Hidden Meadow Trail

Hidden Meadow is an easy 3-mile round-trip out-and-back from Inside North Fork Road to a meadow pond. Allow about 1½ to 2 hours if you want time at the water. The walk starts in young forest and ends in an open pocket of meadow, with a couple of Livingston Range summits showing above the eastern ridge. I’d add it to a North Fork day when you want a short walk with a real destination.

The path climbs through lodgepole pine regrowing after the 1988 Red Bench Fire; old larch snags still mark the burn. Farther in, the forest shifts toward larch, fir and aspen, then larger spruce give way to a moist meadow. The trail gains about 337 feet and loses 103 feet on the way in, so it’s gentle but not flat. The route to the meadow is about 1.5 miles; turn around at the pond and return on the same path.

The meadow was part of a 160-acre homestead established in 1909 by Dutch emigrant Ben Maes, who raised cattle and root vegetables here. John Slifer bought it in 1947 and is thought to have built the earthen dam that formed the pond. The government acquired the property in 1968. At the meadow, look across the water for distant peaks above the tree line; the pond, grassy edge and forest make a more intimate scene than a big alpine overlook.

The pond changes the feel of the hike after the shaded forest. Loons and white-tailed deer have been reported here, along with swans and dragonflies on another visit, but sightings vary. Pets aren’t allowed on trails in Glacier National Park.