When I close my eyes and imagine Montana, this is what I see: a beautiful glacial lake surrounded by a wall of magnificent mountains. I see Bowman Lake.

Bowman Lake

Bowman Lake is a gorgeous back-country lake that sits in the North Fork region of Glacier NP. You reach the lake with an hour-and-a-half drive over bumpy gravel and paved roads, but as you can see, the view is well worth it.

Lookout Hikes

We hiked up the Numa Ridge Trail, supposedly one of the "easiest" lookout hikes in the park, only 12 miles round trip and 3000′ elevation gain. The fact is, they tend to put lookout towers atop the highest points, so there is no such thing as easy lookout hike.

Once we emerged from the dense forest, we had sweeping views of Bowman Lake for half the hike. You can really see things on the way down. It’s an odd sensation to hike down a narrow trail along a steep hill thousands of feet above a beautiful glacial lake. Of course you don’t want to fall, but part of you wants to leap off the mountain and soar with the hawks high above the deep blue water.

Rainbow Mountain

Rainbow Mountain provides a Kodak moment.

Cloud Shapes

What shapes do you see in the clouds? How about in the shadows they cast on the mountains below?

Fall Colors

The hills were on fire with the colors of autumn.

Sunset on Bowman Lake

Back down to the shore of Bowman Lake just in time for a beautiful sunset.

Montana Sunset

The drive home provided fantastic sunset views. We even found a piece of property, ten miles from the nearest anything on a gravel road, no services and won’t be for a long time if ever, selling 50 acres for $500K. But the property did have a view of the Contental Divide, which alone might be worth a half-million bucks.

Next: Grinnell Glacier >>