Belly River Backpack

I went to the ranger office early one morning to get permits for a backpacking trip. I arrived 10 minutes before opening and no one else was there. I parked in front of the office waiting for it to open - thinking I was first in line. WRONG -- just as the office opened a guy walked in right in front of me. I sat there in disbelief. Later when I didn't get the permits that I wanted I was wondering if I should have said something but I had a great backpack so it must have been fate.

From Belly River Backpack

I left from the Chief Mountain trail head. It is just 500ft from the Canadian border and is often patrolled by mounted border patrols and sometimes border patrol on foot. I didn't see any of them but the ranger said that they often dress up in camouflage and scare hikers.

I headed down from the trail head past the Belly River Ranger station and up Cosley Lake cutoff. I could see the Stoney Mountain peaks in the distance as I traveled. I passed by the Gros Ventre Falls and then came to Crosley Lake. This lake is so beautiful. I would love to camp by it sometime.

Awhile after I left the lake I heard a crack of an animal walking on sticks. I thought it was a deer or a moose but I made noise anyway in case it was a bear. I rounded the corner, continued to hear the animal and looked over to see that it was a bear. I think it was a black bear cub. It didn't seem at all concerned about me. It didn't even look in my direction even though it had to know that I was there. I didn't even take a photo. I walked on "bearly" pausing giving it all the space it needed.

I went on to my campsite on Glenns Lake. It was about a 10 mile backpack to here. The deer in this area are quite forward. They want any sweat soaked items for the salt. I was sure to put away anything like that but I heard a story about one deer that went after hiking poles attached to a tent and almost pulled the tent down.

I went up to Mokowanis Lake after I set up camp. It was a very pretty lake with some spectacular falls behind it. I tried to go to the falls. There is not an established trail to the falls and the "social trail" was so overgrown that I worried that if I twisted an ankle or something like that nobody would find me and I had to make due with seeing them from afar. I did get a good close up view of the Stoney Mountain Peaks. I returned to camp, ate dinner and went to bed.

Around midnight a mega storm came through with massive thunder, lightening and torrential rain. The thunder seemed to go on forever as it echoed off the surrounding mountains. My little tent held up okay. The storm seemed to let up around 7am but then another storm of the same magnitude came through pinning me in the tent until 10am. I had hoped to go up to Stoney Indian Pass but knew that I wouldn't make it with a late start - not to mention the need to dry out my tent which was dry on the inside but very wet on the outside. Instead I returned to Cosley Lake and dried out my shoes and tent. Afterwards I backpacked down to my campsite at Gable Creek.

The next morning I was up early and headed out to Elizabeth Lake where I was camping for the night. I went by the beautiful Dawn Mist Falls on the way. They are so powerful that they kick up heaps of mist. It was a short day and I got there before most people moved on. I meet a couple of folks who work in the Park. They gave me lots of info about the park. It was great. I walked half way up the Ptarmigan trail and was rewarded with views of Lakes Helen and Elizabeth. There were also views of many glaciers and peaks - including the Old Sun Glacier. As if that wasn't enough I saw a Bald Eagle spiraling up the updrafts and Trumpter Swans on Lake Elizabeth.

From Belly River Backpack

From there I walked back down to Elizabeth Lake and out to Helen Lake. The walk along Elizabeth lake was nice. It actually went along the lake shore unlike many other trails. The meadows were filled with wild flowers. Another day in paradise here in Glacier National Park.

That night there was another lightening storm which lit up my tent. Although the rain was not as bad as the previous storm it was enough to make a mess of the trails My rain pants, shoes, socks and feet were soaked in under an hour. I guess waterproof doesn't cover Montana wet trails and vegetation. I slipped and slided my way out of the Belly River and returned to East Glacier to clean and dry my gear and myself.

Check out the full size photos here or view the slide show below