South of Glacier National Park

Tue 27th, Wed 28th, Thur 29th Sept. One final short hike in Glacier National Park on Tuesday before leaving. We did the Apgar Lookout, had a bit of view overlooking Lake McDonald but nothing really wow. Hike stats: 11.44 km, active time 2 hrs 13, elevation gain 580 m. We then drove SW on highway 2, to Hungary Horse going up to the side road to the Hungary Horse Dam. The visitor centre had just closed, so thought we would carry along the road and go up the east side of the reservor for a look. About 4 miles, found a campground, that was closed for the season but still usable, great place to stay. Next morning, Wednesday, stopped at the visitor centre to have a look, and read the display on the construction of the dam after the end of WW2. Then carried on to the town of Kalispell. We walked along the historic main street, stopping in on a few shops. The Western Outdoors shop, we have never seen such a large display of hats and boots (cowboy type stuff), and the bottom floor was an Aladdin's cave of antiques etc, easy to spend hours searching through the treasures. Another shop was a hiking / outdoors equipment, where a pair of Scarpa Tramping boots caught my eye, reduced by $100 because they were being sold on behalf of a ranger who brought them wore them a couple of times and decided they were too small. They seem to be a good fit for me, however I am so hesitant buying boots I couldn't decide - do I want a big stiff pair of boots? I know the shoes I have been wearing, even after only 2 months are getting quite worn, and I don't think they will last the 6 months in South America, and it will be more than day trips down there. So we went back to the shop for another try on. I think what convinced me was the really nice sales assistant and I presume the shop owner - they weren't pushy but helpful when needed and didn't mind me taking my time. So I got them. In the mean time we asked them of hikes in the area. They suggest going up to the Jewel Basin hiking area in the Swan mountain range. They did warn us about the road - it was about 5 miles of narrow, windy, rough, corrugated gravel climb. It was after 8 pm when we got to the parking lot at the top, after unclenching my fingers from the door, we settled in for the night. Thursday morning arrived with rain coming down, so we were no hurry to get up. By 10am it looked like it was clearing - it was blue sky and sunny and warm enough to set out in shorts and singlet, so we decided on a loop to do and got going. 2 kms in, we were just starting to get views out towards Flathead Lake, and I commented what a nice day it was turning out to be, honestly within 5 minutes fog came up from the valley and a few minutes later we couldn't even see the mountain tops in front of us, it was so fast. We decided to carry on, hoping it might lift. The signage for the tracks was not great, so we missed the track for the Twin Lakes, and about 1 km passed decided to backtrack to them. It was down the bottom at the lakes, the rain started, so after getting rain gear on decided to carry on just doing the small loop back to the van. The rain came harded - we sheltered under trees for the worst of it, the track quickly became a stream, and the temperature dropped, then there was thunder, so it was just heads down and walk as quickly as we could. It was good to get back to the van - and the aptly named Camp Misery carpark, the thermometer was reading 7.6°C, so after warm dry clothes and a hot chocolate it is a quiet afternoon. Hike Stats: 12.25 km, active time 2 hrs 45, elevation gain 535m, highest altitude 2076 m. Let's hope tomorrow's weather will allow us to get out and explore more.Read more