A climb on a bad snow day
The weather report turned ugly once again, but the girls made the best of it. The hike was to be in Glacier to to the top of Flattop Mountain but the road report said up to four inches of new snow with blowing snow on the roads. The chance of precipitation was 100 percent so the gals all agreed to redirect to Flescher Pass since we had to cancel this trip earlier in the year and the snow report said less than half an inch with wet but not icy roads there.
Boy, can weather reports be wrong! The roads up to and including Roger's Pass were fine but it started snowing. By about two miles up Flescher Pass Road, the snow had accumulated into a dense slush that pushed the cars around.
About three to four miles from the pass, Christi's van was a bit too scary to continue. Michelle continued driving but also had to turn around. And no plows in sight.. If a plow had come, the roads would have been very passable--just a bit wet..
We then thought about hiking along the bottoms of Willow Creek and the Blackfoot River, but the snow turned to rain which made the snow too wet and sticky. So we redirected yet again, this time to the top of Roger's Pass, which had snow but not rain. Michelle's car with Brianna, Toni and Anita, decided to ditch the hike and enjoy the warm environs of Lincoln's steakhouse and have lunch instead.
Katie, Kathy M, Susan, Christi K, Jeanne, Catherine and Bonnie persevered and climbed 1200 feet on the Continental Divide Trail and tried to get to the top of Rogers Mountain to get a view. However, the clouds were too low for any vistas, and the snow started to get too deep to traverse easily, so after 1.5 miles, we called it quits but not before Susan egged us all on a bit higher; she and Kathy M continued another quarter mile or so, trying to get to a high point on Rogers Mountain.
It was day of mishaps with weather but also with Katie and Christi missing the top of Roger's pass so we had to turn around yet again. The craziness continued when Cattleman's Cut, where we were going to stop for lunch, was closed. We arrived back at the cars around 1:30, wet and hungry. (We started at 7 a.m.)
Oh well, we did make the most of a snowy, muddy day.
Boy, can weather reports be wrong! The roads up to and including Roger's Pass were fine but it started snowing. By about two miles up Flescher Pass Road, the snow had accumulated into a dense slush that pushed the cars around.
About three to four miles from the pass, Christi's van was a bit too scary to continue. Michelle continued driving but also had to turn around. And no plows in sight.. If a plow had come, the roads would have been very passable--just a bit wet..
We then thought about hiking along the bottoms of Willow Creek and the Blackfoot River, but the snow turned to rain which made the snow too wet and sticky. So we redirected yet again, this time to the top of Roger's Pass, which had snow but not rain. Michelle's car with Brianna, Toni and Anita, decided to ditch the hike and enjoy the warm environs of Lincoln's steakhouse and have lunch instead.
Katie, Kathy M, Susan, Christi K, Jeanne, Catherine and Bonnie persevered and climbed 1200 feet on the Continental Divide Trail and tried to get to the top of Rogers Mountain to get a view. However, the clouds were too low for any vistas, and the snow started to get too deep to traverse easily, so after 1.5 miles, we called it quits but not before Susan egged us all on a bit higher; she and Kathy M continued another quarter mile or so, trying to get to a high point on Rogers Mountain.
It was day of mishaps with weather but also with Katie and Christi missing the top of Roger's pass so we had to turn around yet again. The craziness continued when Cattleman's Cut, where we were going to stop for lunch, was closed. We arrived back at the cars around 1:30, wet and hungry. (We started at 7 a.m.)
Oh well, we did make the most of a snowy, muddy day.
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