Day 13 of 2019 Western US Tour, July 24, Hidden Lake and Sun Road

Our fourth day in the wonderland of Glacier National Park.
Plan of the day was to visit Hidden Lake (overlook) at Logan Pass, together with a few trails and overlooks on the eastern part of Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Weather forecast foretold a rather windy day in Glacier National Park. Luckily, we had some leeway with our schedule, so I hiked the grueling Iceberg Lake + Ptarmigan Tunnel trail the day before, and leave the relatively easy Hidden Lake Trail for today.

And unlike the previous two days, we had a well-rested night and set off at a comfortable 10am along Going-to-the-Sun Road. Immediately out of Saint Mary Campground, the sights of majestic mountains were hard to miss.

 

 

 

 

We made our first stop at a roadside overlook of Saint Mary Lake.

 

 

Of the previous two sets of photos, the ones on the left were taken in the morning, and the ones on the right afternoon four hours later. High winds meant weather changed quickly here in the park.
And despite winds blowing strong, tour boats on Saint Mary Lake seemed to be business as usual.

 

After a few photos, we quickly retreated to the car and headed off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At first, our plan was to park the car at Logan Pass and then hike the Hidden Lake Trail. Unfortunately, parking at Logan Pass was extremely limited, so after circling the parking lot for a few minutes with no open spot, we decided to head back and resort to the park's shuttle bus.
And just East of Logan Pass, a segment of Sun Road was overlooking a gorgeous valley. That's when the sun emerged from the clouds and put a beautiful paint stroke on all that eye can see.

We made a brief stop at Lunch Creek, which was a creek originated from Pollock Mountain. I had no idea why it's called this name, maybe because it's halfway on the Sun Road?

 

If I remembered correctly, parking at Lunch Creek has a no-so-abundant time limit.

 

Finally, we found a parking spot at Jackson Glacier Overlook (so that we don't need to head all the way back to St Mary visitor center). After a rather lengthy wait, we got onto the shuttle bus to Logan Pass (because we just missed one).

Hidden Lake Trail

Finally, it's the Hidden Lake part, arguably the most popular hiking trail in Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, for the week of our visit, the second part of Hidden Lake Trail from overlook to lakeside was closed due to bear activity.
Here's GPS tracking:

A few reasons for the popularity of Hidden Lake Trail. It's short (3 miles roundtrip to overlook) with not much elevation gain. It's well managed with portions of it on boardwalk (to protect eco system).
And on the way to Hidden Lake it's scenery all around.

 

 

 

 

And wildlife here was never disappointing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most enthralling of the mountains was this Clements Mountain, with its towering presence and rugged rockface. I wouldn't be surprised if the mountain opened in half, and some vicious villain emerged from his den ready to destroy the world.

 

 

 

 

Finally, we were at Hidden Lake Overlook. But first to capture our attention was a Marmot. This one's feet away and not shy of people.

Then it's the stunning Hidden Lake with its surrounding mountains.

 

Then it's the walk back while admiring these mountains for another time.

 

This time we were in better luck as we caught a departing shuttle bus leaving Logan Pass. So we got back to Jackson Glacier Overlook and hopped onto our car, and drove to Rising Sun Motor Inn / Two Dog Flats Restaurant for lunch.

 

Two Dog Flats Restaurant was the only restaurant along Sun Road East of Logan Pass, if one didn't want to go all the way to the town of St Mary. As a result, it's busy probably throughout the day.

 

 

Saint Mary Falls

Since it's running late in the day, and with high winds it's not the best day to be out, we decided to pick a shorter hiking trail to visit after lunch. And that's Saint Mary Falls.
By the way, parking at Saint Mary Falls Trailhead was rather limited, with no holding area like Logan Pass. Luckily, we pulled into the last spot at a nearby overflow site.
In Comparison, using the park's shuttle bus might be a better idea. The shuttle bus also drops people closer to the Falls than parking lots.

And here's GPS tracking for that:

 

For the most part, the trail to St Mary Falls was through burnt trees like this, which weren't very wind-proof on this day.

 

And on our way to the waterfall, we crossed paths with this deer, who didn't seem to be scared of people at all.

 

 

After that, it's St Mary Falls, through which molten snow water from peaks near Logan Pass flew into St Mary Lake.

 

A few younglings were having fun diving into this torrential water. But for us, who were not-too-excited by this inconspicuous waterfall, we didn't stat long here before heading back. (Despite there's another waterfall, Virginia Falls, not too far down the trail.)

 

And on our way back, we caught up for a second time with a deer, not sure whether it's the previous one. This time, we followed it all the way back to the parking lot.

 

 

And here's a video of that deer grazing along the trail.

 

 

 

After that, we drove back to St Mary Campground, along a St Mary Lake in clear sky.

 

 

 

 

And were about to spend a final night at St Mary Campground.
END