Norway Connections: Hike to Ptarmigan Lake

Last Tuesday, July 24th, I got up early to meet Lynn on the other side of Glacier Park for a hike. She and her partner Bob were camping on the east side of the Park. I drove the famous, "Going-to-the-Sun Road" to get there, a narrow, winding roadway built in the 1930's that is only open for these few short summer months. As I approached the high pass that crosses over to the east side of the mountains, I was greeted by the official mascot of the Park:

Mountain Goat near Logan Pass

Mt. Reynolds at Logan Pass

As you can see, the drive itself is spectacular and breathtaking, and it was all I could do to not stop along the way! I met Lynn in the campground and we started off for Ptarmigan Lake. It was a windy, unsettled-weather kind of day, and started getting chilly as we got up higher above treeline. As we were climbing up the steep trail, we were working hard enough to stay fairly warm; people coming down the trail were all bundled up with hats, coats, and gloves, and looked at us like we were the crazy ones. "It's pretty cold up top!" they would exclaim. As soon as we stopped for a break, we too were pulling the warm clothes out of our packs. Fortunately, even though the wind was cold, the sun was shining most of the day and it never rained.

Ptarmigan Lake

the Ptarmigan Headwall above the lake; the trail continues up to this pass
and there is actually a tunnel blasted into the cliff face to go through, rather than over!

Of course, the wildflowers were spectacular up here, and even though the wind was not cooperating for our cameras, we managed to capture some of the floral beauty. Once again the beargrass was gorgeous!

We climbed up to this hillside above the lake.

Lost in a forest of beargrass!

Alpine garden of color

Forget-Me-Not

Alpine Bog Laurel

Indian Paintbrush was abundant...

...and came in many shades!

The next bunch of flowers came from the hike down the mountain where it wasn't so windy and things could grow in more shelter.

Monkeyflower

Pinesap--this is an interesting plant that grows on the forest floor, no chlorophyl,
it gets its nutrients from the roots of other plants growing around it. It is similar to Indian Pipe.

Yellow Columbine and Purple Chive

I stayed the night with Lynn and Bob and left the next morning to enjoy another drive across the Park. This time I could stop and photograph; it was a beautiful morning and the wind wasn't blowing--the lake was as calm as glass. I have to remember to soak up all this summer beauty and color to last us the nine months we can't get here! Tough job!