I just got back from a three day backcountry hiking/camping trip in Glacier National Park. Here's an orange-style TR.
I flew into Montana and drove up to the Canadian border with my friend. We took a boat from Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta through the international peace park and back into America.
Boat:
View from the boat:
After a quick 3 mile hike we made it to our first campsite at Kootenai Lakes.
It was a long day so we just ate and hung up our food so the bears wouldn't come and then fell asleep pretty quickly.
The second day was a 9 mile hike with about 2500 feet of elevation gain up to Fifty Mountain.
Cool waterfall on the way:
The water in the streams all came direct from glaciers and snow fields on top of the mountains. It was
really cold and delicious.
Filtering the water:
The hike was pretty difficult. The trail was overgrown.
Stopping for lunch:
Finally the brush started to clear and we were close to the valley.
Views in the valley:
After another mile or two we made it to our second campsite.
My friend decided to go check out another trail that evening where he took this panoramic:
Later that night we met a group of four pretty cool people at our campsite who we ate dinner with and shared some whiskey.
That night was mildly terrifying as we kept hearing large animals outside. The deer came in right next to our tent to scavenge for any food we left at the food prep area. If any bears came we were armed with this stuff:
The next day we headed back the way we came. It was about 11 miles this time but considerably easier since it was mostly downhill, though still difficult since it works a lot of different muscles. We made good time and decided to jump back on the boat rather than staying at our third campsite because the third campsite was a three-sided shelter that didn't look very appealing. Instead we drove to a commercial KOA campground, which was like the opposite of backcountry camping as it had a pool, hot tub, bathrooms with showers, a bocce ball court and other random amenities.
Scenic drive on the way home the following day: