Gunsight Pass Backpack – 2025

The trip up and over Gunsight Pass, past Lake Ellen Wilson, and over to Sperry is an incredible trip through three drainages in Glacier National Park. We usually do it as one big day, but for this trip, we were doing some animal surveys in the park and slow walked it over three days for one incredible backpack.

Clouds clung to the surrounding mountains as we stepped out of the car at Jackson Glacier Overlook. We dropped down into the dense vegetation. Flowers were blooming, huckleberries were ripening, and the birds were singing. Above us, the clouds were breaking up revealing blue skies. All great signs for a good trip.

The sound of Reynolds Creek chattering below signaled that we were close to the end of our descent into the valley. Reynolds Creek comes into view as it cascades over red rocks and drops down as Deadwood Falls. We took a couple pictures, then crossed over the creek, one at a time, on the bouncy mat bridge and continued on through the spruce and fir forest. More flowers, more birds, butterflies, and berries before we spied the St. Mary River.

The songs of Yellow Warbers and Northern Waterthrushes came up from the willows lining the river. We strained to see any moose, but none showed themselves. Citadel Mountain created the perfect, dramatic backdrop across the river and views only increased when we reached Mirror Pond and gazed up towards Mt. Jackson and friends.

Clouds began to form as we crossed over the stream below Florence Falls and started climbing up the densely vegetated trail dominated by plants such as thimbleberries. Butterflies, bees, flies and other native pollinators dashed in all directions, from wildflower to wildflower.

After a bit of climbing, we entered into the Gunsight Lake basin with panoramic views, eventually getting to the lake itself. We wandered around the camp to find the perfect site, hung our food, and set up our tent. We brought our spotting scope, camera, and binoculars down to the water’s edge to do a Common Loon survey, the first of the trip.

The main reason we were out here was we were on assignment as citizen scientists for the park to survey two lakes for Common Loons as part of “Loon Days”, a concerted effort to survey all lakes in the park in order to find breeding loons and any chicks they may have. While lugging around our equipment in the backcountry, we also planned on doing two high country surveys which meant looking for Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep at various designated spots.

We weren’t expecting any loons to be found on Gunsight Lake as it traditionally hasn’t been a breeding lake. Four Barrow’s Goldeneyes were the closest thing to loons and provided some entertainment while we looked around the lake for an hour. During the survey, the clouds continued to build and a few thunderclaps were heard. We wrapped up the survey and donned our rain gear. Thankfully it was a quick squall and didn’t have to eat in the rain.

I had remembered that bugs tended to be pretty bad around Gunsight Lake and they were pretty annoying. We were mostly past mosquito season, but a few species of flies were very persistent in buzzing around our heads and I wasn’t all that disappointed to say goodby the next morning.

After filtering water from the mirror lake and having breakfast, we tore down camp on another lovely day. We crossed the outlet of the lake on the mat bridge and began the climb up through more dense vegetation. The flowers were changing as we were gaining elevation with larkspur, columbine, and others making an appearance.

Before we were to reach the pass, we were to do a Mountain Goat survey and I kept checking our our GPS as we climbed. The roar of dozens of waterfalls that feed into the lake is always such a delight for the senses. Climbing more, we gained better views of these waterfalls, the lakes, and surrounding mountains. The gnarled layers of Gunsight Mountain across the way with water falling across it is particularly fascinating and beautiful.

As we left the denser vegetation to the subalpine areas, we came across a couple of Mountain Goats foraging along the trail. We stepped off and let them pass (too close!!) and continued on our way. We crossed small streams, said hello to Hoary Marmots, and were in awe of the flower meadows quaking in the wind.

Arriving at our survey spot, we set up our scope and scanned the hillsides. In addition to the first two that we saw, we found one goat hanging out above the trail and another coming at us from Gunsight Pass. We finished up the survey, ate our lunch, packed our equipment and headed on up to the pass.

Once again, afternoon clouds were building. The sunlight bounced in and out. The snowfield that can be an issue in mid-July was no big deal for us and we made it to the pass without incident. One last look back at Gunsight Lake, then we turned our gaze to Lake Ellen Wilson and our next campsite.

The trail switchbacks down towards the lake. We kept looking up in the mountains for any animals and spied a few more goats as we dropped into the basin. We came to the lovely waterfall that crosses the trail and tried our best to stay dry, but did get a little wet as we scampered across the rocks. Once on the other side, I took out my binoculars and scanned the lake and found two Common Loons! We were so excited as we weren’t expecting to see any!

We got out our equipment and did a survey, all excited to actually record some. We didn’t see any chicks, nor any activity that suggested that they had any or a nest. After the hour was up, we continued on down. A yearling Mountain Goat was coming up the trail and we stepped off the trail to let it by. It eventually turned around and followed us down into camp, probably hoping that we’d stop and pee, giving it some much needed salt.

After a bit of wandering, we picked our campsite, hung our food, and took a chilly dip in the lake to rinse off. We noticed quite a few curious ungulates, both Mountain Goats and Mule Deer (more on that later). After changing into some new camp clothes, we made dinner and headed towards the tent. While sitting near the lake with binoculars, I spied a griz with a cub on the far side of the lake. I thought it was great, but my wife was less enthused. Also, with all of the waterfalls, this basin is great habitat for Black Swifts. I also know that they come down to their nests at dusk, so I stayed up and was able to see a couple of them flitting around before diving into bed.

All night long, the aforementioned ungulates kept sneaking over to our site. We could hear their hooves as they were seeing if we left out any salty snacks. At one point, a large Mule Deer buck stuck his head in our hanging packs and snatched Kristen’s jacket. I hopped out of the tent and chased it around until it gave up its quarry. I rinsed off the jacket (as one sleeve was slimy up to the armpit) and thought that it felt a bit thinner than the other sleeve. Turns out, the digestive juices had already started to delaminate the jacket and we were going to have to throw it away when we returned to civilization. Pro tip: Of course you should always put your food on the food pole, but you should either hang your pack, or store it in your tent, not only for protection from rodents, but also from bigger animals!

The next morning we awoke to an overcast sky. While the forecast for our trip seemed to be mostly sunny for the whole trip, this was not looking as promised. We ate breakfast and tore down camp. As we started leaving, we had a bit of misty rain falling on us. Since we were climbing out of the valley, we wore our rain jackets like ponchos (the only way Kristen actually could!). As we climbed further, passing some pikas along the way, the rain continued to get stronger. We passed a few more goats as we approached Lincoln Pass and by then, it was certifiably raining.

We dropped down to Sperry Chalet and drug our soaked selves into the dining room and ate lunch. We chatted with a friend for a bit as we warmed up and semi-dried off. We had planned on doing one more Mountain Goat survey, but with the clouds dropping, cutting out visibility and the rain just making it miserable, we decided not to do it and just turned our hiking shoes down toward Lake McDonald. Along the way, the sun started to shine again. We found ample raspberries and huckleberries to snack on as we ended our sweet trip over Gunsight Pass.