Boundary trail in Spring 2009

On April 22, 2009 (a Wednesday) I hiked Glacier Park's Boundary Trail with Joyce and Sue Ann. The previous week they had been calling me almost every day about going on a hike. Since my harrow and burning work was done I relented and agreed to go on a hike with them. Can't be all work all the time. And since this day was to be the last nice day for a while that was another reason to enjoy the day.


We decided to hike the Boundary Trail since we felt, with a southerly exposure, the trail would be mostly free of snow as the trail went along the middle fork of the Flathead River. And there was hardly any snow - just some small patches of snow in some trees near the beginning.

We did encounter a half dozen or more small streams across the trail. Some were small and with a few quick steps and a hop we were across. Other streams we moved up and off the trail to find a narrower part to cross. As I have long legs I crossed first then helped Sue Ann and Joyce across. And for a few other streams I found some rocks and placed them on the trail so we had something to use to help us cross the stream.

The only people we saw were two women coming back in the early part of our hike.

The Flathead River was high and moving rapidly.  It was brown from the soil erosion.

The main train line is on the other side of the river with a number of tunnels. We saw some trains but less than usual.

This area is a wintering area for elk. We didn't see any elk but we saw evidence of them. We seen four large areas of the fur from elks that didn't survive the Winter, a few pairs of legs and hooves, and a large skeleton off the trail and down the hill towards the river.

Around five miles from the trail head there is a swinging bridge that crosses Lincoln Creek. The bridge had been taken down for the Winter and the bridge's wooden pieces were stacked a short distance away from the cables that hold the bridge. We sat down and ate our lunch here.

On our walk back to the trail head Sue Ann realized she had lost her $60 sunglasses. The morning had started out sunny but with the high clouds she had placed the sunglasses on her head/hat. Joyce and I waited while Sue Ann went back to look for them. She found the sunglasses three stream crossings back.

The ticks were out on this trail. Joyce had noticed a few ticks on Sue Ann earlier during the hike and as I sat on the trail waiting for Sue Ann I discovered two ticks on my arm. Later after I got home I stripped and checked for ticks. I found five more. Then a couple days later I found a tick crawling on my bedroom wall.

The best time to hike the Boundary Trail is in the Fall when the tamaracks are changing color and no ticks. For a description and photos of a hike at that time, click here for an earlier hike I did on the Boundary Trail.