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| Hiking | 4.56 Miles |
715 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.56 Miles | 2 Hrs 53 Mns | | 1.93 mph |
| 715 ft AEG | 31 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Our second hike in Glacier National Park. A National Parks Pass and a permit for the Going-to-the-Sun Road are required to access this area. Parking is limited to 15-20 vehicles, but we had no problem getting a spot during the afternoon of a cloudy Sunday. Virginia Falls can be seen from the road, off in the distance.
The trail begins with a mild descent with views of St. Mary Lake. All of the trees in this area were destroyed by the Reynolds Creek fire in 2015. The trail then parallels the bright blue St. Mary River, until it reaches St. Mary Falls at 1.1 miles in, which is also startlingly blue, and was very powerful, with a swift current. There were a number of people at the overlook, but none of the other people went any further down the trail; I guess one waterfall was sufficient for them.
The trail then turns and parallels Virginia Creek, which is a tributary of St. Mary River. At 1.4 miles, another waterfall can be heard and seen just east and downhill from the trail. We scrambled down and found a very impressive unnamed waterfall with 2 levels, which were each 15-20 feet high. We climbed around, took pictures, and explored the area.
We eventually moved on to Virginia Falls, which was also very impressive. It is over 50 feet high and has a powerful spray that will drench anyone who gets close. The pool below it could be good for swimming, but it was a little too cold for that. We climbed around Virginia Falls a little bit, then headed back. We only encountered 3 people beyond St. Mary Falls.
Overall this was a fun adventure with great up-close views of 3 impressive waterfalls. It's surprising that none of the other descriptions mention the 2nd unnamed falls between St. Mary and Virginia Falls, as it is very impressive, and only requires a short off-trail scramble to reach it. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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