It all started with a downhill…actually one and quarter miles of downhill to the St. Mary River. What’s the old saying about the trail that goes down must come up…or something like that.
For more images and details of this hike – https://www.mtnmisfits.com/our-adventures/gunsight-lake-glacier-national-park
We started our planned 13-mile hike to Gunsight Lake from the Jackson Glacier Overlook, located along the St. Mary side of the Going-To-The-Sun Road. The initial section trail is a 650-foot downhill to Deadwood Falls and spans a shade over a mile unless you take the wrong turn, which we did (one misdirection down, another to go). The warmth from the early autumn sun had us stripping off layers in short order. Very little water cascaded down the chasm of Deadwood Falls, but this lack of flow revealed the smooth curves of Seussian architecture that Reynolds Creek had carved into the stone over millennia.
In a snap, we arrived at the Gunsight Pass Trail junction, turned right (remember this because we would later miss this junction on our return hike), and crossed the fairly new suspension footbridge that spans Reynolds Creek. The trail between Reynolds Creek and the St. Mary River is a pleasant rolly polly affair. Dusty Star and Citadel Mountain dominated the skyline to our left. The habitat seemed moose-y and it proved to be that soon enough.