July 25 - Glacier N.P. Avalanche Lake and Rafting on the Flathead River, Montana

In the morning we still felt a little tired from our High Line walk the previous day but had no aches or pains, so we planned another day of exploring different facets of the park. Right after breakfast we rode our bikes the 3 miles or so to the village of West Glacier and inquired about the rafting trips down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. It was a little pricey at $40 each, but we decided to go ahead with the afternoon half-day run that started at 2:30 and was supposed to get back around 5 p.m. We thought rafting down the cold river might be a welcome relief in the warmest part of the day, so we signed up for that session and biked back to camp for the interim.

One of our fellow hikers the previous day had recommended the walk to Avalanche Lake and we drove the truck up the side of Lake McDonald to the almost hidden parking lot on the way into the nearby campground that she had also mentioned. I was happy to know about that alternative because in fact the two small roadside lots on the Going to the Sun road were already chock full. One of the reasons the lots were full was that the Trail of the Cedars also started from that point. In fact, the first half-mile or so of our walk was through an old grove of really big, tall and graceful cedars. It definitely gave the feeling of being a cathedral in the woods and the trail in the shadow of those majestic trees was nice and cool.

The upper end of the cedar grove led to a waterfall or cascade that had carved a sharply curved chasm right down into the solid bedrock. The chasm was unusually serpentine, narrow and deep, and the water was just foaming like crazy as it jumped over each part of the cascade and tore around each of the corners. I always enjoy waterfalls and this was certainly an interesting little one. From the falls we continued a long uphill stretch for over two more miles to the lake, occasionally brushing on the course of the stream connecting the lake and the falls. The walk was all in the woods until we came out on the lake and that made it much cooler than it would have been in the glaring sun.

When we reached the lake we branched over to the shore and looked over a beautiful example of a small, glacier fed lake in an almost perfect bowl in the mountains. Avalanche Lake was comparable to the beautiful jewel-like Lake Louise in Canada, in my opinion. Lake Louise is more of an emerald color than the greenish blue of Avalanche Lake, but the surrounding mountains are prettier at Lake Avalanche, being forested much of the way up their slopes. We walked back to take the trail to the head of the lake and that was, I think, a mistake. The trail became narrow, overgrown with thimbleberry and other bushes, and very uneven and root entangled underfoot. If you take this walk, and I would highly recommend it, you should just come out on the lake at the bottom and then walk along the lakeshore to get the other views. We came back along the lakeshore and liked that route much better than the official trail, although there were still big round rocks that could turn your ankle if you weren't careful.

We had to hustle back to the truck to get to our appointment with a river raft, and in so doing I twisted my right ankle twice and Monika nearly fell head over heels. So although this was a great walk for scenery, you should wear boots with ankle support and watch your footing, especially around the lake but also at other points on the trail. However, since this trail is 100% in the woods except for the part at the lake, it would be a good walk to take on a hot summer day at Glacier Park. There are even bathrooms near the beginning of the walk and a pit toilet at the lake (but no water so bring some).

The drive back to West Glacier from Avalanche took almost exactly the half an hour I had expected, so we had about 40 minutes after we signed in at the rafting company to try to get some lunch. The only place available was the restaurant across the street located among a strip of tourist traps. I'm usually dubious about eating at "resort" places because they usually charge "resort" prices, but we really didn't have any other choice so we tried it. In this case we had the daily special of a grilled turkey sandwich with a pasta salad for $4.95 and liked it very much. It was a big sandwich and a good pasta salad at slightly above fast food prices, so I think the price was quite reasonable, and they even hustled our order so that we could eat and still make our 2:30 departure time.

After checking in and collecting our life vests and paddles, we all piled into an old school bus towing a trailer with the big rubber rafts on it about 8 miles up the river to a boat ramp where we all unloaded. Donning the life jackets we arranged ourselves in the boat. I volunteered to be the left side lead paddler and Monika sat right behind me so we had that side of the boat covered. Our guide cum Captain was Aleta, a pretty young athletic woman who had grown up in Kalispell nearby, so she could fill us in on some of the history of the river and the train tracks that went right alongside it.

We started off down the creek, trying to learn to paddle in a coordinated fashion when she yelled "forward". "back" or "drift", her command for stop paddling. We had about 15 minutes before the first rapid, which was just enough time to fashion us into an eager if none too skillful crew by the time we hit it. We had a total of 9 class I and II rapids during our 3 hours down the river, and we enjoyed it all immensely. We did, of course, get wet, really wet, but that's all part of the game and besides, it was a pretty hot sunny afternoon, so we didn't mind it at all. Two of the young girls on our boat tried to go in swimming for a second, but the water was only 45 degrees and they came right back out in something of a hurry! I enjoyed dragging my left foot in the water in the calm sections just to help cool off, and I splashed water back at Monika to help her cool off too, or at least that was the ostensive reason.

The trip was over all too soon and after beaching the raft we trooped back up to the shop to turn in our paddles and life jackets. We liked the photo of me and Monika fighting our way through a rapid, so we broke down and bought that for a memento and then drove back to camp for dinner. This was an exhilarating way to end our stay in Glacier Park, and really the mild rapids were pretty safe for beginners so I think a rafting trip would be a good bet for a fun afternoon if you are ever in Glacier and it's hot and sunny. The guide said the all day version of the trip was an extra 8 miles tacked on to the beginning of our journey, but that section had no rapids and was more of a leisurely float downstream. Those extra hours would probably be relaxing for some and boring for others, but we were glad we had chosen the half day, 9 rapids version of the trip.

Back at camp we dried off, had dinner, and worked on the computers a bit before heading over to the amphitheater for the 8 p.m. Ranger program. This program was a dramatic skit about the lives of the first forest rangers modeled on events from a ranger named Liebeck who emigrated from Germany and spent some time as a cowboy in the west before settling on the job of forest ranger around 1905. The man and woman were real forest rangers from the area to the south of Glacier National Park; she played the role of Liebeck's wife while the man played the role of his coworker, and they were both dressed in period costumes. As part of the skit they told tales about life in the Forest Service as it was back then, from the vagaries of pack mules to winter white outs to matching wits with a black bear intent on stealing food. They had also brought along some of the equipment used during that period including tree climbing spurs, a field telephone, a backpack, and an old compass. The backpack was two metal bars with wooden lathes stretched between them, and it made my back ache just to think about that contraption being slung from my shoulders. As soon as the program ended and we walked back to the trailer, we just kind of fell into bed and zonked out for the night.