Red Eagle Lake 2016

On Sunday June 26, 2016 Patti, Lynda and I hiked to Red Eagle Lake in the east side of Glacier Park near St Mary Lake.

The roundtrip distance was 15.9 miles.   The elevation ranged from 4500 to 4850 ft.  So a relatively flat hike.  On the hike we crossed Red Eagle Creek twice over suspension bridges.

This is one of Patti's favorite hikes due to the wildflowers.  This year the wildflowers were there but so-so.

The weather was in the 70s and nice.  The sky was mostly clear but as the day wore on the clouds increased.  At the lake with a small breeze in the sun it felt nice; and then with a shadow from a cloud it felt cool.

Along the trail we met two Glacier Park trail crews working on the trail.   We met one other young couple backpacking out as they had hiked over Triple Divide Pass on their way to the Reynold Creek campsite west of St Mary Lake.   Other than a few people closer to the beginning of the trail, we had most of the trail and all of the lake to ourselves.

In 2006 this area burned in a major fire.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eOF-VzPWkM)  So, other than the many standing dead trees, the hike was mostly open and with views.

Because Weyerhaeuser bought the Plum Creek lumber company Patti will lose her job.  She has found another job in Wisconsin.  So this might be the last time Patti visits Red Eagle Lake, or at least probably for not for a long time.  When it came time to leave the lake Patti got emotional. 


Here are 18 photos from our hike: https://picasaweb.google.com/109566462412251958234/6307057059417718977?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOiHjpDT6YDkSA&feat=directlink


Here is a 50 second video of the lake: https://youtu.be/U-ncHWOT_n4

Lake McDonald

After looking at the web cam photo of Lake McDonald that Patti sent on Wednesday, Donna wanted to go to Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park on Thursday.  Since my shoulder is still healing I am not suppose to do much. This recent nice weather has been too much of a temptation to do work around the ranch.  A short drive and hike should keep me from using my arm and shoulder too much. So Thursday afternoon we drove to the Park.

No one was at the Park entrance to monitor admission; but Donna has a Golden Eagle park pass so we drove on in.

We first drove to look at the Camas Road.  It is still snow covered and closed.  We then drove to Apgar and looked at Lake McDonald.

Then we drove up to the Lake McDonald lodge area. Part way along the way we stopped and walked down to the lake to see the view.

Near the lodge the Going-to-the-Sun road was snow covered and closed at that point.

We got out the car and walked along the road until we could take the the North McDonald road that crosses McDonald creek before the creek enters the north end of Lake McDonald.

View of Lake McDonald from the bridge over McDonald Creek.

Ariel view of the previous photo.

There we looked at the scenery and several deer before walking back to the car.

The snow on the Sun Road was hard packed and easy to walk on. The snow looked only to be several inches deep.  In a couple spots the road was clear of snow.

The sun was bright and warm in the clear sky. The temperature, in the 40s F, was relatively warm.


I was able to use my new GPS unit.  I am still figuring out how it works but I got the following data from the device.

The distance we walked was 3.3 miles round trip.

Here is a chart of the elevation change.   The chart may look dramatic but the total gain/loss was not that much as the difference between the minimum and maximum elevation was only 74 ft.  I don't know why the chart is not a mirror image of each half of the trip.

Here are 37 photos from our hike: https://picasaweb.google.com/109566462412251958234/LakeMcDonaldFeb2016?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJTP8oXD8cXbdg&feat=directlink

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