This day is a continuation of the day that we left off from the day before…..as we had driven through the whole night to get to Glacier National Park and meet my friend at Logan’s pass to hike. Poor Ashley was still unable to hike and this forced her to stay in the car, the whole time to rest. Now my first friend that we met is a member at Tampa Palms golf club and we had planned to do this about three months prior. He had been here before but this is the first time for us. We met him at 6am so the drive of the ‘Going To The Run Road’ was definitely not exactly going to the sun. But for those who have done it before, you can still imagine how dramatic of a drive that is for us the first time doing it.
We were absolutely amazed with the scenery even this early in the morning. The night before we had taken a three hour nap in the gas station about an hour away, in the absolute middle of nowhere. We were quite tired but Ashley was glad to be resting all day.
So me and Mike and his wife, hiked the Highline Trail which takes us out all the way to the chalet. This is one of the best hikes of the trip and surprisingly had the most beautiful foliage and all of the land.
The route itself was about 11 miles long on a straightaway trail and at the end there was a bus route that took you back to Logan’s Pass (where we started). The route itself is about 300 feet above the road, which you walk along for a long part of the time. We ran into a bear with her cubs. This was scary, as all the hikes on the trail ascended up the hill off the trail to let the bear have her way without disruption. We also came across deer and a marmot.
This time of year featured bear grass flowers and many different vegetation that was edible. I ended up getting all the way to the end of the trail which was a chalet that overlooked the entire park and had a snack and coffee. This truly was an incredible hike and I recommend anyone for the first time at Glacier National Park to try it.
Once I completed the hike I ended up having to hike all the way to the bus stop and then I took a shuttle to the car. My poor girlfriend was in such pain in the backseat resting, I felt so bad. We were able to get together and back on the road after spending almost an hour trying to get out of the park due to traffic. It seems anytime there’s an animal everyone stops and causes back -ups to take pictures.
You can imagine the cell service was limited out there. Well, when we decided to get out of the park, we called Slaveè (to meet up in a cabin that we did not know where it was located), and after multiple failed attempts with no answer we became a little worried. Finally after a long wait Slaveè called us and we ended up meeting on time. Ashley was able to find the rest in a comfortable bed and me and Slaveè, with his family went out to dinner. Slaveè had not seen the park yet, so we were telling him about the experience in the early day. We both anticipated a great hike going to Grinnell Glacier the next day. After having a cigar and a beer outback, we discussed the trip and I ended up getting to bed for some rest before we woke up early the next day.
July 11 Expenses
13.24 gas
6.25 snack glacier chalet
28 italy dinner with slavee
20 nachos and beer whitefish
100 slavee
Total – 67.49 (excluding slavee)