On Tuesday July 26, 2011 my wife, John and Dianna Elford and I hiked Swift Current Pass to Granite Park Chalet.  We stayed at the Chalet and hiked out the loop in the morning.  One of the hikes in the Fantastic Four of Glacier is the Garden Wall hike.  The Garden Wall hike starts at the Logan Pass visitors centre (see picture) and is part of the famous Northern Highline Trail of Glacier National Park.  As of the date of our hike (and today being July 29, 2011) the Garden Wall hike is not opened. 

There is some confusion as to what and where the Garden Wall Hike is but I take it to start at the Logan Pass Visitors Centre and end at Granite Park Chalet.  Eric Molvar in his book “Hiking Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks” agrees.

 For the purposes of the Fantastic Four one must make it to the Chalet and then can take the Loop trail or Swiftcurrent Pass as the rest of the hike.  In my view the best combination and way to do this hike is to start at the Logan Pass Visitor’s Centre, go through Granite Park Chalet and come out Swiftcurrent Pass.  The problem with this is that it makes it a very long day hike but you have very little elevation gain and a lot of elevation loss coming down Swiftcurrent Pass.  This is spectacular scenery and a lot of variety.  We saw both a bear and a moose in the Many Glacier Valley on the day we hiked.  If you go out the Loop Trail you will cut over three miles from your hike.  The other problem with taking Swiftcurrent Pass is you have to have two cars to shuttle between Many Glacier and St. Mary’s (or take the Glacier Park in Shuttle from Many Glacier Motel).  For this reason most people will likely start at the Logan Pass Visitor Centre and take the Loop Trail out to the bus stop.  The Shuttle Buses run July and August so if you are hiking after Labour Day you might as well go out Swiftcurrent Pass.  The Shuttle Buses are amazing and I waited very little time for them at the bus exchange from West Glacier to East Glacier last Wednesday.  I think that our problem was that we hit the lunch hour and had to wait over an hour at the Logan Pass Information Centre to catch the St. Mary’s bus down to our car.

The hike took us about 4 ½ hours from the trail head of Swiftcurrent Pass to the Chalet.  We ate lunch and took our time.  I am sure the young and strong can do this trail in under 3 hours.  The loop the next day took us just under two hours.

We started our hike on a cold and rainy day.The weather got worse as the day went by.  The Swiftcurrent Pass was free of snow until ½ a mile from the summit at a place called devil’s elbow.  There was an ice bridge over the roaring little creek.  We crossed without incident but it is a little dangerous and a group coming out of the chalet decided not to risk it.  After Devil’s Elbow, the trail was predominately snow-covered to the Chalet. The trail is probably a week or two away from being snow free and one should be concerned about the ice bridge going at Devil's Elbow.  The Park Service is still recommending an ice axe(check).  We took our ice cleats, but John and I did not put them on until the after Devil’s Elbow.

The Chalet was great.  The manager Lars has been there for seven years and is a wealth of information.   Lars and his staff are great hosts and a welcome sight when the weather is bad.

As you can see the weather was better on the morning of the 27^th.

Keep Hiking, Lockey

 

Patience is not one of the virtues I possess, so I hate to be the one to say that the launch for Fantastic Four is going to be put off for a week, until Saturday, July 30th at Pearls. WPIR apologizes for any inconveniences. That said, there is another additional week for the snow to melt off some of the trails, which will mean safer and more enjoyable hikes for all!

It's finally summer in Waterton! It seems like I'm stating the obvious to say that, since it's July, but winter lasted well into May this year...Since moving to Waterton, one comes to realize that you really have to milk these beautiful sunny days for all they're worth and get outside. A lot of the hiking trails are finally open and getting the Parks seal of approval- no time like the present to enjoy a great hike. I know that this year I'm trying to fit in as many as possible and conquer as many trails as I can.

 I recently hiked with a friend to Goat Lake and while it was definitely not easy, with over an hour of climbing a steep incline, it was definitely worth it. (*SEE MY PICTURES BELOW OF OUR HIKE*) There was such a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains, many waterfalls and Goat Lake itself. My hiking buddy and I are both photo enthusiasts, so it was pretty exciting and we got very snap-happy (which possibly delayed things an additional hour...) There was a little bit of snow at the upper part of the trail, just before you reach the lake, which is why Parks isn't recommending the hike in their posted trail conditions. I think if you exercise extreme caution, you will be okay- a lot of the snow has melted over the last week or so, and it's pretty easy to go around. That said, this isn't really a hike for beginners, though the first hour along the Snowshoe Trail, up to Goat Lake's trailhead is very easy, as well as picturesque. It takes you through part of the subalpine region of Waterton.

 With impending trail conditions, the kickoff of the Triple Crown of Waterton and our newest hiking challenge, the Fantastic Four of Waterton have been pushed back until this weekend, on Saturday, July 23rd. As you can see in Lockey's recent post, Crypt Lake is do-able, but with exercised caution and going into things well-prepared. Parks still isn't recommending it, but if you're an experienced hiker, there are others like yourself out there on the trail right now.

 The Fantastic Four of Waterton-Glacier: the Peace Park Challenge, is a trek that takes you on 4 hikes: Waterton's 2 favourites, Crypt Lake and Alderson-Carthew, and Glacier's 2 most scenic hikes, the Garden Wall and Siyeh Pass. It's the first international challenge, half of which is done here in Waterton, and half of which is done in Montana's Glacier National Park. Together the 2 parks comprise the world's first international peace park. One of the really cool things, is that if you're like myself and you havn't done Triple Crown yet, you can count 2 of the hikes towards Fantastic Four, as well, 5 hikes in total (since A-C and Crypt are part of both.)When you trump all 4 hikes and get all 4 stamps on you Fantastic Four punch card, you get your name on the wall of fame in Pearls and the Experience Waterton website.

 Drop by Pearls Cafe this Saturday, the 23rd and check things out- it's totally free to sign up and receive your punch card. The launch party will be going on from 9 am until 5 pm. Even if you're not a hiker, drop by- it will be fun!

Happy hiking!

-Marie

There is a new forum on Experience Waterton
Check it out and come join us! www.experiencewaterton.com/forum
This is the place the discuss your Waterton adventures, talk about your favourite hikes, ask others about their visit to Waterton or just shoot the breeze about anything in general. 
Looking forward to meeting you there!
-Marie

Crypt Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, July 9, 2011 - One leg of the Triple Crown of Waterton (see experiencewaterton.com) is finished for me.  On Saturday, July 9 my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and his friend, niece and husband and one of my best friends John Elford and his wife Dianna and I went to Crypt Lake.  

Apparently there was an accident a couple of weeks ago when a lady slid down a snow drift and seriously hurt herself on the hike to Crypt Lake.  Parks Canada has not been recommending the hike as a result of the accident.  I talked to Keith at Shoreline Cruises, the operators of the boats on Waterton Lake, to see if people were making it through.  Keith told me that their customers were making it to Crypt Lake all week.

We wanted to do at least one of the legs of the Triple Crown, and both the Alderson-Carthew Trail and Akimina Ridge are still impassable for normal hiking.  John and his son Shawn did the Alderson-Carthew Trail with back country tour skis almost two weeks ago and John thinks another week may see that trail passable.

We left the boat dock at 9:15 and the fast group Sarrived at Crypt lake at 11:45 (2 1/2 hours).  It was a beautiful day but windy.  When it is windy in Waterton I like to be in the backcountry.  The snow slides across the trail were a concern but no problem for us.  At least five groups followed us through and no one had any problems.  John, Trevor and I actually slid down the snow slopes on the descent (see pictures) which was great fun but wet.  It took us 2 hours once we left the lake to get down.

There was no snow in the tunnel or on the cliff. There was lots of snow after the cliff to get to the lake (usually only a 2-3 minute walk) but not a danger.  It was the usual great scenery and amazing hike.  It is widely rumored that Parks Canada at one time rated Crypt Lake the best hike in Canada.

If you have not done the Crypt Lake hike and want to get a glimpse of why this is so spectacular, see the pictures in my gallery.

Our next hike is Oldman Lake in the Two Medicine/St Mary’s area of Glacier National Park.

Keep Hiking - Lockey