On Thursday we spent the day at Logan Pass, the Continental Divide, and highest point in Glacier.
This is probably one of the most popular locations in Glacier so there are always a ton of people. Because of this, the parking lot is always packed. We didn't know if we would be able to find a parking spot so instead of driving, we decided to take the shuttle. We parked at St. Mary's Lake and waited for the shuttle to arrive. Then we all crammed on this little bus with standing room only. I don't know how safe that was because we were driving along Going to the Sun Road which in itself is sketchy. We just prayed we didn't go over the edge. Finally we made it to Logan Pass and were able to get off the bus. As we suspected, there were no parking spots so it was good we took the sketchy shuttle.
While at Logan Pass, we took the Hidden Lake Overlook trail. This was a fairly easy trail all on a boardwalk. There were quite a few stairs along the trail though so that made the inclines a little better. I was tired of hauling the child carrier backpack since I had been hauling Brooklyn for the passed few days. I decided to just use my day pack today. Emily, on the other hand, packed her heavy backpack with our lunch. I think we will be more than ready for this 50-miler hike-wise anyway.
Hiking up this trail, we could see for miles around. We were literally on top of the world because we were walking along the continental divide. Once again, the views were amazing of the valleys below.
When we reached the top of the trail near the overlook point, we saw some mountain goats. This one mountain goat was so close to us, it walked right across the trail in front of us. Then it kind of followed us up the rest of the way to the lookout point. Okay well maybe we followed it.
I loved watching the mountain goat just roam around us. It was also funny to watch all of the tourists with their cameras. They were just swarming the mountain goat and snapping pictures. Then they would follow the mountain goat around. I joined in the group because I was also a crazy tourist and needed a few pictures! I mean I am sure the little rope blocking the trail in between us and the mountain goat was really going to save us if he decided to charge. Well I thought it was pretty cool.
The Hidden Lake Overlook was also spectacular.
I loved just looking out over the valley and seeing the lake below. We would have loved to continue the trail down to the lake but the trail was blocked off due to a recent bear sighting. That is another trail to put on our to-do list. While we were taking pictures, it started to rain a little bit. It had been threatening rain all morning and it started when we were at the top. We hurried and took some more pictures and then headed back down the trail. While hiking down, the wind was blowing and it was sprinkling on us. We had plastic ponchos but they were not really doing much good. The trail was still amazing though. The storm clouds gave it an even more majestic look.
When we got back to the Logan Pass Visitor Center, the rain had stopped for a minute but we knew it wouldn't be for long. The line to the shuttle ride back was really long. We knew we couldn't all fit on the shuttle and the people in front of us in line were pretty ornery. We decided to have Russell, Sean, and Rick ride the shuttle back to the St. Mary's Parking lot and get the cars and then drive back and get the rest of us. So Jen, Traci, and I stayed back with the kids and waited for them to come get us. While we waited, we stayed in the Visitor Center. There were a ton of people in there because it had started raining again and it was cold. We browsed the gift shop, read some informational kiosks, and looked out the huge lodge windows.
Finally the guys came back and picked us up from Logan Pass. We all piled in the cars and headed back to camp. Because of the rain, we decided to spend the rest of the day at camp playing games and spending time with family.
That evening, the storm passed and the air felt crisp and clean. We all came out for an evening walk down to the river. As we were walking, we noticed this massive rainbow!
The rainbow took up the whole sky and the colors were so vivid! There was even a fainter double rainbow surrounding the rainbow. We were all amazed by the brilliant colors of the rainbow. Usually you just see the red, yellow and blue but in this one, you could see all of the colors even the rare purples. It was pretty incredible and the perfect way to end the day.
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