Worth the workout
After several miles of hiking through dense forest, hikers enjoy the mountain scenery as the Mount Brown trail ascends into subalpine country, full of expansive views. Karen Nichols photos/Daily Inter Lake
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK - Lots and lots of "up."
That's the best description of the trail to the Mount Brown Lookout in Glacier National Park.
The Mount Brown Lookout Trail has been called one of the steepest and most grueling in the park.
The reported mileage varies from five to 5.5 miles, depending on which Web site or hiking guide you read.
A Global Positioning System handheld device our hiking party used measured the trail at five miles. The GPS also recorded an elevation gain of 4,278 feet - from 3,230 at the Lake McDonald Lodge parking lot to 7,508 near the lookout.
The distance from the Sperry Chalet trailhead to the trail turnoff is 1.3 miles. From there the trail gets steep - climbing 3,235 feet in 3.7 miles.
One small reward is that the most difficult portion is near the bottom of Mount Brown. The trail flattens out toward the top.
The view of the lookout perched above is also an incentive for exhausted hikers on the final half mile of the trail.
Our group was hoping to witness the golden eagle migration we've read and heard about over the years. We'd read the best time to go is during the first two weeks of October.
So, with plenty of water, lunches, rain gear and warm clothes - and the handy GPS toy - we set out Sunday morning.
We saw two eagles. Or maybe we saw the same eagle twice.
Inspection of the lookout's visitor log showed others haven't been any luckier.
The annual International Birds of Flight hike was Saturday. According to an entry in the log book dated Oct. 7, those hikers were nearly shutout as well. They reported seeing just eagle.
So, the raptor portion of our journey was a bit of a bust.
But the view from the lookout was worth every painful step.
Lake McDonald is laid out below, with the lodge appearing about the size of a quarter. To the west are Mount Stanton (7,750 feet) and Mount Vaught (8,850) just a few miles away. The summits of Mount Brown (8,541) and Mount Edwards (9,055) are nearby to the east.
The lookout itself has a long history.
According to the National Historic Lookout Register, the Mount Brown lookout was built in 1929. It was last staffed in 1971, but was used for a week as an emergency lookout in 2001.
A total rehabilitation was completed in 1999.