hiking the Piegan and Siyeh passes loop in Glacier National Park
I have done these two passes separately, but then I decided to combine them both in one day. I parked the car at Siyeh Bend and started hiking up the creek next to the bend. At that point the elevation gain is mild, you need to make noise for bears if you arrive to the trail early. Later in the day, this trail is heavily trafficked.
Another left run and you enter a forest that parallels the road. The forested area runs into meadows that in certain times of the year are full of wildflowers. At that point the trail runs away from the road.
You then start gaining elevation and will hug the side of mountain towards the pass. Most of the time there are a couple of short ice fields, careful. There is a pretty view of the valley to the left:
and a nice video from this area ………………..
Reaching the pass: if you continue on that trail you will arrive to the Many Glacier area. You can do more hiking to the right by climbing up to Cataract Mountain or to the left to the saddle between Piegan Mountain and Pollock Mountain.
I then turned around and backtracked to the intersection to Siyeh Pass and hiked towards it. The trail is leveled at this point and you are in a small valley crisscrossed by some small creeks. You need to turn around since the view behind you is splendid.
You will cross a larger creek and will have Preston Park to your left, under Siyeh Mountain.
Then the fun starts with quite a few switchbacks to get you to the pass. Those switchbacks are deceptive; you think you are reaching the pass, but then reach a dead end and another set of switchbacks start. It is quite frustrating since you are fooled into seeing an approaching valley and thinking that is the pass. Just take it slowly.
You will finally reach the pass. This is a good place to rest and once rested, enjoy the view of the Sexton Glacier.
Everything else from here is downhill, with lots of water flowing down on the trail. I encountered lots of butterflies in July. The trail is completely exposed to the sun, so even though you are going down the sun is blazing. Even the area that is forested is no longer due to recent fire damage (the Reynolds fire that I think occurred in 2017).
The end of the trail is hiking next to Sunrift Gorge and then catch a bus to take you back to Siyeh Bend. Of note is that across the trailhead on the other side of the road there is a trail to St Mary and Virginia Falls. I recommend visiting them.