The next morning, we met Gabby and Loren at Brownie’s, got our sandwiches and headed to the park. It was cloudy, cool, windy and we couldn’t see much on the way in. We did have a wonderful conversation with them, however, and realized that yes, we did make the right choice giving them a ride.
With the “less than” weather, we skipped the Logan Pass parking lot. It was full anyway.
We dropped them off at the trailhead to Piegan Pass. That trail is 4.5 miles and has an elevation gain of 1,750 feet. The wind and clouds were picking up, so we did a few pull outs after that point, drove to the other end of the park and were a little disappointed at the weather. The winds picked up, which helped clear out the clouds, but made hiking more difficult.
Unfortunately, we drove too far west and couldn’t get back on to the road. Apparently the driving pass to Going to the Sun road kicks in INSIDE the park, not at the park entrance. No amount of pleading with the Ranger helped, so we had to loop back around the south end outside the park.
But it did allow us to visit Two Medicine on our way back. By this time, the clouds had cleared somewhat although the winds were still brisk.
On our hike to Running Eagle Falls, we met a couple from Texas, engaged in conversation and found out their favorite hike had been Hidden Lake Trail. That was on our list, but was at the Logan Pass parking lot, which fills up early. Maybe tomorrow…
By the end of the day, having made lemonade out of our lemons not being able to get back onto the road through the park, the winds had cleared out the clouds and it was shaping up to be a nice day tomorrow.
Returning to our cabin, we stopped by Brownie’s again for muffins the next morning so we could get there early for the Logan Pass parking. As we were leaving, we ran into Gabby and Loren who had hitched a ride back with someone after their hike. I asked how it was and Loren said “great!”. Gabby said “we almost DIED!”. She said there were times they hugged the mountain to keep from being blown off the trail. I think he’s a bit more adventurous than she is.
So we took our muffins back, plugged in Scarlett for the next day and settled in for the evening.
