Logging Lake Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Extremely muddy in the spring into early summer.

The trail to Logging Lake and further to Grace Lake starts from the Inside North Fork Road, usually accessed from the Polebridge entrance due to the road being closed from the Fish Creek side. The trailhead is found just north of Logging Creek before crossing the bridge.

The trail begins in an older stand of trees in a lush forest, but a little ways in, bounces out to an older burn where it opens up. It doesn't spend time very close to Logging Creek, but as the trail climbs a hillside, you get views looking down onto the creek and out to a more recent burn with stands of silver trees.

From here, the trail traverses a hillside, gaining some of the scant elevation found on the trail. It continues along the sparse trees, then older stands of trees, bouncing back and forth a few times and coming close to Logging Creek, before diving into the older stand of trees for the rest of the trip.

The trail parallels the lake for a bit before you actually get to see it. A spur trail for the Logging Lake patrol cabin is your first opportunity to see the lake. It's a long, beautiful lake tucked beneath a wooded ridge. There isn't much of a shore to speak of as the trees and vegetation come right up to the waters edge. A second opportunity to see the lake is at the Logging Lake Foot Campground if you take that spur trail.

From there, the trail continues away from the lake, eventually following along its shores, then alternating from along the shoreline to up in the trees until it hits the Adair Campground. From there, it heads into the trees until just before the patrol cabin at the head of the lake, then wraps towards the head of the lake, before climbing up through the trees gaining some elevation as it heads towards Grace Lake.

The forest changes a bit as it hugs the mountainside and gains a couple hundred feet of elevation. Moss hangs from the trees of the wetter forest. The trail traverses the hillside and drops slightly as it comes to the shores of the lovely Grace Lake which is tucked below the steep slopes of Mt. Geduhn. Views to the head of the lake are obscured, but the small lake is beautiful and remote.

The trail is incredibly muddy in the spring and buggy into early summer. The trail makes for a great trail as summer fades into the fall.

This content was created by Jake Bramante of Hike 734. Visit hike734.com for more expert Glacier content and maps that help you decide which trail to run.

Many forest flowers such as trillium, orchids, arnica, and arrowleaf balsamroot. Deer, elk, and bear are all possible, although the proliferation of treed running obscures views so seeing animals is pretty limited. Forest birding is great between older stands of trees and burn areas with meadows coupled with creeks and lakes.