Bowman-Kintla Hike Video, 2008.

This is a 38 mile horseshoe that begins at the foot of of Bowman Lake and ends at the foot of Kintla Lake. The trip begins with shuttling the cars. It is not realistic to walk between trailheads; it is 3 hours by car. If you start a Bowman Lake, as we did, you will pass through the metropolis of Polebridge. Though it is really just the Mercantile and Northern Light Saloon, it is worth the stop to grab a bite.

It is about 7 miles from the Bowman Trailhead to the Bowman backcountry campsite. It is a level hike that stays a little above the lake level. We camped a Bowman and the next day hiked to Browns Pass and then onward to the Hole in the Wall. On my first hike on the Bowman-Kintla I stayed a night at Browns Pass. The best part of it is dropping the packs and day hiking east on the Boulder Pass Trail. On this trip we went straight to Hole in the Wall.

Hole in the Wall is magical. It is a high verdant cirque valley rimmed by bluffs to the north and a 1000 foot cliff to the south, complete with waterfall. Above the bluffs is another, more typical, cirque. There is an in-door toilet with a window so you can enjoy your personal time with an incredible view. We even had a grizzly bear in the area. Unbeknownst to us it was just a few hundred feet away only separated by a freaked-out park docent. Later in early evening we could see him foraging down the bluff line (the bear, not the docent). You should know that all the campsites have bear bars to keep grizzly-human encounters to a minimum.

The hike to Boulder Pass is outstanding. It takes you above the bluffs over Hole in the Wall, up the stair step rock formation, past Boulder Glacier and to the high Boulder Valley. The valley is a huge meadow dotted with small ponds. We camped here my first trip and actually jumped in one of the ponds. It was freezing. Maybe it was because we could see the glacier from where the melt water came. On this trip it had snow the night before so no quick dips. Instead we decided to drop down to Upper Kintla for the night. The hike out is along Upper and Kintla Lake back to car number 2.