With the day waning, we decide to jog down the mountain and back to the car, finishing a nearly 20-mile loop for the day—our bodies empty, but our souls full.

September 16–19, 2023

Like most trips, we land in a regional airport (Missoula, in this case), rent a car, and must still drive three hours to the park. Pulling into the western entrance of Glacier, we make straight for the Apgar Visitor Center to orient ourselves with the park before it closes for the day. We learn possible wildlife hotspots and are warned of increased grizzly activity along the trails.

Excited and a bit apprehensive about meeting a bear, we jump back in the car and make for our first campground at Avalanche Creek. After checking in and setting up our gear, we take advantage of the afternoon to hike up the 1.5-mile trail to Avalanche Lake. The lake is rather busy with people, but we manage to find a secluded spot along a log jam on the shore. However, we are not the only ones to find this little corner of space. A mule deer steps across the trail and walks up to us, obviously no stranger to visitors.

With some daylight still left to burn, we drive up the famed Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass to catch the sunset, a route that will become very familiar. We saunter along the Hidden Lake Nature Trail in hopes of spotting mountain goats as the sun’s golden light filters through the many folds of mountain ridges. Shadow overtakes the peaks one by one in a spectacular display of alpenglow. We do not find any goats, but back at the parking lot, a male big horn sheep rummages for an evening meal next to our car. 

Maximing our time in the park, we catch a short night’s sleep and wake well before dawn to return to Logan Pass for some stargazing. With no moon and a clear night, the Milky Way dances above Clements Mountain as we try our best to capture its beauty in astrophotography. Soon the coming dawn begins to wash out the stars so we hop in our car and continue driving east on Going to the Sun Road toward Many Glacier. Here we position ourselves on the edge of Swiftcurrent Lake for one of the most dramatic sunrises we’ve seen. The array of mountain peaks perfectly mirrored in the water turn from gray to rosy red as the sun crests behind us, illuminating the land in a new day. 

The rest of the morning consists of hiking the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail up to Bullhead Lake. On the approach, we pass Fishercap Lake and spy two cow moose grazing in the water. A crowd of onlookers builds across the bank taking in the rare sight. I grab a few photos pleased with the proximity to the moose. However, I make a clumsy exit falling with a loud crash on the trail, sending the moose fleeing into the forest. Sorry, folks. We continue on down the trail chasing ptarmigan still in their summer plumage all along the way. Though Bullhead Lake is our turnaround point, we can spot the Swiftcurrent Fire Lookout high above us on the pass.

As we return to our car, plans for the day shift as we notice a flat tire on our rental. Being Sunday and far from the nearest town, we make do with the donut tire found in the trunk. Tenuously, we limp back over Logan Pass to our campsite and hope the donut sees us through the rest of the trip. The evening brings dinner and an early night to catch up on lost sleep—a good thing too since unbeknownst to us, tomorrow will bring a heavy mileage day.

Once again, we venture up to Hidden Lake Nature Trail in the morning in search of mountain goats. And still once again we turn up empty. But the morning gives us a chance to park at The Loop trailhead and hitchike our way up to Logan Pass. Our route takes us along the Highline Trail down to Granite Chalet and back to our care via the Granite Chalet Trail—a total of 11.5 miles. We begin our trek paralleling the Garden Wall, a ridgeline of jagged rock offering generous views of the surrounding mountains. All along the trail we hear rumors of bears just off trail up ahead, but never once do we see any leaving us both a little disappointed and a little relieved.

Before we reach Granite Park Chalet, we intersect the Garden Wall Trail that leads to a lookout perched on the Continental Divide overlooking Grinnell Glacier. We take this short out-and-back detour to view one of the largest glaciers for which this park was named and return to Granite Park Chalet. With weather looking good and feeling somewhat strong, we decide to take another detour and ascend Swiftcurrent Mountain—one of the best decisions we made that day.

Atop Swiftcurrent Mountain is the fire lookout we saw yesterday. Here, we are rewarded with gorgeous panoramic views of the mountainscape all around us. And tucked back in the layered ridges, we have a direct line of sight to Mount Gould cradling Grinnell Glacier below it. We can see below us the progression of lakes leading up the valley to Bullhead Lake where we saw the moose the day prior. The entire valley is flushed with golden foliage—an autumn paradise.

With the day waning, we decide to jog down the mountain and back to the car, finishing a nearly 20-mile loop for the day—our bodies empty, but our souls full. Of course, we couldn’t end the day without also checking Logan Pass for mountain goats so we make our way back to Hidden Lake as the sun sets, kissing the peaks one last time before nightfall. Still no sign of wildlife, but the evening lightplay makes the outing worth every minute.

That night we move camp to Apgar Campground at the base of Lake McDonald since Avalanche Creek has shut down for the season. We spend downtime exploring the multicolored stones of the shoreline and take in a relaxing view as a reward to our tired legs. The next morning, we pack up our gear and head back to Missoula, never needing to replace the spare tire. A buck pauses by our campsite as if to say goodbye and bookend this trip with mule deer. A perfect way to end an autumn getaway in the mountains.