Glacier!
back on the trail at long last.
We had a nice journey up here, a great wedding on a sunny weekend in Yellowstone, a fine stay in Missoula, where we caught up with some friends old and new, a complicated series of rides to West Glacier where we found another friend to stay with for the night. We picked up our backcountry permits for Glacier, complete with a whole string of advisories and warnings, ranging from grizzly bears to avalanches, and ending with "itinerary not recommended". Another series of rides brought us right to the Canadian border at Chief Mtn., and we began our hike back to Cuba trudging down to the swollen Belly River on a rainy afternoon. We saw 1 other hiker that day on the trail, and met 2 others at the campground. Those would turn out to be the only other hikers we saw in backcountry of the park - though at the time we didn't know that, of course. The reasons why we were to have it pretty much to ourselves were also yet to become apparent.
The walk through Glacier was phenomenal. So good to be back in the northern Rockies, green with plenty (perhaps a little too much) spring rain, snowy crags rising straight up into the clouds, daylight from 5 am till 10 pm. The sweet smell of cottonwoods in the valleys, fir on the slopes. And up high, just mountain goats, rocks and ice. The first couple days were especially nice, even a little sunshine, and our first pass, Red Gap, almost snow free. So we were pretty optimistic about the rest of the hike through the park.
The next few days things got a lot harder, with seemingly ceaseless rain and wind. The second pass we climbed was Piegan, and in the approach up the valley we hit deep snowfields a good 2000' below the pass. The trail disappeared beneath the snow, and we were left to figure out the best route on our own, through forests, up mountainsides, across avalanche chutes littered with broken tree trunks and debris. And not quite knowing where exactly the pass was, just somewhere up there in the mists. But we perservered and eventually made it up and over, and back down the other side.
The weather got worse the next day, but with no passes to climb we made our 15 rain drenched and brushy miles by 3 pm.
The following day we hit Triple Divide pass, which splits the watersheds of Hudson Bay, the Atlantic via the Missouri, and the Pacific via the Columbia. With a name like Triple Divide it had to be tough, and it was. The rain had translated to fresh snow above 6000'; the pass is around 7400'. Not high by southern Rockies standards but plenty high for June in MT. So it was a bit of slog, with vast, strangely dimensionless snowfields to climb and cross. With the sun hidden in the cold, swirling mists, it is almost impossible to assess the steepness of a snowfield - no shadows, just white - which added to the fun of course. It took a few hours to get up the last couple miles, and guess what the view was like, over the other side - more of the same. Dramatic, beautiful, bleak, the sound of waterfalls way down there, dropping from the glaciers and perennial snowfields into the rainy valley below. But we knew it would be work breaking trail to get down there. Luckily, about halfway,we met a few mountain goats headed up, so we could at least follow their tracks to where the snow tapered off.
Basically, Triple Divide pass kicked our asses. We still had one last pass to go and a 21 mile day to get to East Glacier. And no sign of better weather. So we decided to take the first valley out of the mountains, and hike the rest of the way in the foothills and prairies. So yesterday we headed out, with the rain still relentless on our backs.
Put together a nice route across beautiful grassy bluffs and ridges, green, spangled with purple lilies and larkspur, white and red paintbrush, groves of aspen, pine and fir. And great views of the mountains - but with their fresh snow and cloudcovered summits, I can say I thought they were much better enjoyed from the distance.
20 some miles later we are in East Glacier, doing errands, enjoying the comforts of civilization once again. Have run into a couple other CDT hikers preparing to begin the trip. Hmnn, what to tell them about the route?
"It was great. You guys are going to love it."
Preparing now for the Badger - Two Medicine/Bob/Scapegoat. We are thinking about a lower route, maybe through the foothills for a day or two...
We had a nice journey up here, a great wedding on a sunny weekend in Yellowstone, a fine stay in Missoula, where we caught up with some friends old and new, a complicated series of rides to West Glacier where we found another friend to stay with for the night. We picked up our backcountry permits for Glacier, complete with a whole string of advisories and warnings, ranging from grizzly bears to avalanches, and ending with "itinerary not recommended". Another series of rides brought us right to the Canadian border at Chief Mtn., and we began our hike back to Cuba trudging down to the swollen Belly River on a rainy afternoon. We saw 1 other hiker that day on the trail, and met 2 others at the campground. Those would turn out to be the only other hikers we saw in backcountry of the park - though at the time we didn't know that, of course. The reasons why we were to have it pretty much to ourselves were also yet to become apparent.
The walk through Glacier was phenomenal. So good to be back in the northern Rockies, green with plenty (perhaps a little too much) spring rain, snowy crags rising straight up into the clouds, daylight from 5 am till 10 pm. The sweet smell of cottonwoods in the valleys, fir on the slopes. And up high, just mountain goats, rocks and ice. The first couple days were especially nice, even a little sunshine, and our first pass, Red Gap, almost snow free. So we were pretty optimistic about the rest of the hike through the park.
The next few days things got a lot harder, with seemingly ceaseless rain and wind. The second pass we climbed was Piegan, and in the approach up the valley we hit deep snowfields a good 2000' below the pass. The trail disappeared beneath the snow, and we were left to figure out the best route on our own, through forests, up mountainsides, across avalanche chutes littered with broken tree trunks and debris. And not quite knowing where exactly the pass was, just somewhere up there in the mists. But we perservered and eventually made it up and over, and back down the other side.
The weather got worse the next day, but with no passes to climb we made our 15 rain drenched and brushy miles by 3 pm.
The following day we hit Triple Divide pass, which splits the watersheds of Hudson Bay, the Atlantic via the Missouri, and the Pacific via the Columbia. With a name like Triple Divide it had to be tough, and it was. The rain had translated to fresh snow above 6000'; the pass is around 7400'. Not high by southern Rockies standards but plenty high for June in MT. So it was a bit of slog, with vast, strangely dimensionless snowfields to climb and cross. With the sun hidden in the cold, swirling mists, it is almost impossible to assess the steepness of a snowfield - no shadows, just white - which added to the fun of course. It took a few hours to get up the last couple miles, and guess what the view was like, over the other side - more of the same. Dramatic, beautiful, bleak, the sound of waterfalls way down there, dropping from the glaciers and perennial snowfields into the rainy valley below. But we knew it would be work breaking trail to get down there. Luckily, about halfway,we met a few mountain goats headed up, so we could at least follow their tracks to where the snow tapered off.
Basically, Triple Divide pass kicked our asses. We still had one last pass to go and a 21 mile day to get to East Glacier. And no sign of better weather. So we decided to take the first valley out of the mountains, and hike the rest of the way in the foothills and prairies. So yesterday we headed out, with the rain still relentless on our backs.
Put together a nice route across beautiful grassy bluffs and ridges, green, spangled with purple lilies and larkspur, white and red paintbrush, groves of aspen, pine and fir. And great views of the mountains - but with their fresh snow and cloudcovered summits, I can say I thought they were much better enjoyed from the distance.
20 some miles later we are in East Glacier, doing errands, enjoying the comforts of civilization once again. Have run into a couple other CDT hikers preparing to begin the trip. Hmnn, what to tell them about the route?
"It was great. You guys are going to love it."
Preparing now for the Badger - Two Medicine/Bob/Scapegoat. We are thinking about a lower route, maybe through the foothills for a day or two...
posted by coop at 9:49 AM
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