Now past Haystack Butte, we entered the final phase of our trip south on the Highline Trail. Ahead we could clearly see the narrowing and rising valley of Logan Creek, with Logan Pass - our destination - above its head. While the Garden Wall had been a close and constant companion on our left, up to this point there had been no mountain peaks close by on our right; now, the peaks of Mount Oberlin and Mount Cannon and Clements Mountain started to loom large.
South from Haystack Butte
The western slopes of the Garden Wall became steeper as we proceeded south; the rock buttresses coming down from above had fewer lines of weakness to allow easy passage around them. As a result, the trail builders resorted to brute force, carving out wide ledges upon which the Highline Trail traversed across the prow of these buttresses. Although slightly airy in spots, these sections were easy, flat and wide.
Approaching buttress section
courtesy JInnes
A sweep of the Highline Trail
A short stretch of dense forest briefly closed off the views. When we emerged again, we had a very clear view of Logan Pass, now perhaps only 3 kilometres (2 miles) away. The Highline Trail and the Going-to-the-sun road start to parallel each other at this point, and we could see and hear cars on the twisting tarmac a few hundred feet below us.
Instilling the hiking spirit
Several brushy sections and a final dip and rise of about 200ft (60m) brought us to the final "challenge" (not, for it wasn't really that challenging): the big rock-cut section, where the trail is hacked out of the solid bedrock of a cliff face for several hundred metres. The section is provided with a handrail of hose-covered steel cable that is bolted into the rock.
