Sperry Chalet – August 19th
I got online again in January of 2021 and was able to score a much-coveted room at Sperry for August 19th! Originally, I had requested a room with 3 beds – one for me, Terry and our son Charlie. Due to some health issues, Terry opted out of the strenuous 6.7-mile hike up to the Chalet.
The Sperry Chalet represented the final chapter in our quest to visit all of the “Great Lodges of the National Parks.” In 2017, the Sprague Fire destroyed the Swiss-style Chalet constructed in 1913 of stone and timber. At that time, it appeared we would be unable to achieve our Lodge goal. But due to a large contingency of generous people and with the help of the Glacier National Park Conservancy, the Chalet was rebuilt and opened for business in 2020.
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| Sperry Trailhead |
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| The Steeps! |
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| Registration and Dining Room |
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| Sperry Chalet |
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| Chalet built by the Great Northern Railway in 1913 To reach the Chalet, one must hike up a steep trail with an elevation gain of 3300 feet. There is another alternative – take a horse up the trail; however, you cannot drive to the Chalet as there are no roads to it! Only a well-maintained hiking/horse trail. There are three segments to this hike. The first mile and a half segment is steep with one excruciating gradient sporting a 28° incline! |
The second portion of the trail offers a gradual accent through a charred forest that fell victim to the Sprague Fire. This portion of the hike is relatively easy. Then you reach the “switchbacks!” The Switchbacks will test your hiking meddle as you make the final 2-mile ascent to the Chalet!
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| Trekking the Switchbacks |
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| Charred Forest from Sprague Fire - Aug 2017 Weather-wise, we couldn’t have asked for better conditions. The day we arrived in Glacier Aug 17 it rained steadily. The forecast was for more rain in the days to come. Yet on the nineteenth, the day of our trek up to the Chalet, we were treated to cool weather, overcast skies…and no rain. |
With the Chalet now in view, the last two miles of the trail climbs aggressively up the side of the mountain. Steep, but not nearly as precipitous as the first segment! The trek took Charlie and me four and a half hours – the average hiking time for people in decent shape. The first building we reached, Registration, Kitchen and Dining, was miraculously spared by the fire as were a couple of other support facilities. With Covid still in play, we were required to mask up prior to entering the building.
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| Chalet in sight - 2 miles more! |
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| Checking in at the Dining facility |
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| Room 18 - Sperry Chalet |
Of course the lack of cell service would cause Terry a bit of angst, as she wanted us to text or call her once we reached the Chalet. I was told that if I trekked up to Lincoln Pass, another mile up a steep incline, I “just might get a signal!” My attempt to reach the Pass was thwarted due to spent legs! The first 6.7-miles had taken its toll meaning Terry would be left wondering what had happened to us!
While attempting to give Terry a call, I did happen upon a Mountain Goat who was lounging peacefully by the pond adjacent to the Sperry Campground. Charlie meanwhile was resting his weary legs in our room.
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| View from Chalet - Lake McDonald in the distance |
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| Mountain Goat checking me out! |
We thought lunch was included in our stay only to find out we would be getting a bag full of sandwiches for tomorrow’s descent. While resting our legs in the Dining facility, a couple of women who were departing the Chalet offered up their sandwiches. Hungry as we were, we accepted their offer.
After one bite into the soggy sandwich, I noted that it was made two days prior! When Charlie noticed me spitting the contents, he opted out of even opening his offering. We would wait for dinner!
In the meantime, Charlie and I explored the immediate grounds. Earlier, Charlie had been walking around the grounds as I attempted to reach Lincoln Pass and somewhere along his wanderings, he lost his glasses! He retraced his steps and was fortunate to find his specs sitting on the rocky trail he’d explored earlier.
On our way up the mountain, we encountered a deer that was heading down the trail. She didn’t seem to mind our presence and casually veered off trail as we passed. The only other critters we encountered on the hike up to the Chalet were a number of squirrels and chipmunks.
However, we have run across several bears during our treks. In fact, during our 2013 Glacier visit with Charlie, we were treated to a “Bear Sighting” during our Grinnell Glacier hike. Nevertheless, better to be prepared than breakfast for the beast! Now, much to our chagrin/delight we did not come across any bears along the trail!
Much to Charlie’s delight, we did find a Mountain Goat peering into the window of our room. Later that afternoon, we spotted a small heard of 3 goats wandering about the grounds. The Goat sightings made the trip for Charlie! The hike tortured his legs!
We were assigned the first of two dinner seatings at 5:30pm and after our unpleasant experience with the soggy lunch sandwich, we wondered what dinner had to offer. Much to our delight, we were treated to turkey chili, a small green salad, prime rib, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, and carrot cake for dessert.
With tummies full and a light rain beginning to fall, we retreated to Room 18 to attempt sleep. Unfortunately, three women whose voices and laughter could be heard for miles occupied Room 20, which was located next to ours! Besides, it doesn’t get dark until around 9 pm, hence, sleep was out of the question!
Knowing Terry was most likely worried sick about our condition, having not been able to communicate with us all day, we decided to catch breakfast at 7 am and head downhill shortly thereafter. Breakfast was excellent! Two eggs, two pieces of crispy bacon and a slice of toast! Plenty enough to fuel our bodies for the descent! After a hearty breakfast, we began our hike down the mountain shrouded with early morning clouds.
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| Preparing for our trek back down the mountain |
When Terry and I hiked from rim-to-rim through the Grand Canyon, there is a sign at the top of the trailhead that reads something like this: “It takes twice as long to hike back up as it takes to descend into the canyon.” Two times more difficult going back up to the rim as descending down into it.
For our hike, we’d be hiking uphill first, then descending the following morning. It took Charlie and I about 4 ½ hours to hike up to the Chalet, so taking the Canyon notice into consideration, I believed it would take us about 2 hours 15 minutes to get down.
One thing we forgot to do with Terry before we started our journey up to the Chalet was to establish a time and place for our rendezvous! I thought I had mentioned to her that we should be down the mountain between 10 and 11 on the 20th. But I wasn’t so sure that we had established that timeline!
It did take us half the time to get down to the mountain and guess who was parked directly in front of the Trailhead? With tears of joy streaming down her face, we were happily reunited with mom and spouse!
August 17th – Arrival
Getting to Glacier isn’t easy, unless you want to spend a bunch of money flying directly into Kalispell. In 2019, when Terry and I last visited Glacier, we took a Southwest flight to Spokane, WA, rented a car and drove 4 plus hours to the park. Since we had a bunch of SWA credits, we chose to do the same. Save some money on airfare and spend it on food!
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| Belton Chalet |
We thought we’d have no problem making it to dinner as we were departing Spokane International Airport at around 2:30pm. The problem being, it was steadily raining AND there is a one-hour time difference between Spokane and Glacier! So it was actually 3:30 pm at the Belton when we left the airport giving us exactly 4 hours to make it on time for dinner! I drove a bit faster than usual considering the weather and we were able to make dinner just on time!
Dinner at the Belton is delightful! EJ Reynolds, the executive Chef was on duty when Terry and I dined there back in 2019 and he was back in 2021! Of all the Great Lodges Terry and I have visited, only two had truly gourmet dining – Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park and the restaurant at Belton Chalet. The Belton Dining Room offers innovative Montana cuisine and the Chef utilizes local organic ingredients! The wine selection is decent and the Taproom features Montanan craft beers. If you ever visit the West Glacier area, we highly recommend dining at the Belton!
August 18th
Since the Belton only offers dinner, this morning we walked a whooping 200 yards to the Glacier Highland Restaurant for breakfast. Although Chef Reynolds isn’t on staff here, the meals are very good. Especially the Huckleberry style French Toast!
After breakfast, we decided to reenact our epic 2013 hike up Avalanche Creek and on up to Avalanche Lake. Entering the park was a unique experience. Due to Covid’s creation of pent up demand for outdoor experiences, Glacier had to put into play new restrictions to the number of vehicles they would allow into the park each day to keep the park from becoming gridlock.
This meant that those wishing to enter the park needed to purchase a $2 Vehicle Entry Pass good for 7 days. The passes were available online at recreation.gov 60 days prior to arrival with a few more the day of. There are a limited number of passes issued, so some folks were going to be left out.
As we entered the road to the park, traffic was backed up all the way to the shops near Hwy 2 at West Glacier. In all the previous trips we’d made to Glacier via this route, we’d never experienced this sort of traffic. I suspected that the problem was many visitors were unaware of the new regulation requiring the Entry Pass! Sure enough, when the Entry Kiosks finally came into view, we witnessed many vehicles being turned away. Fortunately, we had our Pass!
Our plan to trek about Avalanche Creek was thwarted by a swarm of people vying for a limited number of parking spaces. Even with the new vehicle entry program that was designed to minimize overcrowding, there was nowhere to park!
Plan B. We would drive the Going-to-the-Sun road in search of another hiking opportunity. The Logan Pass parking lot was jammed, so hiking to Hidden Lake was out of the question. As we descended the eastern side of the Continental Divide, we found a lone parking spot near the St. Mary Falls Trailhead.
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| St. Mary Falls |
The trail is lined with a forest of charred trees that were scorched during the Reynolds Creek Fire of 2015. New growth is beginning to spruce up the trail, yet is sad to see how much fire has changed the landscape at this park.
St. Mary Falls consists of three separate tiers. The upper two are the most visible and photogenic. The third lies under the wooden footbridge that spans the St. Mary River.
Virginia Falls is located about another mile up the trail. It’s well worth the extra 392’ of elevation change, as many believe Virginia Falls to be more visually pleasing than St. Mary. We enjoyed both!
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| Virginia Falls |
At the summit of the Road sits the Logan Pass Visitor Center with what you might think would have ample parking. In 2019 and on this trip, there was a long line of cars awaiting someone to depart in order to secure a parking space. As both Charlie and Terry will attest, I am not the most patient of people and waiting in line for a parking space is not my forté! Hence we bypassed Logan Pass.
We did stop by the St. Mary Visitor Center only to discover that the only thing open was the Gift Shop. All displays and films were closed. The Rangers were queued up outside the facility to answer any questions visitors may have. We had dinner reservations at the Belton this evening at 5:30. It was 4 pm when we filled up with gas in St. Mary, which is a good 2 hours from the Belton. We would be late for dinner! Although we were seated along the solid wall facing the main dining area, our meal was once again sensational!
August 20th
Reunited with Terry upon the conclusion of our trek to the Sperry Chalet, Charlie and I were in desperate need of a shower! Back to the Belton for a shower and then back to the Glacier Highland Restaurant for lunch.
During lunch, we discussed going back to Avalanche to attempt to reenact our 2013 visit. While Charlie and I were hiking Sperry, Terry took one of the famous Red Bus Tours. During her tour, he Jammer - the driver who jams the stick shift into gear - had mentioned that the Avalanche Campground parking sign always says FULL. The Rangers never change the sign. Charlie, the designated driver replacing Mr. Impatient, easily found parking in the Campground!
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| Avalanche Creek Gorge from Footbridge |
The visual highlight for many is the view from the footbridge that spans Avalanche Creek. Here you get a spectacular view of the lower Avalanche Gorge and the dynamic carving effects glacial waters have on the terrain.
A short distance up from the footbridge along the Avalanche Lake Trail is the location of one of our favorite places on earth! The three of us visited this site in 2013 and again today! After posing for another classic photo, we headed to the Lake McDonald Lodge for a much needed beer!
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| Avalanche Creek - 2013 |
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| Avalanche Creek -2021 |
Prior to departing Lake McDonald Lodge, Terry saw a tee shirt that she wanted. The cashier noticed Terry was wearing her hat with our Trekking the National Parks logo on it along with her Trekking the National Parks long sleeve hiking shirt. The cashier asked her if she belonged to a Club. Terry responded that no, Trekking the National Parks isn’t a club, it's a game our family created. The cashier excitedly exclaimed, “I have that game! It’s terrific!” Standing behind Terry were two women and two kids. Both of the women squealed with delight and informed Terry that they too owned a copy of our game!
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| Totem Pole outside Lake McD Lodge |
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| Lake McDonald Lodge Much to her surprise and delight, Terry finds herself sandwiched between three women who are gleefully stating how much they love our game! Charlie and I were summons over to join the excitement and introduce ourselves. We were then asked to pose for pictures alongside the family of four! This random chance meeting in the Lake McDonald Gift Shop made Terry’s day! |
For more information about our game visit www.trektheparks.com.
