Glacier Lake Trail – Mission Mountains Wilderness

The Glacier Lake Trail takes you into the Mission Mountains Wilderness in Montana. To get to the trailhead you drive 11 miles down a dirt road. The road is in good shape overall. I saw plenty of cars at the trailhead, so a high clearance vehicle isn’t necessary. When I got to the trailhead it was packed. I ended up parking a quarter mile up the road. I hiked the trail on a Saturday at the end of July. I have hiked this trail on weekends before and didn’t have a problem parking at the trailhead. It is peak huckleberry season and most of the people I saw hiking were also picking huckleberries. I would assume the huckleberries were contributing to how busy the trailhead was. If you want to pick huckleberries, they are along the trail. Be sure to bring a container to collect them in.

As you start the hike you are treated to a very gradual incline. This trail has a very mild elevation gain so it never really increases much. You cross a couple creeks along the trail, the first of which has a bridge. I was hiking with my dog Doc and he was able to cross the bridge without an issue. At the second creek crossing there isn’t a bridge. At the time I was hiking the trail in late July I was able to rock hop to cross the creek without getting my feet wet. Earlier in the season I would assume you would have to wade the creek.