Belly River Area Backpack

Glacier National park, Montana

With plenty of snow still in the high country most of the backcountry users are being funneled into the Belly River area of the park. After playing around in the other areas I went into the Belly River area as well, but I went up over Gable Pass and down to Slide Lake. Gable Pass was still locked in winter but the areas around it were snow free and beautiful. The first 6 miles of my route is also one of the two northern end points of the Continental Divide Trail. So I have hit the south trailhead for the PCT and the north trailhead of the CDT so far this year. The first snow I encountered going onto Gable Pass was a huge snow slope so out came the ice ax and down it I slid. It was a lot of fun…about a 200 foot glissade.

The view of Chief Mountain from the backside of what most people see was nice. Lots of glacial debre as I climbed in the area. I will have to come back and work on getting to the summit of the Chief but not as a solo trip.

I made it to Slide Lake for the night and camped out under the stars. When I woke in the morning this is what the sky looked like. One of the best sunrises I have seen. This was at 5 AM and a few moments later this great view was gone.

Back up and over Gable Pass again then out into the Belly River and on to Glens Lake. Long day but I made it to the wonderful waterfalls about a mile past Mokowanis Lake. Not listed as one of the premier falls in the park, I think it is in the top 3 when there is enough snowmelt. I also like that you have to work a bit harder to get to it and also do some extra research to see it on the map.

The next morning I hiked back out to the Chief Mountain Trailhead and moved to another area of the park to hike into for the next night. The adventure must continue.