New Snow on Scenic Point Creates Obstacle for GiG
 In Great Falls, it was foggy and rainy all day, but we escaped the gloom by heading to Two Medicine for a hike up Scenic Point. Going north apparently was just to ticket to avoid a cold dreary day as we had patches of blue in between the clouds; no rain at all. We started at 7 a.m and hit trail at 10. The path was nice to start, then became a river due to melting snow and then finally we hit the snow. We handled it fine at first but then resorted to yaktrax as the snow became slippery the more it melted. Luckily, there was one hiker ahead of us creating a set of tracks to follow as it was hard to see the trail. At one point, Katie followed the tracks and realized she was off trail. We missed a switchback and had to backtrack. Two gal passed us and then came back down. They said they found deep snow, up to their hips, so they turned around before the top. We did too as Katie also saw a small cornice at the pass and was worried about avalanche. Plus some of the gals were starting to posthole too as the temperatures rose. When we did turn around, Susan W asked, "How am I going to get out of here" as it is harder to go down than up, especially in steep slippery snow, but it was easier than it looked and we all made it to the "river" portion of the trail with only one mishap: Josy fell into a tree well, but she quickly scrambled up to the trail without assistance. We all agreed that the effort was well worth the views: puffy clouds, some blue sky and fabulous snow-capped peaks surrounding us with the gorgeous Two Med lake below. We got off trail at 2:40 and headed to the camp store for a snack on the porch. The store had just opened for the season at noon that day, with several new employees. We found out that the store will have a few more food items this year as well as more inventory. Then it was off for another two mile hike, this time to the moose ponds on the south shore trail. We didn't see any moose and only a few flowers in the meadows--shooting stars and buttercups mostly--and lots of mud. We finished just in time to get in line for the opening of Serrano's. We found out that Serrano's did sell. We were impressed with the help--lots of it and on the ball. However, some of the food wasn't cooked all of the way and lacked some of the former quality. Still, we had worked up an appetite. And two of us brought home pie for strength from the Two Med cafe for our husbands. We arrived back in Great Falls at 8:15, early since our meal only took 45 minutes. Who went: Josy, Susan C, Susan W, Amber, June, Katie |
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