Wildlife

Glacier is awesome for wildlife.   One day I went up to Logan Pass and I really lucked out.  In the parking lot were several rams.  They were battling over something on the ground of the parking lot.  It was pretty cool to see.  The ranger told me that it could have been something that someone spilled or antifreeze.  I had heard from my Bakersfield friends that marmots like antifreeze and they will bit into your hoses to get at it.  In fact I was so paranoid that I bought coyote urine to put around my car so that didn't happen to me.  I wonder what ever happened to that coyote urine.  I also saw the above goat on the trail.  It was being observed by someone from the University of Montana.  He was writing down what it was doing.  He also counted the number of breaths that the mountain goat took.  They were collecting this data for a climate change study to determine how the goat deal with less snowpack each year.

The next day I hiked Two Medicine Pass with Jane.  We saw a moose on the way back.  It was walking through a pond eating.  It would put its head into the water and grab some algae to eat.  That was a very cool experience.  When I was at the Grand Teton National Park, I found out that moose can actually dive down to the bottom of the pond to get a meal.  They can dive down 16ft.  To me that is amazing.  However, when you consider that seal, sea lions, whales and dolphins evolved from land creatures, I guess it is not so amazing.

Yesterday I bumped into a bear scratching its back on a tree.    (See yesterday's blog post at http://thereisonlyonetoday.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-day.html )

Today I thought that I wasn't going to see much in the way of wildlife but I was wrong.  I had hiked out the Highline Trail from Logan Pass to the Garden Wall Overlook.  The clouds came in and there was low visibility.  I saw several marmots but no goats or sheep.  In the last half mile back where the trail narrows to a small ledge with a steep dropoff (people have died falling from it) a small group of people gathered in front of me.  Then I hear the word bear.  Yes in the worse place possible there is a bear on the trail.  We can't get off the trail and neither can the bear.  The bear and its cub head towards us.  We make a rapid retreat picking up other hikers along the way.  After about 10 minutes we get to a place where we can get off the trail.  We group up and make lots of noise.  At this point I can see the bear.  It is a grizzly.  The hump on it back is clearly visible.  It has a cub.  Luckily it makes the good choice and leave the trail and heads up the mountain across from us.  Once it is past we hightail it out of there.  Then we hear the ranger loud speaker telling us a bear is on the trail.  Shortly after that we see a ranger with a big orange gun.  I am not sure if this gun shoot bean bags (a tactic that the rangers sometimes use), bullets or something else.  I may check tomorrow.  Turns out that they had closed the trail at the trailhead and there was a group of rangers and people very interested in our experiences.  

What a Day

This morning I left with the intention of hiking the Highline Trail. When I got to Logan Pass it became apparent that was not a good idea due to rain. For some crazy reason I headed down to Apgar where it was also raining. I drove out towards the Huckleberry Lookout trailhead but decided against that hike and returned to East Glacier. By then I needed gas. I headed up to Two Medicine. I decided to stop by the Ranger station and ask them if anyone had turned in the water bottle that I lost yesterday. Some trail angel had found it and turned it in. Thank you Unknown Trail  Angel. I headed up the North Shore Trail with no real destination. I bumped into the CDT hiker that I met the other day. Then I bumped into Lou and Bill, friends of Janes, at Upper Two Medicine Lake. On my return trip I was being safe and calling out when a noise drew my attention. It was a bear scratching it's back on a tree right next to the trail in front of me and too close. To add to that it appeared to be small. It could be a cub and where is mama?  I immediately backed up quite a ways. I contemplated my options. I could take the south shore trail but a bear had been frequenting that trail so I ruled that out. In a worse case I could take the boat back. I decided to clap my hands and make lots of noise. After awhile I took out my bear spray and kept yelling out and took slow steps along the path scanning and listening for any bear activity. There was none. I walked out without problem. Like I said. "What a Day!"

Swiftcurrent Lookout

An early morning start and I was off to the top of Swiftcurrent Mountain where there is a fire lookout and an amazing view.  The mountain is the one on the right in the image above and the lookout is at the very, very top.  The climb up to the pass was steep but pretty.  At the pass I had to make a decision - return or hike another 1.5 miles to the lookout.  These last miles would be the steepest.  This trail is 16 miles and 3400 ft elevation gain (absolute not accumulated) I looked at the weather (some dark clouds) and decided to chance it.  It was a steep climb up through a burned dwarf forest and then I was above the treeline.  It was so very windy.  The lookout sits atop the mountain and it tied down with cables to ensure that it doesn't blow off the mountain.  It is very tiny and has prayer flags whipping in the wind from it.  I took a few quick photos of the Swiftcurrent Valley and the surrounding mountains.  There was an incredible 360 degree view.  Then I was quite chilled and headed down.

I met a young guy who is hiking the Continental Divide Trail.  He had already done the PCT and the AT.  He was pretty interesting.  He had met a grizzly photographer on the mountain earlier in the day.  It must be nice to be able to hike all those long trails.  I would like to do that someday.  I might be 70 by the time that I have the time and resources.   I hope that I would be physically able to do it then.

Scenic Point, Ptarmigan Tunnel and Iceberg Lake

Returning to Glacier National Park is like coming home.  Not only is my very good friend, Jane, here but also many friends at Brownies and in the Park.  It seems to have been a very strange snow year here.  There is no snow is some places where there has been snow in other years and other places are closed due to too much snow.

I drove in to dark, dark clouds so I amended my Plan B (Plan A was to hike down to Hidden Lake which was closed).  Plan B was to hike up to Triple Divide.  It is a long walk in before you start climbing.  I didn't want to risk a long walk out in the rain.  I detoured to Scenic Point - an old standby.  Since you can get cell service from the top, I called Jane and let her know that I was in town.  She jumped in her car and met me on my hike down.  We stopped by the campground and saw another hiking friend.  Then I headed off to Running Eagle Falls.

Today I hiked up to Ptarmigan Tunnel.  It wasn't open but I still had some great views.  I tacked on several extra miles by also taking the trail to Iceberg Lake.  The lake was mostly frozen but was still pretty.  The color was magic.

There were tons of wild flowers out including lots of bear grass blooms.  It was a great day.

Yellowstone National Park

I basically only drove through Yellowstone.  I did stop at Old Faithful and hiked from there to Biscuit Basin.  I lucked out and saw Old Faithful erupt and the Daisy Geyser erupt.  I also saw this massive bison was it lumbered along next to my car.  Those creatures seem prehistoric to me.  They are just so odd looking.  I really wanted to pull my car over and take some video but I didn't want to cause a bison jam.  When I got to Mammoth Hot Springs there were elk just walking everywhere causing this poor ranger stress.  I took some photos and video.

I have never hiked backcountry in Yellowstone.  I really want to do it.  I hope I get to do it someday.

Marion Lake

Marion Lake is a really nice hike although it is rather long. It starts at the Granite Canyon Trailhead which has no outhouse or other toilet facility.   The hike began very early due to the heat and its length. I bumped into several elk hiding out in the trees. I then traveled along a pretty creek. The canyon was very open with lots of wildflowers.  

Marion Lake leaves from Granite Canyon TH. It is almost 19 miles long  the grade is generally moderate. 

I met a guy who camped out the previous evening at Marion Lake. He met some aggressive wildlife. No not bears or wolves. First a deer tries to steal his hat. Then the marmots chewed up his shoes stored in his tent fly. This is most likely due to the fact that they want salt and he sweated out a lot of salt the day before hauling up his backpack. 

Holly Lake (Paintbrush Canyon)

I had hoped to go up Paintbrush Canyon over Paintbrush Divide and down by Lake Solitude into Cascade Canyon.  However, my hopes were dashed by many a park ranger saying that this was too dangerous unless you carry an ice ax and are familiar with self arrest techniques.  ( I had met a couple who had done it and they said it was okay but I decided to err on the side of safety.  I know that if my friend, Scott Crow, read this he will think that a mistake but my friend, Leah Carter, will think that this decision was the right one).

Instead I hiked up to Holly Lake.  Holly Lake was really pretty.  I did hike a bit past it to see the Divide.- a hike left for another day. 

Holly Lake leaves from the Leigh Lake Trailhead.  It is 13 miles long and requires 2600ft of climbing.