Day 7 Belly River

Today we are going on a backward hike with 790 feet drop down to the valley floor first, which means you have the pleasure of hiking back up that elevation when you are finishing your hike.

Total miles today 12
Trip total 77.2

Rainbow

End of rainbow

Bear

When we got up this morning it was another bright blue sky day over at our Duck Lake house.  We ate breakfast, did a load of wash and then headed to our car to ride on up to the Candian border where the Belly River trail head is located. As we are driving on the terrible duck lake approach road, we noticed a very bright rainbow over the front mountains of Glacier.  We stopped and shot a a few pictures.  The mountains looked very socked in with rain and low hanging clouds.  Although it did not look too inviting to hike in, the rainbow was  great for viewing.  

While we were watching the double rainbow and dodging free range cows on the road up to Belly River trailhead we saw our first bear.  It was on the road and as we approached it, it  really looked just like another black angus standing in the road.  Well, it looked like a cow until it turned and ran.  Bears and cows look very different when they run... We slowed down and took pictures from the safety of the car.  I practiced my quick draw bear protection of running the electric window up and down a few times.  I can do that in two or seconds or less.  I'm fast with that little window button I don't need bear spray!

We made it to the trail head and readied ourselves for a wet hike.  Looks like it rained here most of the night and now it's just grey sky.  What we were not prepared for was all of the mucky, murky, sloppy, slippery, greasy mud which made up the trail. Kathi pointed out that it is days like these that make days like yesterday so special.  

With all of the mud and muck, most of the time my eyes were on the trail, trying to negotiate staying on my feet rather than slipping and falling in to the mud. It really was yucky hiking!

Once down on the valley floor we have open meadow views of mountains on both sides of us and ahead of us we have the scenery of a snowy topped mountain.   Mt Cleveland the tallest in the park at 10,479 feet. The mountain stands at the foot of Upper Waterton Lake.  Waterton lake is a lake which is shared with Canada.   Five miles of the lake are in the United States and five miles in Canada.  

For today's hike we are on a destination hike.  We are heading to a back country ranger station that  is the farthest away from headquarters than any other station in the entire park.  The first ranger hired for the job of running this station was a guy named Joe Cosley.  He was hired because he was a local hunting trapper in the area and was very familiar with the land back in the Belly River range.  He was later fired from that position because he was found to be poaching.  Poaching even back in those days was considered bad business, so he lost his job.  But during his time with the park system, he was responsible for naming many of the mountains and lakes in the Belly River area.  Ok, I'm one hundred percent positive the Indians had Indian names for the all of the mountains and lakes long before, but Cosley changed them all to whatever he wanted to call them.  Apparently he named several of the lakes for women he dated.  What a way to win a gals heart.  There is a small museum in the front of the ranger station with historical pieces to help tell his story.  The building itself was built in 1925.  And in the winter of 2012, for the first time it sustained significant winter storm damage.  The site was so damaged that a trail crew was assembled to be helicoptered into the site to fix the hole in the roof in order to save the historical building.  They cross country skied out when the job was complete.  

After this bit of history, we walked to the back of the site and visited with the horses while talking with the ranger/warden.   The ranger and his wife live out in the backcountry all summer maybe hiking out for a day or two along the way, but one of them always needs to stay at the site.  This  ranger was very friendly and talkative. The horses were very tame and friendly as well, one kept trying to eat on Kathi's hand/wrist and backpack.

For the return trip we just put the hammer down and hiked the 6 miles back.  Kathi and I talked with Bob from Austin, Texas, so a shout out to Bob.  Bob had been on a hike earlier this week out to Cobalt Lake with us.  Bob does volunteer work at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center down in Texas.  Bob is very knowledgeable about the flowers in Texas and was attentive to the flowers in Glacier.  Between Kathi, Bob and I we had plenty to talk about while hiking the 6 miles back to the trailhead.  It is always fun to compare notes on what we had all seen while hiking in the park this year.  Bob is a frequent visitor to Glacier and like our friend Gene loves to come and walk through Glacier, soaking in her vast glory.  At this point I'm also giving a shout out to Gene.  We met Gene several years ago in Glacier National Park on a hike and still keep in touch with him.  We had hoped to be hiking a few trails with Gene and hiking friend Joe but were unable to connect with dates.  Gene was just returning to his home from a trip to India.  When at Glacier, Gene likes to see bears as he hikes, so he can shoot them with his camera.  He carries one of those 'big cameras"  and wants to see bear, we carry two of those little point and shoot cameras and do not want to see bear...

Oh sorry back to the hike.  Our ranger leader led our group hike until we got to the portion of the trail where the 790 foot incline began.  At this point she said she liked to hike this last section slow, so if we wanted to head on out we could.  That was a nice way of saying: I'm not in cardio vascular shape and I need to go slow, so you head on up while I just work my way up sucking wind.  Well in her defense the trail was mostly in the hot sun with little or no wind blowing.  

As we headed up the last half mile we met a group of three men that asked us of we had seen any keys laying on the trail?  They informed us there were two girls up at the trail head who had hiked out and were missing their car keys. Oh,oh......  So the last half mile we kept our eyes on the trail, but saw no keys.  By the time we reached the trail head the person who had lost her keys had just returned from using the phone at the border crossing.  It seems rather odd to be standing so close to an International border, but the border control building was only 50 yards from our trail head.  The girl who had lost her car keys was trying to maintain her composure, but clearly upset.  As I would be too. She needed to get the VIN number off of her rental car, hitch a ride to Kalispell, get a new key cut for that rental car, rent a new car to drive way back to the Belly River parking lot to retrieve her first rental car, then she and her hiking friend could each drive a rental car back to Kalispell to return the two cars.  Kalispell is most likely a 3 hour drive one way from where we were standing.  What a mess.  Ok, lesson is: ALWAYS ATTACH YOUR KEYS TO SOMETHING THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU.  While we were standing there in all of the drama, she was able to arrange a ride to Kalespell for the first leg of her journey. 

Kathi has sort of lost her patience with me through the years because whenever we leave the car parked somewhere  I ask her if she has the keys.  

She looked at me after all of this drama and thanked me for always asking.... Nice!

Oh and my last statement of the Belly River trail is save it for when you have nothing else to do.  Sort of a snoozer. There are so many more trails which are more exciting!

Mt Cleveland

River along the way

Fence ahead is beginning of fence for rangers horses.

Ranger Station

Beaver pond 

Day 6 Pitamakin Pass Down Dawson Pass back on boat

Elevation gain 2,963 feet
Miles hiked 16.2
Total miles 65.2

This morning we took the fast way to Two Medicine by driving down to Browning, through East Glacier, and then to Two Medicine.  We were able to legally drive 70 mph with no worry of free range cattle on the road.  This route was 15 minutes quicker than our ride down yesterday.  Once we got to the Two Medicine area, we stopped at the ranger station for a trail update for the Pitamackin and Dawson Pass loop and they all said that Pitamackin had a snow field that required an ice axe and crampons. But as they are saying these words they are eyeing you up and trying to assess what your skill level might be... So they down grade their statement and say cautiously, that people are getting around the snow.  Do we know how to safely cross a snow field and how to self arrest?  Well, my next question is always how much space do I have before I slide off the cliff... This usually gets a curt smile.  I think think I could arrest myself safely within 20 feet... Do I have that much snow field to work with?  The ranger says with smiling eyes, I think the worst that will happen is you get to the snow field and have to turn back and be forced to hike back through all of the beautiful scenery you just saw...give it a try.

Our plan is to park the car where we will finish the hike, which is near the boat dock.  At the end of our hike, we are planning to catch a boat ride to avoid having to hike the last two miles around Two Medicine Lake.  A boat ride back costs 6 bucks per person and after 16 miles, that sounds like six dollars well invested.  The trailhead is actually in the Two Medicine campground.  We park the car and walk three quarter miles back through the campground to the trail head.  

The hike begins by gaining some elevation with many sightings of bear poo.   So we are being as loud as we can yelling out for bear.  After climbing a bit, you get up and over a shelf of a water fall and then loose all of the elevation you just earned and drop down onto a valley floor.  Once we are on the valley floor on the other side of the falls, I don't think we see bear poo again until we are climbing up to Old Man Lake.  The valley walk is very scenic as you get great views of the two mountains on either side and a great view of the head walls.  

At some point we meet up with a couple who are out practicing for a hike they will be taking to Napal.  They were standing at a creek trying to filter water.  Their purifier was not working so I offered to help them out with ours.  They declined as the guy tried putting the batteries in the correct way, which really helped purify the water much better -- details!  We hiked along with them for a while and then they faded back.  So we kept climbing. The climb is a gain of 2,965 feet.  Well lets just call it 3,000!  The majority of the "up" was in the last mile.

The climb opens ups once we get above Old Man Lake and we work our way up some very exposed switch backs.  The view just keeps getting better and better.  Once you break out at the top you are standing on a thin ridge.  We just stand there and look at the whole scene.  The other side is a straight drop off 3,000 feet to a lake.  Ok, I'm not much of a high diver so I respect the edge and stand a safe distance from both edges.  We now are ridge walking. Wow, extraordinary views to both valleys below.  We sit down and eat half a lunch.  As we are sitting there we are also eying up the snow field that the ranger was concerned about.  We can see a person slowly heading up the snow field.  Ok, the person is really far away and is as tiny as an ant.  But he looked fine, right?

We head on out and walk some more ridge line.  As we are hiking we can see two hikers coming up from the other side.  They must have billy goat blood as they covered a great amount of distance in a short amount of time.  They got to the snow field just behind us. They stopped and chatted with us.  They are hiking the Continental Divide Trail and started four days ago. (This trail follows the line of mountains which divides our United States into two water sheds: Atlantic or Pacific) They are already around a hundred miles in.  Now that is moving!  One guy is from Cincinnati, Ohio and the other from Woodbury, Minnesota.  Midwest boys just wanting to do something big, so why not hike the Continental Divide trail.  They figured it would take them four months.  Did I mention they were young?  Young people think like that.  I'm sure their parents are wondering where they went wrong?  

We chat a bit longer and they pull out their ice axes and lay a great path through the snow field. The feeling of comfort begins.  The feeling of comfort really increases as we venture across the great stepping trail the boys chopped out of the snow field with their axes.  We follow wearing ice stabilizers on our boots and hiking poles.  No problem... in fact we were able to stop mid way across and watch two mountain sheep frolic across the bottom portion of the snow field and take pictures.  Amazing.

We find our way up to what we think is called Cut Bank pass.  It is just as amazing as what we just left.  Here we sit and chat with the Woodbury man and Cincinnati man.  We wait until the couple who had the water purifier problem catch up with us.  Oh, heck chat some more.  

Finally Kathi and I decide to head out.  The next 4 miles of the trail is all exposed. Exposed as in killer drop off to the right.  But what a view! We are now walking on the back side of the top of the mountain that forms the bowl which we saw on our hike up.  Once we make it to the next ridge walk portion we somehow have lost our wind break.  We spend the rest of the ridge walk trying to stay on our feet.  I wish I knew how fast the wind was blowing out there. There were times when I tried to get as short as I could and still make forward progress just so I could take less wind.  There was no turning back, just get low and keep moving slowly.  Kathi was in front of me with her ice stabilizers attached to the outside of her pack and the ice stabilizers were blowing straight to the left.  At times you would somehow step into some wind break and it would be very quite and a great photo opportunity. During these breaks in the wind we were able to spot just below us on the cliffs edges a total of 15 mountain sheep.  Their hides were the same color as the cliffs rock so they were well camouflaged.

During the hike along this edge the Mr. Woodbury and Mr. Cincinnati pass us.  Geez those two hike fast.  They were kind enough to pass us during a no wind section so no one had to blow off.  Kathi pointed out the wind was really blasting us while we were very exposed, but at least the wind was blasting us towards to mountain and not towards the edge.  This walk was mostly 36 inches wide sometimes 24 inches and a more than a few time it was just the width of your boot.  Step with caution...

As you can tell neither Kathi or I blew off so you can start to breath again.   We ridge walked and gained a collection of pictures and memories of a lifetime. And yes, if I come back here again, I will repeat the hike.  It was spectacular!  The trip down the Dawson Pass side was less than anything to write home about.  In fact since we did that last time in 2009, I'm wondering what I had to say about it other than we had this great ranger leading the hike that day.  Today it was rather boring and very steep down.  We clomped down with not much to look at after seeing the vast mountain views we just had on top.  

We made it to the boat dock along with about 20 other people.  We sat around waiting for the last boat of the day (at 5:15 pm) to take us back across Two Medicine lake.  We could have hiked the last two miles, but had decided to take the boat...  We sat there for 45 minutes swatting horse flies and waiting.  Then about 5 minutes before the boat comes to the dock, a group comes hiking out of the woods.  They have special privileges. They get to take the boat back and we get to wait an additional 30 minutes before the boat makes a return trip to pick us up.  This was not well received by the first  crowd of twenty  ..  What could we do, we could walk the two miles back, but then we had walked 7 tenths of a mile out of our way to get to the boat dock where the car is parked, so it would have added almost three milers onto our day.  Yep, you guessed it, we sat down and waited.  Thankfully the boat made one more unscheduled trip that afternoon or there would have been a lot of unhappy people schlepping their way 2 miles around the lake.

Upon the boats return, we learn the boat only holds 49.  We have more than that, if you don't count children under the age of twelve.  They allow a few people to sit up in the front of the boat with the pile of backpacks and somehow we all managed to fit.  I hope OSHA is not at the boat dock when we get there.  The trip takes 15 minutes sailing time.  We make land fall around 6:30 and go to pay for our ride.  No one is at the ticket booth.  We look around and no one is in the area to take our money for the ride.  I think the workers were all in a hurry to pack up for the day, and could care less that someone wanted to pay.  Ok. We tried, there are free things in the world, but not many!

We headed to the car to unload our packs.  Kathi needed to go to the camp store to exchange an item from yesterday, so she headed off to do that.  I needed to get my boots off and such.  Then I headed to the camp store.  I found Kathi hanging out with Mr. Woodbury and Mr. Cinncinnatti!  They had been sitting on the camp store porch people watching and eating snacks from the store.  They were pretty spent from their big days of hiking and needed to just kick back, put their feet up, and give their blistered feet a rest.  They were planning to stay at the campground that night.  We offered them a ride as we knew it was going to be three quarters more of a walk for them. Sure they would love a ride!

We threw our stuff way into the back of the trunk and they pushed their big packs on top. Both of the guys, pulled out their ice axes and were getting ready to get into the car with them. That is sorta weird. My comfort with Mr Woodbury and Mr. Cinncinnatti seems to waiver.  Kathi makes the obvious comment....  "What's wrong with this picture?  We have two guys holding ice axes, getting into the backseat of the car that has two girls getting into the front seats."  Why do you need ice axes in the car?  They said they did not want to mess up our rental by slamming the trunk down and have the ax tip go through the trunk lid. Or it might puncture the backpacks.  Oh, ok that sounds safe and reasonable.  Ever drive two hikers whom you just met with ice axes in their hands sitting in the back seat right behind you? Well we have and because they were considerate midwest boys and one from Minnesota we did not think another thing about it being unsafe!  Why is it way more comfortable to hike right behind these guys with ice axes on a snowfield and seems uncomfortable to sit in a car with these same guys with ice axes?  Hmmmm, just thinking....

Two Medicine Lake

On top of ridge

On top of ridge

Look hard you can see the two mountain sheep on the run.  They are the color of rocks.

Step with care.

Half of the ridge walk over, half to go.

Can you spot more sheep? What is your guess?

Lakes in the distance

Down on the valley floor

We will ridge walk behind the two mountains and along the two saddles you can see in the distance.

We were climbing up some steep switchbacks here and this view gave me a good reason to stop and take a picture :)

High dive anyone?

Ridge walking

2 on left going to Nepal, 2 on Right Mr. Cincinnati and Mr Woodbury.

Can you see the sketchy little line we are going to walk

Does this add perspective?

Day 5 Cobalt Lake

Cobalt Lake

Elevation gain 1,400 feet
Highest elevation:  6,680 feet
Miles hiked 11.7
Total miles hiked:  49

Today Kathi and I both have blisters under a toe nail. Ever have a blister under a toe nail?  It feels better if you can get a needle under there and relieve the pressure.  We have done what we can to prepare our feet for the day of hiking, but you can only do what you can do right... Our morning started with glorious blue skies. This was a huge surprise after all of the rain we received during the thunderstorm yesterday afternoon with rains that followed until late into the night. We ate a leisurely breakfast and then slowly drove out of our place and up the very unimproved rode we have to drive to the highway. It is about a mile drive on the side shoulder of a poorly traveled road. When driving on it you feel like you want to hang a cheek or two on the fender of the car on the up side to keep your car balanced. Those of you who have rider lawn mowers know what I am talking about.  

We drove down highway 89 to highway 49 to get to the Two Medicine Lake area. It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. The road is a very curvy mountain driving road, the kind with with no shoulder and lots of free air on one side or the other. To make things even more challenging there were lots of free range cattle. One mother with calf gave us the stink eye as we were trying to go in the other lane to go around her. We did not think she was kidding around, she was ready to make good on putting a dent in our rental car!  We backed off and let her decide what she was going to do.

We arrived at the parking lot with about fifteen minutes before the ranger led hike was leaving. We're hoping that Pat Hagan is going to be leading the hike. Instead it was Kelly. She was very good and informative, but Pat's forte is entertainment. We decide to go with the hike and try it out. The hike started out nice until one couple started asking for every flower to be named. And with every flower they wanted to tell us about every documentary they ever saw.  Seriously, we have a long way to go and we are not even a mile into the hike but are forty five minutes in time wise. Kathi and I ditch the group. We inform Kelly that we are moving on ahead, and then throw down some dust.

Since we have seen a couple of bear scats on the trail we make lots and lots of noise as we hike. We practice singing solo and duets of our bear song.  
Go go go yogi 
You belong in a zoo
Go Go Go yogi
I don't want to see you

Go go go yogi 
You know I don't taste good
Go stand by a tree and scratch on some wood.

Go go go yogi 
Is that your big poo
Go Go Go yogi
I don't want to see you

Go go go yogi 
You know I don't taste good
Go stand by a tree and scratch on some wood.

When hiking along one can really belt it out!  The bear do not really care if you sing on key or not. Hopefully this singing will continue to be the best kind of bear repellant, Kathi has not practiced her bear spray quick draw since Sunday...and she is back in the lead.

The trail itself is sort of a rambling affair passing through spruce forest, past beaver dams and avalanche shoots filled with vegetation up past my shoulders. Since avalanche chutes are wonderful snacking habitat for bear, I sing the loudest while passing through these spots. We create some new verses to the old song "the other day I saw a bear, a big ole bear a way up there..." I'm sure the bear are holding their paws over their ears says nooooooo, not that song.

The trail does not begin the 1,400 elevation gain until we arrive at Rockwell falls. This falls is a series of 20 foot falls that cascade their way down about a hundred foot drop. The falls were running full and fast. We stopped and took a few pictures of Kathi standing in front of the falls since she works for Rockwell we thought it a nice photo opportunity.

Ok, since the climb has just begun we get ourselves into the groove of climbing. We are starting to get better views of the surrounding mountains which create the valley we are working up through. The mountains are quite a sight. The red and green argillite rocks make the view spectacular .

What is argillite? "Reddish-brown and greenish-gray in appearance, these rocks are comprised of argillite and quartzite material that was compressed under sea water to form mudstones. The chemical composition of these rocks, in addition to their place of origin within the Belt Sea - near shore versus deeper water environments, is largely responsible for the variation in color." National Park Service

The last 200 feet of elevation before the lake is a tease. You can see the shelf of the hanging lake, but the path just seems to be headed up through and away from where you think you are going. We can clearly see Two Medicine Pass past the lake and going to the top would add another 2.5 miles to our day along with another 1,200 feet of elevation. We decide not to head up to the pass and save ourselves for tomorrow's trip. 

Finally the trail drops some 40 feet down to Cobalt lake and it does not look blue. Perhaps at one time when a glacier emptied into it it was, but not any longer. We meet up with an interesting couple, both in their 70's.  The man was a former teacher, principal, and superintendent. He had done it all and was fed up with money or lack of funding creating a situation of disempowerment. The lady had had the surgery done on her toe which I need on mine. She said since the surgery her toes feel great. She is 70 and had the surgery four years ago and still no reoccurrence of the Hallx. ... She just wears her hiking boots tied kind of funny, which is what made me notice and say something about her hiking boot. You just have no idea how interesting this chat was until you have a really bad toe which does not want to bend and when it does it is a very sharp pain.  So I felt encouragement that someday I will get that toe fixed!

After sitting at the lake for an hour the ranger led group finally arrived. We needed to pack up to leave as we wanted to get back into town and have supper at Seranos, a really good Mexican restaurant in East Glacier. This is the place all of the locals go to have a good meal.

The hike out was rather uneventful. We did some singing and story telling about Kathi learning how to back up a truck with a trailer attach to it. In her much younger days in the summer she mowed lawn for the county she lived in. Part of that job entailed putting the mower on a trailer and driving from park to park to mow. It also entailed parking the truck and trailer back into the equipment shed after the day was finished. Her boss standing with his arms folded across his chest just waiting for the chuckles to begin. We had a few good laughs over these stories as she had to learn by baptism by fire. 

I guess I learned by backing a manure spreader back into the cow yard and under the barn cleaner. You had to get the spreader in the right position for farmer Curt or he would chuckle and say try again. A redo meant he would be standing and watching, shaking his head with a chuckle at all of your wrong turns... Of course if you let any cows get out of the gate while you were attempting to right the spreader location, you suffered the same head shake.  Oh yes, and you earned the right to go and chase the cows back in which ultimately caused a bigger show!

All of that paragraph came about as we were we were wondering it we would like a camper. A pull behind camper of sorts.  Of course during the ownership of a camper trailer one would have to back it up into a tight spot. And you can bet there would be a person or two who would be watching with the expectation of a chuckle or two... We have very mixed thoughts on the ideas.  
the gift shop. We need some Cheetos. This is the only time during the whole year that we can eat Cheetos, and I don't want to run out of them!  We make our way back to the parking lot and drop our packs off so we can go shopping at 

 What is not to like? The scenery is amazing!

A look from the lake up to Two Medicine Pass

Suspension bridge

Kathi at her Rockwell Falls  

A shelf like falls just before the lake

We are standing in front of the lake.

Indian Paint Brush

Inside East Glacier Lodge.  The main room has these huge Douglas Pine tree pillars holding up the roof.

Day 4 Piegan Pass, This is a recovery day :)

Piegan Pass
This is a recovery day.
Miles hiked:  9.1
Total miles: 37.3

We woke to very gloomy, low hanging, thick clouds . It looked like rain.  We drove to the St. Marys Ranger station, which was officially closed but the doors were open. We snagged the weather report and read that thunderstorms were predicted by 2 pm. We walked to the Shuttle bus stop and waited for the first morning shuttle to take us up to Siyeh Bend.  The road maintenance crew has started to move to the east side of the park. Wait times can be up to a half an hour.  The road crew were suppose to be working on the road by Siyeh Bend where our hike was starting from.  This would greatly limit parking, so we took the free shuttle and because Kathi has to follow my special Going to the Sun Road driving directions. The list has grown through the years so it seems better to allow a bus driver to shuttle us up there. Then Kathi can sight see all she wants with out me telling her to move over, slow down and get your eyes back on the road! Seriously if you have never driven this road you have not lived a full life! It is a heart stopper and breath sucker! 

We arrive at Siyeh bend in a half hour. We had a small wait in construction on the way up, otherwise the ride was very nice as Kathi and I shared the bus with only one other passenger. Ok personally I was elated the other passenger was going up one more bus stop as he had issues. Or as Kathi noted, he was not quite right. He sat in almost every seat on the bus on the drive up except for the bus drivers seat and the two we were using. He was producing body sounds that generally people do not produce in the company of other people. And he shouted a glory hallelujah when Kathi and I got off of the bus. Well buddy I could not agree more. I'm thankful you are not getting off at this stop either.

At the sign board we learn about locomotive bells which were installed by the Great Northern Train company and Glacier National Park in 1926. The bells were installed on top of Piegan Pass, Siyeh Pass, Swiftcurrent Pass and Henry Pass. The idea was that visitors to the park would enjoy ringing these bells as their horse trail ride passed up and over these grand mountain passes. This bell ringing idea was borrowed from the tradition practiced in Switzerland. In 1943 the bells were turned in to the World War II scrap metal drive. All that remains from these bells are the cemented rock pillars which all of these bells were installed on top of.

Well, that explains the cemented rock pillar up at the top of Swiftcurrent Pass. When you pass that pillar, people have over time added a rock to the pile and created rock by rock a massive pile. But you can still clearly see the cemented  rock pillar. Cement in the back country out in the middle of nowhere is a bit unusual. So without us even knowing it we have hiked past half of these historical markers.

Back to the hike. This trip up to Piegan's Pass is a steady up that seems rather tame after yesterday's epic adventure. The trail is actually soft under your feet and for the first part you are in the woods yelling out to scare the bear, but having the opportunity to have a good smell of fresh spruce. We have nothing to really look at for the first hour as the clouds are hanging very low and it is hard to see anything except what you should be looking for and that is bear.  

As we hike, we begin to see the faint outlines of what must be the mountains to either side of us. We would every once and awhile get a feeling that the sun was trying to poke through. Slowly we began to see more and more of our surroundings. It seemed suddenly the sun had burned off all of the cloud cover just as we got into view of the long last switchback up to the pass. What a view. We could see a long skinny line up to the pass.

There were three snow fields we had to walk over, but with a good pair of hiking boots and hiking poles it was no problem. We shared the pass with one other couple.  As we both shot some pictures and ate lunch. We were able to go over the pass and look down towards the Many Glacier valley.  Many people will hike this as a point to point hike from Siyeh Bend to a trailhead in Many Glacier if they can arrange transportation. As we were sitting and eating the temps started to drop and the wind picked up. Time to head on back down. 

On our return trip we met several other hikers who got a very late start on this hike. They must have not have snuck into the rangers station and read the weather report. There are suppose to be thunderstorms at 2. We clumped our way down towards the shuttle pick up the bus with me in the lead. As the leader I had to pass the quick draw test on pulling the bear spray and getting ready to unload it in two seconds. Yep, I used up three of my practice lives before Kathi would sign her approval in my bear spray fast draw technique. 

For the first time in forever, my toes are blister free and Kathi is suffering a pinky toe problem. I think she will be losing her toenail, and it is pretty beat up. It is bothering her.  I understand her pain, but when I tell her to think of the bright side which is it only hurts every other step she finds little or no humor in my bright side comment. I'll see if I can doctor up her toe later. I have lots of experience with these things.

During our trip down we find a young man who has gained the confidence of a white tail deer. The deer followed him closely for about a quarter mile, but stopped at a creek crossing. I'm suspecting the little deer's mom told him to never go across the creek bed.  No matter what the young man tried the deer stayed put.  Further down the trail a group of six trail maintenance crew were working on a creek crossing bridge. Inspecting their work was a female elk. We watched her for a bit until she crossed the creek.  

We made it all the way back down to our starting trailhead. We had only to just crawl up the last twenty feet of embankment when the shuttle passed by. We missed the shuttle and the next shuttle was an hour wait. We had wanted to take the shuttle up to Logan's Pass to look around, but now had a hour wait ahead of us. We had nothing to do, but sit on the shuttle bus bench and wait. 

While sitting there we were able to people watch. A bunch of people who were driving the going to the sun road had parked their cars and walked up to a snow field which had a waterfall entering the top and rushing out the bottom. It was sort of like watching to see who would kill their self first. The Darwin Award can be awarded for anyone who kills them self doing something that any sane person should deem foolish. Really they were doing very foolish things.

After sitting there we made the decision that we would not take the shuttle to Logan's Pass, but should really take the shuttle down to where we parked the car.  After waiting for almost an hour for a shuttle to Logan's pass just to look around and then most likely having to wait another hour to catch a bus down was not in our best interest. We moved to the going down shuttle bench. This was by far the best idea of the day. As we sat there and waited for the bus,

Clouds hanging low

Can't see much

Zoom in and you can see the long final switchback to the pass.

My favorite flower Purple with little tiny yellow pin heads.

Up at the pass looking over into many glacier valley

Kathi is standing next to the old bell tower.

looking down Piegan Pass

Friendly deer

Friendly female Elk

storm clouds were gathering. We pretty much drove the 18 miles down from the bend with the rain on our tails. Yes, the thunderstorm did arrive. But not till 2:30.

It rained on and off most of the afternoon and evening.

Day 3 Swiftcurrent Pass to the Fire Lookout on top of Swiftcurrent Mountain

Swiftcurrent Pass to the Fire Lookout on top of Swiftcurrent Mountain

Starting elevation is 4,940 feet
Highest elevation 8,402 feet
Miles hiked:  16.2 miles
Total miles:  28.2

Sorry I don't know how to turn this picture...  But our trip today is to the top of  the one with the red arrow.

Today was a beautiful morning when we started out for Swiftcurrent Pass. We are carrying bear spray today. We bought some yesterday after our hike and for the first time, we are packing heat.  We read all of the instructions last night and this morning we practiced our grabbing and firing positions. Trying to get the safety cap off and ready to deploy in 2 seconds is a matter of practice and bear spray can positioning. We managed to not deploy any spray with all of our practice . Since the can only holds 4 seconds of spray we were very cautious. $50 bucks for 4 seconds of spray which you hope deters the bear from attacking... We finally hit the trail at 9:12. Sort of late for the two of us.

We decided to maintain our regular yelling of "yo bear, go on now" as there is no need to see a bear so early in our hiking day.  We are clipping along at a good speed as my heart rate is up over 87% of max. Let's not forget Kathi likes to get it into high gear right out of the gates. I request we slow down, so I can get warmed up first. It takes me fifteen minutes of slow hiking before I'm ready to go... Fortunately, Kathi has hiked with me so long that she honors my request or she needs me for bear bait on her back side, I'm not sure which.  

After our warm up is over, Kathi puts it back into high hear and is clipping along when all of a sudden she is actually hopping backwards and the words out of her mouth are not really understandable. I'm not sure if she was speaking in tongues, but the actions I was seeing told me something big was coming at her down the trail. I'm thinking she would be reaching for the bear spray any moment. Really, she should be reaching... but at last she jumps up and off of the trail with a yelp. A ground squirrel scores a kou by running up to her and touching her hiking boots before disappearing off into the brush.   To explain a kou, I make a reference to the Blackfeet nation and the coming of age of a young Brave.  The Brave needed to earn his way into manhood by showing his bravery by scoring kous.  Sometimes this meant riding into another Indian camp and touching the shoulder of an important person of that tribe. I try not to laugh as I am trying to get my heart rate back down to normal. I thought by her reaction and lack of speech it was something bigger than a ground squirrel...According to Kathi the ground squirrel first looked like it was scared of her and ditched off the trail only to turn and get back on the trail and run up and over her boots. 

Ahh, back to hiking after the whole squirrel event. We have settled back into a nice pace when all of a sudden Kathi stops and sucks in her breath fast. I immediately get scared, because it has to be a bear this time. Geez, just grab the bear spray!  Nope this time it is a little ole white tailed deer standing five feet off the trail just behind a bush munching on some grass. We have not even gone 2 miles and my heart has stopped twice! I can't imagine what will happen if a grizzly is coming down the trail. I hope I don't have to find out.  Geez, when you hike in Colorado you have the altitude sucking your breath away, here in Glacier it is merely the thought that a Grizzly might pop out at you...

The trip back to the end of Swiftcurrent valley is very pleasant. There are many lakes and waterfalls to look at. You can look up on the sides of the mountain and and see if you can spot a Mountain goat or mountain sheep or since it is far enough away, look for Grizzleys. This is a prime passageway for the bear.

Our next encounter with wild life is a few rabbits. They are very cute and look rather dapper. But they have the hugest feet you have ever seen on a rabbit. I think they have built in snowshoes. The rabbits body is the color of bark and their feet are white. They are not very afraid of people.

Once we got to the back of the valley the work really begins. There are very long switch backs that zigzag you back and forth up the side of the mountain. As you rise in elevation the view you gain of the chain of lakes is a stunning sight. One which only increases in beauty as you gain in elevation.

When you are looking at the face of the mountain you can not see the path. All you see is a solid looking head wall. But sure enough the switch backs get you past it all of what looks all cliffy from below. I'm not going to lie, it is a climb, but the trail is wide and well maintained. Once off the face of the mountain, but still climbing, there were a few snow patches.  Thankfully, we were able to see where the trail picked up on the other side. Not like last time when we had to really search for the trial.  

At the trail junction just past the official marking for Swiftcurrent Pass we sat and had 1/2 a lunch and talked ourselves into continuing up to the lookout tower which sits at the top of Swiftcurrent Mountain. We had the chance to watch a three-some appear and disappear from our view as they gained purchase of the summit.  Kathi and I both decided we should go for it. There might not be another chance like this... we are there, and so close. It is only another 1,200 feet up in 1.2 miles... For those of you who don't know what that means, it means up, like walking up the stairs for an hour.  

As we were going up we see a big horned ram wandering and grazing by himself. Again the climb is all switch backs going from one side of the ridge to the other. This allowed us to view down into two different valleys which were vastly different. One was very green and full of meadows and pine and the other was standing with burnt trees from a fire in 2006. It was well worth the effort.  We made it to the top in an hour. While on the summit, we took some pics of the lookout, which was manned by a person who's job is to watch for fire.

After a bit of a rest we know we need to get going as we had a long trek out.  

On the trip down the mountain we scared up some mountain goats.  It was another heart stopping moment, as we we came around a corner and scared them as much as they scared  us. Watching them scamper along the face of the mountain with only the slightest of foot hold is very memorable. The goats were kind enough to be moving along the mountain with us, but well up and out of the way. So our goat viewing went on for a very long time.

We did see one more big horn ram sheep, but it was way down by Red Rock Falls, which is very busy. I was very surprised it came down that low. We wanted to watch it longer but a small group of three people scared it back into the thicket...rats!

We finished and stopped at the campground to fill up all of the empty water jugs that were at the house so we had drinkable water for the next several days.  we have nine one gallon jugs we fill up at the Swiftcurrent camp ground.  

First lake we encounter.  No wind makes for a great reflection!

Almost to the top of Swiftcurrent Mountain.  We are way high!

Get a good look at the Mountain Goats just above the snow line.  I hope you can enlarge this picture.

This is all that is left of a bridge after the spring thaw.  Just two  timbers.

.

Looking down the valley you can see the chain of lakes carved out by a  glacier.

Now the view is all the way up the valley to Many Glacier lake and lodge

Nestled in between the rocks are beautiful flowers all about one inch tall.

Swiftcurrent Fire Lookout.  The person stays up here all season long.

Kathi almost to the top.

View off to one side of the switchbacks.

Privy cabled to the side of Swiftcurrent Mountain.  Im not sure I would use it in the middle of the night...

We drove home two very tired girls filled with the memories of a epic hike.