Glenns Lake to Pyramid Falls - July 10, 2019

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tibber
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Glenns Lake to Pyramid Falls - July 10, 2019

Post by tibber »

July 10th, Day Four of Six: https://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=55329&start=15 Goal: Margaret Lake, one of Joe Cosley's other girlfriends. Sadly, she will have to be a ghost for me but that's just the way it goes sometimes. After a nice breakfast and checking out an alternate campsite that we decided not to take (and visiting with the folks leaving who had done the Stoney Indian Pass the afternoon before and also saw the moose run thru the Food Prep area), we headed up on the Stoney Indian Pass Trail. Shortly we ran into an elderly couple who said they frequently come out here for multi-nite stays (like ten days) and stash food back at other campsites, not sure why the topic came up. In a short while you reach the junction with Mokowanis Lake Trail. There is also a campsite here; one that you take only if nothing else is available in the area as it's just stuck in the woods... not that being stuck in the woods of Glacier Park is a bad thing but when your other choices are lakes; well you get the picture.

We headed south on this very nice trail once again going thru fluffy stands of Beargrass and over a couple bridges at the head of Glenns Lake. White Quiver Falls, though a cool name is not really a falls so I'm wondering if it isn't further up and we're just at the bottom of it. I only found this one picture on the internet: I'm not quite sure how one would get there either.
After leaving Pyramid Creek you enter into some more open areas before transitioning back into the forest. The flowers were out enmasse again; such a joy to see. As we got closer to Mokowanis Lake, Tina started looking for a side trail that is hard to find if you don't know that it's there. We more or less did a little bushwhack over to this shelf that sits just above the east edge of Mokowanis Lake. We hung out here for about 15 minutes. The surroundings are beyond spectacular :arrow:
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Next we start our mission to get to the un-named Falls: Many of the relative few who see this waterfall, including the back-country rangers, swear that it is the best one in the park. I think most people address it as Pyramid Creek Falls. It spills out of Margaret Lake which many claim to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the Park: https://www.summitpost.org/margaret-lak ... ful/842571 I see from the World Waterfall Database that Pyramid Falls is the adopted name of the Falls. It is 320 feet tall.
Meanwhile here at Mokowanis Lake we stopped to check out the Food Prep area. Being right next to the lake, it has an awesome view. A little further past is the privy which is an open area up a steep hill with a toilet at the top. That would be a tough haul at nite. Also, this is the end of the line so you're pretty isolated here at Mokowanis Backcountry Campsite. We saw a deer eating in one of the two campsites.

A little past here a bit of a trail continues. The foilage is very tall and thick. We looked over to our left and saw a big moose in the distance. He stopped what he was doing and watched us intently. It was pretty windy so I'm not sure how the scent thing was working. After performing our paparazzi duties we continued on going thru the forest now. Image
We got to hike right next to the gently flowing Pyramid Creek which was pretty cool before getting our first good view of a tall cascade.
We continued and Tina let me take the lead up a little hill because at the top your reaction is "Oh my God!". She said her reaction was similar.
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From here you stay pretty close to the Creek as you hike up by this huge cascade and then when you get to the top of that, the red rock of the Grinnell formation that runs below the water is at your feet. The sound from the water is quite loud here. You can feel the power under your feet as the water seems like it's rushing right for you. And of course, now you're very close to the bottom of the waterfall which really looks like two waterfalls in one. In some areas the water comes down in a spray and other areas it rushes down so fast.
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You continue your hike up by the creek until an opening to the left presents itself. There is some residual water flowing here as you wind around and up thru the terrain. We came to an area where we couldn't see where to go and once we figured out where we needed to go, we were concerned about the steepness and wetness. Tina wasn't sure as to what was beyond and also due to her recent and still-healing injury, we opted to turn around. I was very sad since we missed Helen too. Alas, we would only get to see one of Joe Cosley's girlfriend namesake lakes on this trip. It was beautiful what we did see and experience.

Just as we got back to the main creek, we encountered the couple that had been our camp mates at Elizabeth Lake Head. We wished them luck. On the way back down I found a little side trail that took us over to the triple cut of the cascades. That was pretty cool.
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We continued our way back down to Mokowanis Lake and back to the shelf along Mokowanis Lake we had been on earlier. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then a wonderful hike back to Glenns Lake. The flowers had opened up some more but the weather was a little ominous for awhile.
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I also spotted another rock outcropping or upheaval that we walked to its end. It was an unusual part of topography for this area it seemed. We enjoyed our hike via more beargrass and arrived at camp with plenty of time to sit at our beach before dinner.

Our Glenns/Cosley campmates showed up a little later to tell us of their unsuccessful mission to summit Cathedral Peak. Apparently the beta was not quite accurate. Tomorrow they would be summiting Pyramid before joining us at Cosley Lake Campsite. There was another couple that came in for the nite. That was an interesting relationship similar to a couple we encountered at Elizabeth Lake camp. She basically convinced him to leave living in his car to come on this backpacking trip with her. Apparently he is some sort of athlete that does quite well in his sport and requires some travel so he doesn't want to get tied down. Once again, it's been awhile so I don't remember the details. All I can say is one of the fun things about backcountry camping is visiting with the others at your site.

Part 1 to Pyramid Falls: to Mokowanis Lake Bench
Part 2 to Pyramid Falls: Bench to the Falls
Part 3 Pyramid Falls to Glenns Lake: to Mokowanis Lake
Part 4 Pyramid Falls to Glenns Lake: Mokowanis Lake to the campsite and around the campsite including the beach
Last edited by tibber on Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Glenns Lake to Pyramid Falls - July 10, 2019

Post by McKee80 »

Great pictures! I love that area. The red rocks in Pyramid Creek are so cool. Glad you got to spend a bunch of time there.
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Re: Glenns Lake to Pyramid Falls - July 10, 2019

Post by paul »

Tibber, I'm really enjoying your report so far. Too bad you didn't make it up Margarate lake. That route does get a little muddy and wet but I think if you are careful it's pretty safe.

I'd like to hear more about the people climbing Pyramid peak. I always wanted to get up there and wonder how those people fared and what there route was.
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: Glenns Lake to Pyramid Falls - July 10, 2019

Post by tibber »

McKee80 wrote:Great pictures! I love that area. The red rocks in Pyramid Creek are so cool. Glad you got to spend a bunch of time there.
ME TOO! :D
paul wrote:Tibber, I'm really enjoying your report so far.

Too bad you didn't make it up Margarate lake. That route does get a little muddy and wet but I think if you are careful it's pretty safe.

I'd like to hear more about the people climbing Pyramid peak. I always wanted to get up there and wonder how those people fared and what there route was.
They are with Glacier Mountaineering Society. I don't remember the details exactly but I seem to recall they used to come up to Glacier Park quite a bit and finally decided to move near Glacier Park. I believe they were from St Louis. I know the Mountaineering Society has a web page but I seem to recall you have to join to access it or something.
They had two nites at Glenns Head so they did Cathedral the following day and then did Pyramid, coming to Cosley Campground after. The next day they did Kaina, I can't remember if they hiked out that day or had another nite at Cosley. I can't remember if you can do a double at COS.
They didn't get Cathedral as they said the beta was bad. The pics from their climb of Pyramid were pretty awesome. I should have asked for them to forward a couple to us. And of course, we don't know how they did on Kaina. Anyway, it was fun to hang out with them in the limited time we had.
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Re: Glenns Lake to Pyramid Falls - July 10, 2019

Post by paul »

Thanks Tibber, I was just curious if they climbed Pyramid from the Sue bench or if they has another route in mind.
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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