This is the most popular hike in the park. 2,500-3,500 people visit Logan Pass each day in the summertime and a large percentage of them walk at least some of the trail. We saw hikers of every size and shape and type of attire on this trail—and a lot of them. There was no solitude to be found here.
The first quarter mile of this trail is actually paved. The next quarter mile is boardwalk consisting of many large different sized steps. It gave Penny problems both ways. The remaining mile of the trail is wide and well established. One area had a little bridge over a small rivulet. It had loose rocks and a drop off and Penny had some trouble there, too.
The trail begins with views of an alpine meadow. As you climb the boardwalk there are small pockets of flowers and gnarled fir trees. The environment is quite harsh up here—covered with snow for a good part of the year and what trees there are stunted. You also are surrounded by tall 8,000-9,000 ft mountains some with snow-capped peaks. The blue sky backdrop made it a perfect day for pictures. Did I mention we take a lot of pictures? The prominent mountain in front of us (I looked it up—Mount Oberlin, 8,180 ft) has water flowing from its slopes. The trail also passes over several rivulets. They provided excellent photo opportunities of water, rocks, snow and mountain backdrops.
I also took several pictures of all the wildflowers that bloomed along the way. I found myself whistling the Sound of Music theme as I did this. The area could have been used to make the movie. The mile walk from the top of the boardwalk to the lake overlook was full of hikers. We saw little wildlife on the way up to the overlook. Only a squirrel and a couple grouse in a rivulet.
The hidden Lake overlook is a wooden platform. The view of hidden lake is something my Mom would use the word “stunning” to describe.
Since we had reached our destination it was time for our energy snack and M&M reward. We sat off to the side of the platform, actually a spot where no one was took off our backpacks and—once again I looked up to see a young mountain goat standing about 15 feet from us at the top of the wooden stairs. He paid us no heed, just stopped looked around and decided to walk off down the path. We grabbed our stuff and followed.
We had planned on following the trail beyond the overlook anyway because that hiking book I had said that the best views are not at the platform but actually up the trail a few hundred feet beyond. It was right. After following the young goat a hiker we ran into said that there was also an adult goat in the area. We looked around and saw him too.
This area we were in was a grassy meadow full of flowers, deep grass and ground squirrels foraging. We also saw a marmot, a big, fat, toothy rodent that posed on a rock for us long enough for a picture.
We now found a nice rock to sit at and enjoy our snack and M&Ms. After eating We spent some more time in the meadow taking pictures and just enjoying the view. Penny chatted with a few hikers.
We headed back to the overlook and found it full of hikers. There was a small group of mountain goats grazing on the mountain slope in the distance. We took some pictures and continued our return hike to the car.
We ran into a couple that we had talked wit when we were at Virginia Falls and told them about the grazing goats. Then a little further up the trail we got up close and personal with another adult goat. It actually walked with us for a ways. At one point it walked right to me, looked at me and continued on its way. I talked to it as if it were a dog coming to say hi.
The most difficult part of the return hike for Penny was the boardwalk stairs. Going down is usually easier than climbing up. For Penny going down is worse because of her balance issues.
We reached the visitor center, found a rock with a good view and ate our PBJs while watching the hikers on the first half-mile of the trail.
Penny encouraged me to hike the Garden Wall portion of the Highline Trail. The trailhead was across the street from the visitor center. She said she would go to the car and relax while I did it. The Garden Wall trail was one she couldn’t do because most of it was along a sheer cliff with a steep drop off. That hike will be my next Montana blog.
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