Glacier National Park is known for its rugged mountain peaks, alpine meadows, pristine forests, and beautiful lakes. The park is well known for glaciers and wildlife including Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Mountain Goats, Bighorn Sheep, Moose, Mountain Lions, and Lynx.
Hiking is simply amazing. The Highline Trail is a popular trail and traverses the western side of the Continental Divide along alpine meadows from Logan Pass to Haystack Pass, and is one of the trails to the Granite Park Chalet.
A short distance from the start of the Highline Trail at Logan Pass is the famous ledge called the Garden Wall, which is only 6 to 8 feet wide with a precipitous drop on one side. There is a hand cable installed along this stretch of the trail to assist those with a fear of heights.
The trail continues on through high alpine meadows full of blooming flowers. The Bear-grass (Xerophyllum Tenax) has long stalks with the puffy white flower on top which can make you feel like you are walking through a fantasy land of fictional flora.
Granite Park Chalet is 7.6 miles in on the Highline trail, 4.2 miles on the Loop Trail or 7.6 miles on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail which would be the most difficult with 2,200 foot in elevation gain. The Highline trail is the most popular route to get to the chalet. Make sure to book as soon as the booking window opens as all dates can fill in less than a minute. The website crashed when we tried booking and we had to keep trying to submit the form over and over for almost an hour until it went through. The persistence paid off as we got the timeslot we requested.
We stayed for three nights which worked out good because one of the days was a complete wash out with heavy rain. The day trips from the Granite Park Chalet include:
Grinnell Glacier Overlook The trailhead is approximately seven-tenths of a mile from Granite Park Chalet off the Highline Trail. You could also make this side trip on your way into the chalet if you are feeling ambitious and are taking the Highline Trail in. The trail off of the Highline trail is only nine-tenths of a mile but is fairly steep and we saw many people winded as they made their way up. The views from the overlook are worth it though. There are amazing views of the Grinnell Glacier, Salamander Glacier, Upper Grinnell Lake, Allen Mountain, Angel Wing, and Mt. Gould. The glacier in the foreground in the photo below is known as The Salamander.
Swiftcurrent Mountain and Fire Lookout is less than a half days hike from the Granite Park Chalet, You could hike to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook and to the top of Swiftcurrent Mountain in one day. I hiked the Grinnell Glacier Overlook in the morning, returned to the Chalet for lunch and then did the hike to the Swiftcurrent Fire Lookout after lunch.
I was treated to the view of 3 Bighorn Sheep on the way down from the top of Swiftcurrent Mountain.
That was not the only animal sightings on the hike, within a tenth of a mile of Granite Park Chalet there was a mother Grizzly Bear with her two adolescent cubs.
We took the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail out the next day after 3 wonderful nights at the Granite Park Chalet. You will reach the top of the Pass in just under a mile which is above the hanging valley with spectacular waterfalls. You can take a short herd path off to the right to get a sneak peek of this hanging valley. Then after a short distance back on the main trail, the trail becomes more narrow with steep drop-offs to one side. There are spots where there is rockfall or scree that has come down the steep cliffs and covered portions of the trail, It makes it a little bit more precarious as it slopes the trail towards the drop-offs.
