Christensen Meadows 2025

After a bumpy ride along the Inside North Fork Road, a short, level walk to Christensen Meadows is a classic “the journey is the destination” hike full of birds and wildflowers in Glacier National Park. I went to this quiet corner along Camas Creek for both the birds and the wildflowers and it did not disappoint.

All along Camas Creek are wonderful meadows. If you take the Camas Creek Trail, from the Inside North Fork Road, you quickly enter into the first of these meadows. These meadows are wetter meadows, so be sure to bring some kind of bug protection (head netting and/or bug spray). The bugs are there for the flowers and the birds are there for the bugs. They’ve got to feed their young something!

I keep coming to this area a little too late in the year for a special sparrow, the LeConte’s Sparrow, but it’s not the only one that I was setting out for on this early July day.

As I stepped out of my car and into the forest, calls from vireos, Swainson’s Thrushes, and Black-capped Chickadees were all around. Some early season huckleberries were mixed among the wildflowers. The level trail quickly enters into the first meadow which was thankfully less squishy than I’ve seen it and Lincoln’s and Chipping Sparrows were all over the place. In the distance, I saw a Sandhill Crane pair with their colt which was appearing and disappearing in the tall grass.

I continued moving through the meadow enjoying the wide open views, stopping frequently to listen for birds, and enjoying the wildflowers with all sorts of butterflies alighting on them.

The trail ducked back into the forest for a brief spell, then entered into the big Christensen Meadows proper. The trail skirts the meadow to the north, but stepping off the trail into the meadows gives glimpses of Camas Creek as it lazily winds through tall willows. I’m sure there were moose out there, but I didn’t see any of them, but did hear the non-stop calling of Common Yellowthroats and Yellow Warblers.

I continued through the edge of the meadow and heard the delightful calls of Willow and Alder Flycatchers. The latter is a rare bird for our area and one I had come out to see and hear. A squawky Red-naped Sapsucker was getting all huffy and I saw a tree squirrel near its nest where its young were calling out. squirrels are a big predator of cavity nesting birds, despite their innocent appearance and reputation for seeds.

While watching the drama unfold, I heard the characteristic call of the rarest of our chickadees, the Boreal Chickadee. Just one solitary individual squeakily calling out as it flew over the trail and into the woods. I was delighted!

I went a little further up the trail where it began to climb a little. I watched two cute chipmunks nuzzle and an adult Chipping Sparrow gather larvae for its growing chicks before turning around and heading back.

While I love going out and summiting mountains and doing big days, short, level hikes of less than three miles, can be just as rewarding.