Trail distance: 11.2 roundtrip.I also hiked over where Bowman Creek leaves Bowman Lake and that added another .2 mile or so to my total.
Elevation gain: 2930 ft
Highest Point: 6960 ft
The Numa Ridge Lookout trail head is at the foot of Bowman Lake, which is in the NW part of Glacier Park. To reach Bowman Lake drive 34 miles on the North Fork road from Columbia Falls to Polebridge, then enter the Park there.
Once we entered the Park, in my pickup it took me almost 45 minutes to drive the 6+ miles to Bowman Lake. The road to Bowman Lake is a one lane barely gravel road with bumps and dips. I have driven this road in my car which is low to the ground and it took longer to do as I had to be careful I didn't scrape the bottom of my car.
We saw no one on our drive in to Bowman Lake. On our drive out the others cautioned me that we may meet another vehicle around one of the many twists and turns in the narrow road.
"The odds are against anyone driving in to the lake at 4:30 pm."
Wouldn't you know it we met another vehicle coming in to the lake this late in the day.
Must be a tourist. We slowly squeezed by one another on the road.As mentioned, I drove this time. That was because we had many miles of gravel road to drive on the North Fork road, which is very rough. I drove my pickup due to its high clearance, but it was a tight squeeze for the four of us. "Like sardines" as Arnie said. It helped that Sue Ann, Joyce and Arnie are all small and thin.
The North Fork road had been bladed a few weeks earlier and we were able to make good time driving it. A good part of the distance along the road had black dead trees from the 2002 and 2003 Moose and Roberts fires.
The Polebridge Mercantile was open but we did not stop. The entrance into Glacier Park had no one staffing it. Who would come to the Park this early in the morning this late in the season on a weekday?!
We arrived at Bowman Lake at 9 am. We were the only people there. No one was in the campground, not even the campground host who stopped us from using our boat on Bowman Lake this past July.
Numa Ridge Lookout is at the top of the darker part of the mountain in front of Numa Peak.
Notice how large mountains can be easily hidden. All one has to do is move a short distance down a trail and "voila!" another mountain.
It was chilly when we started our hike. In the 30s. The sun was still behind the eastern mountains. As we hiked we warmed up, especially after we turned off the Bowman Lake trail and onto the Numa Lookout trail. The first .7 mile was along the lake and relatively flat. The Numa Lookout trail immediately began to climb. It wasn't long until the sun made an appearance. And no, we did not see any bears.
After we reached the top of a ridge the trail was relatively level a short distance as it headed north towards the mountain with the lookout on it.
A southern route up the mountain with the lookout on it was a good thing as that meant no snow on the trail. I had called the Park office yesterday and was told that the previous week the trail was mostly snow free with a small amount of snow in a few spots. We didn't encounter any snow on the trail though we did see the last crystals in one spot where the snow was 99.9% melted. At the top we did see snow on the northern side of the mountain in shady areas.
The trail continued past the lookout and it appeared to go down, perhaps to Akokala Lake below. No maps show the trail going beyond the lookout, though it makes sense a trail would go between the lookout and the lake. This trail was snow covered with hard snow and the tracks in the snow appeared to be deer or elk tracks.
The lookout is staffed in the summer though it was boarded up now. Solar panels glistened in the sun on the southern side. The panels looked new and out of place on the old lookout.The lookout was two stories with the first story being the storage area and the top part the living quarters. The living quarters had windows all the way around the lookout for a 360 view. All the windows were boarded up.
I flipped the clips on one board and took it off temporarily to look inside the lookout. Inside were:
- a small single bed
- desk and chair
- cupboards
- propane stove
- a covered object in the center of the room, which most likely was an Osbourne Fire finder.
Like at the Loneman Lookout there was a small outhouse below and south of the lookout. Again one had a great view from the outhouse if they wished to keep the door open.
The views in every direction were great. To the north/NE Numa Peak rose blocking the view northwards. While no trail went to the top, it looked doable to climb to the top. Next time.
To the north were Reuter Peak with Kintla Peak in the background. Both had snow on their southern side our level and lower.
To the east was the massive Mt Carter with Rainbow Peak and Square Peak (the pointy peak - go figure) to the right of it.
To the left of Mt Carter is Thunderbird Mountain with Chapman Peak beyond it. When we hiked from Bowman Lake to Waterton Lake we passed over Brown Pass which is between Thunderbird Mountain and Chapman Peak.
While the following photo isn't stitched together very well, it does give you an idea of the view from the NW (Reuter Peak) to the east (Square Peak).
To our south stretched out Bowman Lake. According to the map we were only half way along the lake. In person it looked as if we were closer to the northern end of the lake.
Beyond Bowman Lake, and past the Cerulean Ridge, stretched the North Fork valley. To our west/SW lay more of the the large North Fork valley. Beyond lay the mountains of the Whitefish Range.
Beautiful views all around. While the sky was clear the day was surprisingly hazy. Unusual for the Fall. I must say that after hiking to Loneman Lookout a week earlier, this hike - while very good - didn't feel quite as nice. Perhaps too much of a good thing with the second hike being unfairly compared. Or perhaps it was not quite the adventure this time as we didn't have any cold streams to ford.
At the lookout the wind blew cold from the west. As we ate our lunch we sat on the east side of the lookout trying to both stay in the sun and out of the wind. Arnie shared some of the cookies his wife had made. They were very delicious!!
During the hike up to the lookout Arnie and Sue Ann hiked together as I stayed back with Joyce who is a slower hiker up mountains. During the hike down Joyce and Arnie took off. I lingered behind to take photos until the trees obstructed the views. Then I caught up to Sue Ann and hiked with her back to the pickup. One thing to say about hiking with Sue Ann, there is no fear of surprising a bear. She talks non-stop. My brain was numb by the time we got back to the trail head.
The others waited by the lake while I hiked the short distance to the bridge that went over Bowman Creek as it left Bowman Lake. There is a nice view of the lake from the bridge.
It was only 4:30 pm when we left. It felt early. I offered to drive the North Fork road the 22 miles to the Canadian border but Joyce and Arnie wanted to head back home.
We arrived in Columbia Falls at 5:15 pm. It wasn't even dark yet. That's a change!
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