Otokomi Lake, Montana, United States
When I got into Glacier Park, I went to the visitor center
at Apgar for some info. It was
effectively closed except for a staffed information booth outside. “So what’s open?” Well, all but one campground is closed, as
are the lodges and visitor center interiors, and the park shuttles aren’t
running. The east entrances are all closed and Going-to-the-Sun Road is open
only as far as Rising Sun on the eastern side of Logan Pass. And I discovered two of the trails I had some
hope of doing – The Highline Trail and the Gunsight Pass Traverse were still effectively
closed to hikers at that time because of too much snow. Well, that really
limits things!
The hike I targeted for the next morning was to Lake
Otokomi, a 10-mile roundtrip hike that climbs about 2,150 feet to a lake and begins
at the Rising Sun store near Saint Mary Lake, the easternmost point on
Going-to-the-Sun Road that’s open this season. Being rather distant from the
only current way in, the ranger said I shouldn’t have trouble with parking, unlike
most spots along the road.
I thought I
got an early start, but at 7:30 A.M. there was already a long line of cars at
the entrance, and the parking lots at Lake McDonald Lodge and popular Avalanche
Creek were already full not much more than half an hour after that. Without the shuttle running, the road was
even busier than it was last year and available pullouts without cars stopped
at them few and far between. I decided
then I’d be sticking to the periphery of the park and areas outside it in the
days ahead.
The hike to Lake Otokomi was quite pleasant and the trail not
very busy for one that starts right along the main park road. The trail rises quite rapidly from Rising Sun
through an area of forest burnt by fire less than two decades ago. After rising high above the canyon of Rose
Creek, it flattens out somewhat and then follows the creek past numerous small
waterfalls most of the way to the lake, sometimes out in the open on scree fields.
I found the mountainous backdrop to the lake to
be stunning, but…….where’s the beach?
Lake Otokomi is surrounded almost entirely by forest that starts right
at the shore, and it’s actually hard to find a good spot for a lunch break and
pictures along the lake. That contrasts with some other lakes in the vicinity
in Glacier. The map suggests that last year I was just on the other side of the
mountain ridge at Cracker Lake, a short distance as the crow flies, a lake
surrounded by meadows and never-ending fantastic views.
2025-05-22