Angel Wing

On Saturday, August 27, Patti, Gene, Mary, Lynda and I went to Glacier Park and hiked up to the top of Angel Wing.


Trail distance: 
   7.27 miles one way

 
Elevation:
   Minimum:  4,905 feet
   Maximum: 7,472 feet


Accumulated height:
   Uphill:    2,671 feet
   Downhill: 272 feet


Difficulty level:  Moderate



Angel Wing is located in the Many Glacier Valley.  To get to Angel Wing you follow the trail to Grinnell Glacier.  After reaching the glacier the route to the top of Angel Wing is off trail which is not difficult as it is mostly over rock.  Off trail, the top of Angel Wing is in sight at all times and a route to the top is obvious (with a little common sense).

Angel Wing is the mountain in the foreground just right of center. Mount Gould is the high mountain behind Angel Wing.  Our destination is the top of Angel Wing.  The water on the left is Lake Josephine.

Lake Josephine.  A boat dock is located at the light white area across the lake to the left of center.

Grinnell Lake below Angel Wing.  On the right side of the photo is Salamander Glacier.  Grinnell Glacier is hidden behind the right side of Angel Wing.

The trail went through some water.  I think the water flows almost all year round.  A few years ago I hiked this trail in November and this spot was ice.

Two views of Grinnell Lake.

This is the valley we hiked through.  The first lake is Grinnell Lake.  The next lake is Lake Josephine.  That far lake is Lake Sherburne.  Swiftcurrent Lake is hidden behind the mountain on the left.

As you can see, the backside of Angel Wing is not so difficult.  Pay attention to the waterfall in the lower right side.  This water comes from the glaciers and something we have to cross later.

Another view of the waterfall.

The water below Grinnell and Salamander glaciers.  The body of water against Grinnell Glacier is called Upper Grinnell Lake.  Salamander Glacier is the snow to the left of center.

More views of Angel Wing.  This first photo was taken near Upper Grinnell Lake.

Our route.

But first... stromatolites.

My photos of the stromatolites.

To get to the route shown in blue earlier, first we had to cross where the water left Upper Grinnell Lake.  This is seen on the middle right edge.

After we crossed the stream we watched a guy take a swim in the cold water.  He wasn't in the water long but he did swim from the rocks out to the ice then back - much longer than I thought anyone could stand to be in the water.

No, the ground doesn't meet up with the snow.   FYI - we later walked on the rock between the snow fields.  Below a few photos I included a photo of water seeping out of the rock.

We tried to avoid walking through water.  I checked out this snow bridge but decided it was too risky to cross.

This is someone else's photo. They crossed the water the previous year. I included the photo to show our route as I forgot to take a photo of our crossing. I was too concerned with how we were going to cross the water to remember to take a photo.

Looking back at the glaciers and Upper Grinnell Lake.

Seeping water.

The two red Xs mark where each photo of the next two photos were taken.  The following photo also marks the spot where the two photos after that were taken.

This photo was taken at the red X seen in the earlier photo.   The top of Angel Wing looks like a small hill.  While it seems like we are almost to the top, the ground is much steeper than it looks.  The background seen in the middle right is where we had started our hike.

The view from the top of Angel Wing.

The first lake is Lake Josephine.  The second lake is Swiftcurrent Lake.  The far lake is Lake Sherburne.

Grinnell and Salamander glaciers and Upper Grinnell Lake.

The blue line pretty much shows our route on the Grinnell Glacier Trail.  (It is not completely accurate due to my poor hand coordination.)

Grinnell Lake and Lake Josephine.

Grinnell Lake.

Left photo: all four lakes.

Right photo: The white spot on Lake Josephine is the cruise boat.  One can take the boat on Swiftcurrent Lake, walk the short couple tenths of a mile between the lakes, then take the second boat on Lake Josephine.  I did it once.  Never again.  The distance covered is not that much (a few miles of walking) and the price was expensive at around $14.

Time to leave. We have a long way back to Patti's car before dark. Everyone else left while I lingered to enjoy the views some more.

We saw this bighorn sheep and a herd of mountain goats on our hike down from the top.

Another view of the stream we had crossed earlier.  The snow bridge I had photographed earlier is seen in the middle right of the photo.

Patti, Gene and I went to the right (off the photo) and found another large snow bridge across the stream.  We carefully crossed there and did not have to take our shoes and socks off to cross the cold stream.

Swiftcurrent Lake.

Here is one of Jake's photos.  This shows Upper Grinnell Lake and Angel Wing from above.  Jake took this photo from the Grinnell overlook off of the Highline Trail.

Haystack Butte

Haystack Butte is the flat-topped mountain in the left side of the photo below.



It was only 4:30 pm after I had returned to the Logan Pass parking lot after my hike up to Mt Oberlin, so I decided to hike to and climb Haystack Butte.

This has been another one of my "must do" hikes, ever since my friend Darrel had hiked up here in 1997 after our backpacking trip.

Let's see... it is 4:30 pm now and the sun sets around 8 pm. 3.5 hours to do the hike. The distance... 3.5 miles one way? The Highline Trail is fairly level though I will have a climb up to the shoulder of Haystack Butte where I begin my climb in earnest.

Ya... I can do this hike before it gets dark.  Or at least...before it gets too dark.

There weren't many people on the trail, and those who were on the trail, were returning to Logan Pass. No one was going in the direction I was going. Am I crazy for doing this now?

Haystack Butte is farther than it looks. I walked and walked and I didn't seem to be getting much closer. And the sun was moving lower in the western sky.

I started to occasionally jog. My day pack was lighter as I had eaten much of my lunch on top of Mt. Oberlin. Suddenly I heard a noise on the trail ahead of me. It turned out to be a large bighorn sheep I had startled. It ran up the trail and as I followed it eventually moved off the trail and stood and watched me as I passed.

The Highline Trail was starting to get in shadow as I approached the east side of Haystack Butte and began the climb to the saddle. A half dozen bighorn sheep were grazing nearby. As I began the climb around the side of Haystack I saw two mountain goats above on one of the short rocky cliffy areas.

Look at the photos and you will see Haystack Butte has a long meadow on its SE side on its upper half. The lower half is a steep cliff. The east side is steeper but passable without too much trouble. The SW to North side are all steep tall cliffs.

The red Xs mark the route I took when climbing Haystack Butte. The second photo shows the profile of Haystack Butte from the side shortly before I left the Highline trail to climb it.

There is no trail to the top of Haystack Butte. I had to judge the best time to leave the Highline Trail to begin my ascent and the best way to go through the rocky field and small cliffy areas on the east side as I made my way to the SW side. A few times I had to move down to get around a cliffy area. Later when I was back on the Highline trail for my return to Logan Pass I saw how my route was closer than I thought to the steep cliffs below the route on the east/SE side.

It was cooler in the shade. I hurried along as the shade meant the sun was dropping lower and sunset was ever so closer. Fleeting thoughts of turning around raced through my mind. I did not want to get stuck out on the trail after dark. Why didn't I bring a flashlight?! But I was determined to reach the top as this was my last chance to do so until next year.

The SE meadow was much steeper than I imagined. The grass was thick, had wide blades and grew in clumps. It was harder to climb on the grass than on bare ground or rock. Whenever I spotted bare ground I made my way over there.

During my SE climb I was back in the sun. The problem was the angle I was at meant the sun was in my eyes. Sun = warm. Shade = cool. Sun = blinding. I wouldn't have minded shade during this climb as I was really working up a sweat. My route was straight up and I had to stop a number of times to rest and catch my breath. Why didn't I start my day's adventures an hour earlier? I could use that extra time right now.

The top is a long flat rocky ridge. I walked from the NE part where I could see the Highline Trail pass over Haystack's shoulder to the SW end where I could look down on McDonald Creek and valley. They were all in shadow now.

Further SW I could look back towards Flathead Valley. It looked to be filled with forest fire smoke. Coming to Glacier to climb the mountains today was a great decision. I noticed how the smoke was working its way up the McDonald Valley to the Loop on the Going-to-the-Sun road.

I looked back across the valley to Mt Oberlin where I had just been. Yes, it is high; and yes, it is steep with tall cliffs. Logan Pass, the Sun road below, and parts of the Highline Trail were in shadow. I could see the shadows move up the Garden Wall. Does a setting sun pick up speed as it sets?

I wanted to stay for a long time. Instead I ate much of the food I had left, and once that was gone, descended Haystack Butte. I was still in sun but that wouldn't last much longer.

Now... what had been my path in climbing the butte? I had a few false choices where I had to move sideways when I came upon one of the short cliffy areas.

The grass was also a pain going down. One can't dig their feet into the grass when descending.

On the east side I didn't go as close to Haystack's shoulder when returning to the Highline Trail. I worked my way down the steep slope to the bend where the Highline Trail first approached Haystack Butte.

I never had the sun on me once I left the SE meadow. The Highline Trail was in shadow. I could see the Garden Wall change color as the sun's light changed as it set.

The big clear blue sky provided a long twilight so I had light to see during my hike back to Logan Pass. By the time I crossed the cliff section of the Highline Trail the traffic on the Sun road was few and far between, and visible via the vehicle's headlights.

On my return I came upon the same bighorn sheep. This time he was busy muching on a small shrub.

It was dark and the stars starting to come out when I reached the Logan Pass parking lot. My car was only one of three vehicles in the lot. A far cry from when I arrived at 1 pm to a packed lot.


One vehicle was nearby. A husband and wife and their active kids. I asked if they had just returned from the Hidden Lake overlook and they told me they were from Conrad, MT. They had just arrived at the Pass and were waiting to watch the stars come out. Eventually they wandered off to the visitor center even though it was closed now.

The occupants of the other car had headlamps which they used to light up the mountain goats and sheep who came into the parking lot to find and licked the spilled pop and beverages. The man wore a nylon coat and pants (for warmth?) and he made the "swish swish" sound as he walked across the parking lot to the garbage can.

After getting my hiking shoes off I stopped to watch the mountains all around get darker and go into silhouette.  It was still and quiet except for the kids squealing and chattering at the visitor center across the far end of the parking lot.

I decided to leave before it got too late. It was now 8:50 pm. My hike lasted four hours.

It was completely dark now and in my car's headlights I saw the rock cliff rise on my front and right as I worked my way through the many curves.

I met only a couple cars, and after seven miles of downhill and curvy road driving, I reached the first stoplight for the road re-construction work.

The second stoplight seemed to be stuck on red. As I only had seen four vehicles total on my drive down, I started through the second road re-construction area before the light changed. At the other end I found several cars waiting on a red light. Oh!

It was a long drive out of the Park. The road is in McDonald Valley lined by tall mountains. There was no moon and the tall trees that lined the road make it even darker. I met only a couple vehicles, else I was alone in the dark world.

It is 60 miles from my front door to the top of Logan Pass. The curvy mountain road, the curvy road along McDonald Lake, and the 25 and 40 mph speed limits, meant I didn't get home until 10:10 pm.

Ah... but what a fantastic day! The Sun Road over Logan Pass is now closed for the year so this day has to last me until next year when I can re-climb these mountains.