It was rainy. It was windy. It had graupel. It was windy. It had snow. We had fun, or at least some of us did.

The day started at 7 a.m. and put us on trail around 9:30 with one car going through Conrad to pick up Shelley. We stopped briefly to view the Old North Trail sign along the road before pulling into the campground and hikers' parking area.

Before we started on trail, June spied something on the hill above the trail. It was very tan and partly blocked by trees. At first, we thought a mountain lion, but then it emerged from behind the trunks and we could see it was a large golden fox. He ran over the edge and out of sight.

The day seemed windy, but not too bad as we climbed up the ridge to gain access to the lake. On the way up, we saw the sign about the East Slope Back country horsemen maintaining the trail and two markers for members who had passed on.

Once we reached the top of the ridge, we weren't prepared for what hit us!  Wind, probably 60-70 mph gusts that made us turn around to have it at our back. We couldn't talk to each other the wind was so loud, but we all managed to get a look at the dam and snap pictures of some flowers, which were gorgeous: pasque, kings crown sedum/rosy sedum, Jacob's ladder, shooting stars to name a few. Usually, the sight of the teal-colored lake is what is a surprise; this time, the wind!

At this point, three of the gals decided to abandon the hike and return to the cars. The other felt bad since they would be waiting a long time, but we thought they might explore around the dam a bit while seven of us soldiered on.

The trail then headed downhill, which once we did get lower, we were out of the main gusts. In fact, in the treed sections, we couldn't feel the wind at all, but it was still hard to talk with the rustling of the trees. We shouted loudly to ward off any bears, knowing it would be hard for them to hear us. We did see several piles of bear scat and a few tracks, but small ones, probably black bear. We also saw many moose tracks, but we didn't see a moose.

Our destination was first Hell Roaring Falls or Spring. We viewed it from across the lake and then up close as the trail goes up and around it. It's amazing to see this water flow forcefully straight out of the ground and tumble down the mountain into the lake.  Our next destination was the first creek crossing, that of South Fork of Birch Creek.  This is three miles in and out turn around point. We would have had to wade the stream, and with the other gals turning around, we thought we should get back. It had already taken us three hours on trail, facing the wind and snapping pictures of glacier lilies and other flowers and views along the way.

A few times we decided to gain a high point for views; every time we regretted it as we were blown down, only our poles to hold us up.  We had graupel pelt us in the face. We had a few showers and even some snow flakes, but we weren't sorry we continued as the views and flowers were worth it in the end. Even when we regained the ridge and had even stronger gusts than when we started out.

After we got back, we were surprised that the other gals didn't get out of the car at all while we were gone due to high winds. They said they almost fell asleep. But we woke them up and headed to Dupuyer for some hot slaw, sweet potato fries and burgers at Buffalo Joe's Cafe. We arrived home around 6 pm.

On a side note, Katie rolled down the passenger window in Susan's car, and it wouldn't roll back up. Susan called her husband because it had happened before; to fix it, he banged on the door, but our bangs weren't working. He wasn't any help. It took a whole bottle of cream rinse to untangle Katie's hair after she got home. LOL

Who went: Gail, Jo Ann, Shelley, Katie, Susan, Debra, June, Sara, Catherine. Carol

Sara and Jo Ann headed out at 8:30 a.m. to the Falls Creek area outside of Augusta. We stopped in Augusta at Allen's Manix Store for a bathroom break and purchased a snack, arriving at the trailhead at 10:30 a.m.

No other cars were in the parking lot and we did not see anyone on the trail. It was a beautiful day with partly cloudy skies and some wind gusts tugging at our hats. At the trailhead we were welcomed with a lovely patch of pasque flowers and shooting stars. The wildflowers did not disappoint: yellow bell, sugarbowl, cous biscuitroot, nineleaf biscuitroot, pink cushion phlox, buttercup, cutleaf daisy, prairie smoke, rabbitfoot crazyweed, larkspur, oregon grape, arrowleaf balsamroot, stoneseed.

This was the first trip for Sara, Jo Ann had been once before. We did not find the first falls but did enjoy views in another area overlooking the creek with a patch of pink cushion phlox on the rocks. We made our way to the top of the second falls, took photos and headed down the trail to find a spot out of the wind for lunch.

As we walked back down the trail, Sara spotted a garter snake in the middle of the trail. Jo Ann screamed! The snake moved faster to get off the trail!  Jo Ann exclaimed, "A snake is a snake! All are scary!" On our way home we visited Len Kopec and Deva McKnight in Augusta. While there, they were notified to keep the dog inside as a grizzly had been spotted up the creek from Len's house.

We arrived home around 4 p.m. Another great day in Montana's  great outdoors. 

Climbing a butte  on the east side is always a wonderful thing to do as the views from the top show where the mountains meet the plains with 360 degree views that include the Rocky Mountain Front.  So at 8 a.m., six GiG members headed out to trek up one of the newest buttes to open to the public: Lionhead.

It had really rained hard in Great Falls the night before, so we were a bit worried about gumbo roads. The whole way out, we were looking for puddles, which did seem to get fewer and fewer as we approached Fort Shaw, our turn.

However, June said Cascade had had a downpour that rained out the evening baseball games, so we worried anew.  But not to worry, as the roads were mostly dry, although they had the distinct ruts from others who had driven the road when it wasn't so dry.

Anyway, we arrived at the gate, parked along the road and got on trail around 9:20. We all wore gaiters, thinking the brush would be wet, since this is a bushwhack, but we didn't have any trouble as we waded through rose bushes and many wildflowers: fritillary, shooting stars, golden peas, numerous biscuitroot, including big seed, larkspur, showy locoweed (aka rabbitfoot crazyweed) and a few arrowleaf balsamroot. We also didn't see any snakes, another reason for gaiters. We also brought wading shoes as there is one small creek crossing, which we worried might have swelled due to the rain over the last two days. But it didn't. We walked right across it. Some of the gals left their watershoes/sandals/crocs by a rock all strung together in case wind came up. We were a bit worried about finding them on the way back; luckily, KuntZ's were bright pink.

The first part is up, up, up until we reached a nice resting spot under some evergreens. Then the more challenging footing begins as under the brush hides quite a few rocks in this section. We all had to watch our feet and got a bit too high, so we backtracked down until we found the slot in the back of the butte. Once there, we were able to follow an elk trail almost to the top.  And we saw a ton of elk sign, but only two herds of deer, one on neighboring Birdtail Butte and one group of seven whitetail just below the summit of Lionhead.

On the last approach, we walked up a rocky ridge, with June hopping around one outcropping wondering if she could get her husband to do this climb. She thought he could make it to one outcropping, but Katie said it was worth it to push on for the views of the Rocky Mountain Front, which didn't disappoint, with the snowcapped peaks popping out against the bright blue windless sky.  We had lunch on top and didn't want to descend it was so pretty and warm.

Then it was back down, but instead of retracing our steps, we decided to follow the fence line to see if it connected to the road. It's a bit out of the way to go this direction, but it was easier walking and avoided much of the tricky footing of the rocks hidden in the grasses. And it did run into the road, so we walked it back to our cars with one caveat: June forded the creek and walked along it for a while to pick up everyone's sandals and watershoes. She found them all easily, minus one of Doreen's, so she went back to find her left shoe. Going this way, we also saw signage indicating parking areas for hunters, so we wondered if we could open the gate and drive this way. We would save the worry of a creek crossing and get closer to the approach. (follow up: June called the owners and confirmed that we can drive and park at the back of the butte).  Luckily, we didn't run into cattle the whole day; in prior years, we had to do a lot of shooing and shouting to get the cattle to stop following us).

We were home around 3 p.m.
Who went: Susan, June, Doreen, Sheila, KuntZ, Katie

Even though the weather looked a bit iffy, five gals headed to the Hannah Gulch/Wagner Basin area for some cliff walking. Of course, before we walk the cliff we have to do some up, up, up to get to it.

We started early at 7 a.m. in hopes of avoiding the predicted afternoon sprinkles, which we ended up doing. We picked up Viki in Augusta and arrived before 9 a.m., seeing two herds of bighorn sheep ewes and yearlings on the way: no babies yet.  On a side note: it was the first time Katie had taken passengers in her car. With all gals vaccinated, we felt safe riding together. The drives are so much more fun when we can carpool and talk along the way.

As we geared up, we could feel the wind just starting and wondered if we would make it to the top, but we did!  Along the way, we negotiated over two small run-off streams, saw slopes of magenta douglasia and a handful of biscuitroot, and braced for the gale-force winds awaiting us at the top. The way required quite a bit of side-hilling, so Susan went even higher to avoid some of it. Due to the gusts, we didn't stay long to enjoy the sweeping views where the sun river snakes its way from the mountains to the plains, but we stopped behind some trees to grab a snack and put on more layers.

The trip down was a bit more eventful: we scared a group of rams and got tangled up in brush on the stream crossings as we ended up quite a bit lower than on the way up.  We were able to find some game trails that led across the stream. Some of us waded while Cathy and Debra were able to jump across using logs and rocks. We figured the bushwhacking would bring us ticks and it did.

By the time we reached the picnic table at Wagner Basin, we discovered two of the blood suckers. By the time we arrived home, the count had risen to 10. Ick!

After the hike, we decided to play a bit of tourist and show Debra the pictographs as well as the Gibson Dam overlook. We also drove past the memorial for the Mercy Flight that went down in Hannah Gulch. It's always interesting to visit historic places.

We arrived home around 3 after dropping Viki back at her car in Augusta.

Who went: Susan, Viki, KuntZ, Debra, Katie

"It's been about 20 years since I rode a bike," one Gigger commented. "But I went around the block a few times to make sure I could switch gears." And so it went with most of the gals, but we all completed the almost 10 miles of biking that was mostly flat, minus the hill that Katie didn't tell us about.

The day started off at 6:30 with loading the bikes onto Suzie and Doreen's vehicles with some help from Suzie's husband Mick who met us at the district offices. Then it was off to Two Medicine to meet with Sheila, who was coming from Coram.

We had two groups: one with 8 who would bike and hike and one of five that would just be hiking.

The Bikers:
After a stop in Valier, we found Sheila ready to go, her new e-bike ready. She became our mother hen, riding up and back to make sure we were altogether and no one had issues. With our snowshoes strapped to our backpacks or in some cases on our bikes or in our backpacks, we found it too difficult to view behind us.But Sheila kept track of us all, even stopping to help Rose when her chain came off. And Josy went back to help as well, right on the hill causing her to do the hill twice!

Before the hill, we stopped to take the short half mile hike into Running Eagle Falls, formerly Trick Falls. The falls was spilling over the top from snowmelt runoff as well as coming through the subterranean tunnel, which it does year round except when frozen. We saw lots of moose sign and tracks, but no moose. And the river was full so we couldn't cross over to see the falls up close. We were reminded of the time we crossed over on a log and Susan slipped and fell in. The log is still there, just mostly submerged, but Susan said she wasn't going to cross it--haha.

Then it was up the hill to the lake; except for two or three, the rest of us walked part of the way on this stretch, with a few questioning Katie's assessment of the bike ride as being mostly flat! But again, we all survived and made it to the lake for a nice lunch looking at Sinopah mountain across the lake.  Katie pointed out the mountain names, including Lone Walker, Rising Wolf, Painted Teepee, Never Laughs Apistoki and Scenic Point.
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Then we started the snowshoe portion of our hike, hoping to make both Aster Falls and Paradise Point; however we got stopped a half mile past the Paradise Point turn on the way to the Falls by a gigantic flooded area that is normally still covered by snow. No one was into wading in knee-deep water so we turned around and went to Paradise point for another rest with a view.

Then on the return, we were going to take off our snowshoes and bike into Pray Lake before we headed back to the cars when the wind started picking up and the clouds moving in. We thought the better of it and decided to go back a bit early.

The ride back was a breeze with just a bit of uphill coming up from the lake; then we coasted the rest of the way. On the ride home, we stopped in Browning to order ahead our dinner from Buffalo Joe's in Dupuyer as we were all hungry.  At the restaurants, some Hutterite men at the bar tried to engage us in conversation but they didn't get too far. After dinner we took the Pendroy cut-off to the highway and arrived home around 7, an hour earlier than expected.

All in all, we challenged ourselves, survived a bike ride and picked up a waterfall for our 2021 challenge.

The Hikers
Our group of five ladies met up with the other group of bike riders that were going to bike and snowshoe into the Two Medicine area. This area of Glacier has been out of our reach for a year so everyone was eager to get into the park. It was fun to see the bike riders with all of their gear for hiking, biking and also a snowshoe. The excitement was palpable and after a few pictures, everyone headed down the road.

The bikers left us in the dust but we were able to catch them at the Trick Falls parking lot. We were glad that the eight bikers had forged a trail through the snow so our post-holing was keep to a minimum. We arrived at the falls and were graced with a specular view of a double falls that only can be seen early in the year. After a stop to enjoy the scenery and a snack, we headed back.

​We saw a few bikers on the road that were taking in the spring weather. Our group stopped for lunch at Buffalo Joe’s in Dupuyer and we were back in town by 5:00 and all marveled at the beautiful weather and a super day of hiking.
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Who went: Hiker: Gail, Noreen, Maria, Randi, Jo Ann; Bikers: Susan, Sheila, Suzie, Doreen, Kalah, Josy, Rose, Katie

Seven Giggers made a four-mile round trip hike up Trout Creek Canyon in search of the rare Kelseya uniflora, which grows on limestone cliffs in eight counties in Montana, four counties in northwestern Wyoming and two counties in south-central Idaho. The plant was first discovered along the Missouri River northeast of Helena in 1888 by Francis Duncan Kelsey, one of Montana’s first resident botanists.

From the beginning of the trail, we observed many mats of tiny blue-green rosettes on the cliffs but few flowers. About two miles in, we found one mat with flowers in the beginning stage of blooming. Along the trail, we stopped at each of the ten stations and read from the Forest Service brochure which discussed erosion, vegetation, limestone formations, birds and other wildlife, flooding, Microclimates and caves. This was the first time Sheila, Debra, Randi, and Noreen had been on this hike.

Since we were all Covid vaccinated, we were happy to hike without social distancing, to ride together again and to stop for lunch at the York Bar.  Due to prior commitments, Sheila and Noreen did not lunch with us. The burgers did not disappoint.  

We left Great Falls at 8 a.m. and returned around 4 p.m. Who went: Jo Ann, Gail, Kuntz, Sheila, Debra, Randi, and Noreen. 

Three of us headed out to do a snowshoe to Sunset mountain on Rogers Pass but it was a bust. First, the crosswinds were so strong, the drivers had to slow way down as we were tossed around on the highway. Second, the snow was intermittent drifts, with the drifts being very icy. After we walked up the trail partway, we decided to continue down the road and go to Flesher pass in hopes of finding better snow, which we did.

Even though the snow was better, it was very thin with bare spots at times. However, the wind was gone! We went from a gray day with 30-40 mph gusts to a slight breeze under blue skies.  The views into the Seeley Swan area, the Rocky Mountain Front, the Adeles as well as the Holter lake area were fantastic as we snowshoed on top of the Continental Divide Trail, amazed at how lucky we were to have this experience.

Instead of following the official trail, we stayed high along the top ridge as it had better snow. We saw many tracks from voles (field mice) to fox, maybe coyote, lynx or bobcat, birds (we suspect magpies), squirrels, snowshoe hares and deer.

We only went 2.5 miles as the snow was a bit too thin to continue without going up another steep hill. By the time we arrived back at the cars, we didn't want to leave the warm sun and blue sky. We ate lunch at the liftgates of our cars before heading back to face the awful crosswinds on the other side of Rogers Pass.

We left Great Falls at 8 a.m.. and arrived back in town around 1:30.
​Who went: Viki, Katie, Suzie

Despite high wind warnings, possibilities of ticks and snake, 11 GiG members braved the elements and headed out for a loop hike along the shores of Holter Lake. Actually, the high wind warning was for the afternoon in the Holter/Helena area, but the winds had picked up to 30 mph plus in Great Falls the night before, so some ladies dropped thinking the winds were also on the other side of the canyon as well.  We had 10  people on the waitlist, so we were able to fit more in last minute, so all was good.

We left Great Falls at 8 a.m. bucking winds until Cascade. We were surprised at the number of disabled cars along the shoulder of the highway: four, plus one had a deer right by it (very sad). Then we came to a truck being taken out of the median area by a tow truck, so five disabled vehicles.  The deer was just a precursor as we happened upon two deer herds crossing the road on the way into Holter.

After a bathroom stop at Craig's fishing access by the bridge, we made it to Juniper Bay, meeting Viki from Fairfield there.  We were on trail around 9:35.  We divided into our two groups, one led by Katie and Camille and one by Viki and Sheila. The wind was negligible and the temperature in the 60s, so we were stripping layers immediately.  

The views were super: we saw the back side of Sleeping Giant (Beartooth Mountain) to the west across Holter Lake and Sacajawea peak to the south

When we got to the place on trail between two hills, one 500 feet higher than the other, we re-divided into groups: those going up the smaller led by Camille and Katie and those going up the larger with Suzie. We planned to meet in the Log Gulch picnic area after. As we watched the climbers ascend, Kuntz notices a small herd of deer not far from them that wandered under some trees, the other gals unaware.

The first group made it to the picnic area 30 minutes earlier than the others, so we finished out lunches in the sheltered area and then decided to lake just as the others were coming down the trail, so we all went to the lake.

After the second group finished lunches, we started on the loop portion of the trail that hugs the lake, producing even better views. Also, by the lake, we saw our first spring wildflowers: douglasia, storks bill and dandelions; we also saw some bluebirds, but we didn't see any bighorn sheep, a bit of a disappointment. We finished the hike by 12:50 and arrived home by 2 p.m. bucking strong winds from Tower Rock on.

​We were all so glad that we got out of the wind for most of the day.

​ Who went: Camille, KuntZ, Debra, Roni, Paula, Josy, Sheila, Viki, Noreen, Suzie, Katie

The second trip, we did face winds even though not as much wind was predicted! But it was warm enough and sheltered about half the time that the breeze didn't ruin our time. 
Deer were all over on this trip as well, both in the fields and along the road on the way in.

We followed Wayne's group with his Wayne's Wednesday Walks group. A few times he told us about the flora, pointing out an early-blooming cous biscuitroot, explaining how it was an important food for bears and native peoples.

Besides deer, we saw no other wildlife except a dead vole (meadow mouse) on the trail and ants swarming their hill. No sheep on this trip either. We did learn about rubber rabbit bushes and woolly mullein, sometimes called lamb's ears.

The views were super, and this time, just three days later and unlike the experience of the the other group, the lake was entirely free of ice with several boats out and fishermen along the shore.

We ate lunch in the picnic shelter at Log Gulch. Then we said bye to Gail as she walked the road while the rest reclimbed the ridge and took the 2.25 mile loop while she walked just over a mile on the road.
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We finished by 2:20; home by 3:30. 
Who went: Doreen, Gail, Maria, Jo Ann, Katie