Lake McDonald area

I guess the premier hike in that area is the hike to the Sperry Chalet, with a side trip to Sperry Glacier.

So you can start the the hike just other side of the road across the Lake McDonald lodge area and the hike immediately starts going up a wooden area. That is the blue path below.

I think it takes like four miles of this uphill wooded area, pretty boring, but the rewards are further up. You can two choices, you can take a day hike to Sperry Glacier and go back or you can stay at the Sperry Chalet overnight.

I spent a night at the Sperry Chalet, so I decided to hike to Sperry Glacier on the first day. This guy was guarding the way towards the glacier.

The glacier has receded a lot (from the pics that I saw at the Sperry Chalet), but still it is large and the views are great:

To get to the last cairn, you have to cross 2 or 3 ice fields, which is pretty cool. I was following a group of four guys, so I used their path and their feet marks to make sure I didn't slip and make an ass of myself.

After spending the night at the Chalet, I got up early and decided to hike to the Gunsight Pass. That hike has incredible views of Lake Ellen Wilson to your right (there is a campground in there, it must be glorious to spend the night there).

You have to cross a small waterfall (which will get you wet, careful, it is slippery) and then you go up to the pass. Here is a story about the pass ............... I was the only person there at that time and I started going up the switchbacks towards the pass when I turned around to look at the lake when I heard a LOUD whistle; I turned around and saw nothing, so I continued going up. I then stopped and then the whistle again; at that point I thought someone was injured and all they could do is blow a whistle (maybe trapped somewhere and lost their voice). I kept looking around but didn't see anything. The weird part is that the whistling only occurred when I stopped ......... hmmmmmmm ............. yes, a fucking pika was yelling at me, that is what is was.

Then the view of the valley below is great ! There is a rest cabin that can be used as a refuge from the weather, but not as a camping site.

​Then you can turn around and look back at Lake Ellen Wilson -- >

You can reach Gunsight Pass also from the other side, a trail that starts that the GTTSR, which I plan to do (I did the part getting up to Gunsight Lake and did not go up to the pass).

I did the part up to Gunsight Lak and back, with a side trip to Florence Falls. YOU HAVE TO SEE THOSE FALLS !!!!!!!!!

This is the picture that inspired me to learn more about the camera, editing tools and composition. I took it JPEG, without manual settings, I can only imagine if I was careful about the settings.

UPDATE: If all goes well, I plan to hike from GTTR to the Gunsight Pass in 2019. If that happens, I will post more pics and details of the hike here.