Firebrand Pass 2015

Firebrand Pass is not on the radar for most of Glacier National Park’s visitors, but this gem of a hike near Marias Pass has me coming back again and again. After some back and forth with Jeff and Harry, we decided to make the pass our destination and then figure out what off trail route we would explore.

I first met Harry when he commented on my blog in 2013. His son, Jeff had little interest in hiking in Glacier. Through some of my resources, Jeff started to get interested and took ownership of planning a few hikes. Since then, he’s been hooked, much to the joy of his father.

If you have kids, you may consider letting them plan a couple of hikes on your next trip to Glacier or any national park for that matter. Youtube, social media, and other online resources that they use can be great resources. It becomes their hike and they may be a little less jaded about how boring their hike is.

(As a quick aside, Harry and Jeff live near Zion National Park and they provided some great help with my Zion Map!)

For our day up to Firebrand Pass, it was a wonderful day in early August working our way up to the pass. Everything was still green and the views were wonderful as always the higher up we went. Aside from a few birds and squirrels, animals were low on the count. At the pass, the wind howled and we quickly took the game trail over to Lena Lake.

After a bit of having the lake completely by ourselves (surrounded by the rugged terrain), we bushwhacked our way back to the bowl below Firebrand Pass, then connected back with the trail and out. Flowers were still up in the high country and it was a great day with friends.