WoW—The Women of Wonder were sure wonderful on the trip to Mount Robson, a provincial park just out of Jasper and just barely in British Columbia. Mary S and Katie headed to Mountain View, Alberta, to stay with Laura, who co-leads the Canadian hiking group WoW. It took us about four hours of driving to arrive at her place to stay the night before our big adventure started.

That evening, we repacked our packs, questioning every single thing that we were taking, trying to get our weight under 30 pounds. Katie, Mary and Laura managed to do so (26, 27 and 29), but most of the others were carrying between 30 and 40 pounds. Some of the crazy things we felt were essential at the beginning of the trip but would probably should have left behind: camp chairs, glasses cleaner, full tubes of lotion and sunscreen, mirrors, glow sticks, sewing kits, hammers, mirrors, hairspray, swimsuits, umbrellas, just to name a few!
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Then it was up early the next morning to take our last shower before our six days without a bath. We left at 6:45 a.m. for the 10-hour drive to the Visitor Center and camp ground for our first night of roughing it. We had a day of trying our patience—waiting in line for a park pass; waiting in line to use bathrooms at Lake Louise, waiting in line for construction until we finally arrived at Mount Robson provincial park.  But the drive was drop-dead gorgeous along the icefields parkway even though the Columbia icefield had receded so much; the aqua-blue lakes, the jagged peaks. We were in awe. We also saw a bear and an elk (the rangers were set up on either side of the road slowing people so no one would hit him, we surmised).

After we arrived, we had to stop at the VC (we arrived at 3:30, which was actually 4:30 our time) to pick up our permits (again, we had to wait)  and have our mandatory orientation about pack-it-in, pack-it-out protocol as well as other rules of the park. Then we headed to the campground to try out our tents for night number one and enjoy a dehydrated meal for supper.

The next day, we were on trail by 8:30 after a quick breakfast of oatmeal and nuts plus the last of our fresh food, such as bananas and yogurt from our coolers. Some of us also picked a few handfuls of wild Saskatoons/Service berries as well as thimble berries to complement our meal too.

The trail was a temperate rain forest with ferns and moss galore. We saw fringed grass of Parnassus, devil’s club, pipsissewa/prince’s pine, bane berry, wood nymph, hare bells, twisted stalk, false Solomon seal, mountain dryads/avens (but yellow, not white) as we followed the milky waters of Robson River to Kinney Lake (4 k up the trail). Harlequin ducks reside in this lake although we didn’t see any. It reminded us of the hike along McDonald Creek in West Glacier in the spring, the water rushing so hard, due to the rapid melting of the surrounding glaciers in the August heat.

The heat affected some of us, slowing us down; one gal took a tumble too, but she was okay. We were surprised at the traffic on the trail: day hikers, runners, bikers, and people walking dogs. We were very tired and hot by the time we pulled into our camping place at Whitehorn at 4:30 p.m., in the Valley of a Thousand Water Falls.  Unfortunately, many camp sites had already been claimed, so we didn’t find spots close to each other. Then we walked to the stream and disinfected our water and prepared our meals of dehydrated lasagna, turkey with dressing, and stroganoff.

The picnic shelter was quite nice, providing tables and a cover for us as it spit rain a precursor of a very raining night. We also had a wash station and bear lockers for our food and toiletries.

By morning, Katie and Mary were pretty soaked, especially Katie who only had a three-quarter sleeping pad, so her feet end of the sleeping bag was sopping. But there wasn’t time to dry anything as we had to set out hiking. Everyone used her garbage bag to pack the wet items before putting the items back into our packs, hoping we would have time—and good weather—to hang our wet items before dark set in. We were up by 5 a.m. but we weren’t on trail until 9:15, partly due to some sleeping in and partly due wet gear.

Tuesday was our tough day: 1700 feet of gain over a few kilometers, but the gorgeous “thousand” falls, in particular White falls and Emperor Falls gave us some eye candy to help with the uphill battle. Joan, in particular as she had an injury from Muddy Creek Falls hike, toughed it out over ankle-twisting rocks on the glacial moraine. This area gave us our first look at the glaciers feeding Berg Lake as they calved into the water below. The sound was like thunder or gun shots before the ice and snow came tumbling down. One time, we saw what we thought was a waterfall, but it was really a calving that fell in a narrow crevice making it appear as a stream.

Some of us had our gear strapped to our packs to help dry; however, about half way through our hike, the rain came again. When we arrived at Berg Lake campground, we quickly set up our tents in the drizzle (the late arrivers had all out rain) before heading to the shelter to put out gear to dry. The shelter even had a drying rack that could be lowered via a pulley system and then raised to the rafters. Katie and Mary had a dilemma with two solutions. Plan A—dry out their sleeping bags and mats  Plan B—sleep in tents with some of the gals who had three-person tents. Luckily, their items dried out sufficiently to try another night in the rain in their own tent.

Flowers we saw on day two were yellow saxifrage, yellow/red columbine, pink pyrola (wintergreen), and many fungi.  The lakes and ponds throughout our backpack so far were pure white with glacial till or flour.

Thursday was our lay-in day—no tents to pack up, no heavy backpacks. We had time to continue to dry things in the shelter as well as drop some of our gear and go light on our packs as we hiked to Adolphus lake in Jasper (we saw the border line between the two parks and provinces) and then on the Snowbird pass route to get an up-close look at Robson Glacier and the bergs in its lake. We stopped at the sign indicating the toe of the glacier in 1911, a sign now about a half mile from the toe due to the glacier melting 52 feet a year, which saddened us, but also made us realize how lucky we were to be in such a special place.

The day was drizzly again, but it was not cold, so the temp was perfect for hiking. We had no issue with putting on rain gear and heading out to see more sights. Some gals climbed a small knoll to gain a view into the lake and see the icebergs from above. We were also able to see about four more glaciers, all coming right down to ground level, flowing down the mountains like rivers.

The alpine fireweed, sweetvetch, yellow saxifrage and mountain avens/dryads were everywhere in this area. Fringed grass of Parnassus and pink pyrola too.

After our evening meal, we realized that Joan’s ankle was really sore. WE had to decide: should Joan take the helicopter out or should we divide her gear and have her just carry and empty backpack? With her advice, we decided the latter and decided that we would get on trail even earlier so she could go at a very slow pace to keep from injuring her foot even more.

After that, we had fun playing some card and dice games, thanks to Loural for bringing them. For some, it was hard to sleep that night with the glaciers making their calving noises.
 
On Friday, we were all up around 5 a.m. and tried to take Joan’s gear but she kept hiding items from us, but Lorna outed her and kept and eye. It was so hard for her to let us help her; she was the strongest of us all in this decision; she didn’t’ realize how much we wanted to help and how little effort this help took on our part.
 
This day was the worst day yet for rain, the trail turning into a river on the steep downhill section. We had to watch our step over slippery roots and mud; but fortunately, the rocks weren’t slippery. In fact, we stepped on them on purpose to keep our grip. In the rain, the orange of the iron oxide in the rocks really stood out in striped patterns.

Since it was Friday, we heard the helicopters flying in and out (they come M/F), taking in people who had paid $250 for the ride in and $200 for the ride out. We found out this information from the German Ranger gals, who was quite friendly and happy to answer our questions about the park.

We did a good deed today: a hiking party of young women stopped us and asked if we had any extra toilet paper as they were out. One of our gals handed them almost a full roll. They were so happy when she said they could keep the whole thing since we were on our way out. We helped even more people today. Mary had a map and helped several people with directions and mileage to various places.

We really moved down the trail on this day, arriving at Whitehorn by just after 1 p.m. Joan was able to walk at a good clip without all of the extra weight; however, she was limping.

 We had another issue too: Due to the rain, Mary’s feet got wet and as a result, her core got cold. We had to use hand warmers to get her body temperature back to normal.

After our usual routine of water filtering and heating water for dinner, we had time to dry out our soaked gear. Then we relaxed and played games (one dice game was fun: Greedy). We did notice that some of our items that we hung out had slugs on them as well as our tents. The rain had brought them and the mosquitoes out to torture us.
Down at the river, someone had set up “rock” lounge chairs, fashioned from slabs of rock and embedded into the river stones. They were actually quite comfortable.

The next and last day, we booked it out, Joan doing well on her now very sore ankle, the rest of us still helping to carry her gear.  The rain had stopped, and the crowds were back on this stretch, even more so as it was a Saturday of a long weekend. We arrived at the visitor center around 2 p.m. to have a nice lunch and ice cream cones before we split up for the long drive home

We reminisced on what “simple pleasures: we missed while backpacking: Chinese food, pillows,hamburgers.

When we were a few hours from home, we learned one of the cars had lost keys and had to go back to Jasper to rent a car to drive home. We were all so sorry that we didn’t have service to get this message so that we could have picked them up. We didn't know any other details from the text, which said it was a LOOOONG story.
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We arrived home at midnight, losing an hour when we crossed into Alberta from BC. Mary and Katie overnighted at Larua's and then made it to Great Falls around 2 p.m. the next day.
 
Our favorites: waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, trees, bridges, rocks, making it the whole way, calving, the cute German ranger, camaraderie, fungi, resilience, working together to solve issues, moss.

What we could have lived without: slugs, mud, so much rain/wet, the weight of backpack, flies/mosquitoes, toboggan falls trail being closed,

Surprises: how big and how many glaciers, Robson lake had more glaciers than Berg lake, how we got used to the pack, how good we felt on day five, the call of the varied thrush sounded like a whistle, more flowers than expected, how many trees had fallen down, how many people were on the trail

A fall, a lost hiker and an overheated hiker didn't deter the GiG (Girls in Glacier) and the WoW (Women of Wonder) hikers from having great adventures first to Muddy Creek Falls and then the next day to Our Lake.

​This was a wonderful two-day trip with our Canadian sister hiking group, the WoW (Women of Wonder). Our first excursion was to Muddy Creek Falls, an obstacle course that follows Muddy Creek into a limestone slot canyon that ends in a gorgeous cascade.It truly is a hidden wonder.

The Wow group from Canada crossed the border at 7 a.m., the earliest it opens (one group had to backtrack as they tried Del Bonita which didn’t open until 8!) and met the American GiG group at the Rock Shop in Bynum at 9:15.  After bathroom breaks, it was quarter to 10 before we left.

The it was a bumpy 18 miles and 40 minutes to the trailhead from there, which includes a gate and two-track road the last few miles.  We had to park a half mile away from the main trailhead/parking area as the spring floods had created crevasses in the road. We weren’t sure why the road was roped, off but once we started walking, we realized why.

The day, although in the 60s temperature-wise, was hot nonetheless with the sun bearing down in the exposed first part of the trail.  Our first incident happened when Jeanne overheated. We poured water on her and Loural offered Gatorade. Susan C agreed to stay with her as she cooled down and return to the cars. We really didn’t like leaving her and felt she would be fine once she got in the shade.

Then the rest of the group continued following the stream, with lots of crossings and some bushwhacking up the social trails.  We were getting in our rock-hopping skills when Josy heard something, and rightly suspected that Susan and Jeanne had followed us after Jeanne cooled down. Josy went back to guide them to us.

It took us a bit longer to go three miles than normal with the route finding and creek crossings. Then the rain started, necessitating a change into ponchos and worrying a few about thunderstorms when we were wading in water. The brightly colored ponchos really made a splash against the limestone cliffs. Luckily, the thunderstorms kept a distance and never really developed where we were.

And then the canyon narrowed, and we saw the falls.

Everyone was amazed at how gorgeous they were, coming over the top of the cliff with a wedged stone forming a semi roof over our heads. We enjoyed taking many pictures and cooling our feet in the pool at the base of the cascade. After a snack/lunch on the rocks, we headed back with the rain drops now a drizzle.

On the return trip, we had two more incidents—maybe it was the far-off thunder foreboding trouble. First, Joan slipped on a rock as she was crossing the creek. She took a good tumble but seemed okay except a few bruises that would develop and soreness on an ankle. However, she was soaked and her boots full of water. So the gals helped her take her boots off and pour the water out, changed her socks and put plastic bags over her socks to keep them dry as her boots were very wet, and she was set to go again.

Meanwhile, some hikers had gotten far ahead as we attended to Joan. In fact, Roni missed the turn to the cars, bypassing them and continued down the road. However, no one saw that she had done this. So when we all arrived back at the cars, the slower group assumed Roni was with the faster group and the faster group assumed Roni had taken a potty break off the trail and was with the slower group. No one could really remember the last time we saw her.  After we thought of possible scenarios and game up with a search strategy, she was probably gone for over half an hour.

So we all got a bit panicked at this point. Thinking she may have bypassed the cars, Susan C drove ahead two miles, honking her horn. When she returned without Roni, we lost a bit of hope. The WoW ladies called for a prayer circle, and we readily joined in.

We somewhat organized a search, but Katie realized we need more preparation for a situation like this: the cars started honking horns and some, led by Josy, took off with whistles to search the last half mile of trail or so and to explore splits in the creek to see if she followed the wrong one.
Deb, Josy and Susan had cell service. After about an hour with no sign of her, Katie said to call 911. It was now past 5:30 and she wanted to make sure the search team, if needed, had daylight for an aerial search. We all thought Roni might have fallen like Joan did and hit her head.

Deb called 911. We had to explain that we were in wilderness even though, yes, we were on a remote road. It was hard to explain that we couldn’t just flag people down for help, that we had seen no one all day and didn’t expect to see anyone on this particular “road.” Then a confusion of mixed messages and several more calls to 911 ensured before she was found—safe!

To make a long story short, we found Roni, or she found us. Susan C picked her up on the road. After a while, Roni realized something was wrong and turned around. Katie started crying with relief when she saw Roni in Susan’s car; Deb too. We were all so thankful that nothing had happened and that she had been safe all the time and never in any danger. So many things can run through one's mind when worried.

It was now nearing 7 p.m. and we headed to town, tired and hungry. We quickly checked in at the Stagestop Inn and went to dinner at the Log Cabin Café. By now it was almost 9 p.m., so off to bed with a few opting to soak in the hot tub to relax after a good hike but a stressful day. Three of the GiG stayed overnight with all of the Canadians, while four GiG headed back to GF.

Many lessons were learned on this wake-up-call of a trip, that will require some research, training at a later date,  but we had another adventure the next day.
 
Our Lake
The next day it was up early to beat the heat. After a quick breakfast at 6 a.m., we met the GiG gals who were traveling from GF at 6:45 a.m. who met up with the three who stayed over plus the 8 Canadians, making for 15 again. However, Joan was still feeling a bit sore from her fall at Muddy Creek, so she decided to stay to read a book and heal. She needed to make sure she was okay for the big backpack at Mount Robson in a week.

After a quick bathroom break, we headed out at 7 a.m., getting on trail around 8:30. The trail was shaded most of the way, and we saw several orchids: lady slippers and Alaskan rein orchid. We were fairly fast going uphill, reaching the lake around 11. Many of the gals were awed by the views: the lake, the remaining snow and the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, no goats or sheep were out this day.

We followed the trail around the lake to the head to eat our lunch around 11:30. The wind was much better to our back. Partway around the trail, we saw Wayne’s Wednesday Walkers, which included Katie’s husband and Camille from our group, but they never encircled the lake, so we didn’t get to talk to them.

On the way back, we flew down the hill in about one hour 45 minutes. I guess the ice cream was calling in Choteau.

So, we picked up Joan at the Stage Stop inn and stopped in for ice cream; unfortunately, they were out of huckleberry.

We said our goodbyes to the Canadians and arrived back in Great Falls around 5 p.m.
 
Who went, Muddy Creek: Roni, Deb, Katie, Josy, Jeanne, Susan C, Joanne (GiG), Lorna, Laura, LaVern, Loural, Sherry, Joan, Dina, Sue Ellen (WoW); Our Lake: Lorna, Laura, LaVern, Loural, Sherry, Joan, Dina, Sue Ellen (WoW); Roni, Deb, Katie, Josy, Susan C, Susan W, Linda (GiG)​

Laura's Sweet & Salty Recipe

 Ingredients

• 3 c. Cheerios
• 3 c. Life
• 3 c. Chex (or other cereal of your choice)
• 2 c. broken pretzels
• 1 c. margarine or butter
• 1 c. sugar
• ½ c. corn syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1½ c. salted peanuts

Instructions

1. Mix cereals and pretzels into a large bowl.
2. In a kettle mix the butter, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla and boil until soft ball
3. Remove from heat and add the peanuts to syrup mixture.
4. Add syrup mixture to the cereals and mix well.
5. Pour out on table to cool.

Notes
I put wax or parchment paper on my table for easy clean-up. I remember making this every Christmas to take to neighbors and friends.   

Even though the day started out rainy, it didn't end that way. Our drive from Great Falls (6 a.m.) had us in showers for about one hour, but by the time we hit the trail at 9:30, the sun had come out.On our drive in, we spied a bear just off the road. He was quite small and probably a black bear but it was hard to see through the tall bushes to get a good look. 

Our hike to Bullhead Lake was a day to die for: gorgeous views on the way in and all along, cool weather and threatening clouds but no rain and not too much wind.  We also didn't see that many hikers on the trail. Those we did see told us to watch for two small bears as well as moose. We did see their tracks but we never did see any as we were hiking. We visited Fishercap Lake, Red Rocks Lake, Red Rock Falls (Katie, Mary and Karen scrambled up the rocks to look down on the cascades), Bullhead lake and finally Wilbur Falls.

We ended our hike around 2:30 pm and headed to the Many Glacier Hotel/Lodge to look around and have a late lunch/early dinner. On the way, we saw another bear, this time a grizzly rototilling a side hill above the turn to the lodge. He was huge, with a large hump and golden face and back.

At the lodge, we wanted to see the new double helix staircase that was rebuilt after having been taken out to accommodate a gift store upstairs (gifts and a coffee/snack shop are now downstairs, taking up part of the old auditorium space).It is gorgeous and almost identical to the original, the only thing is the railings are closer together to meet code (no kids can slip through or get their heads caught). We did a bit of shopping and then headed out to the deck to enjoy the view, at which time we spotted a moose across Swiftcurrent Lake. After watching her eat some willows, we went into the Iinterlaken Lounge to eat.  Interestingly, a wedding party was there as well, bride in her gown and all.

As we walked around the lodge, we noticed that the side-by-side of glaciers comparing what they looked like in the early to mid 20th Century to the 1990s that adorned the hallway leading from the lobby to the dining room were missing.No one at the desk knew what happened to them, so Katie filled out a form requesting information, leaving her email. Before the end of the day, she received a message that said the pictures were a fire hazard as people stopped in the hallway, that they were being stored and would be brought back next year but would be placed in the lobby area.

After a delightful lunch, we headed home (seeing two foxes along the way, one trotting right next to the road), but not before stopping in Valier for ice cream and a stretch break in Browning.  We arrived home by 8 p.m.

One calamity on trail: Denise fell on ball-bearing type rocks, but she wasn't injured too badly; just a bit of a bruise on her elbow.
Who went: Gail, Mary S, Denise, Linda, Karen, Katie

Where do I begin on this one? Two women overboard? Biking in the dark on an almost two-mile long tunnel? A bike crash? Rain? Hot springs?

It was a wet weekend, a very wet weekend or to be more precise, a Sunday and two weekdays, which started after having breakfast with our hubbies for Father’s Day (leave time 10:30 a.m.) before heading out for a rainy drive to Missoula to pick up Susan, who was on her way from two days in Hamilton with her husband. We were glad we decided to forgo hiking Rogers pass for the milder and less wet Kim Williams trail in Missoula.

Missoula was just a bit overcast, so the three-mile hike along the Clark Fork River was pleasant. We all remarked at how fresh and wonderful the breeze felt as we enjoyed the river walk.  We didn’t have time to hike up Mount Sentinel, so we had to save that for another day.

Now that we had Susan, we had 11 of our ladies with one more (June) after we got to Quinn’s Hot springs in Paradise, Montana, where we would sty the night. We arrived at just after 4 p.m., giving us time to check in, get settled, and then head to dinner at the Harwood House. As the person with the reservation, Katie had to sign that we wouldn’t lose any towels (had to check them out and back in with the desk), lose any keys or “play chicken” in the highway, realizing that the speed limit was 70 mph. Fees were $40 for a “lost” or “stolen” towel and $10 for keys.

Katie and June both remembered the look of the old hot springs, bar and Harwood House restaurant, having lived in Western Montana (June in Plains and Katie in Alberton and Superior) in the late 70s and early 80s. It was pretty shabby back then, but everything is quite nice now with new cabins, even across the highway along the river (these cabins are pricier with the river view but also right next to the RR tracks).

Our meal at the Harwood House was quite good, just as Mary N told us it would be. The soups everyone particularly commented on. Then those who wanted to soak, headed for the pools, while others relaxed on the edge and enjoyed a pleasant evening that only produced a few sprinkles before an early bedtime before our big ride. We knew that the next day would probably bring showers, however, with a 70 percent chance predicted.

The next day, some of us had an 8 a.m. breakfast at the Harwood House (the earliest they open with no place else for miles to have a bite) while others ate in their rooms before we hit the road at 9 a.m. for Lookout Pass and our Hiawatha Bike Trail ride. We gained an hour going into Idaho, which is on Pacific time, so we arrived at 9:30 a.m. to pick up our lunches (our lunches came in a nice Hiawatha Trail souvenir day pack), passes, shuttle tickets, bikes and helmets. I must say it was a bit disorganized: they didn’t have the right number of lunches ready, they left off lettuce on a veggie sandwich instead of a turkey one (had to be remade due to Bonnie’s lettuce allergy), gave us 11 instead of 12 bikes (luckily, we counted before we left) and then didn’t put a headlamp on the last bike (which we didn’t discover until we got to the trailhead). Again, luckily, one of the trail marshals had an extra light as those tunnels are dark.

A funny side note: many of us hadn’t ridden bikes in a while, so we were asking how to change gears, etc. on the bikes. Susan asked so many questions, that the trail marshal finally said, “I think you are a good candidate for walking your bike. At least through the tunnels.” Ha ha! P. S. Susan had no issues with her bike.

It was 10:15 a.m. before we really started as we all rode around a bit getting used to the bikes. (Another side note: they only have a one-stall toilet for both sexes, so it takes a while for a group). Then we faced the first obstacle right off the bat: the looooong tunnel. June led us into the tunnel walking our bikes so that our eyes could get adjusted before we headed out. This was a very good idea as we had heard from Anita about her crashing and two of the Canadians also said they crashed in the tunnel. We made sure to take our sunglasses off and turn on both our headlamps and the bike headlights.

Our first hour and a half was glorious, cloudy but a nice 60-degree temperature. We leisurely pedaled and stopped at each interpretive sign to read about the history. Unfortunately, the trail crew had places large rocks to slow riders before each of the interpretive signs, and Catherine hit one as she attempted to go between two rather narrowly spaced boulders. Luckily, she wasn't hurt. But we told her she would have a souvenir bruise of her trip.

Along the way, we enjoyed the views into the snowy mountains, the tunnels and each trestle to its fullest, marveling at how high each was, how beautiful the firs trees’ new growth was as we gazed down on trees over 100 feet tall from trestles that were over 200 feet high. Amazing. And we had fun with all the tunnels as well.  The trail has 10 tunnels (one—the long one—we went through twice) and seven trestles. At our third trestle, we sat along the edge of raised railroad ties and ate our lunch, which was 11:45 (12:45 our time).
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Then the rain came at the half-way mark just a half mile from lunch. Luckily, it was right at the bathroom, so we took a break and those who didn’t have rain gear on, quickly put it on. Then our pace quickened a bit as the spitting turned to a steady drizzle. In fact, the last two miles, Kuntzie, who was in the lead, started hoofing it. Some struggled to keep up, but the trail was turning muddy, putting a “Hiawatha Stripe” down our back from the mud kicked up by the rear tire. And due to the rush, we made the 1:15 bus; otherwise, we would have had another hour and a half wait in the rain for the next shuttle.

We hardly saw another soul on the trail; probably no one wanted to bike on a rainy Monday (70% chance of rain). At the end, we saw a few more headed up and a few groups passed us trying to make the early shuttle too.

The shuttle left us off before the long tunnel again, so we had to go through it second time. This time it was a bit eerie with a weird atmosphere that gave Linda a sudden headache and made others struggle to see. The rain had made the inside air extremely muggy and foggy, but we all made it out without crashing. Kuntzie, the speed demon, slowed way down too at this point, facing a bit of uphill as well as the mugginess.

It was 3:30 p.m. before we loaded all the bikes up and got back to Lookout Pass to turn the equipment back in, and head to Wallace, Idaho, for some shopping and dinner. We had to skip hiking the Polaski trail due to the weather and the lateness of the hour—there is always next time! We were going to eat at one restaurant that Katie remembered as being good, but the locals said “Not anymore” when asked if it was good, so we took their recommendation of the City Limits Pub and Brewery. Boy, did it have an interesting menu. Two gals had the homemade raviolis (fresh that morning), one with sage brown butter sauce and one with marinara and both said they were amazing. They served a lot of food, for sure.
Then back to plains on a rainy evening to soak or just relax.

The next day, it was breakfast and check out by 9:30 for our raft trip, but not before saying goodbye to Susan and June, who passed on going down the river.  Katie called to double check that the float down the Alberton Gorge was still on due to rain (might have raised the river too high to navigate safely) and due to predicted afternoon thunderstorms. Tiffany said we were still on. However, she didn’t’ tell us the whole story.

We arrived in Missoula at 10:45 and stopped at a coffee shop/sandwich shop to pick up lunch and then walked the one block to the raft company. We all paid and then started to gear up. It wasn’t until we had our gear and had paid that we found out we were not going down the Alberton Gorge after all but instead going down the Blackfoot. Some of us were very disappointed, more in the fact that the raft company had not told us. We should have been able to decide whether we still wanted to go or not since the Gorge wasn’t an option.

However,  we accepted it as the guides had already-- at this point-- hitched up the rafts and were expecting a trip. The drive to the put in was a full 45 minutes and it drizzled a bit at times on the drive, but the day actually looked pretty good, better than predicted. It had taken us almost an hour to put on wetsuits and get ready.

We were in two rafts: Katie, Kathy, Kuntzie, Mary and Susan with two guides and Bonnie, Linda, Jeanne, Gail and Catherine in another with one guide. Bonnie was unable to paddle due to a shoulder injury.  In hindsight, we should have had Bonnie in the raft with two guides to balance the paddling.

Everything went pretty well to get started; we all put on our own gear without much instruction other than to put on our lifejackets tightly.  So we got into the rafts and took off, the first boat waiting for the second to get on the water.

We didn’t get any instruction as to how to hold the paddles, how to work together, what the commands were, etc., which those of us who had gone on guided trips thought a bit odd. However, Katie thought that the Blackfoot was such an easy river that maybe it wasn’t needed. Indeed, the guides briefly covered safety, explaining how to put your feet in front of you if you fall overboard and how to keep yourself upright and push up and over if you happen upon a “strainer,” a jam of logs and debris that can suck a swimmer under and catch her feet. But the guides said, “This won’t happen today.”  Famous last words, that appeased Kuntzie since she doesn’t swim, and she was nervous, very unusual for Kuntzie.

So a mile or two into the ride as we were admiring the herons, the mergansers (including the ducklings), the osprey and the high cliffs and wildflowers, the gals in the lead boat looked back after a small rapid (all were mostly Class I with some low Class IIs), and were shocked to see that it appeared Bonnie had fallen in. Then we saw Bonnie in the boat but another person floating toward us, with feet first, just as instructed. We at first thought it was Linda as we strained to see who was on the boat and then realized it was Gail.  But we saw that Bonnie was soaked. We were confused but surmised that maybe she had gotten wet trying to rescue Gail.

Cathy said, “Gail is a goner,” as we felt a sinking feeling in our gut watching her float along. Katie said, "Shouldn’t we paddle backward to try to get her?" and the guides finally said yes, but the other raft paddled forward and caught up to Gail first. However, the gals struggled to pull her into the raft. In fact, her life jacket pulled almost all of the way off, covering her face. It had not been tight enough.  Now Kuntz said, “There is a headless life jacket,” as we couldn’t see Gail’s head anymore.  Finally, the guide on the second raft was able to pull her in (He told the gals to "move aside" and grabbed her with ease), but we saw her just lying in the bottom of the raft, leading us to believe the cold water had brought on a heart incident since Gail has heart problems.  Later we learned this was not the case. It was just that  the life jacket had wedged itself around her chest and neck and the others had a hard time getting it off to put it back on right.

After what seemed an eternity, the guides and the gals in the second raft signaled that all was okay. It was now that the main guide on the first raft admitted that the guide in the second raft was brand new and that this was his first time leading a boat down this river and that he was supposed to be following the first craft’s line. In fact, our guide was only in his second season and the other guide on our boat was a newbie too.

The rest of the trip was uneventful other than Kuntzie not paddling anymore as she was holding onto the cooler’s tether rope and said she wasn't going to let go.  She also said, “Why wasn’t Gail screaming? I would be!” Many of us said we would be too, but Gail is a pro and a calm head. She was cold but not injured at all and followed instructions to a tee.Her technique was textbook.

Toward the end, Susan “made” the newbie on our boat take the steering oars and be our guide. She was telling him to show us points of interest and tell us river stories, but he didn’t have any being a newbie. So she said he now had a story due to some of our gals going overboard.

When we got to the takeout, we heard the whole story: Raft 2 had gone over a “pourover,” a large rock with just a bit of water rushing over the top but enough to create a steep drop with backwater. It tossed both Bonnie and Gail over; however, the other gals were able to grab Bonnie right away, who was holding onto a tether on the side of the raft.The raft didn't have a rope on it so there was nothing for Gail to grad onto.  Ironically, on bus trip to the put in spot, Jeanne had asked if the guides had ever gotten hung up on a large rock that was partially submerged. They said  they hadn’t.

On the way back in the bus, we were all laughing and joking around and making a bit of fun of the guides, Zach, John and Skyler, who really deserved a bit of teasing. In fact, I think they learned a lot from our group, and we did too. Both Bonnie and Gail were cold, especially Bonnie as she was shaking. Those two had been wet for most of the 17 miles; and at the end, we all started getting a bit chilly due to the wind coming up. And on the bus, it started to pour. We had made a day of it without rain from the sky, just the rain from the rapids.

After changing at the raft company office, we headed back out to Great Falls around 5 p.m. We decided we would eat fast-food in Helena instead of stopping in Missoula before we left. And yes, we had to go through Helena instead of Lincoln as Highway 200 was closed over Rogers pass due to rivers flooding in the area. In fact, all of Augusta was flooded with other areas threatened due to the Sun River, Teton River, Missouri and many creeks overflowing. So it was Arby’s in Helena and then home.

What a wet and wild weekend we had with lots of laughs to boot and everyone safe at the end. Thank goodness.

Who went: Kathy M, Bonnie J, Linda, Gail, Kuntzie, Susan, Sue, Catherine, Jeanne, Mary S, June, Katie