Avalanche Lake

The hike to Avalanche Lake is one of the most popular hikes in Glacier National Park. The hike itself isn’t that difficult though there might be parts which can be rather steep, but overall the ascent has been quite gentle. It is considered to be a good starter hike when in the national park. The trail starts at the Trail of the Cedars and it continues on through the forest as it winds through the mountain. It is almost without warning that the trail would open up to what is called Avalanche Lake.

Avalanche Lake is so called because the discoverer heard the roar of avalanches in the area. I didn’t hear and avalanches when I was there nor would I want to. By the time I reached the lake I lost all the forest cover and it left me open in the rain. It was quite disappointing that one of the most photographed sights in Glacier National Park is now obscured by mist and rain. I was kind of hoping that the weather would clear up eventually but it wasn’t meant to be. What visitors would notice is now the lake is surrounded on three sides by tall mountains. The fourth side is where the water flows out. As you may imagine the water comes from the melt water from the glaciers above. These aren’t visible from the lake, I presume you would have to do some hard core climbing to get there. To give you an indication of what is there, you would see several tall waterfalls in the distance. All these water ends up in Avalanche Lake and presumably Lake McDonald.

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