Day 7 - Cracker Lake Hike

Day 7 - For our last full day on a trail in the park, we landed upon going to see Cracker Lake, found at the end of a high canyon with a nearby trailhead. Our campsite neighbors of Greg and Jen, a couple who had flown in from North Carolina to see the park for their summer vacation agree to do the trail as well, but manage to get out the door before we do in the morning. (our a.m. timeliness is slowly slipping..) We manage to get past the trailhead around 10 a.m., though, and begin the 12 mile in and out.

The trail is very kind and shaded; following Lake Sherburne until a set of easy switchbacks through the forest get you to the North side of the canyon wall, looking down at Canyon Creek from above. We pass a few groups of people also heading in, and also a few going the opposite direction from staying the night before at the backcountry sites that are on the lake.


The creek eventually catches up with the trail, and we find that we have now caught up with our neighbors who had a 40 minute head start on us. We’re slightly embarrassed, apparently we are incredibly expedient 7 days into the trip and our fleet feet have taken us by surprise. We lose our shady tree cover over the last 2 miles of the trip, and eventually find ourselves on a small ridge overlooking Cracker Lake.


The pallor of the lake is completely unexpected, even though the guidebook told us to expect a stunning hue. Liz describes it as a lake full of blue PowerAde, to me it looks like the largest mini-golf water pond that I have ever seen. The trail continues a half mile along the lake to its campsites, where lunch is had and the color of this lake is taken in with a slack jaw. Glacier continues to one up itself. There is also a description of old mining equipment from a dilapidated mining operation from the turn of the century, but it doesn’t immediately appear from our viewpoints and our tired legs don’t care enough to explore.


Coming back down the trail, we take a break in the middle of the Canyon Creek to chill our water and take some attempts at long exposure water pictures. We eventually saddle back up and finish the hike, and celebrate in the lobby of the Many Glacier Hotel with cold apple juice. Once back to the campsite, dinner of sausage and rice is consumed and we congratulate ourselves once again with some huckleberry ice cream at the nearby general store.

Shots from the day's hike can be found here, and shots from the entire trip can be found over here. Again, if you want to make it bigger, just click on the 'all sizes' button above the pictures.