Probably the last one....

Well reality is soon to set in, and summer is coming to an abrupt end.  I ditched the responsible notion of "getting my stuff ready for school to start" and went on another hike with the ladies and one of my kids.  This one was a little different from the others in that it was a fairly short hike but we ended up on the top of the mountain.  This is officially my first mountain top, I've been to lots of ridges and passes but not any mountain tops.  It is called Oberlin Mountain and it is one of the peaks behind the Logan's Pass visitors center.  The neat things about the group that I've been hiking with is that it makes me feel young cause frankly I am the youngest one there and the other is that it give me hope for the future as I see the 60 to 80 year olds in that group out there hiking.  I am hoping that I can be out there doing this in 20 years. The things they know about the trails and the wildflowers is amazing, I didn't soak up much of that knowledge this year, so maybe in the years to come.

8180 feet above sea level, around 1900 feet in elevation gain

The Bucket List Hike

Granite Park Chalet

This week's hike was the one I've been looking forward to all summer.  It was the Highline Trial over top of Swiftcurrent Pass and down into Many Glaciers.  We got an early start on the morning and hit the border at 7:10 am. We had to leave a vehicle at Many Glaciers and then take the other one to catch the shuttle to the top of Logan's Pass.  By the time we got to the top it was 10:00 and we started out to reach the half way point which is the Granite Park Chalet.  We stopped at the Chalet for lunch and ended up staying there for an hour.  During this time the weather got a bit worse so we decided that we'd better hit the trail before the rain started to fall too heavily.  We ended our hike at 7:00 in the Many Glaciers parking lot.  We traveled a total of 15+ miles and saw lots of wildlife along the way.  Goats, mountain sheep, and marmots, but thankfully no bears.   It was a great hike, sooo glad I did it.  It is a beautiful world out there in the mountains.

We had lots of clouds roll in and out

Top of Swiftcurrent Pass

Looking down into the Swiftcurrent Valley

Grinnell Glacier

This week we headed for a glacier in Many Glaciers.  It was a great hike with lots of scenic views.  This was our first sun filled day of hiking and it got pretty hot by the end of the day.  The wet bandanna tied around the neck does wonders to ward off the heat and luckily there were lots of snow-fed streams flowing along the trail.  Because of our cold, wet weather this spring and summer there was a lot of ice left on the glacial lake.  It was at least 10 degrees colder sitting next to the lake, a welcome reprieve from the heat and the work out we got coming up to the top.

Grinnell Lake

Piegan Pass

This weeks hike was to Piegan Pass. It is a 9 mile round trip that starts off the Logan's Pass road. It was alot easier than last weeks (Ptarmigan Tunnel) so I wasn't stiff and sore the next day and the view was once again worth it. I am continually amazed at the view from on top of these ridges. Hopefully the memories will make the winter months go by faster. I am taking lots of pics and I am thinking that I should make them my screensaver on my school computer.

Logan's Pass in the Jeep

It was finally a nice day around here so we decided to go for a drive to West Glacier. Kevin worked for a few hours in the morning and then called it quits and we took the top off the jeep and went for a drive in the beautiful sunshine. Here are some pics of our adventures. We were lucky to find some friends at Apgar who had their boat out on the lake so Shane bummed a knee board ride. It was a fun day.

Ptarmigan Tunnel

The Ptarmigan Tunnel was built in 1930 through the Ptarmigan Wall at an elevation of 7200 feet in Glacier National Park, near Many Glacier. It is 250 ft long.


On the way up to the lake.


This is from about half way up the switchbacks that take you to the tunnel. Ptarmigan Lake is in this shot.



Wow, what a great view on the other side.




It was pretty cold up top, so we didn't stay too long. I wanted to sit and relax in the sunshine but no such luck. We made a hasty retreat down to the bottom where it was warmer.

This is the valley we hiked through.

Hiking Chronicles

To commemorate the big 40 and to also cross off one of the things on my bucket list I've decided to do a 15 mile hike that starts with the Highline Trail hike in Glacier National Park and finishes in Many Glaciers. The midway point is the Granite Park Chalet (Night of the Grizzlies location.... so the overnight stay in a tent is not happening). The plan is to do it in one day.

In order to get ready for it I am doing some smaller hikes and the first one was at Waterton. It is called Bennett Pass and it is at 7200 ft. and it is a 1400 ft. climb from Wall Lake up to Bennett Pass in 1 1/2 miles. I had never heard of it before but some well-seasoned hikers told me about it and said the view was spectacular. They were right, so worth the stiff and sore muscles I was feeling the day after. It starts at the base of Wall Lake and takes you to the top of Akamina Ridge.



This is a panoramic from the top of Akamina Ridge looking towards the United States.



Just reached the top, definitely had to stop and catch my breath. The wind was howling up there, but the view was amazing.



Wall Lake from the top of the ridge.

Ptarmigan Tunnel is on next week's schedule so I will get some pics up from that one.