Upcoming Glacier NP trip

Hi everyone,


I am setting out for Glacier NP with 3 buddies to do some backpacking in about 2 weeks, August 3 - August 11. I posted several months ago for some recommendations on backpacking routes, Ray and Ed's suggestions were very helpful.


Our first route starts at the Cheif Mountain Trailhead, over Gable Pass, and then along the Belly River, through the Ptarmigan tunnel, ending at the Many Glacier permit office. This route is 2 nights. We then have a night (Wednesday) off before starting the second route.


The second route starts at the foot of Bowman Lake and goes up to Hole in the Wall and then back again. We had requested a route that continued over Boulder Pass to Kintla Lake from Hole in the Wall, but were unfortunately unable to get it. However, if the Kintla campsites open up when we check in for our backcountry permit, we may be able to continue over Boulder Pass after all. This route is 3 nights.


This is our first trip to Glacier; anyone have any further advice on these two routes, or hiking the park in general? How cold should we expect it to be the first week in August (we'll be between 4000 and 7000 feet)? How about some good day hikes for our off days? Good places to eat on our off nights? Good drinking spots for our off nights? Other general recommendations?


Thanks very much,

Lance

even on day hikes i take gloves, hat, poly coat, full gortex rainsuit, gortex boots, and use them all many times every summer. take tevas for stream crossings and around camp. also take a hat that keeps the sun off you and a bandana to wet to keep cool. a water purifier is better than carrying gallons. only a few ssprings are guaranteed giardia free. your routes will see mosseys so be prepared. camping at bowman and kintla is scary at times with the mosseys. bring a spare gallon of blood.

if you can its great to go from bowman over into waterton park and take the shuttle back around to west glacier and leave a car there. its a little work but might be the trip of your life.

great food at polebridge and great pastries at the store there but watch for hours they are open.

good burritos at spruce park cafe past hungry horse. best food in the world at the knead cafe in kalispell. in st. mary, only eat at the park cafe. its superb.

go to Walmart and get a couple of the bandana 'sausages' the look liked a half rolled up bandana and the part that is rolled up has some kind of dry polymer in it, so after 10 mins of soaking it swells up like a....well you will know. They hold water for hours.


Best $3 ever spent on the hot days.


A9s

what the hell are mosseys? And I hope you're kidding about the spare gallon of blood.

mosseys = mosquitoes, right?


If it's a nickname for Grizzlies, I might re-think the trip. Deet doesn't work as well on them.

but do consider taking along a can of counter assalt in case you run into a griz. its not unusal to see them and you want to from a distance, but some times you end up closer than comfortable.

I think the water purifier is dead weight. I've never had a problem drinking stream water and I've never used a filter or any sort of Iodine pill. Those items won't filter out or kill the Giardia anyways. I think its a better idea to pick your spots where you're going drink. Obviously not downstream from a campsite. look for fast moving water. In Glacier there are many streams that were snow just a few hours ago. those are probably the best.

I have to disagree.

I also used to drink untreated mountain water (mostly in Colorado) and I never got sick, but Giardia cysts are present in a lot of water sources that you would think would be perfectly safe. Giardia is carried by most animal species as well as by people, so any water source that could have had traces human or animal fecal material washed into it by runoff could be infected. Also, Glacier is heavily used, so lots of people are taking dumps in the area and some aren't very careful about where they do it.

Giardia is a strange bug. Some people can carry it with no ill effects. Some people get very sick from it. Filtration and boiling are actually the best way to get rid of Giardia. It's fairly resistant to chemical treatment, but iodine works better than chlorine. Personally, I can't stand the taste of iodine, so I don't use it, I use a filter.


If you do drink untreated water, springs and small tributary streams are less likely to be contaminated than main streams (Less area feeding them)