Glacier’s Hidden Lake Trail Is Worth the Hike

I have a somewhat embarrassing confession: I visited both U.S. coasts, Canada, Mexico, and eight European and African countries on a handful of trips before I ever saw the Rocky Mountains. (Right?! I know.) The thing is, I live in Minnesota, and many of the national parks in the Rockies that I wanted to visit fell into an awkward gap for me: just beyond comfortable driving range, but no convenient airports. It took having older kids to force my hand, and one summer a few years ago, we loaded up a minivan and started driving toward the western horizon.

We stopped at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, where I purchased my National Parks Passport and got my first stamp, and the next morning, we were spellbound by an interpretive ranger describing the events of June 25, 1876, at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. We headed directly from Little Bighorn to Glacier National Park. After another grueling seven-hour marathon in the car, we entered the park from the east in the evening twilight, and I caught my first sight of the snowcapped Rocky Mountains bathed in a gentle, sunset alpenglow. It was breathtaking.

That first night, we stayed in a lodge room, and the next morning, we set up our pop-up camper at Fish Creek before heading out to explore the park. It was mid-July, and temperatures were pleasant, but it was spitting rain off and on, so we wore light waterproof jackets. I wore shorts and open shoes; my son wore sweatpants and Air Jordans. His wiser younger sister wore pants and hiking shoes.

After a stop in Apgar and a stroll along Lake McDonald, we decided to hit Going-to-the-Sun Road and see what all the fuss was about. The views were incredible as we ascended the shoulder of a mountain, and the wide, green valleys opened up below us. In the distance, snow melt created seasonal waterfalls that poured over cliffs. After much more stop-and-go traffic than I expected, we reached the Logan Pass Visitor Center, where we were greeted by a family of bighorn sheep that had commandeered a section of the parking area.

After watching the bighorns and poking around the visitor center for a while, noticed a boardwalk ascending a flower-specked Alpine meadow toward the rugged summit of Clements Mountain. According to a sign, the boardwalk trail led to Hidden Lake Overlook. From where we stood, the overlook appeared to be at the ridge line where the boardwalk leveled out—in other words, a quick and easy hike—so we decided to have a gander. Since I had no cell service, this would've been a good time to have downloaded an offline map from AllTrails+, but I hadn't done so.

The trail didn't level out at an overlook on the ridge line. Instead, it disappeared into a snow field and curved to the left around the Clements Mountain summit. We thought, How much farther could it really be? and pressed on. Although it was well packed by the many hikers who had preceded us, the trail through the snow was narrow and cut into a slope that plunged more than 300 feet into Reynolds Creek Valley below. The slide down could have been fun, but getting back up would have been a real problem. Compounding this, my feet, which were in open river shoes, were freezing, and the slushy snow had seeped through the vents in my son's shoes and dampened his socks. Nevertheless, we were in it now, and we were going to find this overlook.

The trail eventually left the snowy precipice and widened into a muddy track on the broad saddle between Clements and Reynolds Mountains. My tension gave way, mountain goats roamed the meadow above the trail, and after we rounded a curve, a panorama of an Alpine tarn swung into view. It was the type of Rocky Mountain scene I'd envisioned only in dreams and seen in National Geographic specials.

We would have lingered longer with the views and the goats (putting off the snowy traverse back), but clouds had started to build against the peaks, rain was spitting down, and distant thunder echoed through the mountains. So, we headed back around the mountain, across the snow field, and down to the visitor center. My son complained the whole time while my daughter, the only one of us who had dressed appropriately, hiked contentedly. I just tried to keep a game face, thinking about my warm, dry socks and shoes in the car. All told, it was 2.7 miles out and back with a healthy 550 feet or so of elevation gain... things I would have known had I looked at AllTrails first.

We stayed in Glacier for a few more days before moving on to Yellowstone, and were much better prepared for all our other hikes. I think some of the best hikes in Glacier National Park include:

• Avalanche Lake Trail and Trail of the Cedars, which leave from the same trailhead
• St. Mary and Virginia Falls Trail
• Grinnell Lake Trail (or the Swiftcurrent Nature Trail for a family-friendly version of the hike)

My son may have suffered a little trauma from our hike to Hidden Lake and still brings it up on a fairly regular basis. I've been back to Glacier, but for one reason or another, not on that trail. Funnily enough, though, it's the Glacier National Park hike that I think about the most. It was my first Rocky Mountain hike, and I learned a lot from it: Be prepared for any conditions; summer doesn't matter at elevation; and always download maps. I would love to hike to Hidden Lake again. I'd really like to do it with my son and get a little redemption, but I plan to do it again, regardless. I'm also over my short-lived pop-up phase and would either bring a tent or, more likely, book a nice, comfy Airbnb in the area. This beautiful cabin in the woods looks awfully pleasant.

Do you have a favorite hike in Glacier National Park? I'd love to hear your recommendations. For more incredible Montana destinations, check out Only In Your State’s itinerary planner.