11 Beaver Pond Trail
Type of hike: Loop
Total distance: 3.4 miles (5.5 km)
Time required: 1.5 to 3 hours
Elevation change: 120-foot gain
Finding the trailhead: Take Going-to-the-Sun Road 0.25 mile east from St. Mary to a paved road entering on the south before the park entrance station. Take this road, bearing right, about 0.5 mile to a parking lot with a trailhead sign. Hike up to the old St. Mary Ranger Station to begin the loop.
The Hike
Though lacking in spectacular scenery, this hike runs through a pleasant landscape of coniferous forests, grassy meadows, and aspen groves. It receives few visitors and is thus a good place to find solitude.
The trail begins by climbing the hill to the original St. Mary Ranger Station, built in 1910 of native timber. Behind the old buildings, the path ascends to a low ridgetop that bears the scars of periodic lightning fires. This ridge is a terminal moraine of the glacier that carved the St. Mary Valley, bulldozed into place at the toe of the glacier by the slow but inexorable surge of glacial ice. The path follows the ridgetop through grassy meadows and into lands burned in the Red Eagle Fire of 2006, providing views of Red Eagle Mountain to the southwest and East Flattop Mountain to the north. This fire burned over 34,000 acres, nature’s way of serving as the architect of future forest composition. Eventually the trail enters rank grasslands bordered by aspen groves, and Split Mountain appears up the Red Eagle Creek Valley.
The trail soon reaches a stagnant pond dammed by beavers. The beavers are long gone, but their pond is a good spot to look for birdlife. The trail then turns west and descends to abandoned Red Eagle Road, now a hiking trail. Turn right as the old road parallels the shore of St. Mary Lake, yielding occasional views of the water. The roadbed bears travelers back to the parking lot to complete the loop.
Key Points
0.0 Start at parking lot.
0.1 Old St. Mary Ranger Station. Trail departs behind the buildings.
1.3 Beaver pond.
1.8 Junction with Red Eagle Trail. Turn right onto old road.
3.4 Arrive back at parking lot.