Cracker Lake

We got up early to drive up to Many Glaciers to hike up to Cracker Lake. As the sun was rising, we had some fabulous views of the mountains on the east side of Glacier:

The trailhead to Cracker lake is near the Many Glaciers hotel. We hiked 11.6 miles with 1,400 ft of overall gain.

The trail goes through a forest, but there are many areas where nearby peaks can be seen.

This is an area that is frequented by bears.

The first 1.7 miles of the trail is shared with a horse concession, but they were done for the season when we were hiking. The trail goes around Cracker Flats, here we saw a large herd of elk. Wynn Mountain in the distance.

Looking across Cracker Flats toward Mount Henkel and Apikuni Mountain.

After traveling around to the south side of Cracker Flats, the trail begins climbing up the valley.

Lots of peaks along the sides of the valley.

Wynn Mountain

watching the sun rise above the peaks lining the valley

bridge crossing Canyon Creek

views as we continued up the valley

In the fresh snow, we followed bear prints for over 3+ miles. I was glad to see the prints heading down into the valley before the trail reached the lake.

There were 4-6 downed trees on the trail.

The trail continues to climb towards the end of the valley where Cracker Lake is located.
The snow got deeper as the trail got above 5,800 ft.

View looking back down the valley where we had been hiking.

Cracker Lake:

a small larch along the trail

We did switch to snowshoes coming back down the trail.

more views along the trail

there was some fall color

back at Cracker Flats

grouse

Views at Swiftcurrent Lake at Many Glacier

on the roads outside of the park, we saw some wild horses