On day 2, to drop our car off where our hiking trip would end up, we got up early enough to grab some breakfast and catch the sunrise at the appropriately named Rising Sun.
After a long drive over to the west side of the park, we grabbed a hikers' shuttle up to Logan Pass, where we grabbed a second shuttle to take us to our trailhead, which was only about 10 minutes from where we camped the night before.
While most of the hiking we have done in Glacier was along wide-open alpine trails, the Gunsight Lake trail featured more meadows, lush valleys and even a couple river crossings.
The hike was pretty uneventful, though we did meet a hiker that had heard there were some grizzlies in the area, and we saw lots of fresh bear scat that was full of fresh berries like the ones lining the trail. But we never saw a bear and after about 5 miles, we came to a clearing
and just around the bend we got our first glimpse of Gunsight Lake
and the waterfalls that keep it full of icy-cold water
Since we got there before a lot of the other campers, we got a prime campsite, just up the hill from the lake
Once we got our site nailed down, it was time to fish. Since I couldn't see any fish from the shore, I decided to do a little wet wading. It was tough going at first, mostly because of the wind, but once the gale subsided to a breeze, I started getting some hits. My first hook-up was with a real nice fish, but it broke off before I could get a look a him. After that I had a bunch more hits, and landed five trout from 10- to 14-inches, all rainbows.
We called it quits around sunset
and headed to the communal eating area where we got to know our fellow campers. Interestingly, everyone either seemed to be some sort of doctor or medical profession or from Seattle, sometimes both. We had a great time getting to know everyone, seeing what everyone else was eating (some dude had beer and pizza) and sharing stories, before we hit the sack right before it started to pour.
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