| Because I plan on writing quite a bit, I'm going to break this into a few posts.
So I'm back from Glacier National Park. What an amazing trip! I was so excited to go that I worked extra hours during the week so I could leave early Saturday, then threw everything in the car and headed out with my roommate Saturday night. We made it to Spokane and stayed in a hotel there, then headed to the park.
I remember when driving through Montana straining for any peaks I could see, but disappointingly, we didn't see any big mountains until we were pretty close to the park. At first, I was just disappointed--they were just big rocks, really. But once you enter the park, the experience changes completely. Lakes and partially-snow covered mountains are at every turn in that place!
Anyway, when we arrived, what we should have done first was see about trying to get a campsite. It turns out that Glacier NP is popular enough that securing a campsite in one of the reservation-allowed campgrounds is pretty difficult unless you do it on a weekday. Instead, we decided to get a hike in--Avalanche Lake. This is a pretty popular and easy hike, and the payoff is a glacier-carved lake at the bottom of a mountain wall with 3 200 foot waterfalls. It's a gorgeous place, and a good way to start off the trip. We spent a good 2 hours exploring and taking pictures of the lake, the mountains, the waterfalls, etc.
By the time we got back to the campsite, it was full. They were all filled. We found that we had a choice of driving for like 45 minutes down a bumpy gravel road to a remote campsite or staying at a motel, so we opted for a motel on that first Sunday--we wanted to get up early to try to secure a site at St. Mary campground and figured this would be easier than driving along that road first thing Monday morning. The motel had a pool, so it was a great way to relax on the first night--soaking in the pool with the silhouette of the Rockies in front of a dimming orange and red sky.
On Monday, we first grabbed our campsite at St. Mary campground--fortunately if you get there early enough you can snag one as soon as someone vacates it. We then did what is considered by the park rangers to be the best hike in the park, and probably one of the most scenic anywhere--Siyeh Pass. We parked the car at Siyeh bend on the Going to the Sun road--an extremely beautiful drive that's a bit dangerous as you have to watch out for other drivers who don't stay in their lanes because they're staring at the scenery. There's mountains and waterfalls galore at every turn, and people are constantly getting out of their cars to snap a picture. Fortunately the road's full of scenic viewpoints where you can park for this purpose.
So, Siyeh pass. The hike starts out in a forested area along a stream--there's not much to look at except for the trees, columbian ground squirrels or whatever animals you happen across (these little critters are all over the park), bear grass, and an occasional peak through the trees of the mountains. After a couple miles in, however, you get past the trees and are treated by views of probably a dozen peaks. Gorgeous! The path winds through meadows, crosses streams, and eventually climbs about 2000 feet to a great viewpoint--peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls everywhere. We reached the top of the pass and ate lunch on a cliff facing east--the flatness of the Great Plains could be seen miles off into the distance in stark contrast to the peaks surrounding us.
After lunch, we saw that a couple of the nearby peaks weren't that far away and I suggested that we try to summit at least one of them. We scrambled up the rock and stopped--it appeared like the rest of the trip was over a slippery, narrow ridge with a fall of a couple thousand feet on one side. Me being afraid of heights didn't want to chance it, but another dude showed up and said he was going to try, so I figured, ah, what the hell. it turns out the rock wasn't slippery at all, and while the drop on one side was substantial, on the other it was only a matter of 20 feet at most. Plus, it wasn't as narrow as it appeared. I just focused on safer side until just before we reached the summit. There was a gap between the rock we were on and the summit, and looking down, the fall would have been fatal--probably 2000 feet straight down if you missed the small ledge between the rocks. Derek tried to do it, but it would involve leaping across the chasm and grabbing onto the rock on the other side before you slid down. I had to sit down even thinking about it. Damn fear of heights! Anyway, we stood up there, and our heads were above the summit, so, since it appeared to be a peak without a name, I named it Close Enough for Government Work Peak and we began heading back down the pass on the other side.
The other side of the hike was gorgeous as well--melting glaciers created waterfalls all over the place, including one that was probably 1000 feet long. This was supposed to be a great place to see mountain goats, but I didn't see a single one. Nothing but more columbian ground squirrels all over the place. By the time we reached the flatter part of the trail on the other side, the sun was starting to set on the other side of the mountain and we were exhausted. In spite of this, the scenery inspired us to keep snapping pictures and videos, especially of that huge waterfall.
That waterfall eventually formed a stream that we got close to and could soak our feet in--at which point they were immediately numb. Must have been like 34 degrees. That was a nice, refreshing stop to just lay there and dangle our feet in the stream.
It was pretty cool-there was this little bird that hung out near us, and it would do this cool little bobbing dance move. It really looked like it was dancing to a beat that only it could hear. I got a great video of that, although I wish I was filming when it was really getting into it.
We finally reached the Going to the Sun Road on the other side and BARELY caught the last bus of the day to take us back to the car. It turns out that the last bus leaves the dispatch center at 6pm, so we're pretty lucky. It would have been another 4 mile hike uphill or hitchhiking to get back to the car. Ah, the little things you learn by doing rather than word of mouth.
We finally made it to the campsite, took a dip in a nearby stream to rinse off, and had some camp-cooked burgers for dinner. Right before going to bed I noticed storm clouds forming in the distance--thank goodness. We put the rainfly up before going to bed and we awakened in the middle of the night by howling winds and the deluge of rain beating on the tent. That's much better than being awoken by rain beating on you, I'd wager.
More to come :) |
