My favorite trail so far in the park, and not just my favorite determined by what I think is the best trail in general. But rather, as an actual one time experience, has to be MG Entrance to Red Gap Pass to Ptarmigan Tunnel to MG. July of 1998... I started at the Many Glacier entrance station at 1pm with my friend Ty and another guy, who's name escapes me. Just at the top of that switch back free trail (steep!) we had a face to face with a sub adult flash of a bear....we'll say it was a griz
. He took off so fast it was comical.
After a small recovery of nerves we trudged past Poia Lake washing our faces in every spot we could. Finally at the top of Red Gap Pass we leaned something like 45 degrees into the wind laughing as rocks the size of flat marbles whizzed past our face. Then marveled at the huge wisps of water being swept up and dropped like rain back down onto Kennedy Lake.
I think its around 7pm now and we have something like 12 miles left. We dropped down from the pass, glad to be out of the wind and talking about how awesome Elizabeth Lake would be if we only had our sleeping bags. Then past the junction we start up yet another pass. We are in the shadows now and we are thinking that just pass Ptarmigan Tunnel is where we will encounter darkness. Perfect...lets walk through a valley with a lot of grizzlies, at night! So we are tired and silent about half way up to the tunnel when Ty says...."you hear that?" Ya hold on, let me tell my heart to be quiet. Sure enough there is this wooof wooof sound. I say, "I think thats a bear!" he spots it just below us. There are 2 adult grizzlies fighting back and forth over a horse carcass. It was the most mesmerizing thing I've ever witnessed and we must have stood there an hour just watching in silence, with an occasional giggle. A few days back a lady on her horse, which stumbled and fell over the cliffs, died. The bears where feeding on what remained of the horse.
Because of the fading light we moved on. It was just about pitch black as we entered the tunnel. Ty had a pen light on his key chain and I had a head lamp. Might as well flick a spent bic the whole way down. It was the loudest darkest trail I've ever hiked in Glacier. Hey Yogi and Hey Boo Boo the whole way down. We stumbled into Swiftcurrent at 1am and begged the security guard to drive us to the Hotel as our legs were spent. We made it just in time to get a Tombstone pizza and a pitcher of beer at the employee lounge. And to top it off a drunk mgh employee spilled a beer on me, yay. Then another ride to the entrance station from a security guard and a drive back to East Glacier at 3am though cattle country with open range in effect. Good times!
And that is why Red Gap Pass to Ptarmigan Tunnel is my favorite trail