Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

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

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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

I could sleep until the cows turn blue, but it’s time to grab the bull by the tail and drop the puck on this football game.

Ok, this is the big day. What does Hole-In-The-Wall look like? There are three ways in here (as possible day hikes): from Kintla (longest route at 22 miles or so), from Bowman (16 miles) or from Goat Haunt (12 miles as I remember). The problem with Goat Haunt is that customs doesn’t open until 11 am, and I was told that the “backcountry” site at Goat Haunt is on the US side, so you have to wait for customs. That means day hikes are a long ass day and not much time for photos.

No clue what day it is.

-Hike: Hole in the Wall
-Distance: A couple miles
-Elevation: Downhill

The nights have been really warm, above 50 anyway, so my sleeping bag, rated for 15 has had no problem keeping me warm if I wear a jacket. I got up at about sunrise, but the Boulder Pass area is in the shade well after sunrise, so I had to crank the ISO up to get reasonable shutter speeds.

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My breakfast was another bowl of cereal with water (remember, not much planning for this trip). I had the tent packed and rolled out of camp about 8 am. Strolling along, I actually missed a switchback and a guy heading uphill corrected my error. The thing was, his pack looked like a day pack. Really? Damn you day hiker.

Morning photography is tough since you’re looking into the light, so this is a pano from on top of the cirque.

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At camp, I talked with a couple guys who were at the Boulder Camp the day before, and then I set up the tent and took a snooze. For some reason, I was dog tired.

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By tired, I mean that I couldn’t stay awake and it was 11 am or so. I set up across the creek.

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This it the real color of my tent. The shot from Kintla was changed a bit to see if anyone was paying attention. (Kind of like my name and address on the permit.)

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During my snooze, a trail worker was knocking/cutting down dead trees in camp, and after getting up, I found a can a bear spray. This can was beat up and the top spun around, which is something I’ve never seen.

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This latrine is also famous for its solar powered fan, but I found this sign interesting.

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It talks about “hovering,” what it is and why you shouldn’t do it (amongst other things like sanitizing wipes, toilet location, cats holes, etc). Finally, about supper time I took a stroll up toward the entrance trail for a few photos. A number of streams were dry, but I can imagine this area is quite something when the snow is melting.

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Looing back towards camp.

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Shawn and I were wondering if we were going to have the campsite to ourselves again, and then a couple arrived, followed fairly quickly by a large group (mainly from Portland) who filled the remaining sites. The most colorful character was Andre from Austria, and the group was fun conversation.

Ok, not much hiking today, so I guess I needed the rest. Tomorrow is the hike out, so it’ll be an early start.

Jay
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Selkie »

Thanks for these photos and commentary! I took several photos of dead trees - they all looked like dancers, arabesquing elegantly with one limb delicately placed on a neighbor to make the composition - along the Belly River Trail, inspired by your work (and to take my mind off things lurking in the tall grass of the riverine meadows). They reminded me of Mark Morris's L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed il Moderato.
A vid of the dance:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2192747338/
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

I would have never connected those dancers with dead trees. Go ahead and post a few here it you wish.

Thanks for the comments.

Jay

(I just took the dog for a run. She took me out by cutting in front of me, my foot into her leg, so I'm icing my toes. Fortunately I was on a wooden bridge so I could slide after the belly flop and then hobble home. She, of course, seems no worse for wear.)
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

Wow, you should see my toes!

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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by joybird »

Jay w wrote:Wow, you should see my toes!

Jay

What? You mean you won't post a pic?

With your excellent photography skills, I'm sure you could capture the wild colors quite dramatically. (Or, if that's too gory to be tasteful, you could probably pull off a discreet yet artistic black and white version...) :wink:
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by TnTammy »

Image

IndianaJay,
Nice nod to Raider's! Was this anticipated?
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

joybird wrote:
What? You mean you won't post a pic?
Caution, adult content

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Tam, I was taking a picture of my shadow, but not thinking about Indiana Jones.

Give me a whip,

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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

Hey, it you ever need to get blood out of clothes, perioxide. I've been bleeding through the band-aids.

Wed, 8/28/13

Hike: Getting’ out of dodge, Hole to Bowman Foot
Dist: 15.6 miles
Elevation: Down

This was kind of an anticlimactic day since it was mostly travel, but it was the first time ever that I stiffed a waitress.

I was up before everyone, but only got out of camp at about daybreak. The first thing I did was to get a few photos of the neighborhood. Since I was tired yesterday, I didn’t really get a good shot of the cirque or just about anything. Now my mindset was on getting to St. Mary, so I spent just a couple minutes shooting a few panos. I left these kind of soft because the morning light was just that. I wish I could have sat around, had a few valium and fired off a few rounds. (Oh come on now, do I really need a smiley.)

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The second thing on the agenda was to return a can a bear spray to the trail crew.

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I hit Brown Pass and the crew was (surprisingly) sitting under a canopy filling out paperwork. “How are you guys fixed for bear spray?” I asked. “You found it,” the clean shaven guy responded. I handed him the spray and the first thing he did was twist the top of the can. Yup, it’s his and who shaves in the back country?

From there, it was pretty much a slog through the woods to the trail head. The descent from the pass was pretty steep and in the open, so I can imagine that’s quite a hump going up. Much worse than Boulder Pass in my opinion.

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Anyway, ran into a few groups going up and chatted a bit, had a cliff bar at Bowman Head, but I hiked out in 5:50 or about 3 mph.

Once I got to the car, I dropped the pack and went for a swim. According the folks at Hole last night, the water was really warm. Hah. Even though I took a long swim (in my mind) for the conditions, I was out of the water fast enough that my shirt still stunk.

In the car the first stop was call at Polebridge for “Julie, I’m out of the woods” and then to Johnson’s for an overnight. This sounds easy, but it’s a long drive, even over the speed limit.

At the St. Mary entrance I looped around and entered again to see the campground status and found that Many Glacier was full (as suspected). The ranger saw the move and asked if I had any questions and I said that I got the info I needed and I was going to exit again.

Johnson’s was fine for an overnight, but I’d skip their food. I ordered what I thought was a burger and it was the chief’s surprise. (It was listed between two burgers items and said, “Everything but the kitchen sink.”) I was starved (no lunch, 16 miles with a 40 lb pack), so just about anything would have tasted good. They brought ground beef with sour cream and some diced tomatoes on top of some gordita type of shell. Awful. When I said I couldn’t eat this and suggested a burger (everyone can make a burger, right?), they took it away and brought a pan fried burger with enough grease to soak through a typical small grocery store bun. It was the shittiest burger I’ve had…..since…I don’t remember. Forever? Total cost was over $15 with zero tip and I think they were mad at me that I insulted the chief’s surprise. (I lied and said the burger was good.) They made me wait at the register.

So I drove to Many Glacier and talked to a couple women in site 35 who were leaving the next day. ‘If anyone comes by, tell ‘em the site is taken or lie and say you’re staying. ““Yeah, we got a lot of that when we arrived,” they replied. I’ll be by early. By the time I got back to Johnsons it was 10 pm and I just plunked down in the tent still pissed about the meal. Music was playing in St. Mary, so it was a little tough getting to sleep.

Just as a little upbeat send off…the section between Boulder Pass and Hole in the Wall is really quite something. I think Boulder is actually more scenic, but Hole has better tent pads and protection if the weather is windy. Highly recommended. Two thumbs up. Get there when the water is running. (It was dry as a bone for me.)


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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

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Thr, Aug 29th

Hike: Fischercap Lake
-Distance: Hah, it’s in the backyard

The reason I needed to leave town on Friday, was so I could get a permit on Saturday, start a backpack trip on Sunday, exit the woods on Wednesday, and get in a campsite in Many Glacier on Thursday before Labor Day weekend. All week I had been hitting marks, and this was almost the last one for the trip.

I got to sleep after the band quit in St. Mark and woke up at 4:15. “Hell, why not.” I got up, threw both the sleeping bag and tent in the car (unpacked) and headed to MG at 4:30. At 5 am, I picked up a registration ticket and instead of lighting up the campground like a prison searchlight, I parked in the Swiftcurrent lot and walked to site 35. Wow, no one has taken site 35 yet. Cool. I registered, organized the car a bit and went to the showers to make coffee and have breakfast. It’s surprising that people are actually awake at this crazy early hour.

After breakfast, I had a conversation at the picnic table and then headed to the MG Hotel for pictures. The sunrise was cloudless, so the light was fairly boring, but still, it was a nice to be back in the Many Glacier valley.

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After sunrise, I parked back at Swiftcurrent and headed to Moosercap Lake looking for fish…or eh Fishercap Lake looking for moose. None there. I knew I had some time to kill since the women in site 35 said they wouldn’t be out until 10 am or so. I strolled around like a kid on the way to the principal’s office, and shot pictures of a few trees, or maybe I should say, I tried to manufacture some interesting pictures of trees.

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On the way back via the horse trail, I found a deer.

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Are the women moving yet? Nope.

So, I backed up the trip pictures on an external hard drive and the computer. It takes quite a while to move around gigs of data, so I’m sure I killed an hour doing this (and used the car to power the computer).
Are the women moving yet? Nope. The process of me taking a peak down the road at the campsite (to see if there’s movement) and then me plunking down in the car continued for a few hours. I got the car organized, cleaned lens filters, read all three books in the Lord of the Rings series (just kidding) and finally, the site opened up sometime late morning. Of course I had already been up for six hours.
I got the site setup, took a nap, hung out in the hammock for a while and late in the afternoon, the ranger came through saying there was a storm coming in with 50 mph winds. I took down the three corner tent over the picnic table and the hammock, secured the tent (aka the Taj), threw the bike in the car, grabbed a beer and bagel and headed for the porch in a light rain.

I had been through two storms before at Many Glacier, and I’ve found that tons of people hike without any backup gear. I thought it might be fun to watch people without rain gear get chased out of the woods. True to the prediction, the rain came down sideways and people came out of the woods soaked. Later on, people strolled out of the woods I assume because their underwear was already wet (it didn’t matter if they hurried), or they were trying to look like this was no big deal. After the storm, I cooked up rice and bean burritos and hung out at the site.

Fri, Aug 30th
Hike: Snow Moon Basin
Distance: Not far (see Todd’s post details)
I headed for sunrise photos and four RV’s were parked at the entrance to the campground. It looked like they were creating a line to get campsites and I was getting “the eye” as I drove by going to and from the MG hotel.

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After breakfast and packing up the photo gear, I was a little hesitant about starting the hike since it looked like rain. I handed off a note on where I was going to a neighbor in the campground, and I got look of horror. “Don’t worry, I’ll very likely come back from this hike, but if I don’t, I want someone to know where I am.”

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At the horse stables, it was spitting a little rain, so I headed for the famous MG Employee drinking area. (As per hockey ref), I headed up a road behind the hotel and came across a sign that clearly informed me I should not continue further by order of Homeland Security or something like that. Maybe it was signed the Guatanamo Detention Committee, but it sounded like they didn’t want anyone back by the water source. This sounds exactly like where the employees would drink and I knew I was on the right path.

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After a few photos up there, I started off on the hike along the Cracker Lake trail. The weather was probably the best I’ve seen for photography in quite a few trips to Glacier. Wait a minute and the light conditions changed. Once I found the right dry stream bed, the ascent was pretty straight forward. One little pitch was difficult with a backpack full of camera gear, but was actually easier coming down.
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A selfie.

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So, check off Snow Moon. BTW, my processor died on my laptop, so it’s hard for me to produce trip reports. I have to lock myself away in an office with a desktop rather than sit in the living room with a laptop (where I can interact like anyone else with a cell phone).

Jay
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jen »

Jay w wrote: Image

Jay
All great snaps but I love this one most all!!! 8)
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

Jen, thanks, yeah, I like that one too. I also like the ones from behind the MG Hotel. The depth when you're looking at these on a big monitor are really great. The water one is also interesting because of the detail, but that gets lost in the 600 dpi version. I hate to upload bigger versions because if I do, I know people can use them for whatever they want. Some folks put a big ugly "Copyright" across the picture, but that's just ugly. One of these days. I'll actually have to print a picture. :D

It was a great day for the light. I didn't see anyone on the trail except a couple horse parties, and Snow Moon was completely empty. I thought about looking over the edge towards Cracker Lake to see if I could make a loop out of it. I talked to a guy who had climbed Allen and it sounds like I'd have to go up the ridge line a ways to drop into Cracker. I assume that when no one talks about that route, there must a reason people aren't doing it. It looks doable from Cracker Lake.

Jay
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by tibber »

looks like you definitely got some good light; so much fun to play with. I also liked the pics of the horses hanging out.
Jen

Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jen »

Jay w wrote: I thought about looking over the edge towards Cracker Lake to see if I could make a loop out of it. I talked to a guy who had climbed Allen and it sounds like I'd have to go up the ridge line a ways to drop into Cracker. I assume that when no one talks about that route, there must a reason people aren't doing it. It looks doable from Cracker Lake.

Jay
If I recall correctly, which doesn't happen often, you would pretty much have to summit Mt. Allen and then head down the scree field at the head of Cracker Lake. When we climbed Allen in 2010 we came down on the Lake Josephine side mainly because there was a very pitchy part coming up from Snow Moon basin that I did not want to climb back down. I can climb up all day long. It's the down climbing that tests my nerves. :?
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

Now that I look at a map (didn't think of doing that :) ), Snow Moon, Allen Peak and Cracker are almost in a line, N to S. Also, it looks like you'd have to do an "S" type route to hike the less steep parts if the route is possible without serious climbing. Google Earth is on my dead computer...

Anyway, thanks, even though I'd probably not attempt it anyway. Imagine handing a piece of paper with the route to a neighbor in the campground. "When are you going to be back?" "Exactly, when am I going to be back?"

Jay
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Re: Better to sail w/torn sails than to not sail at all

Post by Jay w »

Oh yeah. Tibber, I meant to say something about the horses. You can kind of sense the lottery among the horses in getting picked for a trip. As in "No, no, no, don't pick me for that fat guy. No....excellent." Anyway, my lens was quite a wide angle, so I was talking to that guy keeping him calm as I, at times, had my lens just a few inches from his nose. I was also being watched by the wranglers. He/she was quite relaxed.

Jay
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