Fred Mortensen

Fred Mortensen

Backpack the Continental Divide in Glacier NP

09/05/18

Just finished up this route, and man it was awesome. Due to permitting concerns, we flipped the route and started at Two Medicine and ended at St Marys. As well, we stayed at Morning Star Lake instead of Atlantic, which I think was a great decision. Atlantic is just in brush and not that scenic (just a low flowing creek nearby), whereas Morning Star is right at the base of the lake, and easy enough access to the glacier caves. (To get to the caves, walk the path from Morning Star to Red Eagle for about 5m, then right as you reach the tip of the lake (after the log bridge), turn left and walk alongside the edge of the lake until you can reach the caves. The rightmost cave is the biggest, but the one directly to the left of it is neater since its smaller and easier to walk all the way through. Another way to explain how to get to the caves is from Morning Star campground, walk counter-clockwise around the lake until you can reach the caves...there is no clear path) The passes were stunning, with plenty of opportunity to soak up the views. Once you arrive at the top of Triple Divide Pass, I also suggest taking the .6mi trip to Dawson Pass/Peak and check out those views as well. We managed to finish up our trip at around 2pm so had plenty of time to drive through the Sun Road and hike to Hidden Lake & visit the town of Browning. The walk from Red Eagle to St Marys wasn't too exciting, but had some fun bridge crossings and was a good way to start or end a trip. Thanks for the great suggestion!

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