The northeast entrance of Glacier National Park was beautiful, and quieter than some of the other parks we've visited. Once on the trail, the first few miles were a bit challenging as it was a muddy horse route that was in fact extremely narrow. Finally the path opened up and the hike became more enjoyable, including the scenery. Another handful of miles later we were in the valley closing in on the turquoise lake. It seemed like we got to the top of at least 5 hills expecting to see the lake before it finally happened, close to sunset. To our surprise we had the entire picturesque lake to ourselves for the night! But it was also windy and freeeeezing plus we were exhausted, so we ate dinner and retired pretty early. The next morning we were able to enjoy better weather and knew the morning hikers wouldn’t arrive for some time, so we took our sweet time soaking it in before packing up. While Nick and I only got to see a glimpse of Glacier National Park, we were extremely impressed with our experience at Cracker Lake.
I gotta admit, my paranoia levels were pretty high pulling into Glacier National Park. One of the downsides of being the trip planner is the research can at times provide you with more info than you really want to see… Such as the fact that our backpacking trail to Cracker Lake would be in Grizzly Bear country, with a narrow and winding trail and tall bushes on the sides. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack. Then to put the nail in the coffin, when checking in with the park rangers we were required to watch a safety video which reminded us of how to handle to a bear or bobcat attack. Bobcats, eh? Fantastic. Nevertheless, I had booked one of the three campsites on Cracker lake months in advance, even waiting 30 days to find out that we got the site. I wasn’t going to give up without a fight (just hopefully not a literal fight).
The northeast entrance of Glacier National Park was beautiful, and quieter than some of the other parks we've visited. Once on the trail, the first few miles were a bit challenging as it was a muddy horse route that was in fact extremely narrow. Finally the path opened up and the hike became more enjoyable, including the scenery. Another handful of miles later we were in the valley closing in on the turquoise lake. It seemed like we got to the top of at least 5 hills expecting to see the lake before it finally happened, close to sunset. To our surprise we had the entire picturesque lake to ourselves for the night! But it was also windy and freeeeezing plus we were exhausted, so we ate dinner and retired pretty early. The next morning we were able to enjoy better weather and knew the morning hikers wouldn’t arrive for some time, so we took our sweet time soaking it in before packing up. While Nick and I only got to see a glimpse of Glacier National Park, we were extremely impressed with our experience at Cracker Lake.
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October 2017
AuthorAmber Hansen |