Because of the long drive ahead, we made an early start to the day.

September 6, 2011 – We hustled out in the morning to head back over Going to the Sun Road; although we enjoyed some great views of the sun’s first rays hitting the limestone peaks, our real destination was Iceberg Lake.  The trail had been opened at 2:15 yesterday, and we couldn’t let the opportunity to hike it pass us by.

There are ample wildflowers by Mini Iceberg Lake. (as we like to call it)

The hike itself wasn’t too bad, 9 miles round trip – of course, we were still feeling the 11 and 15 mile hikes from yesterday and the day before.   Nevertheless the trail had a fairly gentle grade, and some great views.  And a bear about 100 yards up the hillside, but he wasn’t too concerned with us!

Yes, the water in Iceberg Lake really is that blue.

Iceberg Lake itself still had a lot of icebergs in it, and the water was a brilliant turquoise.  An added bonus was a young bull moose we spotted a few dozen yards from the pit toilet.  He was happily eating some young grasses or maybe wildflowers.  Fortunately there were still plenty to look at!  On the way back we enjoyed some nice views of the valley.

We were surprised to see icebergs this late in the summer.

We both enjoyed emu burgers with onion rings/BBQ sauce/cheddar cheese for dinner, and then hit the road to get back to Lake MacDonald.  We tried a huckleberry pie smoothie (an actual piece of huckleberry pie blended with milk and frozen yogurt) from Eddie’s Restaurant, but were rather underwhelmed.  Great views from the balcony of the sunset on the mountains across the crystal clear lake more than made up for the ho-hum dessert!

The views on Swiftcurrent Lake are unbelievable.

September 5, 2011 – Birthday Monday dawned bright and clear – and warm, as it turns out.  We began the day with a nice breakfast – the same omelet as yesterday, plus a “Glacier omelet” with mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, black beans and cheddar cheese, along with some great Montana wheat toast and coffee.  Proper fortification is essential when beginning a two hour trail ride.  Unfortunately, our (or at least my) legs were not up to gracefully and properly getting onto a rather tall horse named Flop.  The poor thing seemed used to people tugging on his saddle inappropriately, as well as having problems out of the saddle after the ride.

The horses were ready… but were we?

Nevertheless, the Cracker Flats trail ride was a lot of fun.  We saw some elk from a distance, and had great views of the surrounding mountains.  Tony’s horse, Stone, happened to like to eat many of the plants along the trail; Tony was fairly successful in training his horse, and they had an (uneasy) truce by the end of the ride.

The view from the Grinnell Glacier trail is spectacular as well.

After the trail ride we drove back to Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge to refill our water bottles, paused to watch a bear eating berries on the distant hillside, and then drove back to Many Glacier Lodge to hike the Grinnell Glacier Trail.  Highlights of the trail included walking by the Josephine Lakes, having a bird’s-eye view of turquoise-colored Grinnell Lake, seeing one of the few remaining glaciers in the park, and watching three male big horned sheep grazing by the glacier.  On the way back we spotted some common mergansers and common goldeneye in Swiftcurrent Lake.  Both these birds were new sightings for us.

The Grinnell Glacier trail hugs the mountain shown here.

Dinner was a reprise of the buffalo bratwurst, and a hummus/veggie/feta sandwich; we also enjoyed another huckleberry cream soda and huckleberry-vanilla swirl ice cream.

Going to the Sun Road is a great sunset drive.

Tonight ,our lodging is at the Apgar Motor Lodge on the other side of the park; we drove through Going to the Sun Road at sunset, and may have seen Harlequin Ducks in MacDonald Creek.  We chased after them, but the poor light levels made identification difficult – hopefully we spot some more during the day!

Our breakfast view couldn’t be beat!

September 4, 2011 – The Iceberg Trail was originally going to be our warm up hike.  Bears had different ideas, since the trail and surrounding areas were closed due to a mama bear and her three cubs. We got a tip from the woman at the hotel hostess desk and decided to do a shuttle trip instead.  First, we wanted to grab some yummy breakfast at the nearby diner – buckwheat pancakes, ham/sausage/mushroom omelet, and fresh fruit, plus some great local coffee.  Most of the other people here are also early bird hikers, and the restaurant was crowded at 6:45am.  Fortunately we got seats, service was good, and we had plenty of time to catch the 7:30 shuttle over to St. Mary Visitor Center.

Our morning consisted of hiking the Highline Trail, and enjoying views like this along the way.

We waited for about 30 minutes, then hopped the free park shuttle to Logan Pass.  This shuttle normally stops running September 2, but the season was so short this year that they extended the hours.  This was fortunate for us, since it’s tough to do a shuttle if both of you are going hiking (rather than picking up the hikers).

This bighorn sheep did not mind us passing by on the trail.

To our surprise, the wildflowers were in full bloom at Logan Pass.

After admiring the scenery and the wildflowers at Logan Pass, we headed off on the Highline Trail.  The trail follows Going to the Sun road for awhile before branching off and meandering over some mountain saddles.  Along the way to Granite Park Chalet we spotted two male bighorn sheep, got some great views, and saw many wildflowers.  It was a great first half of the hike.  We finally reached the Chalet and had a picnic lunch while overlooking the nearby mountain peaks before continuing down Swiftcurrent Pass.

Swiftcurrent Pass offers great views of lakes and red rocks.

This side of the mountain range is completely different, more like Colorado or Idaho rather than the Tetons.  Wildlife highlights were four bull moose, including a 22 point bull!  Waterfalls, wildflowers, forest walks, and a mountain goat high on the hill completed the hike.

This moose thought that the trail was the best place to munch on some grub.

Dinner was at the diner again, this time coconut curry soup with chickpeas/carrots/celery/onion, BBQ emu burger with an onion ring and pepper jack cheese, and buffalo sausage with peppers and onions, plus huckleberry cream soda.  Dessert was huckleberry and vanilla soft serve, enjoyed outside as the sun began to set over the valley.