I’d been wanting to hike the Highline Trail for years. So had my family. This was a bucket list hike for all three of us. They visited Glacier together a few years ago and I made them promise not to hike the Highline without me. Then, when we started planning this trip, they made me promise the same thing. It was only fair, I suppose. But I was super disappointed.
It turns out all we needed was a little creative planning. We decided the two of them would set out on their own road trip and then meet us in Glacier for this hike.
They joined us at our campsite the afternoon before the hike, and the four of us set off bright and early the next morning. The Highline Trail is a 12 mile (19.3 km) one-way hike from Logan Pass to The Loop, therefore hiking it requires either two cars (not recommended due to parking limitations) or use of the free park shuttle.
You can leave a car at Logan Pass and take the shuttle back up at the end of your hike, leave a car at The Loop and take the shuttle up to Logan Pass to begin your hike (apparently a lot of people try to do this and shuttles frequently fill to capacity, so I don’t necessarily recommend this option), or leave a car at one of the visitor centers and take the shuttles both directions. We did the latter, catching the hiker express shuttle from St. Mary to Logan Pass.
The Highline Trail is cut into the side of a sheer rock feature called The Garden Wall, which extends from Logan Pass nearly 7 miles (11.3 km) north to Swiftcurrent Pass, and separates this section of the park from Many Glacier. Given the terrain, there’s very little room for a trail. We spent most of our day with cliffs to our right and drop-offs to our left.
If you have a fear of heights or exposure, this may not be the best choice of hike. That being said, my sister dislikes both of those things but had no problem with this trail. I think it looks and sounds worse than it is. It’s wide enough that you rarely have to walk right next to the edge, and in the narrowest spots there are chains to hold onto.
Initially the trail roughly parallels Going-to-the-Sun Road and affords similar views, but eventually it curves away from the road and climbs to the pass between Haystack Butte and Mount Gould at around mile 4 (6.4 km).
Beyond this point, it’s more of a gently undulating path for the next 4 miles to Granite Park Chalet. Wildflowers surrounded us and the views were expansive.
Granite Park is one of two remaining backcountry chalets in Glacier National Park. Originally built by the Great Northern Railroad, today the chalets operate as a sort of backcountry hotel. Granite Park is the more primitive of the two; they provide rooms, pit toilets, and a kitchen, but you have to bring your own food. The other – Sperry Chalet – is more all-inclusive and provides three meals per day. The next time we visit Glacier, we want to spend a couple nights at Granite Park Chalet. For now, we simply spent about 45 minutes here, eating lunch and soaking up the sunshine and the view.
From this point, it’s all downhill for roughly 4 miles (6.4 km), dropping 2600 feet (790 m) to The Loop. This area burned many years ago and while the ground cover is growing back, the trees have not. There’s almost no shade and it’s a west-facing slope so we were in direct sun the entire time. It was a very hot ending to a lovely, but exhausting, hike.
The only thing that didn’t go smoothly for us was the wait for the shuttle at the end of our hike. We arrived at The Loop around 4:00pm, along with 15-20 other hikers. The shuttles only seat 12 people, and often they’re almost full by the time they get to The Loop, so we ended up having to wait at least 30 minutes.
Some groups who had left a car at Logan Pass decided to send one person up to get the car and drive back down to pick them up. I don’t think that ultimately was any faster than just waiting for the shuttles, but it did open up seats for the rest of us. Hopefully in future years the park increases the number of shuttles running between The Loop and Logan Pass in the afternoons to accommodate the popularity of this hike. There’s very little shade at the shuttle stop. It was a long, hot wait.
If you do a google search for the best trail in Glacier National Park, Highline is at the top of many lists. After hiking it, it’s easy to see why. Twelve miles of wildflowers, sheer mountains, and expansive views is hard to beat.
It’s not my absolute favorite – more on that topic soon – but it’s definitely near the top of my list as well.
I’m so glad we were all able to finally check this hike off our bucket lists, and I’m excited to hike it again someday on our way to Granite Park Chalet.
Speaking of chalets…
Up next: Two nights in the backcountry at Glacier National Park’s Sperry Chalet
Hike stats: 12 miles (19.3 km) one-way, with 1630 feet (500 m) of elevation gain and 4000 feet (1220 m) of elevation loss.
Here is a trail map of the Logan Pass area, and here is a map of the shuttle system. I also recommend downloading the NPS app and saving Glacier National Park for offline use. You will be able to use the map in the app to track your location.
For more information on visiting Glacier National Park and how to access this trail, please see this post.
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