PHOTOS: Pitamakan - Dawson Loop in Glacier National Park
A hiker ascends the Continental Divide Trail above Pitamakan Pass in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Panorama showing Mount Morgan, Red Mountain, Pitamakan Pass, Oldman Lake, Rising Wolf Mountain and Flinsch Peak from the Continental Divide Trail in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Graham Feil of Kalispell walks along the Continental Divide Trail toward Flinsch Peak in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A hiker ascends the switchbacks above Oldman Lake to Pitamakan Pass in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Paintbrush and silky lupine bloom along the trail to Pitamakan Pass in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
PItamakan Lake, Lake of the Seven Winds and a sliver of Morning Star Lake from Pitamakan Pass in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A hiker descends from Dawson Pass towards Two Medicine Lake with No Name Lake at right in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Panorama from Pitamakan Pass showing Flinsch Peak, Oldman Lake, Mount Morgan, McClintock Mountain, Lake of the Seven Winds and Pitamakan Lake in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A hiker walks along the Continental Divide Trail between Pitamakan Pass and Dawson Pass in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Hikers descend the Continental Divide Trail to Pitamakan Pass in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Oldman Lake is shown below Pitamakan Pass with Red Mountain on the left and Rising Wolf Mountain at right in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Panorama from the Continental Divide Trail showing Flinsch Peak, Mount Helen, Mount Phillips, Mount Pinchot, Tinkham Mountain, Razoredge Mountain, Triple Divide Peak and McClintock Mountain in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
A hiker descends from Dawson Pass towards Two Medicine Lake with No Name Lake at right in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Descending from Dawson Pass to Two Medicine Lake in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Along the north shore of Two Medicine Lake near the Two Medicine Campground in Glacier National Park on Sunday, July 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Beginning at the Two Medicine Campground, the 18-mile Pitamakan-Dawson Loop hike first skirts around the flank of Rising Wolf Mountain before following Dry Fork Creek up to an intersection for Oldman Lake. Wildflowers of every color and early beargrass blooms line the trail as it meanders through interspersed meadows, gaining elevation along the way to the cirque cradling Oldman Lake below Flinsch Peak and Mount Morgan.
Switchback up to Pitamakan Pass where turquoise-colored lakes Oldman, Pitamakan, Lake of the Seven Winds and Morning Star are fed by melting shelves of snow. A dizzying array of skyscraping summits rise up in every direction.
Ascend further to the shoulder of Mount Morgan where the next panorama of pointy peaks is unveiled. Follow the tightrope trail around Morgan and Flinsch Peak, descending from Dawson Pass at a knee-buckling pace. Down through Bighorn Basin and back into the brushy forest where you march on until you're back where the adventure started.
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