Five gals from Mountain View, Alberta, joined 8 from Great Falls and one from Eureka for a magical march up to the top of Scalplock Mountain. The day started at 6 a.m. with arrival at the trailhead just before 9 a.m. and getting on trail by 9:15.

It was a bit chilly, hovering around 30 degrees, when we started out but we quickly shed our layers as we started the climb of the 20 switchbacks. To make it fair for everyone to have a chance in or near the  front, as that is a common complaint of those who always get stuck in the back, we switched the leader every switchback. However, a few got shorted with only a few steps before the trail doubled back again. 

We made quite a few stops to glance at the views of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River surrounded by larch in full "bloom," as we wound our way up the trail. We were surprised that we really didn't see any bear scat, or other scat for that matter, along the trail. We just saw the road apples left from the mule train that would have carried the lookout's belongings, gear and remainder of food down after a long summer watching and spotting this year's fires. Near the top, Susan C thought she saw some old moose droppings, but that was it. However, on the way down, we were treated to three bald eagles catching the thermals and playing in the wind, such a majestic sight.

Some of us struggled with the intensity of the uphill; after all, this hike has over 3,000 feet of gain, making it just barely, but still in the very strenuous category for our hiking group.Some of us struggled on the downhill even more, wishing for younger knees. But at the end of the hike, the Americans were all looking forward to a nice soak at the Izaak Walton's hot tub, as six of us were staying the night.

At the top, we were happy to rest and have lunch, either at the picnic table, or on the side of the mountain enjoying the views into the Great Bear Wilderness with its majestic Great Northern Mountain with Stanton Glacier on its flank or St. Nick (St. Nicholas) on the Glacier Park side. 

We stayed about 45 minutes before starting our descent, with one group of Roni, Nona, Deb, Madelon and Josy going in a fast group and the rest of us stopping for more pictures of the glowing larch and taking a more leisurely trip down.

When the second group made it down at 4:30, the others said Katie's husband had dropped by on his way back from climbing Ousel Peak. He too couldn't resist a hike seeing the golden colors this time of year.

Then it was off to Izaak Walton and saying goodbye to the Canadians who were headed home, Madelon who left right away before the others got down and to Deb and Roni who went into Kalispell for the night to say happy birthday to one of Deb's daughters. The rest of us drove the one mile to Izaak Walton for a fine dinner. But we had two surprises: Katie's overnight bag was in Deb's car, so she was without her toothbrush, toiletries, clean clothes and pajamas (the rest of the gals came through with clean shirt and leggings and the Inn had toothbrushes). The second surprise was that the hut tub wasn't working.  So some of the gals could instantly feel their muscles seizing up even more without a good soak. But we all survived.

Some of the gals headed downstairs to see what was on TV or play some games. Kuntzie found a copy of the Wizard of Oz and put it into the DVD players. Several stayed to watch it.

The next morning, we wanted to eat at the Snowslip Inn; its website said it was open from 8 am.-10 p.m. every day of the year. However, when we arrived at 8:20, it was closed, despite the OPEN sign on the door. So we headed back and had breakfast at the Izaak Walton. After breakfast, all but Kuntzie took a mile and a half walk around the grounds, looking at the cabins and cabooses and hiking up the icy and snowy Essex Creek trail. It looked quite a bit different from in the winter, and no trail signs were up yet. We also saw Gumbie with his dog Jake. He said "hi" and hoped to see us come winter time too. He was showing the winter help staff, newly hired, the trails and how to ride the fat-tire bikes that the Inn rents.

After stretching our legs (at 10:45), we packed up, Deb and Roni came to meet us and pick some of us up, and we then drove to Valier with a quick stop at Rock City, a place only two of the eight had visited before.  Most were amazed at the hoodoo formations and the beauty of the Two Med river where it and Birch Creek and the Marias converge.

We arrived home before 4 pm, in time for Kuntzie to stump for Tester.
Who went: Susan C., Susan W., Josy, Roni, Deb, Anita, Katie, Madelon, Kuntzie; Canadians: Laura, Joan, Carol, Nona, Dina

Three gals headed for a sunny day among the hoodoos as they wandered around Rock City amazed at the unusual rock formations. After peaking in and out of the sentinels and other fun stone sculptures, we followed the trail down to the bank of the Two Medicine River, right before it merges with the Marias. Then we hiked along the upper rim to a high point where Birch Creek comes in. We were amazed at the overhang and wondered if it were wise to stand in some of the places where we just were.

After we hiked around for about a mile and a half, we headed into the town of Valier, where Doris gave a brief history of some of the older parts of town followed by a quick visit to Lake Francis. Then it was lunch at the Panther Cafe and home.

Who went: Doris, Viki, Randi

The GiG has climbed Crown Butte four times: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, but Mary S has never been able to make it. Plus we had at least three other trips planned, but the weather and gumbo roads prevented us from going.

So it almost seemed like a miracle when it didn't rain, the roads were good and we made it to the parking lot without incident We did have a few cows blocking the road (and a dead one to drive around), which Mary expertly navigated.

The weather was nice, very slight breeze, some clouds and haze from the smoldering fires. We made it to the top easily, enjoying some late flowers (showy and white asters, blazing star/gay feather, Canadian goldenrod. The fall colors were just starting, and currants plentiful.  Along the trail, we saw much bear scat with berries. We also saw one live and one dead mouse and a snake at the very end of the day. The snake coiled and made some noise, making us think it might be a rattler; but then we saw a pointed tail and knew it was just a bull snake, thankfully. 

We also saw hawks (or maybe harriers or falcons) and heard them. We even saw one try to make a meal of a magpie, but they all flew off cawing.
When we neared the top, we saw an abandoned bike. We were amazed at the athleticism the person must have to be able to bike up the steep trail. And since we didn't see any other car around, we knew the person must have pedaled the 7 or more miles of dirt road. We wondered who it might be. But we didn't find out. We saw no one on the top; the bike was still there when we left.

On top, we had a fun look-see around the rim, admiring the lime-green lichen, the spires of shonkinite with its black embedded augite crystals creating interesting formations on the edge of the butte.  We also wondered about the cracks in the rock that almost looked like they had mortar in them. In places, the spires looked man-made. We did find the Nature Conservancy sign on an overlook facing Square Butte.

We left GF at 10 a.m. and returned by 4 p.m. after a stop at the Mennonite deli.

Read more about Crown Butte here.
Visit Montana
Virtual field trip with geology (won't work on most mobile devices)
Who went: Karen, Mary S, Katie

Info from Nature Conservancy
​Crown Butte rises 900 feet above the foothill prairies just east of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. Fortified by tall columns of igneous rock and never cultivated or heavily grazed, the butte serves as an outstanding example of undisturbed native grassland.
Looking west towards the Front Range of the Rockies, wading through the robust native grasses atop the butte, the visitor feels transported in time to an era long before the first wagon train moved west across the prairie.

GeologyCrown Butte is a geological formation called a laccolith. It was formed by intrusions of molten rock, called dikes, which flowed between layers of shale and sandstone that were laid down as marine deposits nearly 80 million years ago. The weak overlying layers bulged upward as the molten rock (magma) intruded, creating the lens-like body of the laccolith. Some of the dikes are visible to the west of Crown Butte, and the soft underlying layers of shale and sandstone are seen at the mouth of the canyon to the south. 
After the magma cooled, it formed the resultant rock called shonkinite. Shonkinite is a distinctive rock that contains the glossy black mineral augite, which appears as small stubby crystals. Upon cooling, the rock contracted, causing vertical fractures that formed the towers and columns. While this weather-resistant rock still protects the underlying sedimentary rocks, the surrounding layers have eroded, exposing the butte.  
Laccoliths are rare formations, particularly ones with exposed dikes. Crown Butte is one of the finest examples of a laccolith in central Montana and most likely the world.

WildlifeAlthough the most striking features of Crown Butte are the rising columns of rock and the wild grasses, the preserve also provides a rich habitat for wildlife. Mule deer are often seen browsing on the summit or along the north slopes of the butte. The loud chants and trills of the rock wren can be heard from every outcrop on the butte. American kestrels, Cooper’s hawks, great horned owls, and prairie falcons hunt the butte, as do golden eagles.
The rocky remains of an “eagle catch” are found on the southeast corner of Crown Butte. Here, within the circle of stones which form the “catch,” native people would hide under branches that they had laid across the top. By placing meat or other bait on the branches they lured eagles to the “catch.” Once the eagles were lured, the natives reached up through the cover of branches and grabbed the legs of the great birds. The eagle’s feathers, considered to be sacred, were then used in clothing, head-dresses and ceremonies.
Vegetation Crown Butte offers an exceptional opportunity to encounter an undisturbed grassland ecosystem. The four main grassland habitat types are grouped according to dominant plant species. They are: 1) bluebunch wheatgrass/blue grama (on west-facing slopes and on the crest of small knolls); 2) rough fescue/bluebunch wheatgrass (on slightly more moist sites); 3) rough fescue/Idaho fescue (the most productive climax plant community on the butte); 4) Idaho fescue/bluebunch wheatgrass (found less frequently, usually on west-facing slopes, and includes needle-and-thread grass and thread-leaf sedge).

We were off to make a dream come true for Gail: achieve the hike to Ptarmigan Tunnel.  For some reason, in all of the years of GiG, she had never done this hike. The weather looked good, and the Park Service had just reopened the trail after more than a month of closures due to bears.

The day started off at 5:15 a.m. and took us through fog, lot of it, slowing us down as we drove around Duck Lake, amaking us worried that we would have a bad day of hiking despite the "mostly sunny" predictions. As we started the trail, we noticed the path to the Many Glacier Hotel was closed with a Danger-Due-to-Bears sign. We realized that the bears must have moved over just slightly; all day long we saw piles of bear scat on the trail, full of currants and berries.

We did have fog for the first part of the hike; however, we had beautiful glimpses of snow-dusted Mount Wilbur, Gould and Grinnell, that got hit with the white stuff the night before.  The trail had a few puddles to prove that the weather had come and gone, too.

But what really impressed and wowed us were the fall colors: reds of the huckleberries and fireweed, salmons of the spiraea, oranges of the currents, yellows of the silverberry, aspen and thimbleberry. The brightness almost hurt our eyes. And we couldn't stop taking photos, which probably cost a half an hour of time, but who cares? 

Another surprise was that some of the trees around Ptarmigan Falls must have fallen down as we could get a full view of this before-hidden cascade.

As we took the turn toward Ptarmigan Lake, the trail took an uphill slant, but we kept moving and pretty quickly. The wind started coming up as well, chilling us. Just before we got to the lake, we heard a large animal walking around and hitting rocks in the creek below us; however, the willows and other brush was too thick for us to see. We imagined it was a moose due to the willows. A little later we heard what sounded like gunshots and some rocks falling from the mountainside to our right. From past experience, we knew that bighorn sheep were in the cliffs butting heads, but alas, we couldn't see them even though we looked and listen for a bit. We wondered if what we heard before was sheep crossing the creek before heading up the hillside.

At the lake, we took a very short break, grabbing a quick lunch and putting on more layers. Then we had to remind Gail about Susan's advice: do not look up.  At this point, it is easy to get discouraged, look up at the switchbacks through the scree and give up.  But we weren't going to let that happen. We were going to make it no matter how long it took, so slowly, slowly we did just that. It took about 50 minutes from the lake to the tunnel. We took a few pictures at the overlook and in front of the tunnel before heading through it.

And the views! Wow, we had fantastic sights into Lake Elizabeth and the Belly River country. Most of the hikers we met going down as we headed up said they were unable to see the lake due to fog and clouds, but by the time we got there, the clouds had lifted. We commented that sometimes there is a benefit for taking your time.  

Then we went a bit further down the trail so that we could see Old Sun Glacier, one of the few that isn't melting rapidly and in some years actually grows a bit. It sits higher than the others at 8,200 feet and has a mostly northern exposure, further protecting it. Read more

​We admired the striated rock and the lime-green lichen clinging to it, before heading back through the tunnel to descend. On our descent, the colors were still popping, even a bit more, since the sun had poked its head out of the clouds. The underbrush on the side of Grinnell Point really stood out.

At the parking lot, we saw three huge, silver-backed grizzlies above the trail--luckily they were quite far off. Several people had spotting scopes to get an up-close look at them. 

We had a nice early dinner (4:40) at the Swiftcurrent Inn before heading back home. On the way, we saw one black bear and four more grizzlies. We arrived in Great Falls around 9:15
Who went: Gail and Katie

This day held a surprise along the way, which would unfold  once the gals attained the top of the Piegan Pass.

Three gals, all of whom had never taken this path before, decided to give this  nine-mile hike with just under 2,000 feet of gain, a try, planning for a slow pace if necessary. Two others had really wanted to do this hike, but weren't able to make it. They sure missed a nice one.

With all three of us having never done this hike before, we decided to play it safe and start really early as the days are rather short in September.  We left Great Falls at 5:30 a.m. and got on trail at just before 9 a.m. We had no trouble parking in the small lot at Siyeh Bend as we were the first ones there.

At this time of day, it was quite chilly. In fact, it was so chilly that normally on-fire Susan even put on a jacket, much to the other two gals' amazement. But in not time, we were shedding layers as the uphill starts out right away.

The hike itself was beautiful. Preston Park and other sections of the trail still had flowers, mostly asters, pearly everlasting and Indian paintbrush, sticking out among the fall colors of the underbrush. The berries really shined too: elderberries, black twinberries, mountain ash.

In general, we had the park to ourselves, seeing only about 20 people on the trail and most of them were heading to Siyeh Pass, so we lost them at the fork.  We did come across some hikers at the top of the pass who had come up from the Many Glacier side, having done the hike the hard way with 4,000 feet of gain and only 2,000 feet of loss.

We ate lunch at the top of the pass and didn't see any of the pesky marmots that can harass hungry hikers.

On top, June went off trail exploring a bit when she found what looked like a very pretty, but very uniform-in-shape, rock.  When she picked it up and turned it over, she saw it was a small stone plaque that had a name, number and date on it. We weren't sure where it had come from and surmised maybe it was on top of the mountain and had come done in a rock slide. It read: "Forever Loved, #4014 Mark S. Williams, 2017." It appeared someone may have scattered ashes or just wanted a remembrance of a loved one placed on the pass for some reason, perhaps it was one of his favorite hikes. We wondered what the #4014 meant.  Gail did some sleuthing and found a reference to a Mark Williams dying in 2017 with reference to the same number, but still the number is a mystery for its meaning.  We left the rock plaque where we found it. See photo slideshow below and this link.

We didn't see much for animals, except one sheep that was lying down both coming and going.  We surprised ourselves by finishing the hike at 3:30, about an hour earlier than expected, but the weather had been perfect, not too hot, enabling us to really make good time.

On the way home, we stopped at a couple places to eat but they were all closed, so we just headed home. We arrived back in Great Falls at 7:30 p.m.. 

Who went: June, Gail, Susan W.

Bright red fireweed, hot orange mountain ash, snow berries, saskatoons/service berries and a few hucks--These provided a wonderful understory as we sauntered through thigh-high brush and gorgeous aspen groves before we broke out into the alpine section of the Firebrand Pass hike with our Canadian sister group, the WoW (Women of Wonder).

The day started and ended with a train blocking our way, making us wait to get over the tracks to the trailhead for this little-used southern-part-of the-park hike. Even though it is not very popular, about 20 cars were parked at the end of the day. Most of the activity was probably due to the west-side fires shutting down all of the trails, forcing everyone to the south and east side.

Six Americans (five from Great Falls and one from Eureka joined seven gals from Alberta, Canada. We got on trail at 9:30 a.m. behind six other parties who got an earlier start.

As we made our way on the flatter part of the path, we marveled at the fall colors: the oranges, yellows, lime green and red ground cover really popped in the sun. We knew autumn had started when we saw the false hellebore drooping and brown from an early frost and August snow.  Contrasting with the fall colors, we also were happy to see blue sky instead of the smoke we have been used to for over a month. With predictions of 48 miles-per-hour winds, we were surprised that we didn't even feel a breeze--yet.

When we hit the alpine section, we felt a breeze and knew the scree section could be challenging if a big gust came where the drop offs were at a dangerous angle; but luckily, the wind kept mostly to our backs and didn't present any issues.

However, on top of the pass, the wind was gale-force. We had a hard time keeping on our feet. After enjoying the views of Mount Despair, Peak 8888, Summit and Little Dog and taking a few pictures, we scooted down the side of the pass behind some trees and bushes to get out of the wind before eating our lunch. 

Then we headed down and retraced our steps, leaving the side trip to Lena Lake for another day. On the way back, we came across several parties just getting started, including a tour of about 30 people, including some Asians who didn't appear to be properly dressed for such a trip.

Interestingly, we didn't see any animals: none of the usual bighorn sheep or marmots showed their faces, but it could have been the wind. A few of us did hear the whistle pigs (marmots) calling to one another. Some thought they heard pika too. However, we did find a green shieldback Katydid, sometimes called a Mormon cricket.
​
We arrived back at our cars around 4 p.m. and headed to East Glacier for a meal at Serrano's but not before getting in a little shopping at Glacier Park Lodge gift store, the pottery shop and the Old Goat Traders.
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After dinner, we drove home arriving back in Great Falls at 8:15 p.m. 

Who went: Americans: Madelon, Susan C, Anita, Mary S, Beth, Katie; Canadians: Laura, Marilee, LaVern, Dina, Joan, Shellee, Lorna

es, we hiked the O'Brien ski trail, not knowing what to expect without the cover of snow. We did get a surprise or two along the way in the form of bushwhacking through willows, rock-hopping at stream crossings, climbing over and under deadfall and slogging through mucky springs. 

We left Great Falls at 7:15 a.m. and got on trail at 8:45 a.m. after dropping a car in Neihart and a bathroom stop at Silver Crest. At the top of Kings Hill Pass, we were surprised to see all of the rigs with trailers, but then we remembered it was the start of bow season. Frustrating us, the hunters had parked sideways, blocking all of the spots, so we had to park across the highway. 

The hike starts straightforward enough, following the cat track of the snow machines to the edge of the Golden Goose ski run. Then it takes a turn from Showdown and continues through the lodgepole pines until it hits the open area of O'Brien Park: so far so good. The trail was very easy to follow without many obstacles until this point. And the blue diamonds were plentiful as well, clearly marking the way. During this part of the hike, we followed a bow hunter, dressed in camouflage. We figured he was really thrilled to have us yakking and laughing, scaring all of the elk away.

After we crossed the service road by O'Brien Park, the going started to get rough. At this point, the trail follows a drainage with many rocks in it, real ankle twisters.  To avoid the rocks, we often found ourselves in tall brush which disguised holes left by elk hooves and burrowing animals. We saw many piles of elk droppings and matted areas where the herds had slept.

This drainage then ends where it enters O'Brien Creek, the start of our bushwhacking portion of the adventure. The rest of the day we were searching for the few blue diamonds (some of which were new and of a royal blue color instead of the traditional aqua and much harder to see, we found), in hopes that they would aid us in finding a way out of the marshy mess of willows. 

Several times we tried to go higher on the sidehills to avoid the muck. However, there were many springs oozing out, which created a bog too. Our boots sunk down. At times, it was easier to step on the willow branches to help stay atop of mud.
Another obstacle we found when we went high on the hillsides was deadfall: hundreds of trees littered the forest floor. The going was very slow at these places.

We also faced about 15 stream crossings; a few of us fell in at various times as we used downed logs and rocks to avoid wading. We all brought water shoes/sandals, but we never did change. Some of us probably would do so next time.

The trail was pretty despite the obstacles with deep greens along the creek, with even a few late blooming flowers: purple showy asters and harebells, deep orange paintbrush, fringed grass of Parnassus, yellow and pink monkey flowers, Shasta daisies, to name a few.

We were also fascinated with all of the green-lichened rocks  that had tumbled down the mountains, producing enormous talus fields. In several places, the steep rock walls created beautiful canyon. And we came across the old homestead, that is fast disappearing--in the snow, only a few logs are apparent; however, we saw some old kitchen items including a washbasin.

Despite the pluses, we all said we weren't eager to hike O'Brien Creek again any time soon. We were happy we did do it, but it wasn't the easiest trail to follow in summer. It is a much better ski (but most felt trying to snowshoe this route would be over the top--a very long day indeed)

The trip took us six hours to cover 8.5 miles, a long time due to all of the difficulties along the trail along with route finding. Then four of us walked the extra mile to Bob's bar while the others shuttled to get the two cars at the top of Kings Hill.

After a late lunch (3-4 p.m) at Bob's, we arrived home at 5:15 p.m. On a side note, Tony at Bob's Bar said he has an offer on his business. If he does sell, the new owners will take over by Christmas. And he wants us to stop by his house after he leaves. However, he may have to move as the new owners are from Texas and as of yet can't find a house that is acceptable. They may want to buy his house as part of the deal. We were all saddened by this news.

Who went: Karen, Anita, Susan C, Katie, Gail, Jeanne, Susan W, Sara, Catherine

It took four gals three days of calling with over 800 phone calls each day to get us our four days of hiking, five days of fun, but also smoke, in Canada’s Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park. We were able to get 12 spots, three short of our hoped-for 15. (Thanks to Jo Ann, Gail, Susan, Mary for all your persistence)

So 12 of us took off Aug. 12 and returned Aug. 16 for an adventure in the Canadian Rockies.

Day One
It all started at 6:45 a.m. as we crowded 12 of us and our 50 pounds each of gear into two vans, with Catherine and Deb driving. Thank goodness for these vans, which were full, luggage even at our feet.

Our first night would be spent in Canmore, a seven-hour drive, with a quick hike to the Grassi lakes, two emerald green gems with a wonderful waterfall along the way. We did the loop hike and followed the easy road-like trail to the top and then the steeper rock-stepped trail with railing back to the parking lot. This hike was a great leg warmer for our future harder hikes to come in Yoho.

We had a nice dinner at Wood, a sports bar type restaurant, and then a few stopped to get some libations and fresh food (we weren’t allowed to take fresh fruit or much alcohol over the border) for our first day in camp. Then we had Roni’s homemade Scotcheroos for dessert.

Our rooms at the Silver Creek Lodge were very nice: two bedrooms, two baths with a somewhat uncomfortable pull-out sofa to sleep six each (expensive at almost $500 per room per night). One of the baths had a weird shower that dropped a steady, hard stream directly from the ceiling, and one of the rooms had a non-functioning air conditioning, which was difficult to manage since the smoke was too thick outside to open the windows. But we survived the one night.

Day Two
It was up early for our drive to the shuttle stop, which would take us into the Lake O’Hara campground, our base camp for the next four days. The shuttle for which we had tickets was the 10:30 a.m. one. We arrived at the parking lot at 9:45, just time to purchase our park pass, unload and then park the cars and visit the pit toilet before boarding our shuttle.

The Lake O’Hara Lodge bus and shuttle to the Elizabeth Parker Hut came before the campground one, but we were ready. The driver gave us each a green plastic token that we had to keep for our return trip. And despite prior years, the driver did not weigh or even pay too much attention to our bags that we had carefully checked to make sure we weren’t overweight.

After a very bumpy bus ride, we arrived at the campground and had a few of our gals claim our sites while the others unloaded and watched over the gear. The ranger gave us a talk about leave no trace, how to use the wash basins to catch our grey water and put it down the toilet and about using only biodegradable camp soap to wash. She also explained about putting all food items, toiletries or anything smelly into the bear-proof lockers and then placing the rest of our items, including poles, boots and packs, inside our tents. Anything else could be placed inside the storage area by the lockers.
Then the ranger told us about a closet that housed extras: extra sleeping bags, pads, emergency blankets, tarps, etc. These are items donated or left behind by other campers for all to use. These would come in handy later for us.

The day was gorgeous, without smoke, since it had rained the night before. We also thought we were a bit north of the fires and hoped the north wind would keep the smoke blowing to our south.

After we set up our tents, we took a hike to Linda Lake and the Morning Glory Lakes, a hike Katie had never been on, but which on the map looked fairly flat with just a few hundred feet of elevation gain. The hike was beautiful, wandering through what we called a gnome forest with gorgeous green underbrush, ferns, mushroom (especially red-capped russula) and many lichens. Then Linda lake was very pretty with the surrounding mountains and lovely meadows, full of paintbrush, showy asters, arnica, fringed grass of Parnassus, and western/seedhead anemone, aka hippy on a stick.

Then we continued to the Morning Glory lakes, but this section was steeper and longer than expected and not as pretty. It did, however, take us on a loop hike instead of an up and back. At the end, it passed by the Elizabeth Parker Hut, a backcountry hut run by the Alpine Club of Canada, the sister club of the U.S’s Sierra Club.

Then in another quarter mile, we hit the road and stopped at the Le Relais shelter for fudge bars and sodas before heading back to the campground to fire up our JetBoils to make our supper of dehydrated meals.

After dinner, four of us (Karen, Susan, Roni, Katie) took a two-mile stroll around the lake, visiting the Seven Veil Waterfall, admiring the cabins (Katie’s favorite is number 6) and getting gorgeous photos of the orange-pink alpine glow on the mountains and their reflections in Lake O’Hara as the sun set.

At the camp, we talked to some of the other people to hear their hiking tales; Katie met two Italians, both from northern Italy, one from a town near her relatives. Everyone was very friendly.

Then we faced a very cold night that got down to 35 degrees. Our breath was visible as we got up to watch for the Persied meteor shower, but no one saw even one shooting star, unfortunately. Several got cold, so we visited the closet with the “extras,” using two sleeping bags and two mats. Catherine needed two extra bags plus an emergency blanket. Katie’s new mat went flat so she used one of the mats (but it wasn’t comfy so she slept on top of her clothes); Jeanne used a second matt to keep warm.

Day Three
Today was a big hike day for both groups: those doing part of the alpine circuit and those who planned to hike to the lake and maybe meet up with the alpine circuit group to tackle the Yukness ledges. Katie was leading the alpine group, while Gail led the lake hikers. 

The alpine group had to make its way up the insanely steep Wiwaxy Gap, which travels 1600 feet in just over a mile. Some of us realized that we weren’t in shape for the task, saying, “I’m done with uphill.” “I didn’t sign up for this.” “This is harder than anything I have ever done.” “Oh gosh, I don’t think I can make it.”  Toward the top, we were taking 30 steps and then resting for 30 seconds, and some were eating one Honey Stinger every 30 minutes for more energy. Susan encouraged everyone by saying, “We got this, Girls.”  We all did make it, the views were spectacular, but this ended hopes of doing more of the alpine circuit as it had taken us over three hours to do one mile. Sidenote: the purple saw wort flowers were almost dead, an unusual flower we do not have in Montana.

Those doing the high trail also faced some “scary” sections on the Huber Ledges as we descended.  Several of the ledges were narrow with steep drop offs, so Kuntzie, Roni and Katie led showing where to place feet and hands and checking out best routes for the others. By the time we reached Lake Oesa, most had had enough, so Katie made the decision that we would not do the Yukness Ledges part of the trail and instead call it a day and head back along the Lake Oesa trail.
We had hoped to meet the other group at Lake Oesa, but we didn’t see them. At one point, Katie thought she spied them sitting at the lake as we looked down from above, but once we got to the lake, they weren’t there. We wondered if they had made it to the lake.

On our way back to the campground, we didn’t’ see the other group, but we did enjoy Victoria Falls, Victoria Lake, Yukness lake and Lefroy lake. However, the smoke really set in. We could no longer see the surrounding mountains, and a haze set in over the lake. We arrived in camp after a stop for ice cream and cokes at Le Relais by 4:30.

As we were preparing dinner around 5:30, we started to get a bit concerned about our other group since they weren’t back, and we hadn’t seen them on the trail, so Katie started asking incoming hikers if they had seen three gals on the trail. No one coming from Lake Oesa had but two couples were pretty sure they had seen our gals on the Yukness Ledges. They said they were moving slowly but all was well and that the gals were having a great time.  We weren’t convinced that the three were Gail, Karen and Jeanne, but we were encouraged a bit.

Then the ranger came with the last shuttle of the day at 6:15. Katie and Kuntzie thought we better tell her about our gals not being back yet. The ranger told us that she has seen our gals and that they had done the ledges! She was surprised that they weren’t in camp yet. We were so happy and amazed that they had gone on this tough route.  Then Katie and Susan thought the gals had probably stopped at Le Relais for ice cream, so they started down the road to meet them, which they did. The gals had stopped to soak their feet in the lake.

They looked great and had stories to tell about the ledges, being a bit scared but glad to have done them. We all hugged them as they entered camp, so happy they were safe and so proud that they had done the Yukness ledges when the rest of us hadn’t. Gail said they almost ran out of water but that they met a hiker “Jean Pierre,” and he had given them iodine pills just in case. Jeanne said that she now knew what scrambling and bouldering meant.

After they fixed their food, Roni got out the rest of her Scotcheroos and some cookie bars! What a treat these homemade desserts were. A few of us played the dice game “Greedy,” a variation of Farkle or 10,000.

Katie said goodbye to her Italian friends as they only had one day in the park (they got in on a cancellation).

That night, several of us went to the Le Relais shelter to hear a talk about bats; however, it was a bit elementary and relied on audience participation.  No one was cold this night as the smoke has warmed the air. We noticed when we got back that the clientele had changed from mostly older hikers to young families. We were in for a “no sleep” night with screaming kids and crying babies. The kids were really running around the camp too. And when we asked the parents about their hikes, they explained that they had gone off-trail climbing Mount Schaffer and Wiwaxy, class three and four scrambling that required roping the children while the babies were strapped to the parents’ backs. We were a bit horrified by the description.
Funny exchange during the hike as we made our way along the ledges: “Watch out for the rock.” “Which rock?” “The green one.” “They’re all green.”

Sidenote: Susan accidentally dumped her meal on the ground; several of us shared our meal.

Day Four
By now, Katie knew that no one would be up for another alpine hike (the original plan was to get up very early and try for the Oderay Overlook); the smoke would hinder the view anyway, so we planned to hike together to Lake McArthur, the most beautiful lake in the park.

We still got up a bit early in hopes that the cool evening had damped down the fire a bit. But the smoke was still thick. We were happy to get out early anyway as we beat the other hikers to the lake and had it to ourselves for a while. But it was too bad that we couldn't really see the glaciers or the gorgeous sky blue of the lake.

​s we had lunch, everyone was bugging Brenda to try more things: she sampled an apple, mango and a few other items that had not passed her lips before as she is our meat-potatoes-pasta gal. 

Along the way, we saw many, many western/seedhead anemones, many that were pulled up with roots exposed along the trail. We wondered if kids had picked them or if an animal had been munching the roots and pulling them up.

This hike has a couple of challenges that require using hands to get through the rocks, which everyone handled like experts both coming and going. The surprise on the trail was a pika that came out from a rock right by several of the gals feet. And he didn’t disappear under rocks like pika usually do; he/she stayed visible running along the rocks and stopping so we could get good pictures.  Maybe this was the culprit making a meal of western anemone roots? We added speedwell to the list of flowers we saw.

Anyway, we arrived a Le Relais for another fudge bar/ice cream snack at 2:30. Then it was back to camp for a rousing game of Greedy (Kuntzie came from behind, then Roni passed her and then finally Catherine nailed the win with five ones/aces—Wow! Our laughing caught the attention of other campers, who commented they hoped they would be having as much fun as we when they get to “our age.” Hah!

We had a quiet evening of visiting and coming up with “trail names” for those on this adventure and for the others in our group. (See our website for our names). Katie gave out information on what we had to do to be ready for tomorrow morning’s 9:30 shuttle as we prepared to leave our Yoho trip.

Then a few of us headed to Le Relais one for time for the night program, which was on the artists of the Canadian Rockies. However, even though the gal was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, the projector didn’t work so we couldn’t’ see well and many of us were tired. The program ran over on time, so we lost interest. Too bad as her presentation had such potential. It did spur some of us to do further research on these artists once we returned home.

Day Five
We got up around 6:30 a.m., took down our tents, put away our borrowed gear and had breakfast, putting our bags “in line” at the shuttle stop by 9 a.m. as requested by the rangers. We said our goodbyes to Lake O’Hara with several of us taking one last half-mile walk down to the lake (Katie, Susan, Roni, Deb). We knew we would have a long 8.5 hours of driving. Susan and later Katie talked to the author from the night before, who told us about her favorite restaurants in Canmore in case we wanted to eat lunch there.

After arriving back at the parking lot, we sent the drivers to bring the cars around, packed them up, used the facilities and were on the road by 10:30 a.m. We decided to eat in Canmore after a brief look at Lake Louise as several had never seen it (a mistake as we couldn’t even see anything due to traffic and smoke. We drove in to be turned around by security and pointed back to the highway as all lots were full.)

The author-recommended restaurant Blake turned out to be a wonderful stop, with excellent and interesting food (or were we just sick of dehydrated food so anything tasted good?)

Then it was back home with a few stops for gas/breaks and snacks in Shelby. No one was hungry in Lethbridge, so we just scooted on home, making it in by 8:30, a full 10 hours (which included a long lunch) of travel time.

Some of the silliest things we brought: make up, eyelash curler, gin, rum, wine coolers, melatonin, sleeping pills, foundation, mascara, ear plugs, mattress pad that had a hole in it, lipstick, battery charger, way too much food

Good deeds we did: gave out two maps to those who had none; gave coffee packets to others, gave dessert to family who had kids, left emergency blankets for the “extra” closet, talked to others about how scary/not scary Wiwaxy was; found a man’s missing glasses

Who went (by tent): Susan, Katie, Catherine; Sue, Kuntzie, Mary N; Jeanne, Gail, Karen; Brenda, Deb, Roni