Lucy Ondo

August 13, 2021 to August 19, 2021

My Back Country Permit was issued in Two Medicine. I asked for miles between 10 to 15 miles per day and let the Park Ranger designate the camp grounds. I stayed at the East Glacier Lodge two nights as all the hiker hotels were booked.

While waiting for my permit, a grizzly bear walked through the heavily tourist area nearby causing a stir with the rangers.

Before I left for Two Medicine, I walked down to purchase my train ticket home on the 19th and ran into a hiker, trail name Fenway, Joyce and I met Fenway hiking the CDT in New Mexico. Small world. He was getting ready to catch the train going home in Park City, UT after completing The Bob. He had done Glacier National Park the previous year with his daughter.

Two Medicine Campground.

Glacier National Park is heaven to hike.

Pitamakan Pass on the first day.

Pitamakan Pass.

Trilled with all the bridges over water.

Headed up Triple Divide Pass on day two.

Triple Divide Pass.

Looking ahead coming off Triple Divide Pass.

Long valley walk headed to Red Eagle Lake with waterfalls along the way.

Bridges over water! It was so extraordinary to have bridges, I think I have a ton of bridge photos.

On the trail, first thing in the morning leaving Red Eagle Lake campground.

Had to wait for the moose to get off the trail.

At sunrise, there was a fox on the trail ahead of me. It pays to get on the trail early for wildlife viewing.

Hope I’m not too heavy…

St. Mary Lake.

The day spent hiking with St. Mary lake on right side of the trail and waterfalls on the left side of the trail.

At the last waterfall I started running into herds of tourists.

That evening I camped at the Reynolds campground a mile or so below the Going to the Sun Road. I was warned by the rangers there had been heavy bear activity reported in the area. Perhaps this is the reason I was the only person to spend the night at this campground on this night.

At 3am in the morning, I turned over on my noisy NeoAir mattress and scared a bear sniffing me through the tent. The bear made a lot of noise getting out of there. Bears cause a lot of crackling noise when running through the forest.

I was unable to get back to sleep and went ahead preparing for the day ahead.

Before reaching the road where the trail crosses the Going to the Sun Road, it started to rain and this time I stopped and put on all my rain gear: rain coat, rain pants, rain glove covers. It rained all day. Sometimes lightly and other times heavily. I was happy my hiking pants, shirt, Smartwool layer, and gloves stayed dry all day underneath the rain gear.

Looking back down through the rain to the Going to the Sun Road below.

Headed up Piegan Pass.

Dropping off Piegan Pass headed to Many Glaciers was as if I had gone to heaven. I have never seen a place as perfectly beautiful. Because of the rain I didn’t shoot many photos and the photos taken do not capture the beauty of the descent off Piegan Pass.

After reaching the valley, the last last few miles into Many Glaciers the trail was ankle deep in mud from tourists on trail rides.

By the time I arrived at Many Glaciers I decided to bail on camping in the rain and snagged the last room available at the lodge.

The next morning it was foggy but not raining as I started up Ptarmigan Wall Trail.

Looking back at my progress.

Tunnel through the wall at the top.

Looking ahead after coming out of the tunnel. A woman and her horse fell to their death from this point (not while I was there).

The trail ahead off the pass.

Looking back up after part of the descent.

Headed for the lakes below.

The campground at the foot of Elk Lake. My last night.

The clouds lift off Elk Lake.

One last waterfall on the morning of my last day.

A beautiful morning to end my hike.

One last look back before I turn to hike quickly to Canada.

A few miles before the end of the trail, I ran into a few day hikers. Last, I ran into a couple on horseback on a day trail ride. The woman got off her horse to cross paths with me explaining her horse had been nervous and jumpy on this morning. This should have been a heads up for me. Instead I was racing to the end. One mile from the end of the trail I turned a corner through a berry patch and ran into a bear. Don’t ask me if it was a grizzly or black/brown bear. The bear hurried off running one way and I ran up the trail the other way. I didn’t stop to analyze the bear type.

Awww, Canada.

I met my expensive taxi ride back to East Glacier for the evening train home to Seattle. Luckily, I had time to shower and wash my clothes before boarding the train. There is a laundry and showers conveniently located next door to an ice cream store in East Glacier.