The Scenic Point Hike was supposed to be include a car shuttle and Katie and Tom leading, but with a COVID exposure for Katie, the hike had to be changed. Laurie, thankfully, agreed to lead the hike with Katie and Tom driving separately and planning to hike up and back, so as not to expose anyone on a car shuttle.

This hike was further complicated with the Great Falls group meeting up with two others, Madelon from Eureka and Laurie from East Glacier. We planned to meet at the Glacier Park Lodge, and all worked out.  With Blackfeet tribal permits in hand, Laurie led us to a place to park near the trailhead.  At this point, Tom and Katie stayed to walk from East Glacier tribal land toward Scenic Point while the others drove into Two Medicine to start at the Scenic Point trailhead inside Glacier National Park. Tom and Katie expected to meet the group along the stream and not get very near Scenic Point since it is 3.5 miles from the park and almost 8 from East Glacier.

Katie and Tom were on trail by 8:45 after leaving GF at 6 a.m. The other group would have started around 20 minutes later.

The fall colors were everything that was expected. They popped against the grey morning sky that turned to blue halfway through the day: the orange and salmon spiraea, the red huckleberries, the maroon strawberries, the red kinickkinnik, the orange mountain ash and golden aspen.

On the reservation, Katie and Tom saw many piles of bear scat, so they did a lot of calling out: "Hey, bear!" over and over. The gals on the other side saw a herd of bighorn sheep, but not scat.

Tom and Katie went to the top of Bald Butte, then along the Midvale Creek, 41 and 40-Mile creeks, we started looking uphill to see if we could see the gals.  Katie said we would go to the 6-7 mile mark and then stop for lunch.  At that point, we were less than a mile from Scenic Point and could see the gals on top. Katie zoomed in to make sure it was them, and it was. They sat to have lunch too. At this point. the wind was whipping up, so Katie and Tom sat behind some trees while that gals on top crept below some rocks.  After lunch when we saw the gals get up, Tom and Katie decided to continue toward Scenic Point even though it would make a 14-mile day for them if they turned around.  After another half more mile, we met the gals and had a fun chat, comparing experiences. The gals reported just how bad the wind was on top.  Katie and Tom suggested a key exchange, that they would take Suzie's car keys and continue to Scenic Point and the trailhead. Then they would drive the car around to East Glacier for them, saving about 45 minutes from their day. They agreed, so Tom took the keys and secured them into a zipper pants pocket.  

Katie and Tom contuned on, with only about 4 miles to go on the day instead of turning around and having 7 more.  They arrived at the car at 2:45 and drove to East glacier by 3:10, disinfecting her car just in case, hiding the key, leaving some wine for Madelon by her car door, and heading home.

The other gals reached the cars around 4:15 p.m. and decided to head home too since Serrano's wasn;t open.  If they had done the shuttle, it would have been.

We were all surprised at how fast we did this 11-mile hike!
Katie and Tom home by 5:30 and the others by 6:30.

 With many Giggers setting a goal of visiting 21 waterfalls in 2021, Katie and Gail planned a way to get 10 in one overnight trip: Visit St. Mary and Many Glacier in Glacier National Park.

We knew we faced construction going into Many Glacier, so we got up early (6:30 a.m) with enough gear and food for a three-day, two-night trip to St. Mary, our base camp. We rented the Riverhouse and Dorm from the Red Eagle, one with two bedrooms and two baths and one with three bedrooms and one bath.

We did have construction issues, after stops in Conrad and Browning for gas, and arrived at 10:15 a.m., but we did see a mama grizzly with three babies, so it was all worth it. The weather looked a little iffy and the parking already a problem (full at the picnic area and people lining the road by the lodge), so we decided to skip Swiftcurrent Falls and try for a parking spot by the trailhead to Redrock Falls. We got one of the last three or four slots open.

It was cool and cloudy when we headed out and arrived at Red Rocks around 11:30. At Red Rock Lake, we saw a huge bull moose across the other side.  Then on to the falls. We got pictures, and some  gals decided to climb the rocks for a gorgeous view from above the falls. One group wanted to go a bit farther, thinking we might be able to get to Bullhead Lake; however, sprinkles started coming down and clouds looked more threatening, so we turned around after one mile.  We caught the other gals at Red Rock as they had stopped to eat lunch, and all returned via the horse trail to get a glimpse of Wilbur Falls through the now pouring rain. 

Instead of 3-4 falls in Many Glacier today, we had to settle for two. Many of us were soaked though, so we decided to just check into our accommodations as it was too early for dinner at Two Sisters. We saw the mama griz and cubs plus another bear on the way out, but our wait on construction was over an hour. Meanwhile, we hung our wet items on the porch to dry, but Kuntzie’s jacket blew away up and over the Riverhouse trailer.  She searched and searched, but couldn’t locate it.

We got unpacked and wondered if it would be a good idea to eat early. Katie called Two Sisters and made reservations for 4:30, hoping to beat the crowds since most of the restaurants were all closed this time of year.  We were glad we did as the place was crowded, but we still managed to get a picture with Big John, the owner, and his wife. And Susan spied Kuntzie’s coat in the bushes before we left for dinner.

Since we finished early, Katie suggested a drive up Going to the Sun Road, do the short .3 mile hike to Lunch Creek Falls, and walk the goat overlook to see mountain goats.  It was still drizzling a bit, but animals are usually out at dusk. We we did. We saw more bears and one elk on the flats and then on the way home, we saw a bear walking up the road toward us. It was injured with a huge gash in its hindquarter. We didn’t see any goats or sheep, and we didn’t stop at Logan Pass. Then it was a rousing game or two of Left Right Center and Greedy along with drinks and tons of snacks. Kuntzie was disappointed that everyone went to bed before 10 p.m
 
The next morning, we ate the muffins that several gals brought with them and got out the door at 8 a.m. for another trip along the Many Glacier Road under construction. Again, we got in fairly quickly, but the return was over an hour.

We saw the mama griz with cubs again, shining in the sunlight. Today promised to be a clear, sunny, bluebird day. We were hiking to Swiftcurrent and Hidden Falls today, a seven-mile trek, so we parked at the Many Glacier Hotel/Lodge and started to hike in a counterclockwise direction. An older gentleman asked a few questions and then started to follow us as we made our way to Swiftcurrent Falls. In fact, he stayed with us all day, volunteering to take our picture along the way. A few of the gals jokingly said to Jo Ann that we should invite him to dinner with us, teasing Paul would make a good date for her. She quickly said it wasn't a good idea. We weren't very good at match-making.  Again, we didn’t see any goats or sheep, which was surprising as we walked the shores of Swiftcurrent and Josephine. 

Swiftcurrent was amazing, no wind and perfect reflections! We couldn’t stop taking pictures. And Katie saw James, the Glacier Park Boat Company manager, and one of her former journalism students.  Many hikers passed us on the way to Grinnell Glacier, but the crowds thinned out once we passed the junction.  We all crossed the hanging bridge with no issues, despite it having a few missing boards. Then it was on to Grinnell Lake, a place many had not been.  While the wind had picked up now, ruining any chance at reflections, the lake was still fantastic: the glacier till or flour reflecting the true aqua color of a glacier-fed lake.

After the lake, we hiked to Hidden Falls, which was right by the hanging bridge. At this point, we split into two groups as some wanted to go to Apikuni Falls (Katie, Maria, Susan, Doreen), the one we skipped from the day before. So the Apikuni gals, took off fast, making it to the car around 3:00. They hiked to Apikuni and returned to the cars by 4:30 while the others arrived back to St. Mary by 5. And on the way out, we saw a huge blond and silvertip grizzly. The ranger had to get out his bullhorn to tell us not to stop in the road as well as tell others to pull completely into the gravel before stopping. But it was worth it to see him/her.

Katie called ahead when the Apikuni gals finally made it out of the construction and to Babb, the first place we had service, to ask the others to go get a table at St. Mary Lodge for dinner. We finally made it to the lodge by 5:50, to find the gals said it would be another half hour wait. We didn’t get seated until 6:30, but we shopped the gift store in the meantime. Then just after we were seated, Denise showed up from Conrad, so our group was complete.

We had more fun and games and drinks in the evening and discussed what time to leave in the morning, since we would have to pack the car and clean up, deciding on 8:45.  During the games, Kuntzie indoctrinated Denise, saying R-R-R-R-R at her as if she could will the dice to go show R for passing a quarter to the right, aka, to her.  I’m not sure Denise knew what she was up against with Kuntzie, but then Kuntzie told her that her trail name was “Badger,” and now she knew why.  We all laughed at that one until we were red in the face.  Since we were getting up early,  we called it an early night again, much to Kuntzie’s chagrin.

We got up and ready by 8:15 so we headed out early, which was good as the parking situation is always a nightmare on Going to Sun Road. We dropped a car at Sunrift Gorge and then continued up to Jackson Glacier. On tap for the day were four waterfalls: Deadwood, St. Mary, Virginia and Baring, with some skipping Virginia, since it has a bit of uphill. We swapped Susan with Kuntzie in the cars, based on hiking choice, but one driver said, "How much are you paying me to take KuntZ in my car?" We all had a good laugh at Cathy's expense.

The morning was quiet and gorgeous, the fall colors showing with the fireweed, asters and pearly everlasting going to seed against the reds of the huckleberry bushes, oranges of the spiraea, green of the lodgepole pines and yellows of the aspens trying to come up through the Reynolds Creek burn of 2015. At the trailhead, we saw a couple with huge packs, looking a bit tired, We found out that they were CDT thru-hikers, with only three more days to go before they touched Canada!  We offered them some of our muffins, and boy, were they thankful. Denise went to the car to get the huge muffins; they took three each they were so hungry. The thru-hikers will be walking 25-30 miles per day and burning around 15,000 calories! We asked their trailnames, and one was Pika. We told them we had a "Pika" too: Catherine.

After that, we saw just a few people at Deadwood Falls and two more parties of thru-hikers, and then no one between Reynolds and the St. Mary Falls trail at which time, we were on the superhighway of trails, being passed and passing many people.

At St. Mary Falls, we said goodbye to four of our group who would continue to Baring falls and climb up to Sunrift Gorge while the others continued to Virginia Falls and on to Sun Point, the Sunrift gals bringing the car around to Sun Point to meet them. At Baring Falls, we came across four of the peskiest chipmunks we had ever seen. They didn't hesitate to try to get into our packs and climb our legs.  It was obvious that many were feeding them. One group saw some people with a great Dane at Baring Falls, more evidence of misbehavior in the park.

Just before Sun Point, the wind reached its predicted gale-force status, blowing us down from the viewing point. Susan called it one “bad-ass” breeze. Maria videoed it--see the picture folder) .Just before the viewing point, we came across a couple with a not-too-friendly dog. Katie pointed out that dogs weren’t allowed on the trail. The woman insisted there was no sign. Katie told her there were signs and she would have received the info in her brochures at the gate. They got belligerent, didn’t care and kept on going. It’s sad to see the park being treated this way. 

We finished around 3, the other group around 1:30 and waiting for us. Then Catherine drove Bonnie and Denise up to Jackson to get the other two cars while the rest used the restrooms and sat down awhile.
​
We hit the road 3:45, stopped in St. Mary for cold drinks and Conrad for Subway sandwiches. We arrived home at 7:15.
 
Who went: Maria, Bonnie, Susan, Gail, Catherine, Doreen, Kuntzie, Jo Ann, Denise, Katie
 

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