hiking the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park
The Highline Trail is a very popular hike in Glacier National Park, Montana. The trailhead is across the road from the parking lot at Logan’s Pass, which get full by 8am !!
Logan Pass is also the location where you can hike up to the Hidden Lake overlook ….. and Hidden Lake if the trail is not closed due to bear activity. That hike is done mostly on wooden boards so the ground doesn’t get trampled. At the end of the trail there is a rest area with a nice view of the lake and the large mountain raising from its shore, facing the overlook.
Before I continue, it is time to tell my bear story at the Highline Trail:
I was of the first people at Logan Pass, I always want to start my hikes early. On this hike, I was afraid to be so early and have the odds to run into a bear increase, so once I was ready to start hiking I stayed in my car and waited for groups of people to go in front of me. Two groups fit the profile, a couple and another group of three guys. Once I left the car, the group of three stopped just before the start of the trail and I had no choice but to pass them. It was now me behind the couple. Within half a mile, even with some effort to slow down, I passed them. Now I was in front (later in the day I would run into the real first group on the trail, about 4 miles ahead at this point). I have decided to clip my bear spray onto my backpack with one of those faux climbing gear clips. I would have to reach back or, the intended idea, drop the backpack and unclip the canister ….. thinking that I would have plenty of time if I ran into a bear, which in my mind would be seeing a bear at a distance. Well ……………….
About 2 miles into the trail, maybe less, I was approaching a corner and at this point I was relying on the noise that the couple behind me was making. They were like 50 yards behind me at this point. I can’t definitely say who saw the bear first, because to this day I think I heard the couple behind me yell “bear” before I saw the bear. What I did see was a bear (who the earlier group told me was a grizzly) walking towards me, using the trail. I saw a light colored region of hair on his chest on the shape of a V, like a V neck sweater. I immediately reached for unclip the bear spray canister and ……………. I couldn’t unclip it. The bear was coming towards me at a brisk pace, not menacing at all, and I didn’t want to take my eyes off him, so I didn’t have time to drop the backpack and attempt to unclip the canister. Mind you, all of this took in total of 10-20 seconds, which went in slow motion, giving me the time to think in slow motion too.
At this point the group of three was reaching the couple, which were still yelling “bear”, which I never did. At this point, the bear insisting that it had the right of way on the trail, I gave up on reaching for the bear canister and started to say “hey! Hey!” to the bear, to no effect. At a distance of 20 yards (that is how close it got), I raised my hands all the way up and made myself big, you would think I was Gandalf stopping that demon at the end of the first Lord of the Rings movie. I think I may have taken a step forward and yelled “stop” at him. I can’t be sure, the adrenaline was fully flowing at this point. The bear NEVER stopped his pace moving forward, so what gave ? Well, at 15 yards with me raising my arms and standing my ground, the bear moved to the high ground off the trail. At this point, it would be important to explain that part of the trail is carved on the slope of the mountain and I would say that it is like a 30 degree incline ………… therefore I could not leave the trail or give the bear right of way. Enough of an incline that if you walked off the trail you would definitely would start rolling and eventually break your leg against a tree on the down slope. Back to business, the bear walked up the trail, like 20 feet from me. At this point I turned to the couple and told them that the bear left the trail and pointed to them where he was. Well, once the obstacle (me) was bypassed, the bear came back to the trail and the adventure started for the couple and the three guys. I heard “bear hey hey bear” and I started back on the trail to see what happened.
Well, the bear saw that many people and left the trail for good.
Remember the first people that I mentioned were on the trail for a couple of miles ahead of me ? I reached them eventually and they asked if I saw the grizzly eating berries (that is how I know it was definitely a grizzly). This bear was using the trail for at least 2 miles. Past the encounter I saw his footprints all over the trail, but never occurred to me to take pictures.
Now, for the perspective of the group behind me. At one point, when the trail slips to Granite Park Chalet and up the Grinnel Glacier Viewpoint, I was resting before going up the trail to the viewpoint. The group of three guys reached me and the first thing that one of them told me is to ask me if I was ok. It didn’t dawn on me why they would ask, but then I did the math …………. The bear was about 15-20 yards from me at the closest point before he left the trail, but the trailing group was like 50 yards away from me. From their perspective, those 15-20 yards were something like 5 yards. I would assume at one point they would have thought that the bear was literally on top of me (which in my mind he was) and would look very scary from their point of view.
Yes, now I have my bear canister clipped to the side of my pants. I don’t need to unclip it to actually deploy it. And I hike more confident that I will not act in a panic when I see a bear. It’s all in well when you plan what you will do and how you will not panic and not run, but when the actual event takes place, will you ? Well, I did, I was calm (at some point annoyed that the bear was not leaving the trail) and did what I think was the proper thing to do, stand my ground in an area where I definitely had NO other way to leave the trail. Ok, except my stupid effort that failed to unclip the bear spray. I wonder if I unclipped it in time, would I have used it ? Well, the peaceful way that the bear and me parted company, I was happy I didn’t have to.
Now that I got that out of the way, I have hiked the Highline Trail as a loop by ending the hike at The Loop bus stop and getting the bus back to Logan Pass. Now the trail from Granite Chalet to The Loop is 4 miles downhill in a burn area and I found it very boring. On the next couple of times that I hiked it, I just turned around and backtracked. The hike is level enough that this is not a big deal.
Most tourists will hike to Haystack Butte, where they rest and then turn around. The first part of the trail is narrow, which chains on the wall for the faint of heart to hold on. In reality, there is plenty space to hike in that narrow area; this is NOT Angel’s Landing.
Anyway, the chains are there and the trail is narrow and carved on the side of the mountain, where you don’t want to run into a bear since it is not that easy to get out the way. Make noise even if you are starting the hike.
The trail hugs the side of the mountain and you have a view of the road below until you leave the side of the mountain and go behind Haystack Butte. At this point, the trail goes up in elevation being Haystack Butte, rounding it and then returning to the side that views the road.
Grinnel Glacier Overlook
When you are close to Granite Chalet, you will notice a side trail to your right that takes you to an amazing overlook of the Grinnel Glacier, atop the Garden Wall. Now, whoever created that trail needs to be shot. The trail is going up the mountain and it has zero switchbacks, but instead a straight line to the top at a 20-30 degree angle. I have seen teenagers quitting midway. The trail is about 3/4 of a mile and when you get to the top, it will be very windy.
Hidden Lake
The hike that all tourist do and I highly recommend is Hidden Lake. The trail start behind the visitor center, going up the stairs.
For those that want to scale an easy mountain, there is a side trail to Reynolds Mountain.
Once you reach the overlook, you can continue down to the lake, I recommend going all the way down and explore the shore. Careful, there are bears all the time in that area.
