July Hike in GNP

There is nothing like planning for a year, getting in shape and making it happen with friends. Second only to skiing, I love to hike.  My favorite place to hike is in Glacier National Park.  Long, long ago, I spent a couple of summers working in the dining room at Lake McDonald Lodge.  My fellow employees and I spent our free time outdoors soaking in the fresh mountain air.  Thus began a lifelong joy of looking forward to mountain time.  

This week’s hike was to Cobalt Lake in the Two Medicine area of the Park.  It begins with approximately three miles of relatively flat path in the morning shade along the west side of Two Medicine Lake, where there are several smaller lakes and marshy ponds, and we were lucky enough to spot a Bull Moose both ways on our hike.  The morning moose was further away and smaller than the afternoon critter.

After several miles, we began to climb to Rockwell Falls, which is beautiful. The upper falls were full of logs and debris from the torrential rains about a month ago.  There were a few other hikers along the path, but as we headed higher towards Cobalt Lake, we only saw 5.  Our reason to choose this hike was that Debra remembered the amazing Lewis Monkey Flowers that grow along the stream fed by Cobalt Lake.  After we passed the horse ford, we came upon the flowers!  We were actually a couple of weeks past the beargrass bloom, but the Monkey Flowers were everything we hoped for!

The afternoon heat made the trail home a bit of a slog, but we are grateful to be still able to get out there!