Glacier National Park - Highline Trail

Glacier National Park is called the crown of the continent. It straddles the continental divide with sharp peaks reaching 10,000 feet. In every direction from the highest point in the center of the park, the terrain slopes down to lower peaks strewn with lush valleys, innumerable waterfalls, mountain streams and a glacier here and there.

We headed back to the park early Friday morning. The NPS is working on a shuttle system to move folks around the park and alleviate traffic but the kinks aren’t quite worked out. We drove to the shuttle stop at end of the highline trail then took the shuttle the last 10 miles to the trailhead at 6800 feet. One way the trail is 12 miles and drops about 2,500 feet.

The first 7 miles of the trail follows the continental divide through the center of the park and provides views of most of the western ½ of the park. It is a relatively flat trail. About 6 miles into the trail there is a fork with a sign indicating a quick detour of 0.6 miles to the “Glacier Overlook”. We decided to take the detour. 50 feet from the main trail Christine decided the trail was a bit steep and said she would wait for me at the crossroads.

I continued up and up and up to a notch in the ridge which crested about 1,100 feet above the trail. Through the notch was a view overlooking the Grinnell glacier and much of the eastern ½ of the park. The wind was fierce and cold. As I stood there I realized that bees were being blown through the notch and launched towards north Dakota against their will. I’m guessing that the wind picked them up from the side of the mountain and off they went.

I walked back down and met up with Christine. At the end of the flat portion of the trail, we stopped at a chalet for lunch then descended the last section of the trail through an area that had been burned in 2003.

Saturday we slept in and went into bigfork for an art fair. We bought a decorative coat hanger with dragonflies on it for Christine’s birthday. It is lovely.

We ate an early dinner then headed into the casino back in bigfork so that I could play some poker with the cowboys. I bought a handgun and a holster from a pawn shop and headed to the game. It was full of locals that were much better poker players than I am. I didn’t lose too badly thanks to one dude who got worse as he slammed shots of rumplemintz.

Christine sat behind me cheering me on when I won and consoling me when I lost. As she mowed down pints of busch beer, her whispering cheers and derogatory comments about my competition got louder and louder. I thought I might have to get into a duel at one point, but it didn’t come to that. I did open the bathroom door and smack one of the poker players in the forehead and put a big gash in his brow. So the short version of the story is I went to Montana lost a little money in a backroom poker game then almost knocked some fella out.