We fully expected the hike up to Cracker Lake to be a welcome solitary experience in Glacier National Park, and we weren’t disappointed.
We crossed paths with two groups of backpackers who overnighted at Cracker Lake on our way in, and then solitude until we started our trek back out.
At 12.8 miles with 1,712 feet of elevation the hike is listed as hard on Alltrails, which helps to keep the daytrippers away. We did run across a group of daytrippers on our way out, but they were on horseback and doing the trip the easy way!
Cracker Lake is silly blue, maybe the bluest lake we’ve seen here in Glacier.
We had heard that there was heavy grizzly bear action around the lake, but the only grizzly we saw was along the shoreline of Lake Sherburne on our way out.
The trail is quite overgrown with narrow vegetation despite the horse traffic. We highly recommend long pants and good hiking boots such as our favorite Lowa Renegade GTX for this trail, along with hiking poles to save your knees on the ups and downs.
The big rock in front of you when you crest the final hill and see the lake is the best viewpoint, but keep an eye on your pack or the golden mantled ground squirrels will try to help themselves to your lunch!
Heavy Woods
There’s a lot of old-growth forest in this area of the Park.
Cracker Lake View
When you crest that final hill and Cracker Lake stretches out before you – the juice is worth the squeeze!
Watch Your Goodies
The golden mantled ground squirrels will raid your backpack in a heartbeat!
Cracker Lake Photoshop
Photoshop – except – that’s not Photoshop, that’s what the crazy water up here really looks like!
The Easy Way
Why hike all this way when you can ride a horse???
Thick Vegetation
There is some seriously overgrown vegetation on the trail to Cracker Lake
Scrounging Grizzly
A young grizzly bear scrounges for food along the edge of Lake Sherburne
