Million Dollar View

This million dollar view was literally the climax of our trip to Montana!

After looking at the best things to do in Glacier National Park, I knew the Highline Trail was at the top of my list of things to do with our limited time at the park. From everything I read, it offered some of the best variety of terrains and views and a relatively flat 7.5 mile one way hike. Towards the end of the trail, I knew there would be a harder trail called the Garden Wall Trail that we could take for a view that would be worth the steep hike up.

I am not a seasoned hiker, but I envisioned completing this hike and was up for whatever challenge it would present. Jonathan and I set out on the trail about 10 am knowing that we would be on this trail most of the day. We had beautiful weather and the trail lived up to its expectations with ever changing terrain and beautiful meadows of wildflowers. We joked that the national park service had strategically planted special effects along the way to keep the hike interesting. At times we felt like we were participants in the Hunger Games with swarms of gnats, flies, cool waterfalls, rocks to climb over, mountain goats along the path, marmots playing hide and seek, rock slides, and warnings to carry bear spray… just in case.

We got to the optional Garden Wall trail in about 3 hours. Little did we know that 0.6 mile vertical hike would require multiple stops to rest along the way, but everyone coming down said the hike up was definitely worth it!

Once we finally reached the top we were able to view Grinnell Glacier sitting right below the backside of the mountain. I thought we were at the top until I saw a small outline of a person up on an even higher rock viewpoint. So, up I climbed to get the best possible view. I hauled my camera in my backpack all this way, so I wasn’t leaving without getting the best picture I could. After climbing up and joining the crowd of adventurous adults, much younger than myself, I snapped a few pictures and then saw the ominous dark clouds moving in over the East side of the mountain. I climbed back down and joined up with Jonathan and we agreed we better start heading back down the mountain before we got caught in the storm. That impending storm got us off that mountain A LOT faster than it took us to go up! When we made it to the bottom, we had to choose… hike back the 7 miles we came to get to our car and potentially walk through rain or continue on to the chalet we could see 0.8 up ahead where we could take shelter under cover.

The effects kept coming… we walked through big rain drops all the way to the chalet. It was a refreshing rain that got us wet without actually soaking us. That storm did settle in for about 30 minutes and we were undercover for most of it. The temperature dropped at least 20 degrees with the rain, and quickly warmed back up with the sun.

We decided to try the 4 mile Loop Trail that would take us back to a parking lot. We met a young couple along the trail that we were able to hitch hike a ride back to our car. By the time we made it back to our car, it was 7 pm. It was a great last day to our trip and an experience and million dollar view I’m sure we will tell our grandkids about one day.

Have you taken any memorable hikes that resulted in your own million dollar views?