Logging Lake Glacier National Park © Shawn Coggins

NPS Trail Status
0 trees down. Trail is muddy. 7/9/12
5-18-12    Logging Lake Trail Logging Ranger Station - Foot of Logging Lake/ 4.4 mi.
Trail has been cleared to Logging Cabin jct. (4.9 miles)
Trail between jct and CG (0.1 miles) has not been cleared yet.
Three trees down. Scheduled for completion on 6/5/12.
Foot of Logging Lake - Head of Logging Lake/ 7.0 mi.
Initial clearing scheduled for: 6/7/12.
40+ trees down to Adair CG. 5/16/12

Inner North Fork Road open to Logging Creek Ranger Station 5-10-12

Logging Lake Trail is one of the first back country trails to open during the hiking season in Glacier Park. Usually muddy, and buggy offering great views once you get to Logging Lake. Accessed by way of the North Fork Road which is dusty and gravel, to Polebridge then Inner North Fork which is another gravel road currently open to Logging Creek Ranger Station.
I last hiked into Logging Lake on June 5th 2008. Trail was very muddy and it rained heavily since that hike. Numerous bear signs on the trial, bear scat, black bear tracks for at least half the distance of the trail. Even more numerous were the mosquitoes. Wildflowers are starting to bloom along the muddy trail. Arnica montana, Indian Paintbrush, Star-flowered false Solomon seal and Trillium are blooming among others. As of June 5th no large displays of wildflowers but an interesting variety.

black bear paw print Glacier National Park © Nathalie Coggins trillium montana wildflower Glacier National Park © Nathalie Coggins

North Fork Road from Columbia Falls in good condition. Inner North Fork Road from Polebridge has two potential road failure spots were the Inner North Fork Road is on the edge of the slope down to the North Fork River.


Logging Lake Trail is another one of the hidden gems in Glacier National Park. For the past few years access has been difficult as major parts of the Inner North Fork Road were closed. Late in summer of 2007 Inner North Fork Road reopened & I finally hiked Logging Lake Trail. It was a warm day at the end of September, the fall colors had just begun. The temperature had finally started to lower after a long hot summer. Rain had finally put an end to the endless summer of smoke from the forest fires that ringed Glacier National Park during the summer of 2007. This is an easy hike, I rate it as moderate because it is nearly 10 miles round trip, but the trail only gains 400 feet over rolling terrain. The Logging Lake Trail passes through the aftermath of the Roberts Fire of 2003 and the Anaconda Fire of 1999. Old Growth Ponderosa survived both of these fires. The first limbs of some of these trees are 30 feet up massive trunks. As Logging Lake Trail follows Logging Lake Creek the fires have opened up the views to distant mountain ranges.

fall colors loggin lake trail, Glacier National Park © Shawn Coggins