Day 15 of 2019 Western US Tour, July 26, Highline and Garden Wall Trail

Our sixth and last day in Glacier National Park.
My plan of the day was to hike Highline and Garden Wall Trail, probably the second most popular day hike route in Glacier National Park, behind Grinnell Glacier Trail. And there would be spectacular views of Grinnell Glacier at the top of Garden Wall, encore to what I explored four days ago.

Having had a perfectly restful night in the comfort of hotel beds in Kalispell, we set off at 8:30 for Glacier National Park.
(Despite it doesn’t look too far on the map, it took us over two hours with a few stops on the way to reach Logan Pass.)

Unlike previous day-hikes in the park, Highline Trail is a one-way trail, and Garden Wall Trail is its spur. Like most people, I decided to take Highline Trail in the easy direction, starting at Logan Pass (2025m in elevation) and finishing at the Loop (1308m).

So after stretching myself at Logan Pass, I headed onto Highline Trail at 10:40am.
And here’s GPS tracking:

Immediately out of Logan Pass, Highline Trail took on a section right along rocky cliff.
But no worries for the faint hearted, in the scariest section (which wasn’t at all) there were handrails.

And frankly to me, that’s the only highlight before Garden Wall.

This one’s probably too hungry, that he’s risking his life finding lunch just next to hiking trail.

Then it’s Haystack Pass, the only portion of Highline Trail that’s gaining elevation (a total about 200 meters). Rolling fields of beargrass certainly made the journey less grueling.

At Haystack Pass, a portion of the trail was through field of snow, which was easier than it might seem since snow was well-packed and not too slippery. Unfortunately the snow was quite contaminated with dirt. Otherwise, it could be a fairytale experience like the movie Frozen, minus the bitterness.

There’s a short (1.1km one way, 140m elevation gain) trail to the top of Haystack Butte. It wasn’t on my original plan, so I skipped it (it didn’t seem that many people were taking that trail). If one’s physically fit and started from Logan Pass early enough, visiting Haystack Butte along the way isn’t a bad option.

After crossing Haystack Pass, McDonald Creek and distant McDonald Lake gradually became visible. They were a constant sight throughout most of the hike.

At 2pm, I made it to the junction of Garden Wall Trail and Highline Trail, the steep elevation gain of the latter was hard to ignore once you’re on it (300m in 1.3km).

Loose dirt surface of the trail meant it should be trod with caution, especially heading downhill. I was most amazed that I didn’t slip.

Half an hour later, I reached the top of Garden Wall, and joined a group of spectators overlooking the magnificent Grinnell Glacier.

I picked a spot and finished my packed meal. This time, high winds took over squirrels that attempted to spoil my lunch, hard to say which one was more annoying than the other. But for the views of glaciers, one could hardly ask more.
Even more amazingly, Garden Wall was the only location in Glacier National Park (except St. Mary Campground, which was on its perimeter) that I got (Verizon) cellular coverage! That meant I could broadcast all this on Instagram!

So after 40 minutes on top of Garden Wall, I headed back down.

At 4pm, I reached Granite Park Chalet, which was some backcountry accommodation built between 1914 and 1915. It’s strategically located at the intersection of a few trails (Highline and Swiftcurrent Pass are the two most important).
Amazingly, despite its rustic appearance and remote location, it offered “optional linen and bedding service”…

After soaking in some views at Granite Park Chalet, I continued to “the Loop”, which would be the end of my journey on foot.
Unfortunately, Granite Park Chalet marked the end of attractions on Highline Trail (the trail was technically called “Granite Park Trail” from now on). It used to be that I was hiking on the side of a majestic mountain with views of many equally majestic mountains, but after Granite Park Chalet the trail was among trees, both dead ones and alive. No more stunning views.

And to make matters worse, Granite Park Trail seemed to be frequented by animals, that left droppings all over the place. So despite the trail’s generous width (double track in most area), avoiding them could still be difficult at places.

And once out of forest, I found myself surrounded by dead trees like this, which made a perfect setting of horror movies at night. (Glad that I still had daylight left.)

To describe my mentality in this part, it’s like a naughty student being confined in an uninteresting classroom, whose mind was occupied only with counting time left till the school day’s end. Yes, in a similar manner I was checking my cell phone GPS to see how much distance there’s ahead.

So just before 6pm, I arrived at the end of the trail at “The Loop”, which was also a shuttle stop of the park.
The section of Going-to-the-Sun Road between Logan Pass and Avalanche Lake was narrow and winding, so shuttle buses between these two stops were small minivans with limited seating. “The Loop” was the only stop in between, and buses departing Logan Pass would reserve at least two empty seats for hikers to board at “The Loop”.
And depending on how frequently the shuttle bus driver was communicating with dispatch over the radio about situations at all the shuttle stops, I guessed nobody would be stranded at any shuttle stops for long. Having had a not-so-pleasant experience waiting for boats at Lake Josephine four days ago, the amount of care into the park’s shuttle system was certainly beyond my imagination.

After a transfer at Avalanche Lake and 50 minutes later, I was at Apgar, where we were reunited and headed back to Kalispell.
Since bear spray couldn’t be brought onto an airplane (even as checked baggage), I handed that to the park rangers at the entrance. It seemed that they did take donations of bear sprays.

END

Day 15 of 2019 Western US Tour, July 26, Highline and Garden Wall Trail by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.