Mary S and Katie headed out to Canada, passports in hand, after work on a Friday night.  It was stressful getting out of town with the hurrying to get on the road so we would finish our trip in the daylight, but we fought a lot of Friday-night traffic.  To add to our hurry, we wanted to make it to the border at least a half hour earlier than the closing time in case we drew an inspection (or else they will turn you around if no time to complete the inspection before closing)

So we made it in what we thought would be plenty of time--by 6:30 with the closing at 8 p.m., or at least that is what Katie read on the website. However, the first posted hours were summer hours, not winter and summer didn't start for another month. So, we arrived at the border a half hour late instead of early!  The border patrol talked to us but didn't have authority to let us through. It takes a customs employee, and they had already left.  The officer suggested we head to Sweet Grass, which is open 24/7. This would add two hours to our trip, but we started out returning first to Cutbank and then on to Shelby.  

We didn't have much for service along the road leading to the Del Bonita crossing, but Katie got two bars in one place and was able to message the Canadians that we would be two hours late, with an arrival time around 10. They suggested going through Carway instead, which Katie had read closed at 8; However, Laura said she was sure it was open until 11 p.m. So, we diverted to Browning instead of Shelby as soon as we hit Cutbank. Going this direction saved us about 40 minutes, for which we were very grateful.

Even though we had to drive the extra miles and time, we were treated to the most beautiful sunset we had ever seen. it was orange and pink with radiating rays spreading across the mountains of Glacier and the town of Browning; it even held the entire way on Duck Lake road, showcasing chief mountain and then fading as we hit Babb We felt the Lord wanted us to go this way just so we could see this wonderful sight.

We arrived at Barry and Laura's house around 8:30, where they had kept our dinner for us, and what a wonderful dinner: homemade cornbread, spinach and berry salad and nachos. Then it was time for bed so we could get up in the morning for a snowshoe with the rest of the gals, plus one gal's husband.

The next morning, we met up at 8:15 at church in Mountain View and then with the Lethbridge group in the town of Pincher Creek. Then another 45 minute drive took us to the parking lot of Syncline ski area along the West Castle River with Castle mountain for a backdrop.

This area reminded us a lot of Silver Crest, with groomed trails.  The one difference is that they allow snowshoes on all of the trails, as long as they stay off the ski tracks and go single file. The Canadians had nice signs pointing out trail etiquette.

We took a five-mile, mostly flat loop, that took us by a small lake.  The snow was a bit spare in spots, icy in others and slushy at the end of the day as it was sunny and around 45 degrees under a blue sky. We saw a moose on just off the trail and two moose on the way in, so Katie was very happy to see her spirit animal.

Loch, Paula's husband, who works for Parks Canada in Waterton, gave us an interpretive tour of the animal tracks and flora along the way. We saw wolf tracks, vole, deer, moose, pine martin, squirrel and rabbit. After we finished, Laura brought out some homemade Ginger snap cookies--yummy!

Then Laura took ua a few more miles up the road to see the small alpine ski resort, which reminded us of Showdown, except with only two lifts and very steep runs.  The area has some cabins and condos as well as an RV park. No one knew if we could rent cabins there or if we would have to stay in Pincher Creek, the 45-minutes away.

We finished by 2 p.m. and returned home by 7:30 p.m. after a a very pretty drive along the Rocky Mountain Friont. We hoped to see snowgeese, but Freezeout Lake was still frozen over, so not too much bird migration was going on.

All in all, we had a great time and learned about a new area in case we want to take a winter road trip.

We left town at 7 a.m., meeting our sister group from Canada--the WoW (Women of Wonder/Waterton) at the East Glacier convenience store and gas station by 9:30.  Then we continued to the trailhead where we met Laurie, who is from East Glacier. She had a rare day off from waitressing at the Two Med Grill. All told, we had 16 gals ready to snowshoe, with two (Desirae and Gail) taking a more leisurely pace and going four miles, while the rest of us signed up for the 7.5 miler.

The weather prediction was for a cloudy day bringing rain at night, but we had blue skies to start along with a bit of wind. As we headed out, we realized the snow wasn't very settled after our weird year of no snow through January and then tons of snow but below zero temperatures in February. With no chinooks, the snow never formed a solid base, hence those with smaller snowshoes were falling in all day. Even those with tails and larger shoes were sinking at times.

Luckily, it wasn't too many postholes or we may have given up. Had we done so, however, we would have missed the absolutely stunning views of Rising Wolf Mountain (the largest land mass, but not highest, mountain in Glacier Park). The surrounding mountains, though not as commanding, were also impressive: Scenic Point, Henry, Apistoki, Lone Walker, Sinopah, Rockwell, Never Laughs, Bisonhead, Painted Teepee, Red and Spot mountains, among others.  Each round of the bend brought a different perspective and new peaks into view.

Along the trail, we saw many different tracks, some we thought might be wolverine, a small cat of some sort and a mountain lion.

We made it just over  3.5 miles in, past the seven-mile highway marker to the wide pull out in the road. This area, Laurie calls "Rising Wolf Curve," a fitting name since this handsome red mountain dominates the skyline.

Lower Two Med lake was still frozen but with areas starting to thaw. At our lunch spot, we could see the total white of Two Med Lake, not showing signs of any melt yet. As we stopped, we felt the chill and pulled on our caps and coats against the wind. But once we were back on trail, we warmed up quickly. As a side note, Katie started to pull out her water bottle and saw a Bud Light next to it. Actually, it was empty. Susan had found it on the road and decided we should pick up trash.

On the way back down, we spotted bear scat and many moose droppings, more than on our way up. As the snow softened, more gals took tumbles as the snow collapsed under them. Of course, those of us with cameras had to document the fall-ins.

We arrived at the cars at 3:30, while the other group finished at 1:30. They walked the Two Med road and chatted until we returned.

Then it was time to say goodbye to the Canadians and Laurie while the Great Falls group headed to Choteau for dinner at the Log Cabin. We were hungry and thought about stopping in Dupuyer at Buffalo Joe's, but we called and they said they were booked for the night with a wedding and other parties. We had to put off our appetites for another 40 minutes, but that put us closer to home. 

We thought we might see some snowgeese and swans on the way past Freezeout lake. We did see a pond of swans near Fort Shaw but nothing else.

We arrived in GF at 7:30, a great day of exercise and camaraderie. And when Katie got home and added up the miles, she discovered that we welcome Susan C to the 100-miler Club! Congrats, Susan.
​
Who went: GF--Gail, Desirae, Joanne, Paula, Susan W, Susan C, Viki, Sara, Mary S, Amber, Katie, EG: Laurie; Canada--Laura, Dina, Paula, Joan

The Kings Hill to Silver Crest is a fun walk through hike, necessitating at least two vehicles for a car shuttle to the top while leaving one at Silver Crest, the ending point.  We had one more twist in our shuttle day: We were dropping off Maria at Showdown for a morning of skiing on a memorial day for a friend of her son's.

We left Great Falls at 8 a.m. and were on trail at 9:45 after a stop at the Inconvenience Store in Neihart. We had a cramped ride with 7 gals and gear, including skis in Katie's Traverse; luckily, it was a short ride to Showdown, where we left Maria off, telling her we would return around 2 p.m.

The day was beautiful with no wind as we started the climb up the Ranch Creek/O'Brien Creek back country ski trail. We did have to break trail all of the way to the bowl where the snowmobilers play, but the snow was powdery, so it wasn't bad. We all took our turns out front.

When we hit the bowl and the Powerline trail, we saw a few snowmobilers, but not many, and they were staying away from the creek areas where we were as the snow wasn't stable.  We saw several places where the water and thin ice were visible.

Then we crossed the bowl area to get on the road.  Katie pointed out where to go to hit the E-Loop on Silver Crest if we were on skis; some wanted to see the loop, so we took the quarter-mile spur trail until we met the groomed trail. We actually saw two skiers on the E-Loop, which is the first time. Usually no one is on this run.  Then, when we turned around, we met a couple following our tracks. They said they were doing O'Brien Creek; we informed them that they had missed their turn quite a ways back. We told them they could backtrack, which might be quite a long way or instead head up the Powerline and back to their car at the top of Kings Hill.  They could also have cut cross country to hook back up to the trail, but that might not be a good idea without a GPS. We could tell that gal wasn't into making for even a longer day, so we told them to go the Powerline for sure and save O'Brien for another day.

Then we backtracked to the cat track and followed it around to the Silver Crest Parking lot. We made very good time, arriving at 12:30, which put us back at Showdown by 1 p.m., so we thought we would have a cool drink or some snacks while we waited. Then we found Maria was already waiting for us inside, so it worked out perfectly.  

We got back around 2:30.
Who went: Susan, June, Viki, Sue, Amber, Kaite and tag-along Maria

No one slept in on this spring ahead day, as two newbies and a returning gal joined four more experienced GiG members for a fun day of snowshoeing. First, we stopped at the Inconvenience Store after our 8:30 start from Great Falls for a potty break and snacks. We had fun visiting with the new manager as he showed us how he rearranged the store, putting our preferred items in unexpected places.

Then it was off to Memorial Falls. Katie made the decision to ditch the snowshoes, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. At first, all was fine as we walked the third of a mile to the lower falls without incident, In fact, the normally icy spot was covered with snow, so we had no fear of slipping. so all was well so far and the falls very beautiful. However, when we headed to the upper falls, things got a bit deep, about a foot and a half deep to be precise.  But everyone bucked it up and post-holed to the upper falls. This falls wasn't as pretty as it  usually is due to too much snow covering the ice crystals and icicles.

Debra felt a bit queasy on this hike--maybe it was the uphill, maybe the post-holing, but luckily, she recovered by the time we started on Jefferson Creek.

We hiked three miles up and back to the Pack it In, Pack it Out Sign and had lunch on the bridge. We saw some fun snow-rollers, some thinking they looked like cinnamon rolls, others roses. But we didn't see the usual elk tracks or other signs of wildlife. The creek has some lovely snow formations in it, though, and it burbled up between the iced-over areas.

The sun shone on us the entire way with little wind, so most of us were down to shirt sleeves or shells. On the return, we practically raced the last mile, so we got back almost an hour earlier than expected.

After our hike, we stopped into Bob's and said hi to Janice the new owner and met two other new employees. Janice said the months were pretty good despite the bitter cold that kept many skiers at home. She also said it had really picked up this weekend with the warmer weather.

We arrived back in Great Falls before 2 p.m. The newbies all made the entire way and seemed to do well. We hope to see Desirae, Debra and Amber back on the trail soon. And many had new snowshoes that they had no trouble getting used to.

Who went: Susan W, Amber, Debra, Desirae, Viki, Judy and Katie

Mary N's Recipe

TORTILLA SOUP
1 onion, chopped
2 oz Taco seasoning       (dry)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
3 small cans diced green chili, or to taste
3-4 Garlic cloves, pressed
2 +TBS butter
2 TBS Olive oil
1 1/2  quart chicken stock or broth
1 cup chopped bite size tomatoes 
6 shredded corn tortillas (thickner and flavor)
3/4 lb queso dip (potato chip aisle)
1 lb Grilled chicken or 2 cans of Cosco chicken
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pint heavy cream 

GARNISH
cilantro 
matchbook cut corn tortillas, fried (or chips)
Green onion, finely sliced 
Sour cream
Avocado, diced

1.Sauté onion with spices, taco seasoning, and green chili. 
2.Add chicken stock, corn tortillas and diced chicken, boil 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and cheese, simmer 30 minutes. (If not creamy enough, add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 pint heavy cream and simmer 30 more minutes. (I typically add 1/2 the amount of heavy cream.) (NOTE:I have made it w just broth wo  heavy cream and queso)

It might not have been warm in Great Falls, but it was roasting at the Sluice Boxes State Park, where Katie and Susan W decided to snowshoe. The car showed 48 degrees by the time we returned to the cars, and we were sweating, wishing we hadn't worn our Cuddle Duds.

We left town at 8:15 and got on trail by 9:15 after a quick drive to the top trail to see if the pull out was plowed, which it was. Then we headed back down to the bridge and began our hike.

To snowshoe the Sluice Boxes, conditions must be perfect: enough snow and frozen creek. It can be a muddy mess or the creek not solid enough to cross, which is required, four times.

The sun was out and we had fun exploring the old buildings, smelter and machinery from the old mining days as we hiked along the old railroad bed of the "Fish" train that ran between GF and Neihart, through the old town of Albright.

The creek had solid crossings, although as the day wore on, and we returned, the ice had noticeably melted. 

We saw many animal tracks and scat, including a big cat, that appeared to be living in the grotto/cave as its tracks and scat were at the entrance. We imagined it might be sleeping in there as we passed by, a scary thought. We saw several places where it had bounded down the hills after deer and two places where an altercation had taken place, the snow packed down and tracks and evidence everywhere.

The beauty of the cliffs, the creek and snow can't be overstated. We even saw several eagles soaring overhead. A flock of chickadees kept us company as we had lunch. We turned around when we came to the first ruined trestle as climbing down among the scattered boards we deemed too hard with not being able to see our footing beneath the snow.

Several places were a bit iffy, especially on the return as the snow rapidly started to melt, making it hard to trudge through. Both of us felt our muscles at work in these tough snow conditions, such a change from the morning when we had had fluffy powder.

​Overall, we had a great day and were so happy to be back outside again after a month of below-zero weather. On a side note, we came across a back country skier, who had never been in the area before.

Who went: Susan W and Katie