Day 18, 4th Sepember 2011. Glacier National Park

Had the best nights sleep with all our new tent stuff, it was definitely worth buying it. It was also the first time I'd slept well and long enough to wake up before the alarm went off. Art made hard boiled eggs for breakfast this morning so that was a nice change.
We left at 9.20am, Art drove us back to the visitor center so we could catch the shuttle to the trailhead of the hike we wanted to do.

Gary ready for a day of hiking

Me, Gary, Volker, Donna, Shannon and Kirsty decided to do the Highline trail and the loop trail that started at Logans Pass. It was a long hike, nearly 12 miles, but it wasnt steep uphill so wold be a lot easier than Yosemite falls. It took about an hour to get to Logans Pass on the Glacier shuttle because it was going so slowly.

I was really happy with how easy the trail was, there was some uphill, but mostly downhill and flat so it was really pleasant to walk. Glacier National Park to me is definitely the most beautiful place in the world, I have so many photos and they are all amazing.

The path we walked on was quite thin and I did trip a few times, giving everyone a fright. It was so worth it though it was the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I loved this place.

Columbian ground squirrel, so cute!

Gary was so concerned that I was going to slip and hurt myself on the ice

The gang

Where the Highline trail meets the loop trail was the Granite Park Chalet. This was a nice place to stop and rest, eat our lunch and relax for a minute.

There were loads of crazy little cute chipmuks running about everywhere, I'm amazed I managed to get a photo because they hardly stood still for even 1 second.

Saw this detour sign just after we started the loop trail, looked dodgy so we didn't know wether to beleive it

The loop trail was a lot more steep downhill than the highline trail. It was also in a lot more of a foresty area so we had to make sure we made loads of noise by clapping and stuff so that we would warn off bears because there were a lot of bears in the area.

Because it was so steep the downhill walking was really hurting my bad knee, then I tripped over and twisted my ankle and it really hurt. Gary was totally unsympathetic and made me keep walking fast, and about 20 minutes later I tripped again and twisted the same ankle and also cut my knee! Thankfully Gary then let me stop for 5 minutes to rest my ankle and clean my knee up. The reason I was tripping is because Gary walks so fast and wont slow down so I wasn't concentrating on walking steadily because I was rushing to keep up with him. By the time I'd hurt myself we were luckily only 15 minutes from the end of the trail, so at least I was nearly there.

Gary and I reached the bottom about 15 minutes after the others because we had slowed down when I hurt myself. 



The entire hike had taken us about 5 hours, but we had a nightmare journey to get us back to camp. We had to take 1 bus back to Logans Pass which we waited ages for, then we had to get another bus to the visitor center which again we had to wait ages for. The whole journey took us 2 hours. Art picked us up from the visitor center at 7pm ad we went straight back to camp, we were so tired.

As soon as we got to camp, Gary's team who were on cooking, started making hot dogs. They were so nice, I ate 5. It ws the first time I'd felt full up in ages, I totally enjoyed that dinner.

Afterwards, I had a nice long shower and washed my hair, but on the way back to the tent I twisted the same ankle yet again, I was so fed up. I was waiting for Gary in the tent for ages while he was messing around in the swimming pool so I was not happy with him. He eventually came back to the tent and we made friendship bracelets (yes, Gary knows how to make them) and then went to sleep.

This was the best hike we did on the whole trip, it was so beautiful, definitely one of my favourite places in the world!