Hidden Lake is possibly Glacier National Park’s most crowded hike, but for good reason: it’s an easy hike to one of the most photogenic lakes we’ve seen. But there’s also an opportunity down to the lake to try for some Yellowstone Cutthroats!
Hidden Lake is definitely not one of Glacier National Park’s hidden gems – in fact, the trail to the overlook is one of, if not the most popular hike in the park. At only 1.5 miles from the trailhead at Logan Pass Visitor Center (and mostly on a nice boardwalk), it’s an easy way to see beautiful, very photogenic lake. As always, the best way to escape the crowds is to hike just a little farther: in this case another 1.5 miles down to the lakeshore.
This usually goes without saying, but for this hike especially in the summer: Get to the parking lot as early as possible! We arrived just after 9 am and were unable to snag a spot. We drove up the road a bit and parked in a pullout. As we walked up the road we saw a ranger stopping traffic to let a herd of Bighorn Sheep cross the road. We hung out and watched them for a bit before starting our snowy hike.
Normally there isn’t quite this much snow in early July, but Glacier received 150% snowpack this past winter, so almost all of the boardwalk was covered with snow. The boardwalk winds through beautiful alpine tundra up to Hidden Lake Overlook. This is where most visitors stop. If you’re crunched for time, the view from the overlook is great; we actually didn’t snap a photo of the lake from here as there were too many people and we were distracted by this guy:
After giving Mr. Goat his space on the trail and letting him get on his way, we carefully made our way down to the lake over some somewhat sketchy snow patches. Another little goat distracted us along the way:
We actually think the better view of the lake is down the trail a little ways! From there you can see more of the towering waterfalls flowing into the lake, with Reynolds mountain and Bearhat mountain framing the lake.
After getting past the large snow patches, it was a quick jaunt down to the bottom, where we made our way through a little more snow to get to the lakeshore. After enjoying lunch with a view, we tossed in a line and were lucky enough to catch some beautiful Yellowstone cuttys!
