Beaver Pond Loop area - July 18, 2022

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tibber
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Beaver Pond Loop area - July 18, 2022

Post by tibber »

I am writing this 9-14-2022.  First thing in the AM we went over to the St Mary VC to pick up our backpacking permit in hopes that we could make a change from the last two nites at Glenn's Foot to the last nite at Cosley Lake.  We thot there would be more people in line but it was only another couple.  Others would start showing up as it got closer to opening at 7AM.  But, one problem, the computers were down yesterday so they were having to update everything by hand, plus the computers were still not back online.  As the one ranger said, well at least no one else can get permit updates either.  About 20 minutes later it was a go and we were able to adjust our permit, yeah!  I love Cosley Lake even though all of us had stayed there before; it was definitely better than GLF and we would have a mile and 1/2 less to hike out.  We didn't know that the other backpacker ahead of us was through-hiking the CDT as we would run into him on our hike out.

We got breakfast at St Mary Lodge which involves putting in your order and it being delivered to your table in a paper sack.  This was the same at the Park Cafe.  I'll be glad when everyone can be fully staffed so we can have our meals delivered on a plate with real silverware! 


Next we headed over to our partial hike of the Beaver Pond Loop.  I can't remember why we decided against doing the whole loop other than bad weather was coming in and my knee was bothering me.  So I suggested we walk part of the northern part along St Mary Lake.  It was very windy as we made our way from the prairie through the edge of the forest.  We got to enjoy the wildflowers, the lake, the forest and the mountains. It was quite windy today so hard to get good flora pictures.
This is a Blanketflower:Image

The main wildflower was the Red Clover, it was everywhere.  The trail continues officially next to the forest but we decided to hike alongside the lake instead.  There were a few obstacles here and there but it was nice to be so close to the lake.  We had nice views across the way to Singleshot Mountain and ahead to Red Eagle Mountain. Image I would like to backpack to REH (Red Eagle Head).  It's 8 miles and though the area is burned, it makes for wide open views at Red Eagle Lake.   We eventually came to a big downed tree that we couldn't get around.  On our way back we saw a Common GoldenEye Duck and beautifully colored rocks in the lake. Image

Image


We headed up to the 1913 Ranger Station and Barn before coming back to the Trailhead area to investigate the flat plains that were covered in flowers including Owl Clover... though not like what we have here.  It was really very windy so nearly impossible to get good photos of the flora for a good part of our hike.  I did get a couple movies though. There was lots of Prairie Smoke which is one of my favorite flowers here in Glacier National Park.  We didn't see anyone else but there were a couple cars.

After, we headed to the Park Cafe where we both agreed we had the best piece of huckleberry pie, but that was mostly due to it having no top crust and very little filler.  As to the rest of the lunch served to us in a paper bag, not the best.  We spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the cabin getting our backpacks ready for tomorrow.  It started storming off and on.  We finished our day with dinner at Two Sisters since the Cattle Baron Club wasn't open on Monday evenings.  Fortunately, my strained knee improved as I was worried I would have to cancel backpacking.  

To see some more of the photos with detailed captions go to https://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=67203
No charge to join hikearizona.com if you want to avoid any Ads plus no other solicitations from enrolling on HAZ to avoid Ads.

Here is the video I put together:  
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