Hungry Horse Reservoir, Montana, United States
The top priority hike I planned for my trip to northwest
Montana was to climb Great Northern Peak, a prominent peak in the Flathead
Range between Hungry Horse Reservoir and the southern border of Glacier
National Park, essentially between Middle and South forks of the Flathead
River. One reason for making it a high priority
is that it’s a peak hike when not all that many of the hikes I do in Montana
involve getting to the top of a mountain, but also because it was described in
one of my hiking guidebooks as being possibly the best hike in Montana. Now that’s a rave!
After my first hike in Glacier to Firebrand Pass, I had
dinner in the evening at Izaak Walton Inn, a historic old hotel along the Great
Northern Railway just outside the southern boundary of the park. My waiter looked and sounded familiar, even
with his mask on. As we got to talking, Maxx
and I both recognized each other from last summer when he was a bellman at the
Many Glacier Hotel where I spent several evenings hanging out in the restaurant
and other common areas while in that part of the park.
Maxx was the authoritative figure there on
hikes and gave me some advice on good choices then. When I told him some of the hikes I had
planned for my time in the area this year, he said he was interested in
climbing it too and suggested his next day off in about a week.
The week gave me some time to condition myself on other
hikes in preparation for what would certainly be the hardest hike of the year
based on the description. The following morning I did the short easy hike from
the trailhead along U.S. 2 to Stanton Lake. The lake is surrounded by thick forest, but
its beauty comes partly from the backdrop of Great Northern Peak’s huge rocky and
glaciated bulk behind it. The usual
trailhead to the peak starts from the other side, but I felt some excitement in
the idea that I’d be up there on top of that mountain in a week.
After several good days of hiking that week, I decided to
take it easy the day before our planned ascent of Great Northern. I actually spent most of it sitting outside
drinking beer at a bar & grill restaurant in Hungry Horse.
Later in the take I drove to Hungry Horse dam
and reservoir, partly to get the view of Great Northern Peak from the other
direction and across the lake. Hungry
Horse Dam is one of the highest ones in the country at 564 feet and backs up
the South Fork of the Flathead River into a reservoir about 35 miles long. With roads on both sides of the lake, it’s
possible to do a 100-mile loop drive around it.
I wasn’t feeling that ambitious, though. I backtracked and
then took the East Side Road about 15 miles to the trailhead. Maxx suggested
meeting early for a 6:00 A.M. start because it was supposed to be a very warm
day. That was cool with me, but with
that early a start it made sense to me to car camp at the trailhead. I was the only one there on what turned out
to be a very quiet and beautiful night. Maxx arrived a few minutes after 6:00
with a young co-worker at the Izaak Walton named Gabo (nickname for Gabriel). Our start was a respectable one at 6:30 A.M.
The general description of the hike from the hiking
guidebooks is of a 4,500-foot elevation gain, almost 5,000 feet including ups
and downs along the ridge, over a round trip of 10 miles.
The first 2,300 feet of elevation gain are in
less that two miles on an extremely steep “social trail” through the forest, social
trail apparently meaning one that is obvious because of use but not officially
recognized or maintained by the forest service.
Official maintained trails tend to have more switchbacks for easier
ascents and descents. The trail then emerges into meadows near the ridgeline
and follows a long ridge while gaining elevation for approximately three miles
to the summit. Overall, this is similar
to many fourteeners I’ve done in Colorado but without as much oxygen
deprivation because of the lower altitude in northern Montana.
I have to admit the first two miles were a miserable slog,
especially since it was already warm for so early in the morning. I brought up the rear but thought I was doing
quite well for me, me being a slightly chubby 53-year old hiking with two much
younger guys. The rest of the way was stunning, though. Ridge walks may be my absolute favorite, and
this is one of the best I’ve done with Great Northern’s summit in view most of
the way and ever improving views of the peaks in Glacier National Park on one
side and Hungry Horse Reservoir and the Swan Range on the other.
At times I
felt a bit of vertigo, but for someone who claims a bit of fear of heights,
think I did pretty well overall. “Always
stay high” whenever there appeared to be multiple trails ahead was the advice I
had gotten from a man I met who had climbed it. As we got farther up there were numerous spots
requiring relatively easy scrambling – using your hands to climb. I quite like scrambling as long as I don’t
perceive real risk of falling.
We got to a point about 100 vertical feet below the summit,
though, where the scrambling became more serious. Maxx called it Class 4, which sounds serious,
but I’m not a climber, so I don’t know what different classes of rock climbing
difficulty mean. But I recognized it was
going to involve rounding a corner on rocks where I could fall some distance if
I slipped or lost a handhold. I decided to call it quits and wait just below
for the other two to summit and return.
I know my limits. I ate my lunch
and took pictures.
The return trip was, if anything, even more stunning. Maybe part of it is that I was going down and
enjoyed the views more because I wasn’t as winded.
The higher sun, though, made
the colors brighter than earlier in the morning, and the peaks to the northeast
in Glacier National Park were more distinct than earlier on. The heat of day became unpleasant, though,
something you wouldn’t expect on a mountain peak in northern Montana.
The last two miles through the forest straight down the
mountain were faster than the way up but almost as unpleasant. I slipped and
fell numerus times, and my knees felt like jelly by the time I got back to my
car. I found myself needing to ration water
too. The elevation gain and heat requiring somewhat more than the 5 liters of
liquid I took with me. A great treat awaited at the car, though. As well as plenty of water, there was still
unmelted ice in my cooler. Our arrival
back at the trailhead was around 4:30, making for a long 10-hour day on the
trail including stops.
We befriended a foursome of other young hikers on the trail,
three local women and the out-of-state brother of one of them. Just like in Colorado, what you do after a
long day in the outdoors is go to a brewery for burgers and beers, in this case
Backslope Brewery in Columbia Falls.
2025-05-22