Glacier National Park - 2023 Hike

[AustinBR]

Just got back from a six-day hike up in Glacier National Park, Montana, and it was absolutely incredible! Starting pack weight was around 44 pounds, including 14 pounds of food. We climbed over a 7500 ft mountain that had knee deep snow at the top of it, and swam in lakes formed of melted snow at the very bottom.

Glacier has the highest population of Grizzly bears in North America and we saw prints and scat throughout the whole trip. On day four, we were walking past a site that was closed due to bear activity and we got growled/grunted at by a grizzly in the woods.

All in all it was an incredible experience that I recommend to anyone!

Day	Distance (miles)	Up (ft)	Down (ft)
Sun	6.44​	1831​	943​
Mon	12.48​	2598​	3486​
Tue	10.78​	1170​	1251​
Wed	16.28​	1977​	2007​
Thur	15.38​	3415​	2503​
Fri	6.44​	950​	1825​
Totals	67.8​	11,941​	12,015​

 

[AustinBR]

A few extra photos

 

[Grapeape]

Amazing views! Thanks for sharing the pictures, hope to make that trip one day.

 

[falshooter]

Was anyone carrying for bear encounters ?

 

[Cheesy Lasagna]

Beautiful. Thank you for posting this.

 

[AustinBR]

Was anyone carrying for bear encounters ?

I went on the trip with three guys and all four of us had bear spray on our chest straps at all times. There were no moments where I was more than 12 inches from my can.

As for firearms, no, we heavily considered it, but after much thought and discussion, we decided against it.

 

[AndyG]

Great pics!

 

[AustinBR]

Great pics!

Thanks dude!

 

[AustinBR]

@Labeeman - I totally meant to tag you - figured this would be up your alley!

 

[rdm227]

My wife was just there 2 days ago. From looking at your pictures and hers, it looks like a beautiful place.

 

[AustinBR]

My wife was just there 2 days ago. From looking at your pictures and hers, it looks like a beautiful place.

Was she hiking as well?

 

[MOTOR51]

Prettiest place I’ve ever been. The day I retire I told the wife we are heading back that way for my retirement gift to myself.

 

[rdm227]

Was she hiking as well?

My daughter just moved to Missoula and they were exploring sites around the area.

 

[Labeeman]

Wowza my man. That is serious back packing there. Never been, but plan to go. The pictures are stunning. How did you do with the cold weather. Did the gear you chose keep you warm? I’m still trying to dial in on stuff that can keep me warm at night. Thanks for thinking of me. It keeps me motivated.

 

[Labeeman]

Did you take those pictures with your phone or was that a dedicated camera? So unbelievably crisp and clean.

 

[cyclone1970]

Yes, you have created postcard material. Fantastic, thanks.

 

[AustinBR]

Wowza my man. That is serious back packing there. Never been, but plan to go. The pictures are stunning. How did you do with the cold weather. Did the gear you chose keep you warm? I’m still trying to dial in on stuff that can keep me warm at night. Thanks for thinking of me. It keeps me motivated.

We are trying to make this an annual September / October trip with the goal of outdoing the previous trip each year. Last year we did the Ozark Highland Trail - tbd on what next year holds!

We did excellent with the cold weather. My gear was 100% dialed in exactly where I wanted it to be. The coldest day was last Monday when we had to hike Red Gap Pass with about knee-deep snow for the top half mile on both sides. The rest of the trip had highs in the 50's during the day and lows above freezing at night. We only had one night with a low under 32. All nights we camped between 4500 and 5500 ft at lakes (Elizabeth Lake, Glenn Lake, Cosley Lake, Poia Lake), so the weather was consistent.

Warmth at night is really dependent on three things, in order of increasing importance: Clothes, Sleeping Bag/Quilt, Sleeping Pad. I slept in SmartWool top and bottom layers, with fluffy socks. On the cold night, I added on an Arcteryx full-zip fleece. My pad has an R-Value >6 and I use a really badass quilt with a zipper footbox that weights ~20oz. I will never, ever go back to sleeping in an actual sleeping bag with how great backpacking quilts are nowadays.

Here's a link to my quilt:

Revelation Sleeping Quilt

The original sleeping quilt. Easily configure from bag-mode to blanket-mode for a versatile sleep system.

enlightenedequipment.com

As for during the day, I recently got the new(ish) Arceryx Gamma pants which are both wind and water resistant...which work super well with snow. Add in a OR wind breaker and some OR gloves, and I was set for the snow day.

Did you take those pictures with your phone or was that a dedicated camera? So unbelievably crisp and clean.

I took them on my phone! All in we took around 600 photos on our phones and they came out super well!