![]() Slightly before the lake wraps sharply to the southwest, scout the steep hillside to your right for passable drainages or meadows leading to the shoulder south of Bearhat Mountain. Ford Hidden Creek (cold, but shallow and slow-moving) and continue south along the well-worn but undesignated trail along the bank of the lake. From Logan Pass, follow the Hidden Lake Trail for 3 miles over Hidden Pass and down to Hidden Lake. The Floral Park route begins on a boardwalk. ![]() The route that appears here adapts Edwards’s description to provide greater detail and a number of additional pointers for avoiding common pitfalls, but his guide remains an indispensable companion for off-trail travel in Glacier National Park. Gordon Edwards’s A Climber’s Guide to Glacier National Park, which supplies the “Hidden Lake Route” from Logan Pass to Sperry Chalets. Backpacker Magazine published a sparse description of “Logan Pass to Sperry via Floral Park” in its April 2006 issue, but the authoritative source remains J. ![]() Strictly speaking, Floral Park is just one segment of a much longer trek that also passes through Logan Pass and Hidden Lake, the Sperry Glacier Basin, and the dense old-growth forest to the west of Sperry Chalet. Left-of-center is Mount Cannon, with Clements at the highpoint on the ridge to its right. It is highly unlikely that you will encounter other humans between Hidden Lake and Comeau Pass (except those high above in the woefully ubiquitous sight-seeing helicopters), so travel with sufficient emergency supplies and navigation skills.Īt the edge of the Sperry Glacier basin shortly before Comeau Pass. The net elevation loss from Logan Pass to Lake McDonald is approximately 3,500 ft, but prepare yourself for a yo-yo course that can only be summarized as up-down-up-down-up-down-up-up-down.įloral Park's splendid isolation can also be deadly. Begin early in the morning if you wish to finish without a headlamp, as the route covers about 20 miles of terrain, over half of which is off-trail. ![]() Hiking season in the area is not much longer than wildflower season: snow keeps the route virtually impassible until well into July, and winter can arrive as early as September. Indeed, Floral Park is no misnomer: when spring finally thaws the high reaches of the Lewis and Clark Range (mid-July or even August, depending on conditions), wildflowers flourish in the steep meadows alongside Mary Baker Lake. The Floral Park route, which links Logan Pass (6646 ft.) to Lake McDonald (3153 ft.) via the Sperry Glacier basin and Comeau Pass, delivers a veritable checklist of things to see while you are on this earth: glacial lakes and melt-ponds in mind-bending shades of blue and green snowfields and glacier stained red by snow algae and pockmarked by fallen ice and rock mountain goats blithely traversing sheer rock-faces and, of course, the stunningly defiant wildflowers that thrive in this seemingly so inhospitable alpine climate. ![]()
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