I woke up with my 5am alarm and started packing. Jolly and Emma were up and packing too. After packing up our tents and their contents, we all relocated to the food prep area to make breakfast and pack up our food and scented items.
Jolly and Emma made a last minute toilet stop while I made a last minute stop by the lake to grab some water for later. I don’t know if they left ahead of me or behind me, but I did not see them again. I ended up hiking solo all the way back.
I didn’t stop at all until I was over the ridge. Windy Creek was the perfect little spot for a break. I finished my breakfast, filtered the lake water, and made an immunity drink to hike out with. Before I left, I met a man hiking alone up to Poia Lake with three packs of camping and survey equipment to survey the mountain goats and the loons.
Just before reaching the trailhead, I was passed by a horseback day trip group heading up to Poia Lake to not even spend the night. After crossing the road at the trailhead, I soon passed the corral where the guide company kept their horses. I didn’t even realize there was such a company operating out of Many Glacier.
After a brief stop at the falls flowing out of Swiftcurrent Lake, I went to the Many Glacier Hotel and climbed the back stairs directly into the restaurant. I ordered a breakfast burger, a hash brown, and a Dr. Pepper. I got an employee to lend me his phone that was connected to the wifi so I could text Mama I was there. She came and found me some thirty minutes later after I had received and eaten my food.
She had learned from a Facebook post that it is possible to get pictures at the actual border monument if the border patrol lets you. So we decided to drive up there again and try. And we got lucky. There was a border patrol officer in a truck who was nice enough to wait while we walked down to the border and took pictures.
On our way back to Many Glacier, we stopped at a café Mama had breakfast at after she dropped me off the day before. We were some of the last to be allowed in for lunch. We were there until they closed at 2pm.
Finally, we returned to Many Glacier to check in to the hotel and then immediately head down to the dock to take a boat ride across Swiftcurrent Lake, hike over a hill, and take another ride to the end of Josephine Lake and back, hike over the hill again, and ride back to the hotel. It all took about 1.5 hours in total, and we got plenty of pictures.
Since there was still plenty of daylight left in the day, we prepared for a hike and drove up to the Apikuni Falls trailhead. This was an arduous 1 mile hike uphill. There were lots of bugs. But there were some nice views along the way and the falls were huge and incredible.
We were pretty ready to sleep after that. For me, it was just that it was late for me. We ate snacks for dinner on the balcony after the sun set, watching fishermen in the lake at dusk. We surely had one of the best views in the hotel from our balcony.
Trail miles: 7
One reply on “Day 56: Many Glacier”
One of my favorite days!