Wildflower Walks

If you missed out on the glacier lily bloom around Missoula in mid-May, now is the perfect time to catch it up higher.

These small, yellow canopies can be found carpeting mountain meadows in the Swan Range’s Jewel Basin and in Glacier National Park.

The picture above was taken near Picnic Lakes in the Jewel Basin, which is along this week’s featured hike.

The Jewel is located off Highway 83 west of Bigfork. Turn north on Echo Lake Road and follow it for a little more than two miles. Turn northeast on Foothill Road, where there is a sign for the Jewel Basin. After about one mile, veer east on Jewel Basin Road and continue uphill about 6 1/2 miles to the parking area (this last part of the drive can be like a roller coaster ride).

From the trailhead at Camp Misery, hike any of the trails up and over the Swan crest. Look for glacier lilies around lingering snowfields. Here is a map of the Jewel Basin trails.

(On the way up the Swans, you’re also likely to see beargrass still in abundance.)

In Glacier, one of the easiest place to find these flowers is at Logan Pass, 34 miles northeast of West Glacier on Going-to-the-Sun Road. Again, look for the lingering snow and you’ll likely find glacier lilies.

Justin Grigg