Glacier National Park~ Logan Pass, Avalanche & Trail of the Cedars- July 11, 2012

Now I'm almost 2 weeks behind in my blog posting.  It's not easy living in the past and present simultaneously so I hope to get caught up soon-- which will mean a flurry of posts!

On Wednesday, July 11th we packed up our camp at St. Mary and re-established ourselves at the campground at Avalanche.  This means we got to go back over part of the Going to the Sun road.

We got an early enough start that we were actually able to park at Logan Pass and get out and walk around and take photos.  The first time we drove by the parking lot was full.

Andy at the Hidden Lake Trailhead

I had wanted to hike the Hidden Lake Trail, but this is what the trail head looked like.  Since we didn't have snowshoes or skis it looked a bit too much for us in our hiking boots, especially after Cobalt Lake.

We continued on to Avalanche.  We intended just to do the Trail of the Cedars loop so I unfortunately didn't bring my painting supplies.  We decided to also hike the Avalanche Lake Trail in addition to the Trail of the Cedars.  I am so glad because this hike was definitely worth it.  I was a bit put off at the beginning by how steep it was, but I was almost instantly rewarded by arriving at Avalanche Gorge.

Avalanche Gorge

The trail leveled off mostly after that and it was a very pleasant and shady hike.

Richard (and some others on the trail) claim to have seen a bear in the woods, but I didn't get to see it.

Avalanche Lake was so clear and beautiful.  It was a real gem.  It was hard to keep track of how many waterfalls could be seen from this vantage, but it was at least six.

Andy at Avalanche Lake

We asked someone to take a family photo.

Here is one of just the scenery.

It was so gorgeous no one wanted to leave.  We continued on to the Trail of the Cedars loop trail.  This is another very nice trail and is even wheel chair accessible.  I think it's great there are trails even disabled people can enjoy.  A lot of the trail had wooden boardwalks, and at the very end, we saw a deer.  Unfortunately the photos of her didn't turn out, as she pranced off too quickly.