Date: 6-15-15
Miles: 7.2
Elevation Gain: 800
Because the Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed at Logan Pass we were limited to hiking on the West side of Glacier National Park during this trip. One of the most popular hikes in this area is Avalanche Lake. It has minimal elevation gain and great scenery. The first portion of the hike travels through a beautiful forest of Western Red Cedars, Hemlocks, and Douglas Fir trees. This type of forest only occurs in the Lake MacDonald Valley due to the high rainfall here. It is more reminiscent of the forests on the Western slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington rather the Northern Rockies.
 |
| Anne with MacDonald Creek in the background |
At times the forest thinned out and we had amazing views of the surrounding peaks.
 |
| Unnamed 8,716 ft sub-peak of Mount Cannon |
Once we got to the lake the views opened up even more. Each Spring and Summer the snow melt from the glaciers and snowfields creates long, wispy waterfalls that flow into the lake. The Sperry Glacier feeds most of the high lakes and waterfalls in this basin.
 |
| Avalanche Lake |
The trail continues past the main beach to the far end of the lake. After a short hike we had the views to ourselves on the opposite side.
Looking back at the valley we had just hiked up we could see Heaven's Peak in the distance. I got to try out my new pants from Sierra Trading Post. I'd move to Cody, WY just to be close to that store.
It was interesting to get a different perspective on the waterfalls. They looked much less vertical up close.
 |
| Little Matterhorn on the right in the background |
On the hike out we passed through another area of the Cedar forest. The size of the trees here is just amazing for this part of the Rockies.
No comments:
Post a Comment