Exploring the Sperry Basin and Climbing Mount Edwards

A chance outing to Sperry Chalet led to two days of exploring the Sperry Basin in Glacier National Park. Along the way, we climbed Mount Edwards, found ptarmigans while admiring Sperry Glacier, climbed Lincoln Peak, and ran into some old acquaintances at the Sperry Chalet.

If your schedule has some flexibility while visiting Glacier National Park, keep an eye out on Sperry Chalet’s website. Last minute cancellations can be a gateway to exploring the Sperry Glacier Basin or breaking either the Floral Park Traverse or the hike over Gunsight Pass into more manageable chunks. While certainly not cheaper than backpacking, you can go lighter and have someone cooking delicious meals for you!

Kristen spied a couple of openings on their website website, emailed them, they replied, and we were in! Ambitious plans were made with the understanding that we could do all, some, or none of them, except getting up to the chalet. A couple of days later, we drove to Lake McDonald Lodge and hopped on the trail.

The slog up the Sperry Trail isn’t our favorite, but doing it in the morning is much preferred. Up through the mossy cedar and hemlock forest, then through the burn area with some views, including teasing views of the chalet way way up the drainage. Once at the chalet, we checked in, got the rundown and went to our room. We were pleased to have one that had its own balcony on the second level!

Feeling pretty good, we transitioned our backpacks into day packs with our lunches and headed towards Comeau Pass. The plan was to climb Mount Edwards if we felt good. So we passed the waterfalls as we traversed the towering basing. Mount Edwards beckoned us with its mangled, rock layers. Along the way, we spied American Pikas and after some more switchbacks up onto the shelf with the tarns we spied some Hoary Marmots.

We wandered through a land of mint-green ponds, chalky waterfalls, vibrant colors of red rocks and bright green moss. Summer comes later up here and the flowers were blooming. Mountain Goats were speckled throughout the basin and we had to step off the trail a couple of times to have them pass by.

The trail meandered up to the waterfall at the head of the drainage and we ascended the man-made staircase up to Comeau Pass. One of our favorite places in the park, the Sperry Glacier Basin below Sperry glacier is a moonscape of red rocks and tarns (small pools) of varying colors of greens and blues.

We had lunch at the side of the pool at the pass, then began ascending Mount Edwards. We stayed mostly true to the ridgeline as we picked our way up the mountain. This afforded the best views and was very manageable going up, although a few of the moves felt a little technical and had some exposure.

The higher we got up, the more of the basins on either side of Comeau Pass became visible. The views kept stretching further and further with so many of Glacier’s magical summits visible.

After gaining most of our elevation, we traversed the ridgeline to the summit and enjoyed panoramic views. Looking at the clock, we realized we needed to get moving so we’d be back at the chalet in time for dinner… another amazing perk!

The down climb was a bit different than climbing up. Instead of climbing the spine which would be some more technical moves with exposure (less fun going down), we opted to drop into the southeast bowl and skirt below the cliffs. That took a bit of picking around and we probably could have dropped down further, but it got us back along the ridgeline just above the pass where we followed it down to the pass.

Once on trail, we scuttled back to the chalet on time. While we waited for them to open doors, we realized that we coincidentally knew a variety of folks! They were completely unrelated to each other and we had met them all through various phases of Hike 734. It was a joy to catch up with all of them.

After dinner, we roped in our friend Brennan to climb Lincoln Peak to view the sunset. By this time we were really feeling it, but it was a short climb and the payoff was worth it. We watched the sun set and enjoyed the amazing views from this humble summit.

The forecast called for more pleasant weather the following day, but the mountains had something to say about that. Rain fell as we went in for breakfast. I (Jake) really wanted to see some White-tailed Ptarmigans, and we wanted to do a bit more hiking, but did we want to do it in the rain? After breakfast, we decided to start hiking and see how we felt. We could always turn around and the rain was just a light drizzle by this point.

Two benefits to hiking in inclement weather. The first is that you’re likely to see fewer people. The second is that the rocks and vegetation become so vibrant and this area really shown. Up we went as the clouds and fog played with the mountains. We wandered past a nanny Mountain Goat and her young-of-year kid. We worked our way up to Comeau Pass.

Being the insufferable bird nerd that I am, I told Kristen that maybe we can just wander around a bit to see if we can find a bird or two. We kept working our way out to the Sperry Glacier Overlook where I said, “Whelp, at least we tried!” Upon uttering those words, I think that I might have spooked one of them, as Kristen exclaimed, “There’s one right there!”

I was very giddy as we had five White-tailed Ptarmigans to wrap up the hike. We got just about everything we asked for! Turning around, we headed back to the chalet to pick up the gear we’d left and enjoyed some lunch in the shelter. From there we packed up and headed down, enjoying wild raspberries and huckleberries by the handfuls, eventually reaching our car with tired bodies.