Another hiking trip! This time, in Alberta, Canada with a bunch of friends! We first wanted to come here just for the July 4th long weekend to go to Banff, but then we ended up extending the trip because a friend of mine has some relatives there we can stay with for free! We have a total of 5 full days to explore the area, and we decided to go to Montana (back to the US lol) for the first two days to visit the Glacier National Park.
The Glacier National Park is literally at the border of Canada and the US, and it was a 3 hours drive to Logan Pass visitor center in the park. We got up really early so that we could spend more time there. One amazing thing about summer in the north is that the sun doesn't set till 11 pm!! That gave us more time to hike!
First hike we did was right next to the visitor center, which led to the Hidden Lake Overlook. It was about 3 miles round trip, 540 ft elevation gain. It was a little hard to walk on the day we went because there was still snow on the ground in July!!!! We saw some mountain goats and wild flowers on the way, and at the end, we saw the lake, and it was still half frozen.
Next, we were driving on the "going-to-the-sun road", which is a 50-mile scenic drive from the St. Mary to Lake McDonald. We passed by the weeping wall, the bird woman fall, lake McDonald, and we stopped at different spots to contemplate the beauty of the earth.
At 5:30 pm, we decided to go on a hike near the Two Medicine lake to the Scenic Point, 8 miles round trip and 2300 ft elevation gain. It was quite strenuous. At first, you can see the two medicine lake from a higher point, and it was nice, but then the scenery did not change much. The rest of the hike was dry land, bald trees, was not very scenic. We almost did not go all the way, but I did not want to be a quitter! And if you don't go all the way, you will always wonder what's at the end. Guess what?! We saw Bighorn sheep at the end of the trail, and the scenery up top was amazing as well. It's like we are on top of the world! On the way down, I rolled my ankle, but luckily, I could still walk. When we were back in lower altitude, with denser trees, my friends said they heard tree branches breaking, and they were all freaked out! The glacier is a bear country, and there are black bears AND grizzly bears (more aggressive and bigger!). We tried to hike more quickly and got back to the car at about 10 pm, but the sun still hadn't set. This is the first time we hiked so late! Oh my, it was tiring, yet we felt very accomplished.