Glacier National Park-West Entrance

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Got up early today and headed to Glacier National Park. We entered through the Apgar entrance on the west side. We could only go as far as Avalanche Creek, as the rest of the road in the middle of the park is closed for construction and at the higher altitudes, there is still snow on the road that hasn’t been cleared yet.

 In lieu of being able to drive all the way through the park, Fran decided to try the 2 mile hike to Avalanche Lake.

This hike follows the terrain through the Trail of the Cedars, which was a gentle walk along Avalanche Creek and was maybe ¾ of a mile long.

At the end of the Trail of Cedars is where the hike to Avalanche Lake started. Big sign at the beginning of the trial warns of this being bear country.

Fran almost turned back at this, but decided to forge on, the rest of us following at our own pace, with John and Phil bringing up the rear.

The scenery is absolutely beautiful, still following Avalanche ‘Creek’, which is swollen in size due to the snow melt and literally thundering down the mountain,

undercutting the trees along the bank and roaring through the narrow rocks along the way. I love the sound of water, be it the ocean waves crashing along the shore, a waterfall, or the trickle of a fountain, I find it soothing to the spirit and calming to the mind.  So, I paused many times to just watch the water carve new boundaries through the lush vegetation

(and to catch my breath) as I slowly made my way up the mountain. Phil and John caught up with me and we continued for awhile and finally met Fran as she was coming back down. She had not made it to the top, as she was afraid we were all at the bottom waiting for her. John and I decided that we would be foolish to try to continue, we each had knees that were screaming and I was having trouble breathing. Phil and Fran decided that they would try going up to the top.

When John and I reached the bottom, we came across a young male deer licking the moss off of a boulder just off the trail.

I think he must have been use to the smell of us humans, as it didn’t seem to bother him at all that there were several of us standing there taking his picture.

Afterwards, we walked back to the car and prepared ourselves to wait for the weary hikers. Finally, about 1-1/2 hours later, they stumbled into the car. They assured us that the remaining hike was all up hill and that they didn’t think either of us would have been able to make it, but that the end result was worth the pain. At the end of their hike was Avalanche Lake,

which is a glacier lake, and from the pictures Phil took, it was a sight to behold.

As we made our way back down the mountain towards Apgar Village, we stopped several times to view the Sacred Dancing Waters River as it twisted its way down the mountain along the road.

There were several waterfalls, rapids, and whirlpools, all driven by the rapid snow melt high up in the crags of the mountains.

Back in Apgar Village, we stopped to wander through the shops, picked up a few trinkets, and treated ourselves to some wonderful ice cream.