Popular Highline Trail opens in Glacier Park
Two of the first visitors to hike Glacier National Park’s popular Highline Trail this year took in some unexpected scenery Wednesday morning when a grizzly sow and her cub materialized from the alpine fog blanketing the area.
Within hours of officially opening the popular trail for the season, park officials responded by temporarily closing the Highline and hazing the bears away from the area, only for the animals to head to another high-use area near Logan Pass.
“After she was hazed, she crossed over to the Hidden Lake Trail area, which is now closed from the visitor center to Hidden Lake,” park spokesman Margie Steigerwald said.
The bear closure at Hidden Lake remained in effect as of late Wednesday afternoon. Park rangers are monitoring the area and will keep it closed while they wait for the grizzlies to move on.
“That wasn’t where we wanted her to go, but that’s where she naturally went,” Steigerwald added.
Following the brief interruption, the Highline Trail is back open, but patches of snow remain along the path, with more snow in the forecast this weekend at Logan Pass.
The Highline is one of the park’s most popular and accessible hikes, but high-elevation snows usually leave a relatively short window for visitors to safely traverse the scenic route.
The trailhead lies just across Going-to-the-Sun Road from the Logan Pass Visitor Center parking lot. Unlike many of the park’s more arduous hikes, the Highline involves little elevation change as the cliff-side path hugs the Garden Wall along the Continental Divide.
Much of the trail skirts a steep vertical drop, but offers sweeping views of many prominent peaks rising in the west side of the park.
From Logan Pass, it’s 7.6 miles to Granite Park Chalet, from which hikers can follow a 4-mile trail back to Going-to-the-Sun Road at The Loop. The park’s shuttle system has stops at both locations along the road, allowing visitors to grab a ride back up to Logan Pass rather than retracing their footsteps up the trail.
The park typically recommends that hikers exercise extra caution while navigating the Highline Trail, since still-melting snow can produce slick conditions, mud and rock slides and there are deceptive snow cornices lingering along the edges of the path.
Steigerwald said hikers should always carry bear spray and remain aware of their surroundings when hiking in the park.
She added that vegetation along the trail is particularly sensitive to disturbance as it begins to emerge, and she asked visitors to be mindful of their footsteps as they walk along the Highline.
For more information on the park’s trail system along with detailed status reports, visit www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/hikingthetrails.htm.
Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.