Cracker Lake
| Trail Features: | Oustanding views, Alpine lake |  |
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| Trail Location: | Cracker Lake Trailhead | ||||
| Roundtrip Length: | 12.6 Miles | ||||
| Total Elevation Gain: | 1400 Feet | ||||
| Avg. Elev Gain / Mile: | 222 Feet | ||||
| Highest Elevation: | 6035 Feet | ||||
| Trail Difficulty Rating: | 15.40 (strenuous) | ||||
| Parking Lot Latitude | 48.79588 | ||||
| Parking Lot Longitude | -113.65556 | ||||
Trail Description:
The Piegan Pass / Cracker Lake Trailhead is located at the south end of the parking lot above the Many Glacier Hotel. Shortly after starting your hike you’ll reach a split in the trail. To continue on towards Cracker Lake you’ll want to take the left fork at this junction.
During the first 1.7 miles of this hike you’ll be sharing the trail with horses from the concessioners corral at Many Glacier. Depending on what season it is, this section of trail can be quite muddy, or it can be dusty and deeply rutted as a result of the heavy horse traffic.
The first few miles of the hike
passes through a thick forest, however, roughly 1 mile from the trailhead, you’ll
reach an opening that provides some outstanding views of the Cracker Flats
area. The mountains across the upper reaches of Lake Sherburne create a magnificent
scene during the morning hours.
At just over 1.4 miles you’ll reach the Cracker Flats Horse Loop. Continue on for another two-tenths of a mile and you’ll cross a footbridge over Allen Creek. Shortly thereafter you’ll reach the far end of the horse loop. Continue on towards the lake by going straight at this junction.
After passing the horse loop the trail climbs a couple of switchbacks, and then ascends a ridge where you’ll have the fairly unusual occurrence of being able to see two creeks flowing down valleys on either side of you: Allen on your right, and Canyon Creek on your left.
At roughly 2.3 miles you may notice a very impressive looking waterfall flowing off the cliff straight ahead of you. It appears to tumble at least 200 feet down the cliff. Unfortunately you won’t have a real clear view as the waterfall is partially hidden by trees, and the trail never gets any closer.
The Cracker Lake Trail has a long reputation for bears, and for obvious reasons. It travels through prime grizzly bear habitat, passes through a lot of tall vegetation, including many berry patches, and makes a lot of twists and turns, thus creating many blind spots along the way. So, Cracker Lake is one of those trails where you really need to be extra vigilant. Make sure you make a lot of noise, travel in groups, and carry bear spray.
Roughly 3.25 miles from the trailhead you’ll emerge from the forest. This break in the canopy offers the first views of the canyon, formed in part by the steep slopes of Allen Mountain. A little more than a half-mile from this spot you’ll cross over Canyon Creek, at which point the trail heads back into the forest for another long stretch.
At 4.75 miles the trail finally emerges from the forest for the last time. From this point forward you’ll have spectacular views of the deep canyon you entered awhile back, as well as fantastic views of your final destination. Although you can’t actually see the lake from this point, you can see the headwall between Mt. Siyeh and Allen Mountain.
At roughly 5.8 miles you’ll
arrive at an overlook that provides outstanding views from the north end of Cracker
Lake. The lake has the most amazing turquoise color you could ever imagine. If it were
possible to ignore the magnificent scenery of the surrounding mountains, it would still
be well worth the hike just to see this incredibly beautiful color. You could
stop at this point, but the views are even better from the red rock outcropping
further up the trail. This is still another half-mile away, but well worth the
effort.
From the outcropping you’re standing about a hundred feet above the lake. Directly across the basin is 9376-foot Allen Mountain. Towering above the south end of the lake is 10,014-foot Mt. Siyeh, and sitting like a gem more than 4000 feet below is Cracker Lake. The deep turquoise color of this glacially fed lake is a result of light refraction through its suspended load of glacial silt.
Also, take a look at the walls surrounding the lake and you’ll notice some really interesting sedimentary layers of multi-colored rock.
For those that still have the energy to do some additional
exploring you’ll have the option of continuing 
on towards the old mine site. The
Cracker Lake Mine was established in 1897 after copper was discovered on the south
shore of the lake. According to legend, the mine received its
name when two prospectors, L. C. Emmonds and Hank Norris, after staking their claim, had a lunch of cheese and crackers on the site.
Although miners dug a thirteen hundred foot tunnel into the mountain, and the vein looked fairly promising, a mining expert from Helena eventually determined that the site wouldn’t be profitable, and discouraged further development. In addition to the tunnel, the miners built a sawmill and erected a 16,000-pound steam driven concentrator to process the ore. Modern day explorers can still find mine tailings and some of the abandoned machinery around the old mine site today. Entering the mine, however, is strictly prohibited
One of the financial backers of the Cracker Lake Mine was Dave Greenwood Altyn. A town bearing his name was built near Cracker Flats, and was active from 1898 to 1902. However, after the mine went bust, so did the town. The former townsite was buried under water after the Lake Sherburne reservoir filled the valley in 1921.
Beyond the mine the trail finally reaches the shore on the far end of the lake. Also, just beyond the red rock outcropping is a side trail that leads down to the backcountry campground (which includes 3 campsites). It doesn’t quite go all the way to the bottom, but you could make it to the shore with a little bit of off-trail bushwhacking.
As another interesting piece of history concerning the area, a parachutist jumped off of Mt. Siyeh in 1997, intending to land near Cracker Lake. Almost immediately after jumping the man hit a wall and his chute became caught on a rock roughly 400 feet below the summit. A daring rescue involving 8 rangers and several other park employees pulled the man to safety, who suffered only minor injuries.
