Logan Pass to Lake McDonald via Floral Park and Sperry Glacier

lilmountaingirl and hollowayb

August 9, 2007

*written by Brad

Left Kalispell at 6:15 enroute to the park to catch a shuttle up to the pass. Clearly the shuttle service in GNP has been a great success, so much that you almost have to catch the shuttle at Apgar versus any of the stops along the GTTS road. We opted to get on at Lake McDonald and fortunately there was a “free” wheel well for lilmountaingirl and a spot on the floor next to the doors for me. We hit a delay due to construction just below the loop and by the time we made it to Logan Pass and could start the hike, it was about 9:15. Can’t really complain though when you get a black bear strolling up the side of the road on the way up.

We made great time to the Hidden Lake overlook and down to the Outlet at Hidden Lake where we opted to stop for a bar since breakfast was now about four hours old J From this point the hike moves off trail…there is a faint fisherman’s trail around Hidden Lake that we followed and eventually, after turning to the south, we worked our way up to the break in the cliffs that allow access to the bench and ridge above Hidden Lake. This is kind of a key spot as this is the only “safe” access to the area and it is a bit hard to find if you do not know to be looking for it. However, it is obvious when you see it. There is a clear trail through this gap so if you are not on a trail; you are not headed up the right area. Once on the bench above Hidden Lake we worked our way to the saddle in the ridge. It is, for the most part a walk over boulders, talus, and the like. There is one stretch of maybe 150’ that you are on a fairly steep incline and trekking poles are indeed a benefit. The saddle on the ridge affords a spectacular view of Avalanche Lake WAY down below. We worked our way along the ridge to a point where Floral Park comes into full view and the cliffs somewhat dissipate. This is a great place to stop for a good break and we did so for about a half an hour. We ate, plotted our route as you can see the basin, the glacier, and Comeau Pass from the ridge, and took some more pictures.

Working your way down to Floral Park is, in my mind, the hardest part of the hike. It is steep and there is do “clear” way down. There are bands of cliffs to work around and fighting through some of the trees can lead to a dead end route. Fortunately we picked a route that led us down without getting cliffed out. We went across the ridge to the band of trees and managed to break out in to the grassy slopes fairly quick. When you are going down to Floral Park it appears that if you don’t go all the way to the bottom, you can save some elevation loss and gain, but this is a bad idea…traversing across this is time consuming and harder that it is worth. Just go to the basin and then head over.

When working your way out of Floral Park, you want to angle up towards the bands of rock that appear to be in the shape of semi-circles. You can fight through the trees to make the ascent more gradual but they are a bit thick in places. The other option is to go up faster and go above the trees. Either way, it is a mix of steep and gradual. There are some very nice runoff streams that are good places to reload on water if needed. Not a bad idea since the next water besides the milky glacier water is on the other side of the basin, about three hours away. Eventually you move into more rock versus grass, bushes, and trees. This is the start of the tailings from Sperry Glacier.

We opted to work our way over to the base of Sperry Glacier in hopes to not lose and then re-gain elevation. Eventually we ended up coming back to the right as we did not want to be walking out on the glacier…not the best of ideas in my book. Anyway, you are aiming for the large, red mound of rock below Comeau Pass and you need to go to the right of it. There is no trail or clear route, no cairns to follow, and no route that doesn’t go up and down…just suck it up and go. It takes some time, but the views are great and the scrambling is fun, in my opinion. Eventually you reach the base of the red mound of rock and there a couple of great “hidden” valleys with flowers, streams, etc. The last one before starting up the red mound was one of my favorite places on the hike. The Little Matterhorn is the backdrop and it makes for good pictures and a good place for a quick snack before the climb to Comeau Pass.

The climb up the red mound of rock is pretty easy compared to the other climbs. We were on the right side of the mound and just headed up to the ridge and then worked back to the left angling for the obvious saddle which is Comeau Pass. There are two LARGE cairns near the top – if you miss them, you deserve to not find the pass J At the pass, there are spectacular views back to the ridge above Hidden Lake and the Garden Wall (Piegan, Pollack, Bishops Cap, etc). Once you are done snapping some pictures, head down the impressive stairs that are carved out of the rock and down from the pass. From here on out you are on trail – a bit over three miles to the main Sperry Trail and then about six and a half to Lake McDonald. You can opt to go to the chalet when you reach the junction and add about a half of mile to the trip…we did not go and stopped just below the junction at a bridge to get more water and soak the feet for a few minutes…that was a great to cool off the dogs before the long descent. We did run into many goats on the Comeau Pass trail before the junction but other than that, it was a fairly uneventful trip out from there. There was in fact only one other person on the Sperry Trail on the way out as well…somewhat surprising if you ask me. Once we hit Lake McDonald, we hit the camp store and pounded a Gatorade and an ice cream sandwich…a snack before Moose’s pizza in Kalispell…mmmmmm!

Some other things we learned and found out

Approximate hiking times (without breaks figured in – just hiking time)

· Logan Pass to Hidden Lake Overlook – 30 minutes

· Overlook to Hidden Lake Outlet – 45 minutes

· Hidden Lake Outlet to Ridge above and behind Hidden (looking down on Floral Park) – 1 hour, 45 minutes

· Ridge to Floral Park – 1 hour

· Floral Park to Comeau Pass – 3 hours

· Comeau Pass to Sperry Chalet (junction in trail) – 1 hour

· Sperry Chalet to Lake McDonald – 2 hours

· NOTE – we keep a pretty good pace (the last 10 miles in just over three hours) and this may be a bit faster than average – not trying to be arrogant, just realistic to help other plan. We hike for right about ten hours and took about an hour of breaks for an eleven hour trip – the rangers say most people take between 12-13 hours.

Elevation Profile (Approximations – mileage versus elevation)

Food

· One sandwich each

· 2 Clif Bars each

· One Quart size bag of trail mix

· 1 L of Gatorade – we refilled the empty with H2O later on

· Quart size bags for cheese, summer sausage, and crackers

· NEXT TIME – I would take more Gatorade (powder) and something sugary (skittles, jelly beans, bite size snickers, etc). We had nothing left food wise, but those would have been good pick on the go pick me ups while working through the moraine and on the descent from Sperry Chalet to Lake McDonald.

Gear

· Full Rain Gear – not needed fortunately

· Fleece – there is lots of wind

· Trekking Poles – almost a must have due to some of the steep traverses, climbs, and descents – plus those of us who are older appreciate how they save our knees!

· GPS – just for fun J

· Topo – I have the National Geographic Map – you will have to decide how good you are with route finding but I did a significant amount of reading and research and had good visuals in my mind from others pictures and the like…

· Camera – between us, we took 320 pictures on our digital cameras…maybe a bit OCD, but hey, we got some great shots!

· H2O – there are lots of sources along the way so you can get by with no more than a liter at any one time if you want to filter and/or treat. I went through a 3 L dromedary and LMG went through 2 L in her platypus and we shared the 1L Gatorade and 1 L we refilled the Gatorade bottle with.

· NEXT TIME – I will take an extra pair of socks to change into a Comeau Pass – just a personal preference.

· I climbed and hiked in trail shoes/runners, LMG was in full leather boots.

Soap Box

I thought about this report for a while before writing it. I debated whether to even post one since I don’t want to make this a superhighway off trail hike but I also felt like there was enough unknown that others need to have information to make a good decision about doing this hike. I know that Backpacker highlighted this hike several years ago and it seems that there are numerous questions asked about it and not a lot of responses…so in the end I decided that I should share this great hike with everybody. But I must warn you, this is was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. It is physically exhausting and what is even more, you do not realize it until you are only half way done. The views keep you mind occupied and then you hit the halfway point at Comeau Pass and realize you have just under ten miles of trail left…ughh! It is also mentally taxing as you are constantly gaining and losing elevation for the first half and then it seems the trail never ends for the last half as you just keep going down and down and down. Please, please, please make a good decision on your conditioning if you are considering it – it is an amazing hike but it is clearly not suited for everybody unfortunately. So if you are wondering what it may compare to around the country or in the park…it was harder than everything listed below (and this is just my opinion comparing to day hikes I have done)

· Dawson/Pitamakin in GNP – 18 miles RT, 3000 vertical

· Swiftcurrent Lookout in GNP – 16 miles RT, 3500 vertical

· Hole-in-the-Wall to Kintla Lake in GNP – about 20 miles out, 3500 vertical

· Mount Katahdin, Maine – 10 miles RT, 4300 vertical

· Mount Whitney, California – 21 miles RT, 6700 vertical

· Boundary Mountain, Nevada – 7.5 miles RT, 4400 vertical

· Mount Washington, New Hampshire – 8.6 miles RT, 4300 vertical

· Mount Elbert, Colorado – 9 miles RT, 5000 vertical

· The ONLY hike I personally have ever done and felt was harder than this one was Borah Peak in Idaho (7 miles RT, 5300 vertical)

Anyway, that is my own take on things…it is a tremendous hike, one of my all time favorites. I hope that everyone else who has the opportunity find this info helpful and enjoys the hike as much as we did. It is all that Glacier represents and more J

If you would like to look at a select group of pictures that highlight the above description and trail, you can do so by clicking here.

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