Red Flag Day Doesn't Deter Gals as They Hike to Lake
Despite the awful heat of the last few weeks, the GiG saw a window of an 80-degree day to take a trip to the Lake McDonald area for a hike we had never done: Snyder Lakes. Eight from Great Falls were joined by two from Eureka, with Katrina being a newbie to the group.
Luckily, this hike is shaded most of the way for the 10 miles round trip. The lake sits in a beautiful cirque of rocky peaks with waterfalls spilling over the top. However, the lake doesn't have much for a shore, but we were able to find some rocks to enjoy our lunch while we watched the merganser ducks dive for their dinner. The trail is also overgrown in parts, so watching out for Devil's Club and nettles became a priority. We didn't go to upper Snyder lake as the bushwhacking would not have been pleasant and the bugs were pretty fierce.
We started the day at 5:30 a.m. and got off trail by 3:30 p.m., an hour ahead of schedule.
After the hike, we said goodbye to Madelon and Katrina as they headed back to Eureka; on our way out, we got stopped by a traffic jam. We suspected a bear or other animal on the trail, but after a half hour, we saw the culprit: the trail horses were on the loose with wranglers trying to round them up. After that delay, we continued our adventure by having dinner at the Summit, another first for the GiG. The views from this restaurant are fabulous and our food was too, although a bit on the pricey side. Dinner did take a while, so we didn't get out of there until 7:30, 2.5 hours after we arrived, which put us home at 10 p.m.
Who went: Cathy, Sue, Mary S, LInda, Catherine, Brenda, Bonnie, Katie, Madelon and Katrina
Luckily, this hike is shaded most of the way for the 10 miles round trip. The lake sits in a beautiful cirque of rocky peaks with waterfalls spilling over the top. However, the lake doesn't have much for a shore, but we were able to find some rocks to enjoy our lunch while we watched the merganser ducks dive for their dinner. The trail is also overgrown in parts, so watching out for Devil's Club and nettles became a priority. We didn't go to upper Snyder lake as the bushwhacking would not have been pleasant and the bugs were pretty fierce.
We started the day at 5:30 a.m. and got off trail by 3:30 p.m., an hour ahead of schedule.
After the hike, we said goodbye to Madelon and Katrina as they headed back to Eureka; on our way out, we got stopped by a traffic jam. We suspected a bear or other animal on the trail, but after a half hour, we saw the culprit: the trail horses were on the loose with wranglers trying to round them up. After that delay, we continued our adventure by having dinner at the Summit, another first for the GiG. The views from this restaurant are fabulous and our food was too, although a bit on the pricey side. Dinner did take a while, so we didn't get out of there until 7:30, 2.5 hours after we arrived, which put us home at 10 p.m.
Who went: Cathy, Sue, Mary S, LInda, Catherine, Brenda, Bonnie, Katie, Madelon and Katrina
RSS Feed