Siyeh Pass Trail, Glacier National Park

Hike at a Glance

Stats: 10 miles, 2200 ft gain
Duration: 4-6 hours
Type: Point to point
Trip Date: Aug 24, 2019

My Rating

Overall : 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Scenery: 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Difficulty: 🌲🌲🌲
Busyness: 🌲🌲🌲

The Siyeh Pass trail is a point to point hike from Siyeh Bend, over Siyeh Pass, to Saint Mary Lake. In terms of popularity, Siyeh Pass is nowhere near as popular as other hikes in Glacier National Park such as Grinnell Glacier and the Highline Trail, but its scenery is far from second tier. This hike traverses a larger area than the usual day hike due to its point to point nature and the scenery is incredibly diverse. You will see meadows and rocky alpine environments, glaciers, 3 different valleys, and an eerie forest of white bark trees.

Regarding transportation, the free park shuttle runs on the Going to the Sun Road and connects the two trailheads. You can either park your car at Siyeh Bend or Saint Mary Lake and take the shuttle in between. Since our parents were unenthused about hiking for the second day in a row, they dropped us off at Siyeh Bend and picked us up at Saint Mary Lake after the hike.

Elevation profile for the Siyeh Pass Trail (view in AllTrails)

Hike Overview

The hike started out in the trees and was pretty uneventful for the first 2.5 miles. The trail was moderately graded the whole way thanks to the well-maintained switchbacks. The weather was looking pretty dreary. Even though we were prepared with rain jackets, we weren’t looking forward to a potentially rainy hike.

Starting out on the Siyeh Pass trail

In and out of the trees for the first ~2.5 miles

After the Piegan Pass trail junction, the dense forest thinned and the views started to get impressive. We were even more excited when the sun peeked out of the clouds and lit the valley with warm, golden light. The trail mellowed out as it entered a meadow-lined glacial valley. As we traversed the meadows known as Preston Park, we were rewarded with a great view of the valley behind us. The notable peaks are the pyramid-shaped Heavy Runner Mountain, which was centered prominently between Piegan Mountain on the right and the sloping flanks of Matahpi Peak on the left. We also caught our first glimpse of Siyeh Pass ahead, a wide and flat dip in the mountains.

The grade picked up again as we neared the pass. The sparsely grassy ground became mostly gravel. It also began to get extremely windy (we read about the wind in some AllTrails reviews so we half expected it.) The final few steps up to a pass are always filled with anticipation at what the other side holds, and we were not disappointed. We crossed a wide and flat area as we crested the pass and could slowly see a vibrant, multicolored valley coming into view. This was the Boulder Creek drainage, a red and orange hued valley covered by a green carpet of meadows and trees that faded to blue in the distance. Two unnamed aqua lakes and a white snowfield in the foreground completed the scene, and the moving shadows and light created by the partly cloudy day made everything even more dramatic.

At the top of the pass, the trail became a narrow ledge that hugged a craggy rock wall. We stopped to appreciate the beautiful landscape, eat snacks, and take photos. This was my favorite spot for photos since you can scramble up the rocks a bit to get more of an aerial perspective (the last photo in the series above).

After the pass, the trail continues down the Baring Creek valley, our third valley of the day. Highlights of the trail down include: wild huckleberry picking (a grizzly bear favorite), a distant grizzly bear sighting, long and never-ending switchbacks, and a forest of spindly whitebark pines.

Heading down Baring Creek Valley, with Sexton Glacier in the background

Looking back at our descent from the pass

Wild huckleberries grew on the sides of the trail

“Huckleberry-flavored” is very much a Montana souvenir buzzword, but you can also enjoy the real thing fresh picked from a bush, just like the bears do