Girls in Glacier | WELCOME
Like us on Facebook
  • Home
  • About
  • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Flowers/Trees
  • Helpers
  • Goodbye

Hidden Falls, Oct. 30, 2018

10/31/2018

0 Comments

 

Surprise Animal Blocks Trail; Backtrack Turns Eight Miles into 10

Picture
This day frightened many of us for many reasons: lots of bear scat on the trail; a ranger's posting about a trail closure due to bears and what looked like a dead bear on the trail blocking our way, causing us to backtrack and go on an alternate trail.

It all started out at 6 a.m. from Great Falls with a stop to meet Ann, a newbie to the group, on her maiden voyage with us in Browning as she was coming from Rudyard. She was 20 minutes late, but not without cause: she faced 35 mph construction and an oncoming car hitting a deer, which sent "particles" hurling into her car. She called 911, checked with the other driver to make sure he was okay, inspected her car for damage and then headed to meet us.

Then Susan C got in the car with Ann to get to know her and give her some company as we took the gorgeous drive into Many Glacier. The saw a moose while the other car didn't. And it was gorgeous with blue skies but clouds outlining the mountains of Glacier, especially accenting Chief Mountain. As we drove in the Many Glacier valley, however, the clouds hung over us and the temperatures plummeted into the 20-degree range. 

So when we got to the picnic area, we had to bundle up before donning our packs for a fun day of hiking.  Right away, we saw quite a bit of bear scat, some with mountain ash berries, some with grasses and some with hair, indicating the varied diet during the phase of hyperphagia that the bears enter before hibernation. The bear poo unnerved several gals; however, the trail was wet from the snow the night before, and we weren't seeing any grizzly tracks. Besides, Katie tried to calm everyone: bears haven't attached groups larger than five, she explained. Her words didn't take the edge off, but everyone made lots of noise and kept talking.

We rounded Swiftcurrent lake and started the west side of Josephine when Maria and Anita saw some goats high on the mountain side. We all squinted to see them, but those two had the eagle eyes. Maria said it was due to her prior hunting.

Then at the head of the lake with Katie leading, she stopped short after the first board walk and bridge crossing: she saw something dark brown and fuzzy lying in the trail. It didn't appear to be moving. At first, Katie thought it was a sleeping or dead bear and backed off.  Then both she and Ann thought they saw a hoofed leg sticking in the air, indicating a dead moose. At this point, Katie did get afraid, afraid a bear might be around eating on the carcass. She got out her camera and zoomed way in. Then the foot went down and the head arose with twitching ears. It was a mama moose and she was alive.

We were relieved it wasn't a carcass but we couldn't get around her on the trail as the willows were thick on both sides. So we tried to haze her by clicking our sticks and shouting. She wouldn't move. Perhaps she was injured or, more likely, conditioned to humans, given how crowded Many Glacier has been these past few years. Katie watched along with many others a mama moose with baby play in the shore of Fishercap lake. They came out right in front of people with no care. Our group has walked within 10 paces of other moose and even scared a bull moose out of the water when we didn't see him. He just stood up and looked at us. It is still scary to see a big animal so close.

Anyway, we determined she wasn't going to move off the trail. At first, we thought we could bushwack around her but then we thought again: What if she has a young one hiding in the willows and charges us. So the only real thing we could do was backtrack and go around the other side of Lake Josephine, which we did. We retraced our steps to Swiftcurrent lake amid a bit of graupel, took the cut across and bridge to the other side and arrived at Oaster shelter at 1 p.m. to eat our late lunch.

By then, we were really running late as we added 2.4 miles to our expected day. During lunch, the snow really started coming down; we had to get out more layers to keep warm. We also visited the outhouse, which someone had left ajar, so it was a bit unnerving to open the door to enter as we wondered if any critters would be inside making a nest: luckily not. But this incident reminded Maria of kindergarten days in a one-room school with an outhouse for a bathroom. She was so terrified of using it, she got a kidney infection and then had to have someone go with her. She noticed that the boys didn't have to go into the outhouse to go urinate so she asked her mom one night how she could "get one of them penises." Well, her mother was a bit annoyed at her comment and wondered what they were teaching in kindergarten!  We all got a laugh out of that tale.

After lunch, we made it to Hidden Falls, the turquoise color as gorgeous as expected, bubbling though a carved canyon, but decided to pass on going to Grinnell lake due to the late hour; not many were too anxious to put on water shoes to cross the creek in such cold weather either, and the farther we went, the more snow was on the trail. So we headed back.

We didn't have any more scares for the day, but we saw lots more bear scat. And we saw that the paving has begun on the nature trail around Swiftcurrent Lake. The Glacier Conservancy has many projects to create more handicapped accessible trails and this one is done from the boat house to the Many Glacier hotel. The pavement was tough on tired legs, but we recognize what a nice thing it will be to have. Right now, the only handicapped trails are very short. This will be 2.7 miles when complete. Interestingly, we tried to take the upper trail that ends at the parking lot but instead hit a new road with heavy equipment and lots of torn up dirt. We didn't know if the equipment was for the paving or for work on the boat house or other projects. So we went to the lower trail instead of hunting around for the upper one.

As we completed the circle around the lakes, we took in the view from the Many Glacier Hotel/Lodge, climbing the stairs on tired legs to the viewpoint. Storm clouds still swirled, but this area had mostly sun. We saw a few trucks by the worker dorm with tons of wood piled up for the winter. We also saw an open door on the lodge, indicating that the lodge was still getting more of a facelift.

Then we continued the last .8 mile around the foot of the lake back to the picnic area and our cars. Karen's knee started acting up but she made it back. We hoped she would be okay since she was driving, but she seemed fine once off her feet.

We had more foiled plans come on our way home. First, we said goodbye to Ann in Browning as she would drive through Cutbank to get to Rudyard. Then we continued on intending to eat at Buffalo Joe's since Karen hadn't been there yet. However, it was closed on Tuesdays! So then, Katie had a bright idea to try the Rose Room in Pendroy, even though she knew they require reservations. And yes, they did unless it was just two people, so we turned around and continued into Choteau to the log cabin.  There, one waitress got on her coat and left after seating us. The other gal looked very stressed and didn't get to us right away. We felt bad for us. It did take us an hour and a half, further putting us behind schedule. But we did get our meal and some of us got pie for strength. The waitress told us all about how the owner home makes desserts daily and has inventive creations.  

We made it home by 9 p.m., a great end to the Glacier hiking season.
Who went: Ann, Susan C, Anita, Maria, Karen, Katie

Katie's Pix
0 Comments

Apgar Lookout, Oct. 24, 2018

10/25/2018

0 Comments

 

Golden Larch, Hazy Day Provide Fall Colors on Apgar Lookout Climb

Picture
Three gals marched up the mountain to Apgar Lookout on a cool fall day, accompanied by Katie's husband Tom and his friend Gordon. Katie thought they would leave the gals in the dust, but instead, the guys hung back and let the gals lead the way.

We did have some eye candy on the way up: the larch were golden, starting to turn orange, but still glowed despite the haze.We could see a few smoke pillars from slash burning and suspected that the summer fires hadn't quite quit simmering based on the smell and smog in the air, emanating from the Swan Valley and over McDonald Lake. Even so, we enjoyed the views from on top of Mount Stanton, Vaught, Brown and Cannon. And it was fun to look down on the town of West Glacier: the houses, the Flathead river running through it and the golf course that Gordon told us his family created, owned and operated for 20 years.

The weather was cool but not cold, and the sun started to come out on our way down, warming us up quickly, with no wind to speak of. We made it up the mountain in just under two hours and down in one hour and a half. (On trail at 9:45, on top at 11:35 and down at 2:15 after a nice break on top for lunch).

We ran into a deer on the trail, but no other animals and only saw some old bear scat.

On the way in, we came across a man standing next to a grader, who looked like he was getting ready to do some road work. On the way home, the grader had created a berm right in the center of the road. Katie had quite a time steering around it without getting into the brush on the sides that would have scratched the car. Driving on the berm itself scraped the bottom of the car and was so soft, it made the car a bit squirrelly. Then, as we saw some rather large rocks in the road, the grader came straight at us.Katie had to back up, while the operator took several attempts to get into the trees at the side of the road so that we could pass, almost knocking a few trees over in the process.  Luckily, we did make it around the grader and back onto a smoother dirt road.It's always an adventure!

We left Great Falls at 6 a.m. and got home around 7:30 pm after dinner at Buffalo Joe's in Dupuyer and a quick look-around thet Dupuyer Cache. Interestingly, we saw a sign on a book shelf that said  "Tom Kotynski country" with his hiking guide on the shelf.

​Who went: Camille, Susan C and Katie

Pictures
0 Comments

Scalplock and Rock City, Oct. 20-21, 2018

10/23/2018

0 Comments

 

Golden Glow of Larch Leads Way to Scalplock Followed by Rock City

Picture
Five gals from Mountain View, Alberta, joined 8 from Great Falls and one from Eureka for a magical march up to the top of Scalplock Mountain. The day started at 6 a.m. with arrival at the trailhead just before 9 a.m. and getting on trail by 9:15.

It was a bit chilly, hovering around 30 degrees, when we started out but we quickly shed our layers as we started the climb of the 20 switchbacks. To make it fair for everyone to have a chance in or near the  front, as that is a common complaint of those who always get stuck in the back, we switched the leader every switchback. However, a few got shorted with only a few steps before the trail doubled back again. 

We made quite a few stops to glance at the views of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River surrounded by larch in full "bloom," as we wound our way up the trail. We were surprised that we really didn't see any bear scat, or other scat for that matter, along the trail. We just saw the road apples left from the mule train that would have carried the lookout's belongings, gear and remainder of food down after a long summer watching and spotting this year's fires. Near the top, Susan C thought she saw some old moose droppings, but that was it. However, on the way down, we were treated to three bald eagles catching the thermals and playing in the wind, such a majestic sight.

Some of us struggled with the intensity of the uphill; after all, this hike has over 3,000 feet of gain, making it just barely, but still in the very strenuous category for our hiking group.Some of us struggled on the downhill even more, wishing for younger knees. But at the end of the hike, the Americans were all looking forward to a nice soak at the Izaak Walton's hot tub, as six of us were staying the night.

At the top, we were happy to rest and have lunch, either at the picnic table, or on the side of the mountain enjoying the views into the Great Bear Wilderness with its majestic Great Northern Mountain with Stanton Glacier on its flank or St. Nick (St. Nicholas) on the Glacier Park side. 

We stayed about 45 minutes before starting our descent, with one group of Roni, Nona, Deb, Madelon and Josy going in a fast group and the rest of us stopping for more pictures of the glowing larch and taking a more leisurely trip down.

When the second group made it down at 4:30, the others said Katie's husband had dropped by on his way back from climbing Ousel Peak. He too couldn't resist a hike seeing the golden colors this time of year.

Then it was off to Izaak Walton and saying goodbye to the Canadians who were headed home, Madelon who left right away before the others got down and to Deb and Roni who went into Kalispell for the night to say happy birthday to one of Deb's daughters. The rest of us drove the one mile to Izaak Walton for a fine dinner. But we had two surprises: Katie's overnight bag was in Deb's car, so she was without her toothbrush, toiletries, clean clothes and pajamas (the rest of the gals came through with clean shirt and leggings and the Inn had toothbrushes). The second surprise was that the hut tub wasn't working.  So some of the gals could instantly feel their muscles seizing up even more without a good soak. But we all survived.

Some of the gals headed downstairs to see what was on TV or play some games. Kuntzie found a copy of the Wizard of Oz and put it into the DVD players. Several stayed to watch it.

The next morning, we wanted to eat at the Snowslip Inn; its website said it was open from 8 am.-10 p.m. every day of the year. However, when we arrived at 8:20, it was closed, despite the OPEN sign on the door. So we headed back and had breakfast at the Izaak Walton. After breakfast, all but Kuntzie took a mile and a half walk around the grounds, looking at the cabins and cabooses and hiking up the icy and snowy Essex Creek trail. It looked quite a bit different from in the winter, and no trail signs were up yet. We also saw Gumbie with his dog Jake. He said "hi" and hoped to see us come winter time too. He was showing the winter help staff, newly hired, the trails and how to ride the fat-tire bikes that the Inn rents.

After stretching our legs (at 10:45), we packed up, Deb and Roni came to meet us and pick some of us up, and we then drove to Valier with a quick stop at Rock City, a place only two of the eight had visited before.  Most were amazed at the hoodoo formations and the beauty of the Two Med river where it and Birch Creek and the Marias converge.

We arrived home before 4 pm, in time for Kuntzie to stump for Tester.
Who went: Susan C., Susan W., Josy, Roni, Deb, Anita, Katie, Madelon, Kuntzie; Canadians: Laura, Joan, Carol, Nona, Dina

Pix
0 Comments

Rock City, Oct. 20, 2018

10/21/2018

0 Comments

 

Sunny Day for Hiking Among the Hoodoos

Three gals headed for a sunny day among the hoodoos as they wandered around Rock City amazed at the unusual rock formations. After peaking in and out of the sentinels and other fun stone sculptures, we followed the trail down to the bank of the Two Medicine River, right before it merges with the Marias. Then we hiked along the upper rim to a high point where Birch Creek comes in. We were amazed at the overhang and wondered if it were wise to stand in some of the places where we just were.

After we hiked around for about a mile and a half, we headed into the town of Valier, where Doris gave a brief history of some of the older parts of town followed by a quick visit to Lake Francis. Then it was lunch at the Panther Cafe and home.

Who went: Doris, Viki, Randi
0 Comments
    How to Download Pix
    ​How to download with iphone, it's easier with OneDrive app
    ​Hikes by Year
    ​Pictures

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

    Girls in Glacier and Katie Kotynski

Contact Us
Copyright 2014-2022 Girls in Glacier
All pictures copyright of individual photographers; no use granted without permission