by Kat
Lookie, lookie: I've uploaded photos from this summer's trip to Glacier National Park trip. No bears, but we did see a metric crapton of mountain goats. Here's a photographic rundown:
Day One in the park was a Saturday. (We actually arrived in Montana three days prior and in the park the evening before.) We set out early on the backpacker's shuttle to start our 3-day backpacking trip. The hike on the first day was a relatively flat 6.2 miles from the Gunsight Lake trailhead to
Gunsight Lake. We passed through Rachel's Happy Place and other nice reminders from the year before, when we hiked to Florence Falls along much of the same trail. When we
got to camp, Rachel and Micah napped while Justin and I waded in the beautiful lake. It was here that he proposed, as I recounted yesterday. :)
We arrived early so we had a lot of time to
lounge and explore our beautiful surroundings. Later that evening, we met Tom and Amy from Seattle and made hiking buddies! Then we saw a GIANT moose and a cute little night hunting Fisher before hitting the sack.
Day Two we hiked from Gunsight Lake up to Gunsight Pass (where we saw Ptarmigans!) and over, then down into the Lake Ellen Wilson basin. On the way down to the lake we stopped to bathe in a freezing waterfall (Tom took it to the extreme) and left much refreshed-- which was a good thing because the hike from there was the longest 2.1 miles... ever. That night, we camped at Sperry Campground near the chalet. At
sunset, we walked down to the chalet with Tom and Amy and devoured a whole peach pie. We went to sleep and woke up to the sounds of the three resident
goats circulating camp.
On Day Three we broke camp and left for home. But were all so exhausted we practically had to be pushed to roll the seven miles downhill back to the cabin. A few more
get-togethers with goats made the day complete. We took a long swim and a nap before Tom & Amy joined us for dinner and drinks.
Day Four we did nothing but chill and wage wars against the
mouse invasion set upon us while we were gone. Day Five Justin, Rachel, and I ran 19 miles along Lake McDonald and back, then came home and were essentially useless the rest of the day.
Day Six we grew progressively more restless, despite the fact that 3/4 of us didn't have functional legs. The sunny weather of the first three days had become slowly cooler and more blustery, down into the 40s from the 80s. Anticipating snow in the pass, we drove up to take a look and saw a
pretty, light dusting everywhere. With winter approaching fast, the Columbia Ground Squirrels were out en force foraging for food (and kissing). The mountains were gorgeous in sun, snow, and storm and the air clear, crisp and freed of smoke by the day's rain. So to celebrate, we ran around and acted like idiots. What else could we do?
Day Seven we stretched our legs by hiking through neat-o forest to the touristy but beautiful Avalanche lake. We ate PJ&J lunch at the lake head, where we grew progressively more nervous watching a creepy man slouch in and out of the bushes smoking, drinking, and generally acting like a total Chester. (We reported him to the Avalance campground host when we got back.) I spotted the
Elusive Squirrel Man in a hollow tree. :-O Later that afternoon, Justin's dad drove in from Helena to celebrate the news of our engagement (even though we'd seen him only a week before at his home).
On Day Eight we cleaned the main cabin to make way for Justin's uncle and his guests, and spent the afternoon
canoeing in Lake McDonald and building a dam across one section of the creek, a tradition we innagurated last year.
Day Nine we completed our only mountain climb of the trip, up
Mount Clements. The peaks at Logan Pass were again free of snow, and the day easily in the mid-80s before noon. It was a blisteringly hot, dusty climb and more
scenic than technically challenging (we saw A BAZILLION more goats and some ptarmigans), but definitely a satisfying end to a busy, exhausting trip. It afforded a ton of photo ops on cliff edges and steep slopes. We signed our name in the register at the top, took a group photo, and hiked back down. I recommend checking out the whole day's gallery for a good idea of what the climb was like... and while you're at it, just flip through all the pictures for the whole week. You'll definitely get a better picture of the park than just reading this post. And you'll be amused by our asshattery as well. :) For a whole ton more photos, see the
GNP gallery over at RacheMicah.com.
Posted on September 14, 2006 @ 8:06 PM |
3 comments
Lazy Lightning, at
7:01 AM, September 15, 2006
, at
11:05 AM, September 15, 2006
