Sperry Chalet

Thursday morning, most of the group woke up and left at 5 to hike the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail, but I wasn’t feeling great and wanted to sleep in a bit. So Sandy and I headed to McDonald Lodge a little later in the morning to hike to Sperry Chalet. We parked at the lodge and started our hike around 930. Before we left the parking lot, we met an older gentleman named Jack, who was also hiking up to Sperry Chalet. He joined us for our hike and we enjoyed talking with him along the trail. Good conversation made the rather steep trail a little better. Heading up Gunsight Pass Trail, it was mostly forested, but a couple places to pop out and see the Snyder Creek Valley and Lake McDonald in the distance.

In just under two miles, we crossed Snyder Creek and continued on Gunsight Pass Trail up towards the chalet heading into the Sprague Creek Valley. The trail was steep and steadily increasing, but we had started early enough that it wasn’t too bad.

Most of the way was in the shade at least. In another couple of miles the trail started to open up and soon we passed Beaver Medicine Falls, an impressive looking waterfall, but it was too far from the trail for a good view.

Shortly after passing the falls, we could see Sperry Chalet from the trail high on the cliff above.

At one point, we had to stop and get off the trail to allow a mule train coming down the mountain after delivering supplies to the chalet.

There are no roads up to the chalet so all goods must be carried up by mules. We were fortunate to be on the trail when they passed. Finally, the trail started to level off as we approached Glacier Basin. From the footbridge over Sprague Creek, we could see Akaiyan Falls in the distance.

Hiking a little further, we could see Feather Woman Falls, a beautiful waterfall tumbling down in two streams.

In higher water, there are even more streams to this falls. We made the final ascent up to the chalet and stopped in for lunch. They have a limited menu, so we got sandwiches and a pitcher of lemonade. I don’t think lemonade has ever tasted so refreshing! We finished the entire pitcher and refilled our water from the chalet. After lunch, we headed outside and enjoyed the view from here. McDonald Lake was visible far below.

Then we started making our way back down. We spotted a patch of Lewis' Monkeyflower blooming near Glacier Basin.

A little further down the trail, we saw a cute little golden-mantled ground squirrel digging a hole right along the trail.

When we passed Beaver Medicine Falls, I tried a couple times to bushwhack to a better view of the falls, but had no luck.

The area is incredibly steep and overgrown with impassable cliff faces blocking any chance of getting to a good view. Once I gave up, we continued making our way back down. It was easier going downhill, but it was much hotter than it had been in the morning and there was a much less shade along the trail. Right before we reached the bridge over Snyder Creek, Sandy thought she saw a waterfall. Hoping for better luck on this one, I got off the trail and bushwhacked to this small unnamed waterfall for a couple of pictures.

Then we finished our hike back to the parking lot at McDonald Lodge and said good-bye to Jack. Looking across the street, we could see Mount Brown and the lookout tower far above.

We had passed by the extremely steep trail that leads up there.

We swung by the gift shop at the lodge for a few minutes and I got some pictures outside of the totem pole as well as the “jammer” buses that provide tours.

Then we headed back to the house. Everyone else had returned already from their hike and since it was much earlier than previous days, we cooked a big group dinner together.