Glacier National Park Day One, Going to the Sun Road and Siyeh Pass.

One the first day of my road trip to Glacier National Park I discovered that you need one day permits to drive on Going to the Sun Road and to visit Many Glaciers and you can only get them on line. I lucked out and was able to purchase one for Going to the Sun Road as I was waiting in line to enter the park. It is a complicated system and not very conducive to spur of the moment visits.

Entering Glacier National park from the west I soon arrived at Lake McDonald. Scenic pull outs along the road provide beautiful views of the mountains on the far side.

Beyond the lake the Going to the Sun Road follows the river that feeds it upstream. The outlet for Lake McDonald is the beginning of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

I blew by the trailhead for Avalanche Basin. This is one of the most congested places in the park and the parking lots were full. I’ve been there and done that anyway and was looking for new adventures.

Just after crossing Logan Creek, the road turns northwest and really starts climbing. It doesn’t take long before you’re far above the river valley.

The views are outstanding but the road is narrow and winding. It requires your full attention. It would be nice if all large trucks folded their sideview mirrors in.

Having to purchase a day pass to drive on the road was a hassle. The flip side was that traffic was kind of manageable. It was still heavy but there were no delays on the way up.

I was heading for Logan pass to hike the Highline Trail. I always wanted to try it. The trail is way above Going to the Sun Road.

Well I got to the top and it was a zoo. The parking lots was completely full and the trailhead looked so busy that it was a turn off for me. The popular Hidden Lake Trail also starts at Logan Pass and I did that one years ago too.

I stopped at a smaller pull out down the slope to assess the situation when I saw this guy. It was nice to have a goat pose for my blog.

I decided to drive down the other side of Logan Pass and take a hike out of Siyeh Bend. Sometimes it’s good to have a backup plan.

According to the sign at the trailhead it was a nine mile round trip with about twenty three hundred feet of elevation gain. Sounds about right.

Soon I was in a thickly canopied forest.

I was glad I brought a can. I would have rather had a firearm but National Parks are very strict about that. It would have been nice to have had company just for the added safety but sometimes you have to strike out on your own.

The hike through the forest was nice but I was really looking for bigger views. The trail was easy to follow and crossed numerous small creeks. In September the streams are much smaller than they are early in the hiking season.

Probably over half of the hike was though this type of evergreen forest. It slowly opened up as I gained elevation.

As the canopy thinned I was treated to views of the mountains still far above me on a more regular basis.

After a couple of hours I finally hit the open valleys and could see Siyeh Pass which is really a low saddle between a couple of peaks.

One last stream crossing on a bridge of rocks .

Up in this high valley the scenery was truly epic. I only passed a few hikers who were on their way down and once I hit the open slopes I had the place to myself.

The trail passed by a small high country pond. I was surprised and a little disappointed that there wasn’t any wildlife to be viewed here.

As I continued to climb the trail towards the pass, the views behind me kept getting better and better. That’s Piegan Mountain with Piegan Glacier across the valley on the right side. Clements Mountain overlooking Logan Pass is in the distance in the center.

The final part of the hike to Siyeh Pass climbed up a series of steep switchbacks. By now I was running out of time.

At the base of Mount Siyeh I enjoyed the view of three small glacier melt off lakes. At the end of my hike I ran into three young men who started at 9:00 AM and hiked to the top of this mountain. They told me it was the best hike in the park. I’m afraid a hike like that is a little out of my league anymore.

I was this close to the saddle when I turned around. The effort wasn’t the problem, time was. I had a drop dead time to turn around. It wouldn’t do to be trying to find my way back in the dark in grizzly country.

On the way back I savored the view. These are exactly the views I came for. It reminded me of the line from the movie Jeremiah Johnson when his travelling companion told him the Rockies are the marrow of the world.

Soon I was back in the canopied forest. I was making the best time I could. As far as I knew I was the last person on the trail.

I recrossed all of the streams again on my way down.

By now I was nearing the trailhead and the shadows were starting to lengthen. I did pass a couple of people heading up and assumed they were either backpack camping or turning around soon. This is were the three mountain climbers caught up with me. They knew the park like the back of their hands and shared lots of tips on were to hike around Many Glacier which was my plan for the next day.

I drove back down Going to the Sun Road as the light faded. By the time I got back in cell phone land all of the next days passes for Many Glacier were already sold out. To keep my options open I bought another pass for Going to the Sun Road which I ended up not needing. The system the park uses to limit traffic was really working against me.

I started my day by leaving home at 5:00 AM. The drive took a good six hours and with the additional delays in securing a pass, waiting in line to get in and losing an hour from the time zone change, it was 2:00 PM before I started my hike. I was back to my car by 6:30. It would have been nice to have another hour to push it further, still 2300 feet and nine miles wasn’t too shabby. By the time I made it to my campground in West Glacier it was dark and the office was closed. They left a map and a key for me taped to the office door. Nice.