Pitamakan-Dawson Backpack, Aug 13-15 in 2021 No Name to Pray Lake TH

Well, tell us how your trip went. We all want to hear about your special experience.

Moderators: teapot57, Tara

Post Reply
User avatar
tibber
2.0 Donator
2.0 Donator
Posts: 473
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:50 am
Gender?: Female
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Has thanked: 72 times
Been thanked: 25 times

Pitamakan-Dawson Backpack, Aug 13-15 in 2021 No Name to Pray Lake TH

Post by tibber »

finally, the last trip report... until next summer, right Tina?! :D
I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
And if any of you get down to the Valley of the Sun, message me and we can "take a hike". Angela

with Teapot57, my report as posted on hikearizona.com:

I don't remember when we all heard the bristling of the bushes but we all jumped a bit. We think it was a moose though as we saw one at a distance when we departed camp. It was a VERY smokey morning so the pictures and video would be interesting.

We still had some more downhill to go. I don't know if I mentioned in my previous log but I do in the video; we did have a ranger check our permit on the trail yesterday. Anyway, it was a nice morning and almost the first thing I got to do was eat some huckleberries when we were back on the main trail. There were a couple little drainage crossings; it's always surprising how clearly you can hear water, even if it's a small amount. A couple of these areas had some nice trail work too. They have such pretty rocks to work with.

We did encounter a grouse, just like we have during 3/4 of our hikes up here this summer. If you look back, which is somewhat easy to do with some of the switchbacks, you get smokey views of Mount Rockwell which still had some nice big patches of snow. Eventually you're heading due east for awhile and the scene opens up wide with smokey views toward Two Medicine Lake. During my hike here in 2013 it was raining so I didn't get clear views either.

After about 1 1/2 miles we reached the junction with the North Shore/South Shore. We now only had 3 1/3rd miles left of our ten days at Glacier Park. As we continued along the north shore of Two Medicine Lake you get to, once again, somewhat enjoy the smokey views. We did see the Sinopah (boat) as it was taking passengers to the dock at the South Shore. When you look back you can see why they called Pumpelly a pillar as it sure looks that way from this angle.

The trail goes in and out of forest and we started seeing quite a few more people now... and another grouse. It was in this area that Wendy and I saw the bear cub up a tree in 2018 but no bear evidence today. In this area, of course, there is more thimbleberry and huckleberry to enjoy. We took a group selfie at the bridge before finishing the walk to the parking lot next to Pray Lake.

We said our "goodbyes" at the parking lot and I headed over to Two Medicine Lodge to pick up a huckleberry beer. However, they only sold six packs so I got a Huckleberry soda instead. I walked around a bit at the lake as I had time to kill before driving to Great Falls; seemed like such an anti-climatic end. I had a killer backpack trip (19.5 miles) and felt very strong throughout. I love backpacking in Glacier :arrow: and have had good luck so far with conditions.




To see the photoset that includes description and IDs, click on this link (if you don't want the advertisements if they come up, register for free - no hassles from the site, just like here) https://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=63940
zozeppelin
Special Contributor
Special Contributor
Posts: 419
Joined: Sat Apr 06, 2019 5:53 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Has thanked: 95 times
Been thanked: 53 times

Re: Pitamakan-Dawson Backpack, Aug 13-15 in 2021 No Name to Pray Lake TH

Post by zozeppelin »

Thanks so much for making the reports - I have really enjoyed them, especially the geology and history lessons.

That was a pretty amazing week - hell of a plan B.
User avatar
tibber
2.0 Donator
2.0 Donator
Posts: 473
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:50 am
Gender?: Female
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Has thanked: 72 times
Been thanked: 25 times

Re: Pitamakan-Dawson Backpack, Aug 13-15 in 2021 No Name to Pray Lake TH

Post by tibber »

zozeppelin wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:42 pm Thanks so much for making the reports - I have really enjoyed them, especially the geology and history lessons.

That was a pretty amazing week - hell of a plan B.
You're welcome. I do put quite a bit of time and research into the reports, photos and videos which I enjoy for the most part; except the time consumption.

Yep, it was a great Glacier trip. I know I'm very lucky. And I'm glad I got to share it with Tina, Matt and Laura too.
Post Reply

Return to “Trip Reports”