Logging Lake

The Trailhead is 7 miles south of the Polebridge entrance on Inside North Fork Road, located next to Logging Creek Campground and the ranger station. We camped the night in the campground and headed up the trail early through a mixed forest with a variety of wildflowers and berry bushes along the trail. We take time to enjoy the wildflowers and shoot a few pictures. After a short distance we enter an area burned by the 1988 Red Bench Fire where all the small trees were destroyed and the taller trees survived. There are lots of burned tree trunks still standing which create a food source of bugs and grubs for the woodpeckers, flickers, chickadees and nuthatches. The sound of one hammering on a tree trunk gives away its location and we identify which bird it is as we go on our way. Still further along the fire destroyed everything. There are grasses and some brush returning and as we stop to study the area we discover a new forest being created with a variety of evergreen trees and fast growing alder. Small meadows below the burned areas contain aspen and evergreen trees. After about a mile and a half we reenter the mature forest. The trail is soft and follows Logging Creek all the way and as we walk we enjoy the sound of the water close by. After about four miles we see the sign for the trail to Logging Lake Campground, which leads us to the lakeshore. A lovely lake at the base of the mountains surrounded by forest and grassy areas, it reflects the blue from the sky. We eat our lunch by the lakeside before heading back down the trail. There have been no other hikers in the area today.

Glacier National Park
PO Box 128
West Glacier,MT,59936
Phone: (406) 888 7800
Email: glac_questions@nps.gov