The table below was my schedule for hiking all the trails in Glacier National Park. Use it as a reference. Please feel free to ask any questions and alert me of any inaccuracies or problems!
| Date | Trail Name | Area | Distance | Days | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05/17/11 | McDonald Creek | Lake McDonald Area | 5.89 | 1 | All trails along McDonald Creek, west of GTS road |
| 05/25/11 | Johns Lake to Avalanche | Lake McDonald Area | 12.67 | 1 | Park at Lake McDonald and get all trails on East Side of Road between Sperry trailhead to Avalanche Lake |
| 05/27/11 | Apgar Lookout | Lake McDonald Area | 6.92 | 1 | |
| 06/04/11 | Lake McDonald/Fish Creek | Lake McDonald Area | 10.04 | 1 | Need to be dropped off at trailhead on North end of Lake McDonald or run shuttles. |
| 06/08/11 - 06/09/11 | Logging Lake | North Fork | 25.88 | 2 | |
| 06/14/11 | Trail of the Cedars | Lake McDonald Area | 0.83 | 0 | Do with Avalanche Lake |
| 06/14/11 | Avalanche Lake | Lake McDonald Area | 5.08 | 1 | |
| 06/15/11 | Apgar Village | Lake McDonald Area | 11.24 | 1 | Miles listed are actual trail miles, but more miles will be walked due to out and back. Also includes air quality site and close to south boundary. |
| 06/18/11 | Snyder Lake | Lake McDonald Area | 8.66 | 1 | |
| 06/20/11 | Howe Lake | Lake McDonald Area | 7.16 | 1 | Out and Back |
| 06/22/11 | Flathead Ranger Station | Lake McDonald Area | 12.66 | 1 | Cataraft across. Follows the Middle Fork to the confluence of the North Fork |
| 10/05/11 | Lime Springs | Lake McDonald Area | 4.48 | 1 | Bike to Lime Springs by the old Flathead Ranger Station to pick up. (was turned back earlier due to excessive downfall.. will be going fast and light) |
| 06/24/11 | Snyder Ridge Trail | Lake McDonald Area | 12.66 | 1 | |
| 07/01/11 | Howe Ridge Trail | Lake McDonald Area | 11.63 | 1 | Need a shuttle to Trout Lake Trail |
| 07/02/11 | Harrison Lake | The Southern Sector | 11.64 | 1 | Cataraft or ford across Middle Fork |
| 07/03/11 | Siyeh Bend to St. Mary | The St. Mary Valley | 8.54 | 1 | Includes Sun Point Nature Trail and all little spurs along the way |
| 07/06/11 | Numa Ridge Lookout | North Fork | 11.18 | 1 | |
| 07/07/11 | St. Mary and Virginia Falls | The St. Mary Valley | 20 | 1 | Might be shorter than drawn up, but will be a big day. |
| 07/13/11 | Elk Mountain | The Southern Sector | 5.14 | 1 | |
| 07/16/11 | Cracker Lake | Many Glacier | 14.76 | 1 | Actually a tad shorter most likely as a few pickups won't double up |
| 07/17/11 | Otokomi Lake | The St. Mary Valley | 11.36 | 1 | |
| 07/14/11, 08/14/11 | Upper Two Medicine Lake | Two Medicine | 11.08 | 1 | Loop around Lower Two Medicine to pick up all spur trails (did the actual lake on 8/14/11) |
| 07/19/11 | Medicine Grizzly Lake | Two Medicine | 12.88 | 1 | |
| 07/20/11 | St Mary Ranger Station and Beaver Pond trail | The St. Mary Valley | 12 | 1 | Beaver Pond Trail and Divide Creek Trails... both out and back |
| 07/21/11 | Lake Josephine | Many Glacier | 10.18 | 1 | Go up to Piegan Pass trail to pick that up. Lots of little spurs to pick up. |
| 07/24/11 | Quartz Lakes Loop | North Fork | 22.58 | 2 | Loop done in one day. Quartz Creek later. |
| 07/25/11 | Akokala Lake | North Fork | 14.46 | 1 | Go in from the North Fork Rd, then come out by Bowman. Need shuttle back. |
| 07/28/11 | Huckleberry Mountain Nature Trail | North Fork | 0.89 | 0 | Off of Camas Road. Do with Huckleberry Lookout |
| 07/28/11 | Huckleberry Mountain Lookout | Lake McDonald Area | 12.7 | 1 | |
| 07/30/11 - 07/31/11 | Park Creek to Two Medicine | The Southern Sector | 32.98 | 2 | Camp at Lake Isabel |
| 08/02/11 | Scalplock Lookout | The Southern Sector | 10.24 | 1 | |
| 08/05/11 | Mount Brown Lookout | Lake McDonald Area | 9.98 | 1 | |
| 08/07/11 | Scenic Point to East Glacier | Two Medicine | 9.87 | 1 | |
| 08/09/11 | Cut Bank Ranger Station | Two Medicine | 7.8 | 1 | Trail from ranger station to boundary as well as a pasture at the base of Mad Wolf. Two short gangly hikes, that might be picked up with another trip. |
| 08/10/11 - 08/11/11 | Triple Divide | The St. Mary Valley | 23.05 | 2 | Cut Bank to St. Mary. Camp at Red Eagle Lake |
| 08/12/11 - 08/13/11 | Gable Pass and Slide Lake | The Belly River Country | 23.28 | 2 | Two days and camp at slide lake 6 miles from ranger station to road |
| 08/14/11 | Running Eagle Falls | Two Medicine | 0.6 | 0 | Did with Upper Two Medicine Lake |
| 08/15/11 | Autumn Creek (Marias Pass, False Summit) | The Southern Sector | 16.18 | 1 | Autumn Creek, Marias Pass and False summit... maybe two days while commuting |
| 08/15/11 | Dawson-Pitamakan | Two Medicine | 18.82 | 1 | Swing on by Oldman Lake |
| 08/18/11 - 08/19/11 | Cutbank Pass | Two Medicine | 28.74 | 2 | Two Medicine entrance over Cut Bank Pass to Nyack, then back up and over to Cut Bank Ranger Station |
| 08/21/11 - 08/22/11 | Bowman Lake-Brown Pass | North Fork | 26.78 | 2 | Out and back. One night at Brown Pass or Hawksbill. |
| 08/24/11 | Siyeh Pass | The St. Mary Valley | 9.95 | 1 | |
| 08/25/11 - 08/26/11 | Gunsight Pass | The St. Mary Valley | 30.9 | 2 | Camp at Lake Ellen Wilson to split it in half |
| 08/27/11 - 08/29/11 | Ptarmigan/Redgap with Iceberg and Apikuni Falls | Many Glacier | 38.87 | 3 | Camp at Elizabeth and Poia Lake |
| 08/30/11 - 09/02/11 | Mokowanis River-Stoney Indian Pass | The Belly River Country | 66.8 | 4 | Camp at Helen, Mokowanis Lake, Mokowanis Junction and out |
| 09/05/11 - 09/08/11 | Kintla to Waterton via Boulder/Hole in the Wall | North Fork | 34.75 | 3 | Spend nights at Lake Francis, Hole in the Wall and Upper Kintla. |
| 09/09/11 | Hidden Lake | The Highline/Waterton Lake | 5.2 | 1 | Out and back. |
| 09/10/11 | The Highline | The Highline/Waterton Lake | 15.94 | 1 | Includes Salamander overlook and stops at the loop and heads on down to Packer's Roost to get the Loop to Packer's Roost section |
| 09/12/11 - 09/13/11 , 09/16/11 - 09/17/11 | Northern Highline with Flattop and Packer's Roost | The Highline/Waterton Lake | ?? | 4 | Start at Packer's Roost up to Fifty, Kootenai, Goat Haunt, do North Boundary and Porcupine Lookout, out to Fifty, Granite and over Swiftcurrent to Many Glacier, then up and over Piegan Pass (some of these covered with other entries) |
| 09/14/11 | Porcupine Lookout | The Highline/Waterton Lake | 19.78 | 2 | Not sure how this one will work logistically yet. Could be just one monster day with camping at Goat Haunt. |
| 09/15/11 | The North Boundary Trail | The Highline/Waterton Lake | 12.7 | 1 | Take boat to southern Waterton lake, hike up to Cameron Lake. Might take the Carthew/Alderson route instead making it a 19+ mile trip to get back to Waterton |
| 09/15/11 | Goat Haunt Overlook | The Highline/Waterton Lake | 2 | 0 | Do with the North Boundary Trail |
| 09/18/11 | Swiftcurrent Pass and Lookout | Many Glacier | 11.84 | 1 | From Granite Park Chalet, to the lookout, then down to Many Glacier |
| 09/19/11 | Piegan Pass | The St. Mary Valley | 12.37 | 1 | |
| 09/21/11 - 09/23/11 | The Nyack-Coal Creek Loop | The Southern Sector | 38.25 | 3 | Start at Nyack Ranger Station, come out by Coal Creek. Potential Stimpson Summit if things look right. |
| 09/24/11 - 09/25/11 | East Glacier to Ole Creek via Firebrand Pass | The Southern Sector | 26.02 | 2 | Camp at Ole Lake |
| 09/28/11 | Loneman Lookout | The Southern Sector | 17 | 1 | Cataraft or ford across Middle Fork |
| 09/30/11 | Coal, Muir Creeks to Fielding Guard St | The Southern Sector | 24.2 | 1 | 1 biiiiig day |
| 10/01/11 | Quartz Creek and North Fork Meadows | North Fork | 19.39 | 1 | Quartz Creek and Covey, Hidden and McGee Meadows |
| 10/1/11 | Polebridge Ranger Station | North Fork | 1.04 | 0 | Do with Hidden Meadow |
| 10/1/11 | Hidden Meadow | North Fork | 1.52 | 0 | Do with Polebridge Ranger Station |
| 10/02/11 - 10/03/11 | Trout Lake out to Camas Creek | Lake McDonald Area | 23.96 | 2 | |
| 10/04/11 | Dutch Creek | North Fork | 18.64 | 1 | |
| 10/07/11 | North Fork Belly River | The Belly River Country | 25.71 | 1 | One big day which includes Lee Creek Cabin. My mileage is bigger due to hiking the road as it was closed because of recent snow. |
| 10/08/11 | Grinnell Glacier | Many Glacier | 12.54 | 1 | Picked up Boulder Ridge trail as well as the Altyn/Henkel stretch of the Ptarmigan Tunnel trail that is only open at the end of the season due to bears. |
| 10/09/11 | Mineral Creek Cabin | The Highline/Waterton Lake | 13.52 | 1 | Start at Packer's Roost and up to Mineral Creek Cabin |
| 10/11/11 - 10/12/11 | Kishenehn Loop and Trails | North Fork | 28.42 | 2 | Go up to Canadian border along North Fork as well as up starvation creek, camp at Patrol Cabin potentially |
| 10/14/11 - 10/15/11 | Lincoln Lake | Lake McDonald Area | 24.6 | 2 | Start at West Glacier and take South Boundary trail to Lincoln Creek, then up to Lincoln Lake and camp, then come out at Lincoln Lake trailhead on Going-to-the-Sun Road. |
Hope to see you on the trail in July. My wife Laura and I will be in the park from July 13th through the 26th. I’m looking forward to seeing your schedule when you get it completed.
Well it’s all up in the air. I’m really starting to work it now. Let me know which ones you’d like to do and we’ll see if we can plan one or two together.
I like your blog and will visit it frequently. I belong to a hiking group that hikes every Tuesday year round. We have been doing this for about 12 years. We hike in Glacier, but we also hike the trails in the Swans, Great Bear Wilderness, Whitefish Mtns.,Salish Mtns.
Again, love the Blog, and hope to run across you on the trail.
Cheers, John
John, that would be great to run into you guys. Do you have a schedule all put together or do you just wing it week to week?
Jake,
We found your article on the front page of the Flathead Beacon which we read periodically. It sounds like an awesome goal and a thrilling adventure. If we lived closer, we would join you as we are avid hikers.
Hike on,
Dave and Tammy Bush
Glendale, Arizona
Ahh, Arizona… I used to hike squaw peak when I was in college down there. Hopefully you can live vicariously through me. Better yet, maybe it’ll push you over the edge to come up and do some walking. 😉
I have been bouncing a similar idea around for a few years, but over a ten year period as I am a carpenter and work the summers. I will be following your schedule updates, try to hook on with you, and hike as many sections as I can swing.
Steve, if there’s a section that you “need”, let me know when you can do it. Some hikes have a small window, so they take priority, but for the others, I’m pretty flexible. So give me a couple of dates for each specific hike and we’ll try and get it down.
How Exciting….Our group of 8 “hiker chicks” have been Glacier Park hikers for over 15 years!! I’m sure we’ll run into this summer!! When your schedule is complete we’d love to join you for a hike or two! Where have you spent a summer hiking in the past?
Helen
I shot you an email to try to hook up for at least one hike! Super exciting!. 😉
It’s been one of my dreams to complete the Nyack-Coal Creek loop. When do you reckon that trail will be open?
Mark, I’m not sure to be honest with you. I’m guessing it will be all clear sometime in August. Because of all of the snow this year, I’m saving it until late August so all of the creek crossings will be much lower. It’s going to be quite the adventure for sure! Care to join me? 😉
You give me a date, and I’ll see if my time to report to teacher meetings will allow me to make it up there!
August 30-Sept 1 is what I have on my calendar…
What time you starting Avalanche this Saturday? Provided I get a coffee kickstart, I might be willing to join you. Actually, if you have a Hike 734 coffee mug I can even advertise for you. After all, you used to regularly say I should have advertising on my mug. Maybe that will be my new gig. 😉
Let’s shoot to leave Kalispell at 8am. If anyone wants to rendezvous in C. Falls, we can do that at Coffee Traders at 8:30.
Boots cut it or we need snowshoes for this one?
Boots will be fine. I’ll be in trail runners myself. Am I meeting you at Coffee Traders?
Yes. See you at 8:30
What an amazing idea! I will follow your progress enthusiastically! Glacier is MY favorite Park (Yellowstone is my husband Dave’s favorite) and we have hiked a lot of miles there! Last summer Dave took me on my first OVERNIGHT back country hike to Upper Two Medicine Lake and I LOVED it! It was the #1 highlight for me followed by Ptarmigan Tunnel (#2) and Iceberg Lake (#3). We’ll be back in Glacier next summer (2012), too bad this wasn’t going down a year later, we would have loved to meet you! We’re headed to Yellowstone for a week in August and then 2 weeks to Bryce, Arches and the Grand Canyon at the end of September.
Connie Hopkins
Denton, Texas
First off, great idea. I’m like you and want to hike EVERY trail when I look at a map, so I will definitely be following your travels. All your videos are very professional looking too! I will be in Glacier Park hiking Lake Isabel 7/25-7/27. I was considering making a video myself on that trip as there’s not much about Isabel online currently. I guess you’ll have that covered though! Happy hiking!
Please do a video as well! I’d love to see you tell your story and I’d love to have a sneak peek before I do it. 😉
Good luck! I worked at Swift this summer and heard about your goal for this summer, it’s awesome! I was busy working the morning I heard you were in our Dining Room, bummer. But seriously good luck! Hope this weather passes and you get a little more nice weather for the last push!
Thanks for the well wishes. I’m finally getting to comments and such. The weather wasn’t the most cooperative, but we managed. Too bad we didn’t meet up, but if you hit up the Park next year, we’ll have to see if we can cross paths!