Hello Everyone,

I am new on this board, been living in MN, for the past 4 years, and have done alot of canoeing/camping in the BWCA. I was looking for a new adventure, and came across GNP, and now I'm hooked on exploring this magnificent park. I have done some research about the park and trails, and am looking for some advice on routes. Initailly, my g/f and I were looking at getting up to Goat Haunt and heading west on the Boulder Trail, but it appears that finding a ride out of the PoleBridge area is going to be pretty difficult, without having to hitchike. It's too bad, because I wanted to check out Hole in the Wall. Next time! So, now I am looking for other routes, I have checked the highline trail, and I think that will be our secondary, but looking for a primary route. A bit about us, and when we are planning on going. We are looking around the last week of June or 1st/2nd week of July. I would like to be there, so we can drive the Going to the Sun Hwy, and it looks like that doesn't open until July 4th. We might push it back another week or two, to the 1st week of Aug, but that would be the latest. We are both in pretty good shape, I run 5-10K's, she runs 1/2 marathons, so our fitness is pretty good, but never been at elevation, and never really have gone backcountry hiking like this. We were looking for a 4-5 day trip, could be point to point (as long as their is a shuttle on the other end), or a loop.

Any advice or help would be great.

I think we are going to go for a few hikes/trial runs up at the Superior Hiking Trail, this spring.

Looking forward to hearing suggestions.

Thanks,
R

Actually the road is usually scheduled to open before July 4th depending on the year. The website says it could be open by June 19th. Last year was a huge snow year and it opened on July 3rd. I live in Bozeman and this year is an average snow year MOL. I checked the Snotel sites near Glacier and they are reporting about the same conditions. The long range forecasts are calling for about average precip and above average temps. I think that the GTTSR will be open not too far from the June 19th date this year and certainly before July. Early season hiking high up might require snowshoes and or crampons.
I never did any hiking there but a bit elsewhere around the area.
FWIW There are many other great places around like the Beartooths, Bob Marshall etc. The Beartooths have the largest unbroken area of land in excess of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in altitude in the U.S. outside of Alaska and the Beartooh Highway is among the top 3 drives in the US. Sun and Trail Ridge Road are the other 2.

Bobber,

Thanks for the info and reply. A few of my co-workers have been talking up both the Beartooth's, and Bob Marshall, so I will take a look at those options. Also good info on wx and GTSR opening. I"m looking forward to heading out there.

Thanks,
R

The Beartooths have the largest unbroken area of land in excess of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in altitude in the U.S. outside of Alaska

I really like the Beartooths, but that is not true:

https://sites.google.com/a/wildblue.net ... /beartooth

Great advise an recommendations though. Those areas are beautiful.

Scott, I lifted that quote from the wiki page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absaroka-B ... Wilderness
Those other areas are not contiguous in my book because some or most of them have interstates and other highways running through them along with towns and developments. Contiguous does have different meanings however. I do like the word unbroken. Doing a rough scale on Google Earth it's about 65 miles wide and about 35 tall and that's pretty good for not one road through it.

At the time you will be there, the backcountry campsites in the Boulder Pass area will not be open.

Obtaining permits for sites along the Highline Trail is difficult.

It is easier to get permits for the Belly River area, and the scenery once you get out there is beyond incredible, with much less traffic. I've seen much of the park, and I think that northern area has the best scenery of what I've beheld, and that's saying a lot.

Trail elevations in Glacier are not high enough for the typical person to have to worry about altitude issues.

For your first visit to Montana, I'd spend a few days in Glacier and do some big day hikes such as Siyeh Pass, Pitamakan-Dawson, and Logan Pass to the Loop, and then I'd go backpacking in the Bob Marshall Wilderness or the Beartooths, where you don't have to worry about permits, the crowds are much lighter, and the scenery is amazing (though not as good as Glacier-- nothing in the Lower 48 beats the sights of Glacier, IMO).

If you are up to some Class 4 and scary exposure, try the Ptarmigan Wall Goat Trail; it's something that would be on most bucket lists if more people knew about it:

http://www.summitpost.org/ptarmigan-wal ... ail/543213

Scott, I lifted that quote from the wiki page.

The Wiki page is definitely incorrect. It is one of the myths pointed out in the link above.

Notice in the link the Beartooths have only 135 square miles of land above 10,000 feet.

The Wind River Mountains and Uinta Mountains, have a huge area within the wilderness boundaries above 10,000 feet that could swallow 135 square miles easily.

I'll use the Uinta Mountains as an example, since it's a single wilderness area (the Wild Rivers are divided into several connecting ones). The High Uintas Wilderness area is 714 square miles and since it's a wilderness area, there are no roads crossing it. The wilderness area is more than 90% with an area higher 10,000 feet and the only areas it drops below that figure are in some of the canyon bottoms and fringes along near the outer edges of the wilderness area. Even if the wilderness area was only 50% (and in reality it's far higher than that) above 10,000 feet, the roadless area above 10,000 feet would still be far larger than any 10,000+ foot section in the Beartooths.

That does't mean that somehow those areas you mention are somehow second rate. I really like the Beartooths. I believe that the Bob Marshall Wilderness area is the second wildest wilderness in the lower 48 if the core to perimeter distance is used as the determining factor (the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness ranks #1 in this regard). (Sources that list the wildest place as being in SE Yellowstone are not correct).

The Southwest Canyon Country also has some really wild desert areas, but when it comes to wild areas in the mountains sub-alpine/alpine areas, places like the Bob Marshall and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness areas are king (and far more wild than anywhere in Colorado, for example).

Washington and California, even though very populated have some really wild areas as well.

PS, I wasn't trying to argue, I sometimes point out mountain and nature myths that really aren't correct, but are oft repeated. Ever state seems to have them.

Here's an article I wrote on some of the myths pointing out some of the superlatives claimed by Colorado.

http://www.summitpost.org/colorado-tall ... fun/210643

If you really want to see a tall tale printed on the internet, this one on the official Forest Service Site, check this out:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/btnf/rec ... ecid=77360

The Bridger Wilderness rests within the Wind River Mountains and extends 80 miles along the Continental Divide, holding the headwaters of the Green River. Home to 7 out of 10 of the world's largest glaciers, the landscape is continuously breathtaking with hundreds of high alpine lakes, glacial cirques and wide sweeping valleys.

I do like the Wind River Mountains, and have been there several times but I can assure anyone that 7 out of 10 of the world's largest glaciers are not located there.

pcpilot128 wrote:Hello Everyone,

I am new on this board, been living in MN, for the past 4 years, and have done alot of canoeing/camping in the BWCA. I was looking for a new adventure, and came across GNP, and now I'm hooked on exploring this magnificent park. I have done some research about the park and trails, and am looking for some advice on routes. Initailly, my g/f and I were looking at getting up to Goat Haunt and heading west on the Boulder Trail, but it appears that finding a ride out of the PoleBridge area is going to be pretty difficult, without having to hitchike. It's too bad, because I wanted to check out Hole in the Wall. Next time! So, now I am looking for other routes, I have checked the highline trail, and I think that will be our secondary, but looking for a primary route. A bit about us, and when we are planning on going. We are looking around the last week of June or 1st/2nd week of July. I would like to be there, so we can drive the Going to the Sun Hwy, and it looks like that doesn't open until July 4th. We might push it back another week or two, to the 1st week of Aug, but that would be the latest. We are both in pretty good shape, I run 5-10K's, she runs 1/2 marathons, so our fitness is pretty good, but never been at elevation, and never really have gone backcountry hiking like this. We were looking for a 4-5 day trip, could be point to point (as long as their is a shuttle on the other end), or a loop.

Any advice or help would be great.

I think we are going to go for a few hikes/trial runs up at the Superior Hiking Trail, this spring.

Looking forward to hearing suggestions.

Thanks,
R

Questions on climbing are best asked here. But you might also take a look at the Glacier National Park Chat website. There are many knowledgeable Glacier Park hikers and backpackers frequenting that site. Answers to questions on hiking, obtaining backcountry permits and trail routes are best asked there IMHO.
http://www.glacier.nationalparkschat.com/phpBB3/index.php

Thanks very much for all your help and info. I will take a look into Bob Marshall, and for the advice from Bob. Ear, thanks for the GNP chat site, for some reason, I missed that when I was doing research. Thanks again!

The Bridger Wilderness rests within the Wind River Mountains and extends 80 miles along the Continental Divide, holding the headwaters of the Green River. Home to 7 out of 10 of the world's largest glaciers, the landscape is continuously breathtaking with hundreds of high alpine lakes, glacial cirques and wide sweeping valleys.

What a horrendous mistake! I can't believe they haven't corrected that.

The Winds' glaciers probably do not even crack the top 10 in the Lower 48; I would guess all 10 are in Washington. What they probably intended but somehow messed up is that the Winds have 7 of the 10 largest glaciers in the American Rockies. That is quite likely, with the other 3 being in Montana.