First it was five, then three, then two who felt up to this big hike that goes from Siyeh Bend up and over Piegan Pass all the way down to Many Glaicer.The plan was for Katie's husband Tom and his friend Gordon to start at Many Glacier while the gals started from Siyeh and then do a key exchange wherever we crossed paths.  However, with just two walking each way, and with all the grizzly activity and the bears in hyperphagia, we decided to hike all four together. Luckily, Camille's husband agreed to drop us off and drive around to Many Glacier to pick us up.

So we hit the road at 5:15 and were on trail at Siyeh Bend by 9, after stops in Conrad and St. Mary Visitor Center. The day was smoky, extremely smoky in the St. Mary valley. We worried that we had made a mistake. Katie had her N95 mask, just in case, but fortunately, it did get a bit better. Smoke became replaced by rain clouds as we descended into the Many Glacier Valley, the winds shifting from southwest to north east.

Even though we never had clear skies, we still marveled at the views. The grey actually made the fall colors pop: the reds and oranges of spiraea and huckleberries, the yellows of willow and dogbane and the still-green beargrass. Berries were abundant, so we snacked on hucks the whole way and took pictures of mountain ash and elderberries. Too, we saw lots of bear scat, most filled with berries and colored purple.

The views of Mount Gould, the Garden Walls, Piegan Glacier, glacial-till aqua lakes, and Morning Eagle Falls and Cataract Creek with aqua and maroon carved rocks filled our senses so we couldn't stop taking pictures!  We saw goats and took the side trips to Grinnell Lake and Hidden Falls and walked the far side of Josephine Lake to make it a full 14-mile day.

From Piegan Pass to Morning Eagle Falls we didn't see anyone else on the trail. Then just one until we hit Grinnell Lake. Then a boatful of people came up the trail. Then on the far side of Josephine, we hit the crowds returning from Grinnell Glacier. We thought we should have stayed on the hotel side of the lake to avoid crowds, even if it isn't as pretty.

We arrived at 4:15 at the picnic area to find Camille's husband Mike in the front and center parking spot. He told us how long it took to drive in, a couple hours, due to the construction, and then he couldn't find a spot fo park. He went to Swiftcurrent to start and then came back and was able to find a place.  He was amazed how many were hiking back from Grinnell Glacier.

Due to construction, it took us a while to get home. We arrived at 9 p.m., after a stop for Subway sandwich in Conrad.mOur plan had been to order from Buffalo Joe's in Browning and eat dinner outside there. However, when we arrived, our orfer hadn't even been started. The restaurant was packed; the wait staff estimated another hour wait, so we cancelled our order.

​We all agreed, this is one of the best hikes in the park.

Who went: Camille and Katie

With no shuttles stopping at Siyeh Bend or Sunrift Gorge this year (and no one really wanting to go on a shuttle due to COVID Delta variant spiking), our group had to think of other logistics for doing a walk-though hike from Siyeh Bend to Sunrift Gorge. So Katie thought of her husband and his friend walking in the opposite direction and doing a key exchange. Then the friend couldn't make it but Madelon stepped in. She wanted to go at a faster pace, so said she would go with Tom.

Then one gal being exposed to COVID complicated everything some more; with Katie just coming off 14-day quarantine not wanting to do it again, she decided to hike with her husband Tom the hard way with lots of elevation gain. Then Madelon questioned her abilities to keep up with Tom, coming off COVID herself, so Katie suggested we just form two groups and both hike the easier way. Dang COVID!!

Anyway, Katie was determined to make this hike happen, so that both Suzie and Bonnie could hike this trail for the first time. Bonnie had tried for years, but she could never fit the hike in.  We wanted it to happen.

So the GF gals all headed out of town at 5:15 a.m. with Madelon coming from Eureka, Suzie from Lake Five and Laurie from East Glacier. With stops at Conrad and St. Mary Visitor center, we arrived at 8:15 at Sunrift Gorge to see the other three had already arrived.  Parking was already at a premium with cars lined up at the entrance, so we quickly drove to Siyeh to find a space, which both Doreen and Madelon did.

Then Katie, Tom, Madelon and Laurie took off quickly as they wanted to get home early for family arriving later in the day. This group planned to hike a fairly fast pace.  Bonnie in the other group had a blister on her toe from her hike in Two Medicine earlier in the week, so she had to work on that before the hike.

At the beginning of the hike, we marveled at the stromatolite formations in the rock along Siyeh Creek. Katie's group came upon garbage right away, with Laurie picking it up and putting it in Tom's pack, including a pink mylar balloon she had to downclimb through bushes to get. We could barely see the top of her head while she was retrieving it.

We stayed ahead of the crowds, although one couple passed us, and we could see two other parties ahead of us on the trail.  We stopped briefly at the pond in Preston Park, looking for animal tracks and flowers. We were surprised to see quite a variety of flowers for this time of year, mixed into the changing colors of fall, along with elderberries, currants, and a few remaining hucks.

As we climbed, Tom spotted two grizzly bears headed down to the ponds just over the saddle. One looked to be either a two-year-old or yearling following mama.  Luckily, they were a long way off.We looked down to see if we could see the other party, but we could not.

When we arrived at the top of Siyeh, there was one other party there and two other came up when we sat down to eat part of our lunch. It was a bit early, just after 11, so we saved some for later.

As we headed down, we gorgeous lighting and colors were in our faces, giving us eye candy all the way; but the haze from the Idaho and California fires was coming in with each hour. Still, the walk down was gorgeous. We happened upon a solo female hiker coming up from Sunrift. We asked her what her plans were. When she told us of the monster loop she planned to do, some 19 miles, we discouraged her as she was getting such a late start. Not ten minutes later, she turned around.  Then we happened upon some sheep, ewes and lambs, which delighted us. We also took pleasure in seeing Sexton and Piegan glaciers, but noticed the alligator mouth of Piegan was losing his lower jaw. In fact, most of the permanent snow patches had dried out this year, leaving little to fill the ponds, with some even empty. At this point, two trail runners came racing by.

This hike goes down, down, down, through the Reynolds fire from a few years ago, leaving no shade as the day wears on. We took a rest at the waterfalls, about a mile from the end and ate the rest of our lunches. At the falls and beyond, we saw tons of bear rototilling; we often see bears in this section, but we didn't today.

We arrived back at the car at just after 3 and drove Madelon back to hers and Doreen's back to Sunrift while Laurie headed back to East Glacier. We should have had Laurie hold our place as Going to Sun Road was a mob scene even at 3:30, so we had trouble finding parking.

Katie and Tom arrived home at 6:15, while Bonnie and Suzie's group at 9:15. They stopped for dinner along the way and got off trail around 4:30. 
Side note: Susan's knee bent funny when she got up from sitting and bothered her the last few miles, as it has been all summer.

Flowers: Rock willow, potentilla/cinquefoil, harebells, Indian paintbrush, fringed grass of Parnassus, showy aster, pearly everlasting, fireweed, columbine

Who went: Katie, Laurie, Madelon; Bonnie, Suzie, Doreen, Susan, Sue

Lake MacDonald to Sperry Chalet Blog 
 August 12-15th, 2021
 Leader: Sue Anderson AKA (Michels)
Randi Graves, Gail Holzheimer, Cathy Kuntz, Maria Mathews, Sheila Rice, Doreen Scherr
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August 12th: After months of planning , meetings and sharing of trail and packing tips with each other, our group of 7 GIG ladies headed for West Glacier, leaving Great Falls at 10:00 am and arriving in West Glacier  mid afternoon. We stopped enroute at the beautiful  Isaac Walton Inn at 1:15 pm to have our lunch outside at their picnic tables facing the colorful sleeping cars up on the ridge across the railroad tracks, reminiscing about previous overnight adventures with GIG  at the Inn.  Cathy had a conversation with a man  staying at the Inn who claimed  “ they don’t have COVID” in Tennessee. Really???  Ha!

Sheila, met us in West Glacier around 2:30 pm at the West Glacier Motel which is situated right adjacent to the bridge that crosses over the middle fork of the Flathead River. We checked into the motel at the office managing the  West Glacier Village, situated ¼ mile up the road from the motel next to the Glacier Village RV park. After unloading the cars and settling into our individual  rooms, some of the gals walked around  and explored the  West Glacier shops, grocery store, and enjoyed a few snacks or a waffle ice cream cone!! Sheila made arrangements with the Glacier Raft company to leave her car in their back parking lot while we were on our Sperry adventure, and would ride into the park with the rest of our group the following morning.

At our appointed reservation time,  5:30 pm , we drove to the Belton Chalet  Chalet on Highway 2, for a special dinner. Our group was seated in a small private dining room adjacent to the main dining area ! We enjoyed a delicious dinner and had great service from our waiter who is from Florida, Puerto Rico.  He challenges himself to hike  all the Glacier  peaks during his off hours and  loves exploring the park . He assured us that we would be able to find a parking spot at Lake MacDonald the next morning  at “O dark 30”  prior to the hikers hitting the trail at day break. We returned to the motel to finalize details of morning departures , sort, and  package up items to give to the gals riding up via horseback with the pack animal. We would each retire to our individual rooms and attempt to sleep  with windows open and fans running in the hot summer temperatures.

It seemed like a short night in the motel with the noise of early morning  travelers driving by to access the park prior to the required ticketed entry. After packing the cars, we headed for Lake MacDonald at 5:30 am , ready for our big adventure. Both of our drivers  found parking spots near to the Sperry trail head!!  The hiking group ( Sue, Doreen, Cathy and Sheila)  headed up the trail at 6:10 am just before day break ! The horse back riders, ( (Gail, Randi and Maria) enjoyed a bit of time at Lake Mac Donald before heading to the corral at 8:00 am to saddle up.

The hikers expressed a bit of nervousness knowing that the Lake MacDonald Sperry trail is known to be strenuous, requiring hikers to carry sufficient drinking water and would be impacted  by the 90 degree temps and poor air quality and smoke from fires as forecasted in West Glacier.  The trail climbs 6.7 miles with 3300 feet of elevation gain. The chalet can only be reached by trail as a hiker or on horseback – were we ready for the challenge??  Much of the tree canopy had been burned out in the wildfire of 2017 that destroyed the National historic Sperry Chalet dormitory.  After a  2 year reconstruction project,  the Sperry dormitory has been restored and returned to service in 2020! The anticipation of seeing the chalet near the tree line seemed to energize us as we headed up the trail of cedar and hemlock trees, remnants of fireweed, and various  berries in the cooler morning temps. Luckily we caught some glimpses of the lake on the way up the trail.

Well, let’s just say that hiking up from the lake is not for the fainthearted-  we all made it up the trail once we got our “groove on” , by taking frequent rest breaks, sips of water, using  water cooling scarves and in one situation dipping of a shirt and hat in the stream water to help cool off. At one point, after  being asked what are you thinking, Kuntz said “I wish I were home”!! Leave it to Kuntz to lighten the party with some humor….(not sure she was laughing at that moment).

At the end of the day, I think we all claimed a sense of accomplishment having found rest and joy in our short visits on the trail with over 20 hikers (mostly coming down the trail). We met folks from Missoula, Kalispell, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Jersey and from all over the US -each providing us with a short rest break on the trail!!  

The horseback riders departed the corral at 9:10 am , passing us near the end of the trail arriving at the chalet ahead of us hikers . Maria rode “Marshall”, Gail rode “Sledge” and Randi rode “Maybe”.  “Maybe” was aptly named as we witnessed his performance on the trail- MAYBE he would pick up the pace with an extra kick or two or “MAYBE NOT” !  The riders all had male horses, because as explained by the wrangler, “ the female horses don’t take direction very well! “  Ha!

We hikers retrieved items from the pack horse that weren’t needed on the trail going up but with the knowledge that with the policy to  “ pack it in, pack it out” we would be packing these items down the trail!! Everything but  Doreen’s’  sandals were delivered. What a puzzle since all concurred they had been delivered and packed up  at the corral- (the good news is that her sandals were later found at the corral – they were never unpacked from the animal pack  at the chalet)  Doreen looked forward to giving her feet a rest at the end of our strenuous hike but was a good sport to wear her boots for the duration of our stay…

We enjoyed a wonderful roast beef dinner with homemade dessert and bread, at our assigned dinner seating time of 6:45 pm (COVID social distancing) , seated with our GIG group, and served by the staff.

Smoke from fires blew up the canyon that first afternoon, blocking any view of Lake MacDonald for the remainder of our stay. As we retired to our rooms, we looked forward to seeing the Perseid meteor showers in the early morning skies… Most of our group got up in the early   to use the facilities with head lamps to help navigate the path,  some were lucky enough to view the meteor showers and saw planet Mars as well !! Spectacular despite the smoke from the fires!!

We all congregated early for breakfast and enjoyed fabulous toast with eggs any which way you wanted them, pancakes, bacon or ham !!, what a baker they have!! He is a cook by trade and learned to bake at the chalet!! Impressive to say the least.

After breakfast, we collected our lunches, and took our traditional GIG “Sperry group”  pictures in front of the chalet before the 4 Sperry Glacier hikers took off. (We took Pics with and without masks to help us remember the year of our journey.) The Sperry Glacier hike is 3.5 miles one way to the top of Comeau pass  “up the chimney”  with an additional .6 mile to the Glacier.  Hikers: Sue, Doreen, Maria, Randi
Chalet dwellers: Kuntz,  Sheila and Gail- took a day of rest to enjoy the flora and fauna !

The hikers took off at 9:10 am on the trail playing leap frog on the way up with a Missoula group of 5 young couples, who were enjoying a weekend together sans kids. We were like the  “the tortoise and hare” and in the end arrived back at the chalet about the same time after their siting of  a Sow and her cub down at the creek bridge crossing .  (got to watch it on an iphone) One of the young men in their group was Andy Larsen, the place kicker for the Grizz in 1995, when they won the National championship game!! They cheered us older gals on  all along the trail and kept saying “ good job” to us!!

One of our “Bear” chants going up the trail came from Maria’s Alaskan trip- she learned that the natives called the Grizzlies “Grandpa” – we have since adopted the name and used it on the trail … don’t know how many times but a lot,  a lot , and a lot!!!  In the end it worked!! Yay!!
 
We climbed above the tree line and hiked past “gorgeous waterfalls, lakes and streams”, mountain goats…-absolutely breathtaking!!  We named some of the waterfalls after the horses … Marshall Falls, Maybe Falls, and the “forgotten horse name Falls” which was later revised to “Sledge Falls” -  courtesy of Gail  !!  We stopped at the bottom of the pass to visit with Todd Hileman, a local  artist whose paintings were featured at Gallery 16 in Great Falls for years!! He  had hiked up the Sperry Chalet trail from Lake MacDonald and summitted Gunsight Mountain that day and was about  to begin his descent and return to the lake !!!  We said our farewell to Todd and made our final ascent up  the chiseled stone stairway, AKA the “Chimney” which leads you to the top of  Comeau Pass and usually  to breathtaking panoramic views- not so with the curtain of dense smoke in the air. We enjoyed lunch together along the creek while watching the mountain goats pick their way along the flowing stream while grazing on their chosen delicacies!!  
 
Sue placed memory stones on the cairn at the Sperry Glacier sign  for her daughter, Julie Anne and for Chrissie (GIG) member. This cairn is the first of many that mark the trail to Sperry Glacier for those who choose to navigate an additional  .6 mile of scrambling over the rocky terrain to the edge of the ever shrinking glacier.

We made our return  down the trail and back to the chalet by 4:30 pm, learning that a sow and her cub had been visiting the creek by the bridge .2 mile from the chalet- we had walked right past the area on our return but hadn’t been aware of the happening and the whistle warnings !! Luckily the couples from Missoula had a video clip to share with us of the bears ! Amazing to say the least… Temps were 78 degrees in the shade when we returned to the chalet!!

 We met up with  Kuntz, Sheila and  Gail  who enjoyed their day relaxing, mostly inside due to the smoke. The dining room was not available to occupy due to COVID restrictions ! Kuntz visited with chalet staff during the day and filled us in on the story of the high wind storm that downed many trees around the chalet the year prior to the chalet fire in 2017.
 
We each tackled organizing and packing up our gear prior to dinner so that we could get an early start the next morning down the Sperry trail before warm temps began to rise !! We enjoyed our last Sperry dining experience with a full turkey dinner, spicy pumpkin soup and delish chocolate cake for dessert. Yumm !  It felt a bit like glamping !!
 
The next morning, we headed down the trail right after breakfast (8:30) as a group of 7  - and were lucky to see a buck with a fully velveted rack grazing along the trail who quite frankly ignored us ( at one point ,we were caught in between the pack train coming up the trail to resupply the chalet  and the velveted buck!!) As Doreen says, “Timing is everything”…. It all worked out as we stepped to the high side of the trail and let the animals do their thing !

We stopped to rest and split into 2 groups at the bridge at Crystal Ford (about  2/3 of the way down) a great place to rest your feet and  have lunch on the way down. Sue, Kuntz and Maria went on ahead and Doreen became the sweep for those who stayed a bit longer to have lunch. Gail had been counting the yellow caterpillars on the trail on the way down . Each one in their group wagered a guess as to how many total caterpillars they would count during the last 2 miles on the trail. Doreen’s guess came closet to Gail’s final number of 143 caterpillars- !! What a great way to refocus while completing those last trail miles in the heat of the day !!

We were all safely off the trail by 1:25 pm !!! Doreen checked in with the corral and located her sandals that had missed being unloaded from the pack animal at the chalet- !! Yay !

Our driving groups parted ways in West glacier after a cool refreshing drink, an ice cream cone for some and maybe even a 6 pack to enjoy later with friends while reminiscing about our amazing trip to Sperry Chalet!  We did it!! 
Who did it? Sue, Doreen, Gail, Maria, Randi, Kuntz, and Sheila

Trip dates: Aug.
​By Madelon:
Monday August 16: met 3 hiking buddies from Great Falls in West Glacier, Deb, Roni and Paula. We had agreed to meet for Lunch at the West Glacier Cafe in West Glacier where burgers and icecream hit the spot in all 4 of us. Roni, Deb and Paula had quite a long trip behind them already plus we had not seen one another for several years AND  it was gorgeous weather so it was nice to have a bit of time to start catching up. 

After lunch we got in our respective car/van and  drove on to McDonald Lodge. There we parked my car so we had transportation back at the trailhead when we were supposed to walk out there on Thursday. I piled into the van with all my bags and stuff and on to the East side we went.
Checked in at St Mary's Lodge for the night. One room, 4 gals and wine. 
We had dinner in the Lodge. Not sure anymore what everybody ordered but I had quesadillas and they were good. Then early to bed as we had to rise early.. 

Tuesday: First alarm went off at  5 AM, I believe, mine not until 5:30. After getting ready and packed and sacked, and after getting coffee and a bit of breakfast (Deb managed to eat yoghurt while driving the Going to the sun road) we arrived at Jackson Glacier Overlook trailhead at a little after 7 and where on the trail not much after that. At that time it was already raining substantially but we came prepared and were clothed in all the rainwear you could think of, including gaiters. backpacks wrapped up too.
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Hiked 0ver 14  miles total that day in driving rain, howling wind, low clouds, fog and some hail now and then, dangerous conditions and hardly anybody on the trail, to Sperry Chalet (missed the last sign to the Chalet at the end (as we had to look down at our feet as not to stumble on the very uneven and slick rocks  and to stabilize ourselves in order not to be blown off the mountain) which added a few miles). 

We met two parties each of two people, I believe to remember, one coming down from camping at Lake Ellen Wilson. We met them at the lower side of Gunsight lake, a ways down the trail, and the others came from Sperry, I thought, and then two young gals who were on their way to Lake Ellen Wilson to camp there that night. We caught up with them a few times, among others in the Gunsight Pass stone shelter where they took shelter from the horrible weather and rested for a while as did we. We were quite concerned about their well being as the two outgoing parties had waned us about a sow and cub on the trail at Lake Ellen Wilson, but the young ladies said they would be careful and to me they sounded quite bear country-savvy. P.S Roni and Deb met them the next day near Sperry Chalet. The girls were fine, and on their wat to McDonald Lodge.

We had lunch along Gunsight Lake where the rain let up a bit and a snack in the stone shelter.

Highlight of the day was probably seeing a big bull moose at the lower end of Gunsight Lake. Even though a curtain of rain was coming down and cameras and phones got drenched we managed to get a few pictures. 

We arrived at the Chalet close to 5. Check in was quick and efficient. We were as wet as drowned cats, and  chilled and exhausted. Our waterproof shoes contained about a quarter inch of rainwater inside of them and our socks did not dry the entire time we spent at Sperry. There is no heat in the bedroom building so we got into dry clothes as quickly as we could get out of the wet stuff and crawled into bed with a glass of wine and some snacks to warm up and wait for dinner time which was for us at 6:45

Dinner as so-so. We were not impressed. It was some kind of turkey with mashed potatoes, a minuscule little bowl with some salad, some undefined soup, a biscuit like bread that was dry and tasteless in my opinion, and a dessert but I already forgot what that was. It was already served by the time we came in which made everything only lukewarm by he time we started eating. 

No heat here either except from the kitchen which helped some, but the reason for that was that we still had  Stage 2 fire restrictions. Wood stove fires were not allowed.
After dinner we did not linger long. Our beds were calling. Loud and clear. 

Masks were mandatory in the buildings and everybody tried to do the right thing.

Wednesday: After breakfast which we could order and which was good ( one or two eggs, toast, pancakes, oatmeal, bacon or ham, coffee or tea, and orange juice) Paula and I hiked up over Comeau pass to the foot of Sperry Glacier. We left the Chalet at about 9, I think and hiked a total of 9 miles. 

The Chalet provided a lunch bag but in my eyes it was lacking shamefully (I am pretty well an omnivore and in general do not complain about food) with ultra dry bread that crumbled into individual crumbs when you took the plastic wrapping off and a few energy like bars and a juice package. I had one of my energy bars with me and we both carried water so we did good. 

Lots of rock negotiating, a rather fast flowing water fall crossing,  and an interesting staircase to scale Comeau Pass. Better weather but cold, and with plastic bags around our dry socks in soaking wet shoes. Went great up hill, not so much downhill as our feet slid to the front of our shoes and our toes started to hurt agains the inside front. We took the plastic bags from around our feet with the risk of getting our only dry socks wet, but our shoes had dried substantially while hiking so all was good.

We were back at the chalet at just after three, I think to remember. Deb and Roni had walked back up to the pass to see where we went wrong yesterday and found it. Thatbis also when they met the two young gals from Lake Ellen Wilson. For the rest Deb and Roni spent their time playing a game  at the Chalet and reading a book, I think. 

From then to dinner time we all did what we felt like. But we all met for happy hour in the room, and enjoyed one another's company.
Dinner was the similar blah as the first night with Chicken Marsallah supposedly and a rice/veggie mix, with a few cherry tomatoes on the side an a kind of veggie, maybe minestrone cold-ish soup and bread pudding for dessert. It was filling and that's where it stopped for me. 

Thursday: hike from Sperry Chalet to Lake McDonald Lodge. We left the chalet at 9 after breakfast which had the same choices as the day before. 
Only 6.6 miles. Great weather and downright toasty at the Lodge. We arrived at the car at noon sharp. 

Lunch at the lodge in the sun in short sleeve shirts, shorts and flip-flops. Sure different from 38 degrees at the chalet.
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Next we all piled into my Jeep, drove across Logan Pass to Jackson Glacier overlook trailhead and dropped off my three Great Falls bound hiking partners at their van. Goodbyes and hugs and me back over Logan Pass, stop in West Glacier for my traditional ice cream at Sweet Peaks and on to Eureka.

Who went: Deb, Roni, Madelon, Paula O

The pink fireweed popped on our hike to Firebrand Pass, which got a bit of a late start due to Kuntze oversleeping combined with many farm implements blocking traffic along the way, not to mention semis going slowly.

We left Great Falls at 6:45 and got on trail three hours later after stops in Conrad and East Glacier, the last one to discuss if we should even go on the hike, due to so much smoke. We decided to go anyway, with Katie suggesting doing the Buffalo Lakes hike if it looked too bad at the trailhead.

So we persisted, which became the wording of the day as two of our gals struggled a bit, but "still, she persisted."

Despite the smoke ruining most of the views, we still had a great time. The fireweed and other flowers were gorgeous and the huckleberries, grouse whortleberries and serviceberries were ripe.

Luckily, the temperatures weren't too bad and a breeze helped us especially on the last stretch of uphill getting to the pass.  We saw three other groups, two from Georgia, which we thought odd, although many people from the southern states seem to be visiting Montana the last two years. One party was finishing a backpack from Fielding/Coal Creek via Ole Lake.

The haze lifted a bit looking east but the true unfortunate part was the view west as you crest the pass was mostly obliterated by smoke. This is the in-your-face look at Mount Despair, 8888, Despair, Battlement, Summit and Little Dog, their outlines barely visible today, that can take your breath away as you get to the top. And really, today the top didn't have much wind, or not as much as usual.

On the way down, we had to dowse Kuntz with water several times as she was overheating, and Susan had to stop once for pain meds for her knee/ankle. But we all made it back to the car by 4:30. Then it was on to East Glacier for dinner, first stopping at the Lodge and then deciding to go to Serrano's, which was a great choice since we could sit outside. We all enjoyed our food after a few had had bad experiences in the past.

On a side note, Camille earned her 100-miler award in this hike. We arrived home around 8:15.

Who went: Doreen, Sue, Suzie, Susan, Kuntz, Camille, Carol, Katie

As a lead into Sperry, the GiG headed out on a horseback riding trip to East Glacier.  Several gals were considering riding horses instead of walking up to Sperry Chalet. This would be the test.

Maria and Randi had been taking riding lessons in Vaughn, but wanted to see what a trail ride in Glacier would be like, since Swan Mountain Outfitters, the ones who guide from West Glacier up to Sperry Chalet, said they would only take experienced riders. Bonnie wasn't sure if her hip would take a horseback ride, Gail had ridden to the chalet before, and Katie was just along for the fun of riding horses.

Glacier Gateway Rides is owned and operated by long-time Blackfeet residents the Hall family. Mouse Hall, now well into his 80s, greeted us and explained how he was half Texan and half Blackfeet and how his great grandfather had fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy. His wife helped us with our payments and showed off the family's trophies as well as pictures from the Hollywood films they had ridden in or provided horses for, including Dances with Wolves.

Then, Dakota, a Blackfeet who had been raised in Helena and who had only been working with horses for two weeks, rounded up and saddled our horses.  He already had a great way around the ponies.  One horse seemed hurt and backed away when we tried to pet him, so Dakota carefully checked to make sure nothing was poking into his hoof and rode him around the paddock to make sure all was well.  He put Katie on him and told everyone which horse was theirs. Then Mouse said we needed to wait for another wrangler as he can't send out just one person now after a sexual harassment lawsuit. We all understood.

We waited about 15 minutes for two young women to arrive and saddle horses with Mouse telling is stories and about the breeding of the horses from original Spanish stock crossed with Arabs.

The ride itself was beautiful with fireweed flowers and service berries to grad along the way. The two gal guides were both still recovering from COVID complications. One had had COVID twice.  One had been working on a dude ranch in Texas where they mistreated the animals, feeding horses and cows nothing but straw, so she quit and came home.

Overall, the ride went well although we all felt our bowlegs for a bit after we dismounted. Then we went to the lodge for lunch  to discover they don't open the lounge until 3 and the dining room wasn't open for lunches this year, probably due to lack of staff since no travel visas were allowed for foreign workers due to COVID. So it was down the road we went to old favorite Buffalo Joe's in Dupuyer to get the hot slaw and sandwiches.

Who went: Gail, Maria, Bonnie, Randi, Katie

One-hundred-degree weather hit Great Falls and then never let up for three weeks, prompting several trip cancellations, including a substitution this week: Blackleaf Canyon, which is exposed with lots of uphill, to Muddy Creek Falls, which is much shorter and flat, although it is an obstacle course. And the fires were blazing creating smoke. We figured a canyon hike would be better than a view hike, as our views would be occluded with smoke.

We left Great Falls at 5:30 a.m., thinking we would beat the heat of the say, which was predicted to be in the 80s, even in the mountains. After a comfort stop in Choteau, we arrived at the trailhead at 7:45 and hit trail just before 8, after gearing up.

This trail showed its challenged right away with a bushwhack down the two-track road. The silver berry was thick in spots as we made our way to the wash out from the floods of the last few years. To prevent anyone from getting lost or not making our way back to the cars, Katie placed marking tape on several trees at key intersections, although there is no guarantee of coming back the exact same way.  This hike is one that is rarely hiked the same way twice as you just make your way however best you can by following the dry streambed, crossing back and forth as needed.

And the streambed isn't easy to navigate as it has many boulders and large rocks that could turn an ankle if not careful. So we alternated between walking up the streambed and following cattle and game trails through the thick brush and trees on the banks, whichever seemed the easiest in places. 

It wasn't until the last half mile that we came across water and the place that Muddy Creek goes subterranean. At this point, the canyon narrows, which forced us into the water for the last part of our trek.

Still, there wasn't much water in the creek for this time of year, but once we hit the falls, we saw plenty of water. The pool was too deep to approach the falls, and we had to navigate around several boulder areas. It's always a surprise to see this falls for the first time, and it was a first for Maria, Susan and Doreen.

It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to hike just under 2.5 miles, so it shows you the extent of the trail finding and obstacles, around which we had to negotiate. But it was an adventure. On the way back, Maria, Camille, Doreen took turns leading with Maria doing the lead most of the way, We were able to retrace our steps very well, with Maria and Camille finding some better ways to avoid the boulders in the creek bed.

We arrived back at the cars at 1:30 and drove to Choteau for a comfort stop and ice cream. We arrived home by 4 p.m.
Who went: Susan, Camille, Maria, Randi, Doreen, Bonnie, Katie

Facing temps in the high 90s in Great Falls, the GiG decided to find the coolest place around the state, so we could still get a hike in, one without a lot of elevation gain, and Two Medicine Lake fit the bill.  We decided to hike around the lake and go to four waterfalls, so we could tick off a few on our 21 waterfalls goal for the year.

This hike also has several variations, so those who don't want to go as far can ride the boat.  We had one group walk all the way around the lake and to Twin and Aster Falls, one group go over and back on the boat and to both the falls and one group that took the boat halfway and walked the other half around the lake, hitting the falls along the way.  We were able to take 10 gals, with Doreen graciously giving up her boat ticket so Karen could come along.

After the lake hike, we drove to Scenic Point trailhead for Apistoki Falls and then a bit farther down the road to Trick/Running Eagle Falls.

It all started at 5 a.m. as the only boat tickets left by the time we decided on this plan were the 8 a.m. ones. But with the heat predicted to be 78-80 degrees, we were all happy to get an early start.

Nothing too eventful happened on the drive, except Katie had forgotten to fill her water bottles so we had to make an extra stop in Browning to buy some.

We made it to Two Medicine by 7:40, plenty of time to use the facilities and catch the boat. One car dropped off the hikers in the campground before heading for Two Med lake parking lot and the boat dock.

The hikers set a faster pace than normal as they needed to hoof it in order to meet up at Twin Falls with the faster boat. We figured they may need to wait 5-10 minutes even with the faster pace.  On the hike, we only happened upon 4-5 other hikers, so it was a quiet trek. We saw lots of moose poo but no animals; the boat group, on the other hand, saw a moose swimming across the lake! What a sight.

The boat gals arrived about one minute before the hikers, so everything worked out perfectly!  We were all amazed. They said the boat had been redone--over 30,000 man hours, and it looks beautiful. The boat was about 3/4 full, not the half as promised.

There were quite a few people at the falls at first, a result of many others who rode the boat doing it too, but it soon thinned. We took our packs off and had a snack. Then it was time for the boaters to decide if they were hiking around the lake or taking the boat back. All decided to hike except two, who would then hike to Aster Falls after taking the boat back. This option is 1.2 miles shorter and mostly flat. The hikers faced about 400 feet of elevation gain coming up from the boat dock, but this stretch is beautiful with views across the lake and flowers galore in this sunny, open section. In this section, we could shout and wave at those awaiting the boat.

And again, we were amazed that those hike the whole south shore met with those hiking from the boat dock reached Aster Falls within minutes of each other. Everything was working out with no glitches!  There were quite a few people at Aster Falls, so we didn't stay long and opted to hike back to the foot of the lake to have our lunch. This stretch of trail was pretty crowded. We came across numerous hiking groups, as we helped give directions and advice  when asked.

We arrived at the lake at 12:30 and took a half hour to visit the campstore and eat our lunches (they didn't make any of their awesome roasted red pepper gouda cheese soup since it was so hot, which was a disappointment. Some of us would have had soup anyway; it's that good.)

After our break and lunch, we drove to the Scenic Point parking area, which was full. We had to improvise space by the garbage cans. Then all except Gail hiked to Apistoki Falls, Katie taking us the shortcut way.  This hike gets rather steep and has limited views of the falls, but we wanted to check one off the list, which we did. We happened upon a couple who said some sheep were by the falls. We didn't see any; however, the trail on the way down was covered in sheep poo, and lo and behold, the sheep were in the parking area when we got back down. There were several ewes, yearling and two babies from this year. They were right by the cars, a bit too close for comfort; they were bleating and bahing and licking a dark spot on the  ground, which usually means someone urinated there. They like the salt. What a treat to watch them for a while.

Then we did our last hike of the day to Trick/Running Eagle Falls, a short jaunt of 3/4 of a mile to a "double" water falls, one spilling over the other (in early and late season, it is only one falls--it is only double during run-off season). The falls had a bit running over the top but the part out of the cave was rushing.

By now, it was almost 3:30. We decided to opt for eating in Dupuyer instead of East Glacier. We got there just before 5, had a nice meal and got home before 7:30. A great day!

Who went: Gail, Jo Ann, Karen, Randi, Maria, Susan, Sue, Doreen, Bonnie, Katie
Hikers: Doreen, Katie, Susan
Half Boat: Karen, Randi, Sue, Maria, Bonnie
Boat: Gail, Jo Ann

At 6:30 a.m., with six crammed into Katie's Highlander, we headed to Augusta, not for the rodeo, but for a climb of Fairview Mountain in the Rocky Mountain Front.

The day promised to be a bit of a hot one to do 3,000 feet of uphill, but we hoped our early start would get us to the top before it got roasting, and we were pleasantly surprised that the day never heated too much with a breeze and cloud cover. 

Today was a test for three of us: Katie with her hip and shoulder issues from the car accident still bothering, Amber with Achilles' tendon issues from running and her bad ankle and Susan with ankle and knee issues from her ankle operation four years ago. But we all made it to the top and in pretty good form, albeit hurting at times.

Before our hike started, we spied a doe on the side of a hill nursing her two fawns; she quickly left with the babies boing-boinging up and over the hill. So cute! Then we went through the fence, carefully crossed the stream on some old logs, and hit the trail.

We enjoyed the canyon with the string of waterfalls, checking off Willow Creek Falls and Upper Willow Creek Falls. At times, it was fairly hot with no breeze. We prayed it wouldn't warm up even more. Then we headed for the off-trail portion of the hike, the reason we had Katie's husband Tom along, yet we were able to follow old cow and game trails until the saddle. The trails were more distinct from years past.

From there, the slant got progressively steeper until we reached a second saddle, where it leveled out for a bit before the final ascent over very rocky, steep terrain. On this last stretch, the wind picked up and some ominous clouds hung over us, giving us a bit of a chill.

Once we gained the top, we were surprised at how calm it had become, so we could enjoy the views for a while before descending a bit for a lunch spot as the wind picked up once again. But not before we snapped a few summit pictures and put three rocks on the cairn for the three ladies who have gone before us: Chrissie, Colette/Coco and Phyllis.

We were so lucky to find a day before the heat warning engulfs us later in the week. 

Instead of retracing our steps, we did a lollipop, by creating a loop out of the off-trail scramble, going through some old snags and rock ledges. On this part, we came across different zones of wildflowers, one with forget-me-nots, one with shooting stars, one with arrow-leaf balsamroot.

We got back to the cars at 4:30 to find another vehicle there with a couple from Helena, who had no idea where they really were or how far the falls were. We explained to them about the gorgeous canyon and the falls. They also said they were log-time members of MWA and wondered about the name change to Montana Wild, Camille, being on the board, explained to him the logic.

Then it was back home via Augusta right as the rodeo was ending. We got into a traffic jam getting through the four-block town, taking about 15 mintues as we people watched: cowboys spinning their hats, beers in hand; people lined up for burgers at the Buckhorn Bar and a giant Budweiser bottle blow-up swinging in the breeze.

We arrived home around 6 p.m.
Who went: Camille, Susan, Suzie T, Amber, Katie (Guide Tom)