowy blanket covered most of the trail. These assisted with conquering the initial climb and keeping the hikers from the snow and slush.

Hidden lake logan pass series#

A series of raised boardwalks took over a paved path almost right at the trailhead.

It constantly climbed uphill, but nothing was too impossible. The trail that started behind the Logan Pass Visitor Center looked easy. Words couldn’t describe how grateful I felt at that moment and already ached to see what was at the end of the Hidden Lake Overlook hike. Mesmerizing green meadows (known as the Hanging Gardens) touched with yellow wildflowers spread on miles on end, stealing my heart. If the front view of the Logan Pass Visitor Center had such a strong effect on me, the area behind it left me speechless. “It how I’ve alway pictured rural Switzerland”, I couldn’t help but think. Massive mountains behind it added a finishing touch, intensifying the incredible beauty of the area. Difficulty: Easy (moderate when the snow is present)Ī large building towering over a decent size parking lot looked alluring.Trailhead: Hidden Lake Trail behind the Logan Pass Visitor Center.Even if our hiking trip had to be a mile longer, it was absolutely worth it. But we wouldn’t have had it any other way. With that said, our hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook became even longer.

Hidden lake logan pass drivers#

Even though we got to Logan Pass when rangers vigorously instructed all drivers to pass by without attempting to enter the highest point in the Going-to-the-Sun Road section, we somehow managed to secure the last spot at a roadside parking area about 0.5 mile away. ( The Highline Trail, another path you surely want to get under your belt when at Logan Pass was way too long for hiking with a small kid.) Knowing all these, we still decided to attempt the hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook. And most importantly, the time to see the picturesque site is limited. You can never count on complete solitude during the all-time-favorite hike to the scenic Hidden Lake Overlook. Snow makes the walk uphill more difficult than it actually is. Hiking along the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail is tricky to say the least. Hidden Lake Overlook Hike in Glacier National Park: Photo Diary and All The Hidden Lake Overlook Trail is one of them and you certainly don’t want to miss this hike. Who hikes through waist-deep snow to ski on dangerous, forbidden areas? Not me, that’s for sure.A few trails intersect iconic Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. There’s a path that sort of heads toward a distant peak whose slope is adorned with snaking ski tracks cut into the snow. We lingered at a brook flowing into a shallow lake surrounded mostly snow-covered tundra.

Through some trees, the boardwalk reappeared. Flatter, easier trail after we got down from the ridge. The density of people on the trail seemed somehow to have thinned out. Word back on the main trail (Oh, I see the trail marker now!) was that the overlook wasn’t very far and it was easygoing from here. This is the ridge from the backside and a view of the gravelly slope that we came down. I took the same side route down, but at an angle to the incline slowly placing each foot carefully and securely before lifting the other. A risky move, but he was no worse off for it. Rob skitched down the bare rocky side slope on his feet, squatting and using his hands to sort of control his quickening slide over rocks and small boulders letting gravity and momentum carry him to the bottom. The trail snuck around the leading edge of this ridge (to the left in the picture) and continued on relatively flat ground. You can see tiny people up on the ridge in the distance. Only then did we realized that this ridge was not part of the trail. The whole time I’m thinking to myself, “How am I ever going to make it back down this?!?” As the ridgeline spread out in front of us, narrower and higher, we decided to turn back.

Hikers ahead of meįollowing the masses and more intent on the ground before me than my surroundings, we climbed up a steep, bare, narrow, rocky ridge. My walking a stick is all that kept me upright on this trek. But just when I think I have the hang of it and work up to a normal pace, I slip and have to slow back down. Fortunately, it is still soft enough that most of my steps drive through the crust into softer, wet snow that holds my foot in place. This snow has been here all winter and now, under the heat of the spring sun, it melts and compacts during each day and freezes again each night, making a particularly slick surface. Where the trail begins to rise ahead of us, people are slipping and sliding in every direction. There are tall stakes along the trail marking the way.

Soon, the terrain is completely snow-packed. Leaving the parking lot and visitor’s center chaos, we start along a wide, wooden boardwalk. Ridges in the snow pack look like glacial moraines.