It is 2.3 miles to the foot of the lake with 500 feet of elevation gain. There is a ‘T’ in the route shortly after starting. You will find the path to Avalanche Lake at the end of the fence. There were a lot of kids, now adults, that are pretty proud of that. We planted the seed in our high school greenhouse and then planted the seedlings in the spring. My students and I collected seed from species that the park service personnel wanted to use to repair the area. At one time, there was little undergrowth due to a large number of social trails. The fence was placed there to protect the hillside. Proceed just a little further, and you will see a rail fence. This is an excellent place to take a few photographs. There is a boardwalk which will carry you to the bridge over Avalanche Creek where it leaves the gorge. The Trail of the Cedars starts on the east side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road bridge over Avalanche Creek. I would suggest walking the Trail of the Cedars to obtain the Avalanche trail. There are a couple of ways to get to the trailhead. Due to the lack of roads, he bought a steamboat to haul his guests from Apgar to his accommodations. In fact, this is about the time that George Snyder was building accommodations for tourists on the site of the current Lake McDonald Lodge. Their exploration of this part of Glacier is pretty amazing given that there were no roads and the forest was referred to as “thick and tangled”. Sperry is also given credit for the name of the lake. Sperry about the lake which he then visited in 1895. 3Ĭharles Howe, the first homesteader at the foot of Lake McDonald in 1892, is reported to be the first non-Indian to see Avalanche Lake. They also valued the cedar wood for building the frames of their canoes and making bowls. Sally Thompson, in her book People Before the Park, indicates that generations of Kootenai Indians were probably visiting the area to harvest bark from old cedar trees to make baskets and other necessities. These include trillium (also known as birth root and wake-robin), bead lily, devil’s club, club moss, and various ferns. 1 You will also find other plants that are adapted to this microclimate. Some of the cedars around lower Avalanche Creek are over 500 years old. These two species of trees have been growing in the area for hundreds of years. Consequently, large quantities of moisture are dropped and that supports the western red cedar – western hemlock forest habitat, which is also at the far east of its range. Moisture from the Pacific coast rises and condenses as it meets the Continental Divide. The maritime climate of the Pacific Northwest has its easternmost influence here. It includes old growth forest, spectacular waterfalls, a beautiful mountain lake filled with turquoise water, nestled in a picturesque glacial cirque. This hike is one the most popular in Glacier National Park.
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