Autumn Creek Trail

The Autumn Creek trail in Glacier National Park runs parallel to MT Hwy 2 near Marias Pass. The trail starts over in East Glacier. I started at False Summit which is the traditional trailhead for Firebrand Pass because it was logistically better for my Hike 734 project. At False Summit which is east of Marias Pass, you start right across the tracks and go between meadows, aspen groves and lodgepole pine stands. I really enjoyed this part of the trip. Once I intersected with the Autumn Creek trail, however, I started my westerly journey through the trees… which isn’t always my favorite.

As you get close to Marias Pass, you walk past Three Bears Lake which is a great place to see waterfowl and you get great views of Summit Mountain. Back on the trail and heading west again, you enter the trees again, but if you continue along the trail, they surprised me by opening up into some nice meadows with great views of Elk Mountain and the ridge culminating to Summit Mountain.

I’d sum it up to say that the beginning by False Summit, the section of trail by Marias Pass and the end by Elk Mountain were the nicest parts of the trail for me.

Autumn Creek Trail
Indian Paintbrush

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2 responses to “Autumn Creek Trail”

  1. Mike Kinsella Avatar
    Mike Kinsella

    A couple of pieces of trivia. That same Stevens who built the Great Northern went on to become the chief engineer in building the Panama Canal (although he didn’t finish the job)- there was a piece on PBS just last week.

    And many of us grew up knowing the Dusky Grouse as the Blue Grouse- recent DNA evidence showed it was 2 species, not one.

    1. hike734 Avatar

      As I was walking, I couldn’t remember if it was John Stevens or not, thus the stumble and “Mr. Stevens”. 😉

      I also grew up learning that it was a Blue Grouse. The females have been sooo hard to identify with these grouse. Ugh.

      Thanks for the trivia though! Should be getting more blogs out faster. Next up is Dawson/Pitamakan… one of my favorites!

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