Pete - I think I told you this the other day in Whitefish, but we ran into a few groups doing the Logan Pass to Goat Haunt dayhike last week. But the craziest was this dude that looked like Zach Galifianakis that waltzed into Fifty Mountain at 8:00am while we were just finishing up breakfast. Let's just say he didn't look like a ultra-marathoner, but he did look like the happiest dude I've ever seen with a huge grin on his face, a pair of spandex shorts, a tank top, and a fanny pack. He was trying to figure out where the trail went once getting into camp, so I chatted with him for a few minutes and asked where he was going to/from. Turns out he had left Many Glacier THAT MORNING and was planning on hiking back via the tunnel. I asked him if he knew that had to be 50+ miles and he said yes. I thought he was crazy, but at least he was packing one of the small bear spray canisters on his fanny pack hip belt and was 20+ miles in by 8am. Hilariously, Heff and Miss Guiness saw him that night at ELF while eating an early dinner. I think the lunatic actually did it!
Pete, another fine report. ND, I've looked at that route and figured no way, no how. My last 20 mile hike left a significant mark, so 30 miles is even questionable. Hats off to that guy. Cool to hear.
Jay
The NSA...the only people in the government who listen.
ND Ken from North Dakota
I got my stick back yesterday. Thanks for looking out for me and returning it.
I'm going to keep that "hieroglyph label" on it to remind me not to be leaving my stuff behind in the future!
I'll let you explain about the rock you found at Siyeh Pass with a similar "hieroglyph"
pete
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
Pete, I guess technically it's called a petroglyph. However, that was one exceptional find and I'm glad you left it at the pass as not to disturb the historical value. That's all I'm going to say about it. Hahaha
Glad you got your hiking stick back! Thanks for coming along on the two great hikes we did a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun and sweat as always.
ND wrote: Pete, I guess technically it's called a petroglyph. However, that was one exceptional find and I'm glad you left it at the pass as not to disturb the historical value. That's all I'm going to say about it. Hahaha
Glad you got your hiking stick back! Thanks for coming along on the two great hikes we did a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun and sweat as always.
Oh My!!
I got my "glyphs" mixed up.
But yeah, I left the "petroglyph" up there at the pass.
Thanks again for rescuing my stick and it was fun hiking with you Larry and Bill. Tell them "hi" for me.
I'm headed out this morning to Logan Pass but dunno what I'm going to do yet.
I'll know when I get there....maybe.
pete
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
While driving up to Logan Pass this morning, I decided to do the Hockey Ref hike!
Logan Pass to Granite Park, then up over Swiftcurrent Pass and down to the Swiftcurrent Inn.
Here I'm putting my rock on one of the Swiftcurrent Pass cairns Andy's memory.
Didn't see much animal life, but this is only the second time I've gotten close enough to get any sort of picture of a pika. They are very hard to photograph, even as close as I was. They're still, then dash quickly to a new location. There were two of them cutting sprigs and taking them under this HUUUUGE boulder where they probably had a den.
You can see the pall of smoke hanging over lake McDonald early this morning. It was gone at 5:30PM.
Got to the chalet in decent time. Ate a quick lunch and set out for Swiftcurrent Pass.
This shot is looking down the Swiftcurrent valley. Smoke haze wasn't as bad on the East side
After this shot my camera malfunctioned when changing batteries. I had to use my phone. Back with those tomorrow with good story on my luck hitching a ride back to Logan Pass!
Distance for the hike was 16.1 miles on my GPS
Hiking time 7:27mnutes excluding ~20 minutes for lunch when I turned off GPS.
Began at 0722 and finished at 1506
Good time for the Geezer.
pete
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
Wow, Pete! That's a really great time. Looking forward to hearing about your hitchhike. You are brave to head out on a hike like that without knowing how you'd get back to Logan Pass!
I took new chatter catmorell on the Iceberg Lake hike via ShangriLa.
We had a terrific hike in spite of the slight smoke haze.
I've done that ShangriLa hike about 20 times now and I've never seen it so dry.
The big couloir beside the cliff/ledge section was nearly snow free. Two tiny chunks of snow/ice were all that was left
All the small creeks and seeps were virtually "dry" Ptarmigan Creek was the lowest I've ever seen.
pete
Last edited by PeteE on Mon Sep 11, 2017 7:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
Hiking Shangri-La with the Geezer last summer is one of my favorite Glacier highlights. Glad to
see it was doable, even with some smoke. Sure would have been more pleasant
than spending the weekend preparing for a possible evacuation!
You can always earn more money, but you can't earn more time
Pizza Bob wrote:Hiking Shangri-La with the Geezer last summer is one of my favorite Glacier highlights. Glad to
see it was doable, even with some smoke. Sure would have been more pleasant
than spending the weekend preparing for a possible evacuation!
Thanks Jim
ShangriLa is a favorite hike of mine. I was hoping I could do it with Todd and Tina Saturday, but "life" intervened
However, I was able to get over to Swiftcurrent Sunday for breakfast with Bill (MarksMN) his wife, and Tina(Teapot57).
We had a short visit with Todd before he left to catch his flight back home.
Tina had to get back to Calgary so Bill suggested we hike up to Apikuni falls, and then scramble up to the basin above the falls.
And that we did. Neither Tina nor I had ever been up above the falls so it turned out to be fun.
That said, it was WINDY above the falls so we stopped at a point where we could see the general layout. It's a very interesting area.
We all want to go back sometime and look around more.
After we got back to the cars, Tina headed back to Calgary, Bill went back the Many Glacier Hotel to pick up Candi.
We would meet at Logan Pass.
Timed just right, we arrived at Logan Pass within minutes of each other.
Nice day up there but windy and views were obscured by smoke. We walked up to the overlook.
No animals of any kind around. Bummer.
On the way down we walked out towards Reynolds a ways hoping to see a goat. Not to be.
The parking lot wasn't quite full, but there was a fair crowd there.
All in all, it was a fun day.
pete
Here are a few pics
Sunrise over Sherburne reservoir Sunday about 7AM
Tina and I at Apikuni Falls
Bill and I
Bill and Tina looking out over Sherburne reservoir in the smoke haze from above Apikuni Falls. Sherburne reservoir is WAY down.
Bill pointed out this curious rock "reinforcement" which appears to support the trail we scrambled up to get above the falls.
"Dead Tree" for Jay
Tina got this shot showing some of that large basin above the falls. Thanks Tina!
That is Apikuni Mt. in the background.
Bill and I where we stopped. The chilly wind was literally blowing us off our feet at this point. Not much fun.
Bill is from MN. I'm from Florida....which might explain how we're dressed
Sherburne reservoir on the way out Sunday afternoon
Mt Siyeh with new snow
Piegan with new snow
Pollock and Piegan taken from the Reynolds Mt trail
Short video link from above the falls
90 seconds
Last edited by PeteE on Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:07 am, edited 3 times in total.
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
It was fun meeting up with you, Bill and Candy for breakfast and then hiking afterward. Too bad the wind was so ferocious because I would have liked to hike a bit further back into that basin to see what was around the corner of Altyn Peak. Perhaps if we got ourselves further into that basin and up that slope to our right just a little bit higher, we could have gotten a glimpse of Natahki Lake or the tarn before it. Next time!
Pete, Tina, Todd - great to meet up with you Sunday morning at Swiftcurrent and it was exciting to do a great short hike. The wind gusts in that valley were quite strong - I would not want to encounter that wind in an exposed area. And Pete, while there were no animals along the Hidden Lake Overlook trail the new snow highlighted interesting features of the mountains - the hike was neat.
Thanks Tina and Bill.
Twas a fun day meeting new people to hike with.
And being the end of the season, a good day to end this chapter.
See y'all next year
pete
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-
"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat." George Carlin
Wow, nice sunrise photo and thanks for the deadwood shot. I'm sure I've "shot" that tree before. This is about as close as I could get looking through the recent past:
BTW, temp in the 90s and dewpt of 70s today, for a heat index of 100 in the Cities.
Awesome.
Jay
The NSA...the only people in the government who listen.