Glacier National Park: To the Canadian Border
Leaving East Glacier was difficult for two reasons:
- I was comfortable.
- I was having difficulty with my Garmin, and it took me over an hour to get the tracking to turn on.
A Tourist Destination
When we finally left, it was almost the afternoon. It was hot and we had a big climb with nice views. At first I didn’t understand how this was Glacier National Park: it looked almost the same! Then when we climbed up a little higher, it all made sense.
There were lots of tourists coming up to this peak from the other side who were hiking out and back. We spoke to a few of them on the way over. I also saw Bighorn Sheep on our way to Two Medicine! Tonight we stayed at the Two Medicine campground. There wasn’t much in the store there, but we did find some hummus snacks.
To Red Eagle Lake
The next day, we planned a 25 mile hike to get to Red Eagle Lake Campground. This took us over two passes, and covered half of the remaining elevation on the CDT. At the top of the second pass, I got a “Welcome to Canada” text message! We celebrated before heading down the other side of the mountain.
Tent Zipper Problems
Tonight it rained, but we were able to get warm in the tent. I thought that my tent was doing very well this entire trip. Unfortunately in the last week I have been having some zipper problems. For this trip, I bought a new 2024 Durston X-Mid Pro 2 Person tent with a dyneema floor. I reached out to Durston, and they are willing to replace the zipper sliders, but their email back to me gave off the tone that:
- The zipper should last the life of the tent.
- The problems are likely my fault.
The thing is, I have been treating this tent like gold. My unanswered question is: what is the life of the tent? How many nights outside are these tents supposed to last? Any thoughts?
To Cozier Places
In the morning it was really cold and I was really happy to have my rain pants. I had previously considered ditching the rain pants since I haven’t been using them a lot. It appears to have snowed up in the mountains overnight, as the peaks around us are now covered in snow. We decided to walk about 10 miles on trail this morning to the road to St Mary’s where we could hopefully get coffee, food, and maybe a hotel for the night.
On the way to the trailhead, we bushwhacked through some downed trees, a swamp, a river, more downed trees, and a covered bush area that looked like it may be a large animal’s home! We made it back to the trail and had successfully bushwhacked instead of walking down to the bridge that would have taken an extra 2 miles of trail. While on the trail, we experienced tall bushes, and lots of overgrown grassy, shrubby things that were wet and rubbing against our legs… again, happy for the rain pants!
Aquamarine
When we were about a mile from the trailhead, the trail changed and was very well maintained with wide areas for tourists to walk on. It was still raining quite a bit and the sky was still grey, but there started to be quite a few day hikers who had come out to see the waterfalls in the area. The waterfalls were beautiful, and the water was a perfect colour of blue. Crayola calls this “aquamarine” I think.
Feeling Famous
About 0.7 of a mile from the trailhead, a day hiker recognized us and asked if we were thru-hiking the CDT. When we told him “yes”, he turned around to face his large group, and told them and several other tourists “THEY WALKED HERE FROM MEXICO! THEY’VE BEEN OUT HERE FOR MONTHS!”. He asked us our trail names and introduced himself as Darwin who hiked the CDT NOBO in 2021. Everyone congratulated us and was very supportive. It felt nice to be recognized for all of our steps, thanks Darwin! About 0.3 of a mile from the trailhead, a fast day hiker named Kyle walked past us and asked where we were coming from. He offered us a ride to St. Mary’s when we told him, and sped up to go and organize his car for us. Turns out, he is originally from Vermont, and is currently working for the park- thanks a lot Kyle!
More Magic
We made it to the lodge in town, and luckily they had a room for us. We celebrated with oat lattes and a meal. Inside the restaurant, when we went to pay we found out that someone (who was also vegan and loved hikers) had picked up our entire bill because we were thru-hiking the CDT! I couldn’t even believe it- we had ordered three courses each, and this person just paid for everything! The rest of the day looked very wet and cold outside, and I was very grateful to be warm and cozy. Tomorrow we get to hike to Many Glacier, and apparently it is going to be a beautiful day!
Being Tourists
After a warm, cozy night in the lodge, and sleeping in a little later than usual, we went downstairs and ate our breakfast and had coffees. We headed out late this morning, and were going to walk across the road to hitch-hike, when we noticed a Glacier National Park sign. We decided to take photos of each other with the sign before trying to get a ride. Luckily, some tourists got out of their car and asked us if we could take their photo, and they could take our photo in front of the sign. We agreed, and when they heard that we needed a ride down the road, they told us to get in! On our way back to the trailhead, we made a pit stop for some more photos. It was like we were on the guided tour for a minute.
Post-holing through the Snow?
Back on trail we started walking towards Many Glacier, where we had another hotel room waiting for us. As we got a little higher in elevation, we started noticing more and more snow beside the trail, then on the trail. Some of the snow had stayed put from the storm the day before. We got some really nice photos of the surrounding mountains that were lightly frosted with snow. I am so grateful and feel privileged to get the opportunity to walk here. It was not too slippery, but my feet got soaked on the way up the mountain. At the very top, there was a weekend backpacker who had stopped to eat his lunch. After chatting for a little bit, we headed down the other side of the pass. The other side was a bit more snowy, with some sections having deep post-holes. We navigated through this easily, but my feet were still very cold. Once I was able to, I started running down the mountain in order to get out of the snow quicker. Trouble took a little longer, but I just found a dry spot of grass to wait and warm my feet.
Back to Comfort
A little further down the trail, it got a bit muddy and horse-shitty. We tolerated all the horse shit because we knew that in only a couple short miles we would be in the Many Glacier Lodge relaxing! After checking into our room, we headed down to where the food was. When we ordered, we were very hungry and ordered two plates of food each. The man who brought the food out was different than our server, and he was confused when he had four plates for two people. It was pretty funny seeing his reaction to this.
After another relaxing hotel stay, and having three showers within two days, we went to the dining room for some breakfast. This place had a tofu scramble for breakfast, and seemed to be pretty vegan friendly. It was like a dream come true! We stopped for another coffee before heading to our next destination: campground that was only 1 mile away!
Why are we travelling so slowly, you may ask?
Three reasons:
- We want to finish this trail in style.
- We are tired!
- Our permits for Glacier National Park were pretty wonky, and we wanted to make the best of it!
Extra Weight
While being tourists, I was looking for a Glacier National Park mug similar to one that I bought in Yellowstone National Park and had sent home with Alex. My plan was to carry it for our last ~35 miles between Many Glacier and Canada. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the mug I was looking for, but I bought a couple of ridiculous gifts that need to go in my backpack. I also bought myself a shirt, a pin and a grizzly bear stuffy!
Many Glacier Campground
We stopped at the restaurant near the Many Glacier campground for food and sat for a long time using their Wi-Fi. In this area of the park we didn’t have cell service, so it was nice to sit around and get to use the internet here. When we were done, we headed over to Many Glacier campground where we found the hiker spot to set up. There doesn’t seem to be any CDT hikers here, but a backpacker from the other hiker site came over and introduced herself, and we talked for a bit about our trips. After another trip to the restaurant, we headed back to the tent for the night. Once we learned that the restaurant opened back up at 6:30 am, we decided that we were going to get up at 6:00 am, pack up, and head back over to the restaurant for breakfast before heading out. It’s crazy to think that my next shower will be in Canada!
Rise N’ Shine
In the morning, we packed up and walked over to the restaurant. We got there at 6:31 am… one minute after they opened! We ordered two tofu scrambles, a chocolate almond milk, and two coffees. I also came up with an excellent idea and asked if they could make us tofu scramble wraps that we could pack out for lunch. They did!!
Smooth Sailing and Bear Fights
Breakfast this morning was alright, but my stomach wasn’t feeling too great after, and I couldn’t even finish the potatoes! Once we got out to the trail, I was feeling better. We had one big pass to climb and then the rest of the way to Canada was looking like pretty smooth sailing. At the top of the pass, we sat and had our “breakfast” wraps. We also met quite a few weekend hikers and day hikers who told us stories about two bears fighting each other in this area the night before! Crazy! I am not interested in seeing any more bears. I think I’m just about ready to go home without seeing any more bears. Just before getting up to continue hiking, we heard that there was a bear sighting just half a mile up the trail recently, and another hiker who was by herself decided to hike with us until we were all past that point. Safety in numbers!
Mountaintop Chalet?
We came down the mountain on some switchbacks to see the roof of this random chalet on the mountain top. Even though we were on a bit of a time crunch today, we decided to walk over and see what this chalet was all about.
At the chalet there were day hikers with cute little backpacks and water vests everywhere. It seemed really cute until we walked past the one area and all you could smell was pee! We heard that there were drinks you could buy inside, so we thought that we would go and check that out. When we got inside, we learned that the Gatorade was 7.25 USD. Yeah, no thanks! We left empty-handed. Luckily there seemed to be water everywhere, and the water up here tasted very good.
Stay Awake!
For the rest of the afternoon, it seemed like we were walking on the path in the middle of several mountains. If the mountains were humans, the trail was located right in the middle where its belt should go. We stopped for a shady break where there were big rocks for a while. I was feeling really tired today because I was up to pee about 3x the night before, and the campground was loud. I was trying my best not to fall asleep today. When we finally got past one of the campgrounds with several people, we stopped to make our couscous meal. It honestly wasn’t as bad as I expected, but I am looking forward to not eating dehydrated foods! We walked a little further and ended up hiking until just past 1030 tonight to make it to our spot! We are sleeping outside tonight with no tent, and it is going to be nice and quick to get ready in the morning. We are very close to the Canadian border!
Just a Thought
It’s funny how you can be in a town.. the towniest type of town: there can be people, coffee shops, restaurants, trinket stores, barbershops, and any sort of person that you could imagine… If you walk up the road near the top edge of the town, and you keep walking, and walking, you will eventually reach a different looking side road. If you keep walking after that, you will eventually turn down into a big wide trail. A few miles later, that big wide trail will eventually turn into a smaller trail. That smaller trail will eventually start climbing up a mountain. Up that mountain you will see animals: elk, deer, birds, frogs, maybe some little flying bugs that make crazy clicking noises as they fly.
All of these forests and mountains eventually connect with other towns, and canyons, and rivers, and lakes, and fields…
And if you keep walking you will get to experience all of them. You might even experience all four seasons in one “summer” day here. One second it is 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the next second the sky is shitting down marble-sized pieces of hail that hurt the most when they hit you just behind your kneecaps!
If you keep walking, strangers will become friends and hitch-hiking will no longer seem like sketchy behaviour. You might find yourself sitting on chairs that aren’t yours, or on porches of strangers laughing with people that you have just met. Your definition of success might change from pictures of loaded bank accounts to the idea of you actually enjoying your life.…. But I don’t know, that’s just a thought I had.
Ding-da-ding-da-ding-da-ding, DING-da-DING-da-DING…
The sound of my obnoxious apple alarm blasted me awake before any ranger could! “We’re goin’ to CANADA!”
I’ve been saying “We’re going to Canada” for months, but today is the day! Less than 10 miles left to the border, and it seems so crazy that this journey is going to be over. Even though I know exactly what I’m going to do, and am very excited for it- I can’t help but think, “what am I supposed to do next?”.
It feels so easy to wake up in the morning, put my hiking clothes on and walk north. When it is all done, I’ll have to do something other than walking north! As we were walking through the trees, I watched the miles disappear on my FarOut map.
Seven miles to go.
The sky was getting lighter, and my headlamp is now away: in the side pocket of my backpack that is tied around my waist by its broken strap.
Six miles to go.
We walked past a group of backpackers going out for a weekend trip. The first one asked me, “Where are you headed?”. “TO CANADA!”, I told him.
He then asked me, “Where are you coming from?”. “FROM MEXICO!”, I said.
Five miles to go.
The wet grass brushed against my legs, and the sides of my shorts were wet. After walking for so long in shorts, I don’t really care so much if the pokey stuff scratches my legs… as long as it isn’t an another cactus!
Four miles to go.
I remember when we had only walked four miles on the CDT, and I was wondering what I was even doing. At that point my backpack was too heavy, and I was carrying way too much shit! The whole time between there and here, I must have kept thoughts in my mind about how I am not a quitter!
Three miles to go.
Pretty soon, I will be trading my backpack and trail runners for running shoes and a running watch. I will hopefully be able to move a lot faster without 20 lbs of food and gear on my back! For some reason while hiking back in New Mexico, I decided to sign up for a marathon that is only about six weeks after the end of my thru-hike. If I can walk from Mexico to Canada, I can do anything. Right?
Two miles to go.
There is something so completely validating about being given the trail name “TBD” (The Best Daughter), while having an estranged parent. Thank you to all of the people that got to know me along the way who commented on how fitting my trail name is. In only two miles “Trouble” will get her “Triple Crown”, which means that she has thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and now the Continental Divide Trail. My mom is amazing, and there are very few people in the world who can say that they got to experience this type of adventure with their parent.
One mile to go.
We have come so far on this “trek”. Today is day 129 on the trail. We have walked through deserts with severe heat and wind, hiked through mountain ranges covered in snow, made it through lightening and hail storms, walked around two fire-closures, survived meeting many large animals, made it through several vegan food deserts, and kept a continuous footpath since starting at the Mexican border.
We made it!
We strolled towards the monument that marks the Canadian/American International boundary. As we walked up, we saw a dock on the Lake. There was a couple sitting on the dock, and they were surprised to learn where we had come from. They were nice enough to take a photo of us on the dock, and one by the monument. They even gave us a banana to split: our last trail magic!
After taking our “finishing” photos, we started walking towards Waterton Park, Alberta. Trouble took her Burger King crown off for some reason, but I told her that I thought that she should be wearing it for the rest of her life.
Trouble: “Why?”
Me: “So that everybody KNOWS”
Trouble: “Nobody cares!!!”
It’s funny, because it’s true. All these miles we hiked for no reason, and nobody cares!
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!
To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.
Comments 8
“All these miles we hiked for no reason, and nobody cares!”
I wouldn’t say, “nobody cares” Us readers do, and we’re proud of you!
Thank you! I appreciate it 🙂
Congratulations, Rebecca! Funny thing is, this randomly turned up in my Google feed and I instantly recognized, “hey, that’s the two we met in the breakfast (or was it dinner?) line in Many Glacier!”. You may not recall, but we were the two fellas run/hiking Lake McDonald to Many Glacier to Rising Sun and back to Lake McD. So glad I found this! Incredible story! And best of luck on your marathon!
Thanks a lot! It was cool running into you guys. I love hearing about what other people are doing outside, especially if it’s active. Have to figure out what kind of adventure to have next 🙂
Of course we care! Thanks for sharing your incredible journey, I especially liked your thoughts as you counted down the miles to the monument. Best of luck in your future endeavors, after conquering the trail, the sky is the limit!
Thank you! 🙂
Congratulations for finishing your CDT hike. Enjoyed your writing. David Odell AT71 PCT72 CDT77
Thank you! Happy to have made it 🙂