Camas Lake, Glacier National Park

My brother Nic and I headed to Montana for our annual trip out West and went on this short one-nighter to Camas Lake after our longer Gunsight Pass trip. Camas is, even during the early August melee for backcountry sites, inalterably open to walk ins. And like-wise open to those who crawl in after the walk-ins. It's probably also available to people who get mauled by bears waiting in line, go to the hospital and come back later in the evening. We went late on a busy Friday as the crowd was leaving Apgar Ranger Station and there it stood on the list like a monument to everything that is unwanted. Earlier in the week when we got our Gunsight Pass permits, Camas was also still available at the end of the day. It's always available. It shouldn't be but luckily it is. The scenery is only slightly less than Glacier's best and much better than almost anywhere else and it is ridiculously solitary in a park that gets five million visitors. Certainly, underrated for its solitude and wildness. It's also fairly tough for the short length of the trip. 

Lake McDonald from Fish Creek Campground

from Fish Creek Campground looking toward Mt. Taylor which is passed on the way to Camas

Looking SW from the ridge between Lake McDonald and the West Lakes basin

 

Nic on the ridge

 

Looking through the saddle that leads to the West Lakes, much less people after this 2,000 foot climb

 

Roger's Lake

 

Trout Lake

Floating log bridge over Trout Lake

 

We passed a group that had Camas permits for the previous night but had stayed at Arrow Lake
after loosing the trail that leads further up the valley to Camas.

 

On the way up the valley. The trail is overgrown here but it was much worse after Arrow Lake.

 

 

Nic at the Arrow Lake outlet with Heaven's Peak behind him

 

The trail to Camas Lake is covered in thick vegetation and is extremely hard to find in many places. The surface of the trail is almost indistinguishable from the ground on either side. We turned off on animal trails a few times because they were more heavily used and better maintained. The guidebook and the ranger that issued are permit both commented on the presence of grizzly bears in the basin and we found a large skull and three bones that were all broken laying on the trail. That's just what was directly underfoot. It was impossible to see the ground elsewhere in the thick undergrowth.

There are a few necessary creek crossings and we made several extra ones
because of how difficult it is to stay on the "trail"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the lake as it was getting dark and as we unpacked our bags we heard something across the lake and stopped. I wasn't sure if Nic had heard it so I looked up the bedrock slab and he had also stopped and looked up. I scanned the rocks for anything that could have made the sound. I said it sounded like a yawn from something with deep vocal chords and Nic called it a howl which I think is closer. It was either a grizzly or a mountain lion.

After it got dark. We were hanging out in the cooking area, looking down at the lake. We had rushed to get our tents up before dark and Nic wanted to relax with some tea. I tried to convince him that the best time to not make tea was right after dark. I was scared of attracting bears and creeped out by how little this valley was visited by people, how its known for bears, how there were so many broken bones on the trail and how the large carnivore had signaled that it was awake to everything in the canyon. Nic insisted on making his beverage and that boiling tea was scentless which is a pretty absurd statement. I thought maybe I'm being a pussy and helped him get his bag down from the bear pole, which has been moved very high into the trees at Camas, much higher than at our campsites on the Gunsight Pass trip. The water in his jetboil started to boil and he threw in some tea bags. A few minutes later, over the hiss of the boiling water, I hear something huge plunge into the water on the other side of the lake from us. It sounded like a sumo wrestler had a stroke and dropped into the water. I asked Nic if he heard that and he said he hadn't. He turned off the stove and we listened as whatever it was swam across the lake toward us. An elk, a bear, a moose? We turned our headlights out over the water but they didn't make it far enough into the dark. It kept swimming toward us but after we stood up and flashed our lights it turn around and swam back. We heard it climb out of the water onto the island. Eventually, I loosened my grip on the bear spray and we didn't hear it again.

 



The cooking area is on top of this large bedrock slab that rolls down to the lake.
 A lovely place to be slain by a grizzly bear.

Clear and cold

 

In my MSR Hubba tent

 

 

The tent area is in the trees at the top left

This is the direction the "yawn/howl" came from. On the ridge somewhere. Elizabeth Lake is higher up the valley to the left. The trace of a "trail" leading to it is visible near the bear pole.

Everything at Camas is extremely green and it feels very untouched. Spending two nights here would be nice and it would give more time to explore farther up the valley. There aren't many people going to Camas each year and the lakes above it are almost unvisited. There's a rock outcropping called Paul Bunyan's Cabin at the head of the valley that would make for a good day hiking destination from Camas. We headed back and got elk burgers at Eddie's Café in Apgar. Our car was broken into at the West Lakes TH so be mindful of that and don't leave anything valuable at remote trailheads.

 

When all the other backcountry sites are taken... It's Camas time