Steps in the Right Direction: Day 8 Highline trail also called the Garden Wall up at Logan's Pass

Total miles today 13.2
Trip total 90.4 miles

This picture adds some perspective to the size of the snow field

Behind the snow field

Some steps are skinnier than others. This was not the skinniest, but one which I felt I could stop and take a picture of. The green is about 100 feet below my foot!

Snow field the trail crew blew out from behind. Also same snow field the young man tried to cross in his crocs but failed to make it...

Trail as it hangs above the going to the sun road

When we first arrived here in Glacier we found the Highline trail closed due to a snow drift of sorts around Haystack mountain. The trail is very exposed in this area so if you would fall on the snow field that crossed the trail, you would have about two seconds to get yourself under control using what they call self arrest techniques. One young fellow felt he was confident enough or dumb enough to give it a try and fell on this snow field, slipped off of the edge to his death. He was wearing Crocs. Seriously I would not even wear crocs to walk down the driveway to pick up mail in snow. This unfortunate accident happened the day we arrived in Glaicer.

Yesterday after finishing our hike we headed over to the St Mary Visitor Center in the hopes of getting an update on this trail. We have asked about this trail several times at the ranger station and they are probably getting sick of us coming in there asking about these above tree line hikes that still have snow. We had heard that the trail crew started working on the trail a few days ago trying to clear the snow to make it safe for everyone to hike. Believe it or not, they use explosives to remove snow from the dangerous snow fields and then shovel the snow from the trail. When we asked for an update on the Highline trail, they told us that today would be the official opening day of this trail. We were really happy to hear that news!

Today on our drive to the park we watched a bald eagle soaring above us. Now that is a great way to start a day. We arrive at Logan's Pass and are hiking by 8:12. It was a very winding cold start. Put on long sleeves, wind jacket, headband and gloves. We struck out for the trail and did not see any critters other than ground squirrels and marmots. Usually this trail is loaded with mountain goats, in fact they are usually out looking for food handouts which people are not suppose to provide.

We head on out on the Garden Wall portion of the trail, which is high above the Going to the Sun Road. And just like the road, the trail is cut out of the mountain. There is a cable installed for people who need to hang on through the exposed parts, but basically you have a three foot wide path notched out of the side of the mountain. Sometimes you have less than three feet, but for sure there is always room to step. I was thinking there is always at least two choices in your steps here... Do I step on that skinny ledge with my right foot or should I use my left foot. At one point I got a great idea to take a picture of what this might look like. I had to wait for a step that I was willing to stop and take out my camera and take a picture. Kathi was wondering what the heck I was doing, when I told her she thought I should have taken the picture up on some of the other stetchy stuff we had already passed. I told her I was busy trying to make good choices in my passage and was unwilling to fall off just to get a really cool shot!

We take a few photos of the snow field which the young fellow decided to cross in crocs. The park system has since shoveled and blasted out a very nice passage behind the snow field which is quite safe to walk behind. You might be thinking why didn't the park service shovel this out before the kid fell? The answer is they had the trail closed due to dangerous conditions and the kid went anyway.

After this point in the trail we met up with two young men who were trail maintenance guys. They stopped to chat with us and if you could have seen what thin ledges they were standing on to do their work, you might have fainted. But they stood there and happily told us about how to get up and around the major snow field on the way to Gunsight pass. We would like to take this epic park hike into Sperry lodge tomorrow. Oh, yeah he tells us, you just go up to the second switch back and head on over and climb down and around the snow field then scramble up into the meadow above to rejoin the trail. It dawned on me as he was standing on a whisp of the cliff, that perhaps his tolerance for sketchy stuff was different than mine!

It was perhaps a half and hour later when both Kathi and I had some time to process what was all involved in that bit of communication. Yes, it is possible to get around the snow in past years, but he had not seen it this year, and he lives on the edge as we saw from him standing where he was. For our hike into Sperry lodge tomorrow, we decide to park at Logan's Pass and take a shuttle down to Lake McDonald and then hike in on the horse trail. If while we are at Sperry someone hikes in the Gunsight Pass way, we will consider taking that hike out. That trail is 13 miles long,mover two passes, with lots of good sights to see.

As we continued down the trail, we gained sights of Granite chalet. Granite chalet is another back country lodge, but you have to bring along your own food and bedding or you can pre-order some dehydrated meals which will be there when you check in and rent bedding. With Granite chalet in sight we take a side trail up to get a birds eye view of Grinnell Glacier. It is .8 mile up 1000 feet. So basically it is a very steep climb, but once at the top it was very windy. We had to tuck down behind a boulder at the saddle and eat half a lunch. While we were sitting there we were able to spot 2 people down walking by the glacier. That trail was also closed, so either they had stepped over the closed sign or they were rangers checking out the danger of the trail. It is one trail we have never been on and really would like to see Grinnell glacier from the toe of the glacier rather that looking down at it from the top of a saddle. We are hoping to drive down from Waterton to take that hike later next week.

We head on down that steep trail and then climb back up the approach trail to the chalet. We. stopped in and asked a few questions and then went out to eat the second half of our lunch. We shot a few pictures and continued on down the trail to the loop. Here we picked up a shuttle back up to Logan's Pass to get our car. The walk down this trail is down 2,400 feet in four miles. Again it is down! We are walking down through the burn area from the Trapper Creek Fie in 2003. The trees are just starting to get serious about taking over the forest. Many aspen and other deciduous trees and a few pine trees are coming. Tons more than the last time we say it.

Right when we were within the last two tenths of a mile from the end of the trail, we encounter a helicopter flying and searching for something. It was hovering out in front and then would go and fly lower, and then follow the river a bit. When we got out to the road, it was shut down and buzzing with rangers and special search and rescue people all decked out in climbing gear. They had just gotten back without finding anything, and were going out again. One ranger we talked to said it was an active investigation and could not say anything else. So I suppose we will read or hear about another death soon.