For the 4th of July weekend this year, John and I decided to take a trip to one of the last remaining parts of Glacier National Park that we haven't seen: the upper NW. We decided to leave after work Thursday, drive half-way to Glacier, and stop at a campground in the Lolo National Forest. The next morning, we got an early start on the long drive to the Polebridge Ranger Station. The road from the ranger station to the trailhead was only 15 miles but ended up taking almost an hour to drive due to the rugged terrain. Good thing we took the xTerra because the Prius would not have been happy with that road.
Kintla Lake
Getting out of the car at the trailhead, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes. We got our gear ready as fast as we could and headed down the trail. About 7 minutes in, we realized...we forgot the beer! Back to the car we went, braving mosquitoes all the way, to grab it (a necessity for post-hiking celebrations).
Our first leg of backpacking was along Kintla Lake, about a 6.3 mile hike along rolling hills. The hike followed the shoreline of Kintla Lake with a few sections up into the woods. We got to our campsite, set up our tents, enjoyed our dinner and the company of fellow campers, and finally headed to bed after a long day of driving and hiking.
The next day, we woke up, had our oatmeal and headed to Upper Kintla Lake, about 5.8 miles down the trail. Along the way, we had to cross some streams and a snow bridge to get over a gushing water fall.
John on the snow bridge over the water fall.
We got to the Upper Kintla Lake campground and enjoyed our lunch. We decided to head out for a day hike to Boulder Pass, which supposedly has awesome views. Unfortunately, after 3 miles we hit the snow line and hiking to the pass was going to be rough. We decided that after hiking all morning and going 3 miles (uphill), we didn't feel like trekking through the snow, so we had a snack and headed back down.
The view of Upper Kintla Lake from the trail to Boulder Pass
Our legs aching, we made dinner and chugged some water to recover from our day of hiking. The beach at Upper Kintla Lake was perfect for sitting and watching the sunset. Here, we decided to honor our Corona Beach moment by with a well-deserved Dale's Pale Ale.
Watching the Sunset Relaxing on the Beach
We woke up early to start the long 12 mile hike out of the backcountry. We could heard sounds of thunder in the distance and the humidity ticked up. This meant one thing: TONS of mosquitoes. We flew out of the woods swatting and swearing the existence of these evil creatures. We finally got back to the car, threw our stuff in, and headed out to get away from them.
The drive back towards the ranger station was on a very long and dusty road through beautiful prairies with views of the mountains we just dominated. We didn't have any lodging planned for that night, so we headed towards Lake McDonald and found an opening at Fish Creek Campground. The weather was perfect! We enjoyed a nice (mosquito-free) dinner by the campfire and headed to bed after some star watching. The next morning, we took a bike ride down to Lake McDonald and had coffee and cinnamon rolls in front of the lake. It was a sweet end to a great 4th of July weekend.