Hike to Rocky Point in Glacier NP…

Before bad weather came into this beautiful area we were able to get in one more hike, albeit a short one. We drove over to Glacier National Park but little did we know this was free entry weekend because the centennial birthday of the National Park Service.

After entering the park we decided to hike the trail called Rocky Point on the west side of Lake McDonald as we figured this trail would be not so crowded since it is in the less popular side of the park due to the huge wildfire that occurred some 4-5 years ago. When we pulled into the trailhead parking lot we saw only a few cars so it looked like our plan worked. As we were getting out Sharon shrieked as we spotted a long horned beetle on the windshield. Not a grizzly bear but nearly as scary…

This was a mostly level trail with a small loop near the end and then back out on the same trail. We began in a mostly heavily forested area following the shoreline of lake McDonald. We did take a spur trail off of the Rocky Point trail down to a small beach on Lake McDonald to enjoy the lunch we brought with us.

We never tire of the beautiful azure waters of Lake McDonald so it was a perfect spot for lunch. After lunch we continued on the trail over to Rocky Point which overlooks the lake from a perched rock outcropping. From there we continued on the trail until we walked through a good sized burned area. It is always sad to see burnt forests but after four to five years we noticed that the life in the forest continues with the beginnings of a greening up of the blackened land.

On the way home we stopped in for a quick visit at the Hungry Horse Dam. Quite an impressive dam at 564 feet tall and 2,115 feet wide. It is also 30 feet wide at the top where we drove over it and 330 feet thick at the base. We drove a ways along the reservoir and discovered it was way more than 100 miles around the reservoir. A quick stop at a boat launch to inspect the water and off we went back home.

The weather since Labor Day has been a bit dismal with drizzling rain, highs in the 50’s to very low 60’s and lows down to as low as 36 one morning. I seriously thought about leaving but the places I wanted to go were having similar weather and with a few days of good weather predicted before we leave I decided we would just stick it out until the better weather returns. We have a few more hikes we really want to do so we are holding out hope the weather will cooperate…

Note: We are in Kalispell Montana until September 12, 2016. Then we will head over toward Libby MT and Couer d’Alane…