highline trail

Just freaking amazing! I've done the 4 day Inca trail hike to Machu Picchu and this is every bit as amazing as that one! It took me about 7 hours nonstop hiking, not all that strenuous (not like the Inca Trail) but there are sections not for people afraid of heights where the path is narrow along the cliff (there are ropes to hold on to) and some waterfalls to walk thru tho you don't get wet. But the views are not justified in photos-you have to be there! But beware, I went early Sept and when I got to the end of the hike a sign posted said the shuttle that takes you back to the parking lot had ended several days before for the season and here I was with no way to get back and miles away, getting dark soon and cold. Utilized the thumb along the road and people did not want to pick me up at all...finally one good soul stopped for me or I would have been in trouble! Check shuttle info well because the beginning of the hike had shuttle times posted but did not see any info of dates they shut down.

This trail starts at the top of the Going-to-the-Sun Road just before you head back down the road, where you can park and leave your car. The trail is fairly flat at the start but start rises up and down for about 7 1/2 miles to Granite Park Chalet. You walk along the left-side of the Continental Divide starting at around 6,600 feet and after climbing around Haystack Butte you're at around 7,500 feet. The views are simple amazing! This trail is considered the best hiking trail in the US.

This is one of the most popular trails in the park, although the trail doesn't usually open until early July because there are quite a few sections of the trail that are fairly narrow with a steep dropoff, so attempting the hike with snow on the trail could be treacherous. If you start at Logan Pass, the first 7 or so miles of the trail has very little change in elevation with the last 3 1/2 miles down to "The Loop" being a decline (some of which is like going down stairs) and not very scenic. That is why many people choose to do this as an in-and-out trail, hiking either to the Garden Wall (about 7 miles round trip) or Granite Park Chalet (about 15 miles round trip). Bring lots of water! This trail follows the continental divide; because you are high up, you cannot count on snowmelt or streams to hydrate you!If you decide to take the free shuttle to either trailhead (at The Loop or at Logan Pass), make sure you get to your final destination in time to catch the last shuttle- or park your car at the final destination and take the shuttle to the trailhead to begin.From Logan Pass, you are likely to see mountain goats along with ground squirrels, marmots and birds. Once you are out of the trees, you can see the tiny cars on Going To The Sun Rd below. Haystack Butte, so named because it is very rounded like a haystack, will come into view and then as you approach and pass it, there will be a few switchbacks before the trail opens up into the garden wall (and if you are there around the end of July or in August, you know the Garden Wall as soon as you see it).The garden wall is a popular place for hikers to stop for a snack or for lunch. Not far beyond the Garden Wall the trail will turn into rock and shale, still with a fairly steep drop off, and will open up into an amazing view of mountains all around and Lake McDonald. At 6.8 miles from Logan Pass and .8 miles from Granit Park Chalet, you will find the Grinnell Glacier Overlook Trailhead. This trail is only about a mile and a half round trip, but it is very steep without much solid footing so it is not for the faint of heart! But once you reach the top, you will be looking down at Grinnell Glacier (accessible via the Grinnell Glacier Trail Complex in the Many Glacier area of the park).Granite Park Chalet, if you aren't familiar with it, is one of several chalets that was built in the early 1900's by the Great Northern Railroad. They sell bottled water, food and some other items but their supplies (which include linens for the chalet rooms and supplies for the staff that live there all summer long) are brought in by mule team about once a week. If you can get a reservation to stay there overnight, it is an amazing experience for history buffs and outdoorsy people.From the Granite Park Chalet area, you can return to Logan Pass or hike the last 3 miles to The Loop, or take the 7 1/2 mile Swiftcurrent Pass trail out to Many Glacier (also a beautiful trail, but it also has a lot of steep drop offs). Or you can head out to the more remote areas of the park and do some backcountry camping!

Great hike. Beautiful scenery, can be quite hot during afternoon sun. Carry plenty of water with and start out early in the day. Lovely!

One of my favorites, from Going to the Sun past Chalet up and over Swiftcurrent pass and than down to Many Glacier to meet back up with friends....saw Grizzly and kept my distance but was an absolutely invigorating hike that I would do again in a heart beat!!!!

But make sure you pack enough provisions and appropriate clothing. But it was an incredible hike. Got to see almost every animal promised for that area.

We did the whole Loop trail which is 11.6 miles long. We parked our car at Logan pass car park and then took the shuttle bus back from the Loop (the finish line). It took us about 5 hours to complete the hike, but we are pretty fast hikers. The scary part at the beginning is not so scary at all. I was worried about it, but if you don't go near the edge, it's just like any other trail. This is quite a difficult hike as you go uphill a lot. After you get to the chalet, the trail goes downhill for the rest of the hike which is quite tough on knees.You will see amazing views all along. This has to be the most scenic hike that we've ever done.Watch out for wildlife. We saw lots of mountain goats, bighorn sheep, deer and marmots. We came across some fresh bear scat on the last section of the trail that goes through the forest, so carry bear spray and make lots of noise as the bears can be anywhere. We hiked this trail in the last week of August 2014 and it was extremely busy. Tips: carry lots of water (you can buy water when you get to the chalet), go very early to get a parking spot a Logan pass or at the finish line.

This was my second time to GNP, but I hadn't been since I was a kid. My husband and brother were there with me for this hike - we only had a couple days and the reviews led us here. We were not disappointed! First I will say that we visited the park during the second week of September (after Labor Day weekend) in the hopes that things would be less crowded and busy. This was not the case! Much to our dismay, our first choice for camping was full and the parking situation for this trail was a mess. My advice would definitely be to get to the Loop parking EARLY - we were there late morning and it was full. We drove up to the Logan Pass and figured we would just shuttle at the end of the day, but it was completely full with two dozen cars circling the lot. We finally found a pull-off where people had started parking up the road so we filed in and got started at almost noon. This turned out to be too late, because we missed the last shuttle for the day (approx. 7:20pm) when we made it back down to the loop. Again, leave early so you're not rushed on the trail. The Grinnell Glacier overlook is well worth the extra time, but don't let the .6 mile distance fool you - it was the hardest half mile we've ever walked/climbed, and I would only recommend to people who are moderately fit. You'll know within 20 seconds if you can hang. Extremely steep and rocky, there's no switchbacks it's just straight up. Have layers because it is really cold and windy when you get up there, but the view is incredible. This side trail took us about 1 1/2 hours by the time we got back down. Don't let the other reviews about the last 4 miles deter you - the burned areas are really coming back. There's a lot of undergrowth even though the trees aren't back. I thought it was still a pretty hike down. It is steep downhill after the chalet - we were rushing to catch the shuttle and I took a bad fall. Thankfully, some nice people drove us to our car afterward. Overall, the views are amazing as everyone has said. Give yourself plenty of time to do this and you won't be sorry!

We hiked the Highline to Loop trails in July 2014. We parked at The Loop, waited for a shuttle up to the top, started at Logan Pass, and ended up back at the Loop. The Highline to Loop is 11.6 miles round trip, with 830 ft elevation gain and 3,026 ft elevation loss (not including trail to Grinnell Glacier Overlook). It was a strenuous hike, but well worth every step. From Logan Pass, the trail snakes its way across the Garden Wall above the road. This part has a very steep drop-off, and there is a rope on the inside if you need something to hold onto (though the trail is sufficiently wide for one hiker). From there the trail rolls along until a set up switchbacks lead up to Haystack Pass. This area was still mostly snow-covered in July, so that makes hiking a little more difficult, but by no means impassable. From here, the trail leads to Granite Park Chalet. Just as the chalet was coming into site, there was a 0.6 mile trail off to the right to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook. Our group decided that while we were there we might as well. This "short 0.6 mile trail" gains 900 FEET of elevation (very steep). This portion of the trail was very strenuous, but the views of Grinnell Glacier were breathtaking. Make sure to bring extra water if you plan to do that side trail. From there we hiked back down to Granite Park Chalet (where there are drinks and snacks available for purchase). From the Chalet we followed the Loop Trail back to our car, which descends 2200 ft over 4 miles. The trail follows long switchbacks through a burned area, so most all afternoon we were in full exposure with temperatures in the 80-90 range. When we were 3/4 of the way down, a rescue team was headed up because someone further up the trail was suffering from heat stroke. Overall this was an awesome trail! Bring plenty of water, sunscreen, and bug spray.

I read a lot about this trail before setting out on the hike with my husband and three kids (ages 12, 14 and 16). Many reviewers mentioned the treacherous first quarter mile of the hike where cables are required. We hiked this in mid September and the cables were not present. However, they were not necessary. The trail is narrow in sections (4 - 6 feet wide) but not dangerously so. My husband parked our car in the Loop Trail lot so that we could hike one way from Logan Pass past the Granite Chalet down the Loop Trail for a total hike of about 12 miles. Haystack Pass is the perfect place to stop for lunch. The Highline Trail does not disappoint - huge views, lots of waterfalls to skip across to stay on the trail and a strenuous spur up to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook. The overlook is well worth it, if you can manage a 900 foot elevation gain in .6 miles. The spur leads up the Garden Wall to the Continental Divide for a top side view of Grinnell Glacier.

Just about every park visitor stops at Logan Pass and enjoys the iconic hike across the Highline Trail. Most folks hike to the Granite Chalet and then go down the loop trail eventually ending up at the Going to the Sun Road below.If your game for a bit more "fun", the real way to do this hike is instead to head over Swiftcurrent pass and hike down the Valley to Swiftcurrent Lake. The view is spectacular. The hike is about 17 miles vs 11 (if taking the Loop Trail down)...but 10x better. If your really "going for it" stop on the way to the Granite Chalet and hike up 6/10th of a mile to the Grinnell Pass Overlook. It's very steep and tough hiking...but a very cool view.Strongly suggest you start this hike early am...full day of fun. Also remember to bring plenty of water! When your arrive at Swiftcurrent Lake below, you'll hop on the shuttle to get back to your car at Logan Pass. Make sure the shuttle is running if you attempt early/late season.Enjoy!!!

Great trail- however they had taken the cable down when we were there late Sept and we felt a little uneasy on some parts of the trail with nothing to hold on to! Especially when meeting mountain goats!

If you hike, don't miss this!. Even if you can do just a portion of it. Its just such an uplifting experience, & not super-strenuous. Every turn affords yet another spectacular view.

Most of the people in our hiking group are in our 50's and 60's. We are active hiking, snowshowing, etc. year round. We found the Highline somewhat challenging. For some, it was the narrow trail along drop-offs and for others it was the amount of downhill (a lot)and for others it was the 12 miles distance. Highline is not terribly difficult but it makes for a long, full day. Since it is a through hike we took the express shuttles (free) from Apgar and highly recommend using the shuttles. Be sure to get there early as the shuttle only holds about 12 people and it is first come first serve. There are only about 3 express shuttles and they leave early (around 7 a.m. -check at the park for details). We easily caught the return shuttles at the end of the hike.

The trail is extremely long , so you can choose where you will hike to, lots of different ways to do it.We chose the option to just hike to Haystack butte and then go back to Logan's pass, this option is about 7.5 miles round trip.We had a beautiful clear sunny day about 75 degrees, be sure if you hike it when it's sunny and clear to have sunscreen with you I applied in the morning and forgot to bring it with us and by the late afternoon on the hike back I was feeling it , but some sweet lady on the trail gave me her hat and let me use some of her sunscreen, I gave her the hat back at the trail head, thanks again if you happen to read this : ).It's a fairly easy trail not too much uphill until the switchbacks right before reaching haystack butte.There are lots of small areas with large drop offs, but it's no problem people will step aside for you or you do the same for them.The trail took us about 4 1/2 hours with many stops for photos and the stop for lunch at Haystack butte.The views you will see are incredible and well worth it, it's a must do hike when you visit Glacier NP.Be sure to bring the bear spray just in case.