Alberta Falls
Loch Vail
Timberline Falls
Glass Lake
Sky Pond


Day 2 brought more rain to the forecast, but after our wonderful first day, it couldn't dampen our spirits. It also brought what was probably my favorite hike of the entire week (although every hike was incredible) - the ascent to Sky Pond.

We got an early start, about 6:30 or 6:45 I believe, which was great. Tons of parking available at the Glacier Gorge trailhead (something you'll never see by mid-morning), and we even had the very popular Alberta Falls all to ourselves! Hiking in such solitude really helps one appreciate the beauty and wonder in creation. The Falls, as expected, were roaring. This was as far as we'd ever been on the trail, so everything beyond was new territory for us.

The longest stretch of the hike is between Alberta Falls and Loch Vail - roughly 2.7 miles, if I remember correctly. A low fog (cloud?) settled over the Loch as we approached, creating an even creepier vibe than we'd seen before on Lily Mountain. We didn't see any of Nessie's relatives in the water, although we probably wouldn't have seen a creature in that fog even if it had been there!

From the Loch, the hike gained altitude fairly quickly until we reached Timberline Falls. Timberline Falls is, as its name implies, where you reach the tree line (or perhaps just above it). It's a very cool area that allows you a view looking down at where you've come from, as well as a small glimpse of where you're going.

From all the accounts I'd read online, the rocks above Timberline Falls can be wet and slick. Boy, was that an understatement! I'm guessing they were worse than usual, due once again to all the late snow this spring, but there were two waterfalls coming down the route up. Kellie decided to sit this portion out, and took a well-deserved break next to Timberline Falls. I left my backpack with her (along with our map, groan...), stuffed a Gatorade in my pocket, and took off.

The rock was definitely wet, and it was definitely slick, but I slowly made my way up to the Lake of Glass, where the hike got a bit interesting. What an absolute gorgeous area this is! I alternated between running along the trail, and stopping for photo-ops, of which there are endless opportunities. I even saw a patch of blue sky! The only other people up there were a boyfriend/girlfriend, and an older gentleman. I passed them all, moving quickly around what I thought was still Glass Lake. Little did I know...

Surrounded by mountains, I made my way around what I mistakenly took to be Glass Lake, staring up at a good-sized, fairly steep climb before me, littered with snowfields. I wasn't looking forward to this part, but determined I'd come too far to miss out on Sky Pond. I found a section of large boulders, wet and slick in places, and slowly worked my way up. About 3/4 of the way up this climb, two things happened. I ran into a large patch of very slick rock that I didn't feel comfortable on, and a fast-moving cloud rolled over Timberline Falls toward Glass Lake. This vantage point also allowed me to notice what I'd missed before - I'd passed not one large body of water, like I'd thought, but two bodies of water! Thinking I'd made a mistake, and uncomfortable with continuing up, I slowly descended, and made my way back through an endless cloud of mosquitos.

After rounding the nearest body of water, I saw the girlfriend sitting atop a gigantic boulder.

"Is this Sky Pond?" I asked her.

"I hope so," she responded. "My boyfriend is on the other side taking photos. According to his map, this is it."

"I sure hope so too!" I said, and thanked her for her help.

Giddy with relief, I savored the views for just a little bit longer, then ran back to Timberline Falls, where the descent was even trickier than the ascent. Luckily, I made it down just as a large family was getting ready to head up. I got back to Kellie, where I guzzled some water.

"Two guys came down earlier, and told me you have quite the interesting story to tell," she said.

"Two guys? I don't remember seeing two guys." I said. I figured they must have been behind me, and saw my interesting climb up past Sky Pond, so I told her all about it.

Later, shortly before arriving back at Loch Vail, two guys passed us as we were taking a break.

"Oh, you're not the guy who fell," one of them said.

"Umm, no," I replied, completely clueless as to what he was talking about.

"Some guy up there told us he fell 20 feet," he said (I don't recall where - I assumed on the slick rocks going up to Sky Pond, but if that were the case, I think Kellie would have seen/heard him).

No wonder Kellie thought I had an "interesting" story to tell! I have no idea who the guy was that fell, but he must have been okay, relatively speaking. We continued on, meeting a few groups of people, but still hiking in relative solitude, until...

...we returned to Alberta Falls. It was like a tourist explosion (hey, I'm a tourist too, but yikes!). We went from empty trail to a city street in 3.7 seconds. Fortunately for us, we had enjoyed it by ourselves that morning, so all we had to do was maneuver our way on down. Shortly after, the skies opened up and it dumped rain. We rushed to our car, tired and happy from an awesome 9-mile hike.

As a short aside, that evening we also went on a ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel. This was something Kellie had wanted to do, and being a huge Stephen King fan, I was all for touring the place that inspired The Shining.

I'm as big a skeptic as you'll find when it comes to ghosts, orbs, hauntings, etc. But some weird things certainly did happen. Were they real? Who knows, but some of the things seem too easy to debunk if they were staged (hidden employees, spring-loaded doors, etc.), so I have to wonder a little bit.

Our guide took us to the basement of the Concert Hall, into a small room that apparently belongs to the ghost of a girl named Lucy, who used to live down there. She told us Lucy likes to play games (she's a nice ghost), like closing the door and messing with Dum-Dums (our guide had given some of us the suckers up in the balcony of the concert hall). I'd held my sucker the entire tour up to this point (stick pointing up), with nothing happening, even in the "high-activity" areas.

Then things got weird. Our guide had moved the door leading into the room back and forth, showing how it rubbed against the carpet, to let us know it couldn't just swing shut because of how the building settled - a good move, as we have doors in our house that swing shut on their own for this very reason - and then left it alone as she told us about Lucy. Part way through, the door moved just a tiny bit, squeaking. Then it did it again. And then it shut all the way, with no one anywhere near it. It happened again a bit later. Bizarre.

In addition, our guide asked if she could turn off the lights and close the door, leaving us in total darkness. We all agreed. Not long after the door closed, the Dum-Dum in my hand fell over (hard) for the first time. I slowly moved it back up. A second later, it slammed down again. And again. It did it five times in all. As soon as the door opened and the lights came back on, it never fell again the rest of the tour. Bizarre x2.

Finally, back in the main hotel building, we saw a framed American Flag hanging on the wall, with what appeared to be the vague shape of the original owner's face in it. Our guide swears that when the flag was given to the hotel by an American soldier, the face was not there. Again, I'm a skeptic, but this seems so easy to debunk, and yet I don't see anything on the internet about it. Bizarre x3.

Overall, an absolutely magnificent day!