Hiking the Highline Loop

Yesterday, Julia and I woke before dawn and drove into Glacier National Park, arriving at Logan Pass just before 7 a.m. As soon as we parked the car, we saw three bighorn sheep sauntering across the parking lot, completely unafraid. It just seemed wrong to post a pic of these animals so here’s the bighorns who hadn’t crossed the road yet.

This was the beginning of the Highline Trail, which was probably one of the easiest and most beautiful eight-mile hikes I’ve ever completed. The trail is basically level and provides spectacular high elevation vistas. The trail is narrow in the beginning, so chains have been installed against the mountainside so that one doesn’t fall off. After that, the trail widens and no such safety measures are necessary.

The snowfield looks tougher than it was and didn’t last long. We saw one deer, a couple of grouse and many marmots.

The best part of the hike was the scenery.

After hiking about six or seven miles, we came to an innocent-appearing sign, which said “Wall Garden Trail, 0.6 miles.” Julia then mentioned that she had read about this little trail and that it was worth hiking. I looked up at the steep ascent and muttered something unpleasant but started hiking up.

Without question, that was the longest, toughest 0.6 miles side trail that I can remember. That trail absolutely kicked my butt going up and down. Was it worth it? Yeah, probably. We ended up sitting on top of the Continental Divide, looking down upon a glacier and several lakes with the valley opening up to us below.

After the knee-aching descent back to Highline, we made our way to the Park Loop Trail and descended another four miles through full sun and burned-out forest. Julia had become quite grumpy and put on her angry, determined face to gut out the final descent. I was afraid for my life so did not take further photos. There wasn’t much to photograph in the final section anyway.

After driving back to the cabin, I collapsed and was asleep by 7 pm. Julia rebounded and was annoyingly energized until about 10:30 pm. Later, I learned that one of my college friends completed the same hike with hardly a complaint a few days earlier. I must be getting old! Or maybe I was lulled into complacency by the first six miles of the hike. Anyway, I’m feeling much better on the day after.