Three of us met at 4 B's restaurant and left  Great Falls around 9:00 am and headed out of town and up the mountain. We  arrived at Silvercrest at 10:30 am. as the lone car in the parking area. With blue skies , a slight breeze and a cool 16 degrees F. we began our trek around and AROUND the  snowshoeing course navigating a total of 6 miles ( making more than 1 round-about for each loop).

At one point we lost track of the trail near a warming hut ( no printed maps available today at the sign in booth) so back tracked the new larger loop  going uphill for what felt like an eternity!!! making it a real fat burner to say the least.  Eventually we made it back to the parking lot  while feeling like our snow shoes were stuck in cement  for the last half mile! Whew!! What a great way to start the snow shoe season!! We topped off the glorious day at Bob's  in Neihart for a late afternoon lunch and a  Huckleberry treat . Delish! 

​We arrived back in town around 4 pm. 
Those attending: Sue M., Anita G. and Cathy K. 

The GiG went with the guys on our first midweek adventure that we planned during the school year. We met the group at Lippi's kitchen to head out for probably the last hike of the year before we get out the skis and snowshoes. We did bring gaiters and yaktrax in case we encountered some snow.

After a quick decision to do a key exchange instead of taking the time to shuttle cars, the question of the day became "Where are they?" on both sides of the exchange.

The day started at 8 a.m. as we headed toward Augusta for a hike along the Rocky Mountain Front. The day was hovering around 10 degrees with wind, so we did battle keeping warm all day, with wind chills at zero degrees.

Nora went with the group that started on the Willow Creek side while Katie, June and Jaye headed up the trail from Beaver Basin.  The Beaver Basin group discovered the road closed two miles from the trail head, so they knew that hike would be at least 8 miles instead of the anticipated six. They had a chuckle thinking the other group wasn't going to know about the extra two miles until the end of the hike, and the hike would be all uphill that direction on tired feet.

The Beaver Basin group hiked uphill most of the way after the road, stopping briefly to take a picture of Hidden Lake with Fairview Mountain in the backround; however, the wind kept the group moving to keep warm. The trails seemed marked well, but the direction seemed off and we didn't see the other group by noon, which made us wonder if we were on the same trail. Both groups kept hiking until 1 p.m., both having to route-find as the trails were not obvious among the outfitter- and cattle-made trails.  At this point, the Beaver Basin group decided to turn around, not knowing if they were on the right trail.  Two of the Willow Creek group turned around, knowing that they had the key to the car on that end.

After much worry about what happened to each other, all turned out. The four in the Beaver group left messages in the snow on their backtrack to the car and finally heard voices behind them to discover the two Willow group members who had soldiered on.

So six walked the last two miles to the car for a total of nine miles on the day. On hte way out, we saw a variety of tracks including grizzlie, coyote, possibly wolf and a small cat.  We expected the two others to have driven the car around but we found just the one car.  So we piled six into a Subaru Outback with Jaye being game to ride in the back, sitting on poles and crammed up against backpacks. The rest of us took some gear in our laps as we headed to the Willow creek parking area.

Just before we reached the parking area, we came across Nora driving toward us. She and her hiking partner had gotten lost on the way out and he had fallen on the ice covering a stream and hurt his elbow.

All in all, no one was seriously injured and we all did the right thing. Nora said going in her direction was very, very windy and she got chilled. Katie, June and Jaye were glad to have turned around, not having to face a stiff wind in the face. 

We arrived home around 6 p.m. The next day, those with a GPS uploaded the routes. We discovered we were only a few hundred feet apart when we decided to turn around. Both groups were yodeling and calling out, the wind too strong to hear it.