Hike and Bike to Trick Falls and Paradise Point: We All Made It
 "It's been about 20 years since I rode a bike," one Gigger commented. "But I went around the block a few times to make sure I could switch gears." And so it went with most of the gals, but we all completed the almost 10 miles of biking that was mostly flat, minus the hill that Katie didn't tell us about. The day started off at 6:30 with loading the bikes onto Suzie and Doreen's vehicles with some help from Suzie's husband Mick who met us at the district offices. Then it was off to Two Medicine to meet with Sheila, who was coming from Coram. We had two groups: one with 8 who would bike and hike and one of five that would just be hiking. The Bikers: After a stop in Valier, we found Sheila ready to go, her new e-bike ready. She became our mother hen, riding up and back to make sure we were altogether and no one had issues. With our snowshoes strapped to our backpacks or in some cases on our bikes or in our backpacks, we found it too difficult to view behind us.But Sheila kept track of us all, even stopping to help Rose when her chain came off. And Josy went back to help as well, right on the hill causing her to do the hill twice! Before the hill, we stopped to take the short half mile hike into Running Eagle Falls, formerly Trick Falls. The falls was spilling over the top from snowmelt runoff as well as coming through the subterranean tunnel, which it does year round except when frozen. We saw lots of moose sign and tracks, but no moose. And the river was full so we couldn't cross over to see the falls up close. We were reminded of the time we crossed over on a log and Susan slipped and fell in. The log is still there, just mostly submerged, but Susan said she wasn't going to cross it--haha. Then it was up the hill to the lake; except for two or three, the rest of us walked part of the way on this stretch, with a few questioning Katie's assessment of the bike ride as being mostly flat! But again, we all survived and made it to the lake for a nice lunch looking at Sinopah mountain across the lake. Katie pointed out the mountain names, including Lone Walker, Rising Wolf, Painted Teepee, Never Laughs Apistoki and Scenic Point. Then we started the snowshoe portion of our hike, hoping to make both Aster Falls and Paradise Point; however we got stopped a half mile past the Paradise Point turn on the way to the Falls by a gigantic flooded area that is normally still covered by snow. No one was into wading in knee-deep water so we turned around and went to Paradise point for another rest with a view. Then on the return, we were going to take off our snowshoes and bike into Pray Lake before we headed back to the cars when the wind started picking up and the clouds moving in. We thought the better of it and decided to go back a bit early. The ride back was a breeze with just a bit of uphill coming up from the lake; then we coasted the rest of the way. On the ride home, we stopped in Browning to order ahead our dinner from Buffalo Joe's in Dupuyer as we were all hungry. At the restaurants, some Hutterite men at the bar tried to engage us in conversation but they didn't get too far. After dinner we took the Pendroy cut-off to the highway and arrived home around 7, an hour earlier than expected. All in all, we challenged ourselves, survived a bike ride and picked up a waterfall for our 2021 challenge. The Hikers Our group of five ladies met up with the other group of bike riders that were going to bike and snowshoe into the Two Medicine area. This area of Glacier has been out of our reach for a year so everyone was eager to get into the park. It was fun to see the bike riders with all of their gear for hiking, biking and also a snowshoe. The excitement was palpable and after a few pictures, everyone headed down the road. The bikers left us in the dust but we were able to catch them at the Trick Falls parking lot. We were glad that the eight bikers had forged a trail through the snow so our post-holing was keep to a minimum. We arrived at the falls and were graced with a specular view of a double falls that only can be seen early in the year. After a stop to enjoy the scenery and a snack, we headed back. We saw a few bikers on the road that were taking in the spring weather. Our group stopped for lunch at Buffalo Joe’s in Dupuyer and we were back in town by 5:00 and all marveled at the beautiful weather and a super day of hiking. Who went: Hiker: Gail, Noreen, Maria, Randi, Jo Ann; Bikers: Susan, Sheila, Suzie, Doreen, Kalah, Josy, Rose, Katie |
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