Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Even though Glacier is the focal point, the Flathead and the surrounding area presents boundless activities, talk about it here.

Moderators: teapot57, Tara

Post Reply
PeteE
Posts: 3346
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:20 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Winter hHaven Florida
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by PeteE »




Mt Hefty should be on your bucket list if you like nice views/vistas.
Mt Hefty, and the ridge walk out to the its summit , provide great views of the North Fork valley and into Glacier Park as well as to the north into Canada.
Mt Hefty's summit is about 4 miles west of where the North Fork crosses the CA line and just a fraction of a mile south of the Canadian border.


As you'll see, Mark and I had a very nice day for the hike albeit a bit chilly this morning. 19F at the cabin he has rented on the North Fork :shock:
We hoped it would be warmer as we gain some elevation driving to the trailhead...and it did, all the way up to 25F when we started up the hill at 0803.
I had the cabin all to myself as Mark likes sleeping in his Airstream trailer down by the river.
So I'll begin with a few pics from Thursday evening.


This is the view from the dining room table in the cabin. Not too shabby is it? It sits on a bluff overlooking the North Fork which can be seen if one looks closely just beyond the treeline in the foreground
Image

From the porch. ZPacks tent which I liked a lot. 19 oz for a two person tent.
Image

Looking eastward from the porch. Alpine glow from sun setting in the west behind the cabin
Image

Some inside shots. Sleeps four. Gas stove, gas frig, gas heater, and gas lights everywhere.
Image
Image

Nice bathroom with "real toilet" :) and one of those "flash" type hot water heaters. Hot water forever :arrow: There is a generator which you turn on to fill the pressure tank. Nice digs and I got a good nights sleep. I got up at 0500 to a crystal clear sky. Incredible how bright the stars are when you get away from light pollution in the city.
Image

It took us an hour to drive to the trail head. We began hiking at about 0803. Temp was 25F and it felt it down in the draw where the hike begins. Lousy picture...probably because I was shivering! The sign reads Thoma-Colts Cr. TR NO. 18
Image

The destination was well worth the effort. Looking north into Canada from here on the summit of Mt. Hefty. The border is just a fraction of a mile away.
Image

Here are the numbers at the finish. TH is 5146. Mt Hefty summit about 7598. The gain/loss is ~2400+- . However there is considerable "up and down" once you get out on the ridge walk part. The distance from the TH to the summit is 5.68 miles on my GPS. It will vary a few 1/10's depending on the exact route you follow. The last 1/2 mile or so is an easy bushwhack. You really don't have many choices of routes. We did a little side trip on the way back to look at some sort of radio repeater system. That added a few 1/10's and another 100ft or so of up and down.
Image

I'll get the "in between" pics up asap tomorrow.

later

pete :wink:
"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
User avatar
Jay w
Posts: 1920
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:17 am
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: St. Paul, MN
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 40 times

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by Jay w »

So many hike (possibilities). Too little time.

Great views from the cabin.

Jay
The NSA...the only people in the government who listen.
PeteE
Posts: 3346
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:20 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Winter hHaven Florida
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by PeteE »

Jay w wrote:So many hike (possibilities). Too little time.

Great views from the cabin.

Jay
You're right Jay. There are so many places to go both in, and near the park.
This is a good hike. The down side is that it's in such a remote location. The trail head is roughly a 1 1/2 hour drive from Polebridge!

And so we got started on a crispy morning. It never did get "warm". This is where the trail leaves the old Kelly humped FR114A-- .8 miles from the trail head at the car park.. There is now a nice lil cairn to mark the spot. The trail switch backs down to Cold Creek where it then follows the creek upwards.
Image
Image

I was fascinated by the green moss growing everywhere along the creek. This is a poor picture. I assure you that the moss was a beautiful shade of bright green.
Image

The trail is well worn and easy to follow up to this trail junction with TR#15. Distance to the trail junction is 2.6 miles from the car park. 1.8 miles from the cairn. Turn right for the Thoma Lookout and left for Mt Hefty. Elevation gain is about 1200ft. It's steep going up this section, but not overly so. Just one long slog up along the creek. Chilly in the early morning shade of the narrow draw the creek runs in. Remember we began just after sunrise. 8)
Image

Once past the trail junction the ridge walk begins out to Mt Hefty and the views of the North Fork valley begin to open up through the trees.
Image

This was a nice big level spot at 7000ft where one could tent camp. The hike and the sun combined allowed me to remove one layer and get my lucky hat back on :)
Image

The hoar frost was everywhere but especially on logs like this one.Image

Another shot of the North Fork valley
Image

The ridge in the distance is an intermediate destination. Mt Hefty lies to the left of it and beyond.
Image

More valley shots Near center frame you can see the fog on Kintla lake
Image
Image

A pano shot. My hiking partner on the far left
Image

Neverminding the Geezer, the view of the North Fork valley this time of year is beautiful with all the larches turning gold
Image

More hoar frost
Image
Image

Mt Hefty comes into view. The summit is the high point on the ridge in the distance. Another place where you have to lose elevation only to have to gain it back again. I hate that 8)
Image

Mark checking out the digging here. We found extensive bear digging all along the ridge line.
Image
Image

I'm not sure what the bears were digging up here. It may have been these roots? One or more bears had really worked over this ridge line. There was digging activity like this all along the top of the ridge
Image

Here is a pano shot from just below the summit ridge on the left. We took a break here out of the wind. Not much wind but it was still quite chilly.
Image

Here are the pics from the summit. I don't know why I don't have stills of the view looking west. I may have to capture some frames from the video to post here later. Looking north into Canada
Image

Looking sort of NW. I saw a grizzly bear on that bare ridge center frame. he/she was digging on that ridge. When I yelled for Mark to come look, the bear heard me and began moving this way then bolted off the ridge and was gone :(
Image
Image

Looking toward the park and the North Fork
Image



Summit shots coming in a few
"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
Sue Z
Donator
Donator
Posts: 455
Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 7:37 am
Gender?: Female
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Emmaus, PA
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by Sue Z »

Image

Adorable hat!
Great alpenglow photo!
Is that your Z-Packs tent? If so, I would love to hear more about your experience with it.
Sue Z
PeteE
Posts: 3346
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:20 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Winter hHaven Florida
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by PeteE »

Hi Sue:

I wish it was my tent!
It belongs to Mark, the guy who had the cabin.
I looked at it closely and got in it. It's very well made. I'm 6'4 and there is plenty of room for me and gear.

Mark and his brother-in-law camped in it for two nights a couple weeks ago at Brown pass and Hole In the Wall.
Winds got up to 40mph. No problems. Mark likes it a lot and he has extensive backpacking experience all over including Alaska and Canada.

I have a few small ZPack items. They're expensive but very good.
Mark has a ton of ZPack stuff, including the backpack he was carrying and much of the outer wear he had on for the hike.
Zpack uses a lot of Cuben fiber for their gear. Cuben fiber is good stuff but spendy and takes someone who knows what they're doing to work with it.
It's VERY strong and yet VERY light.

Duplex Tent
http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/duplex.shtml

cheers

pete :wink:

PS

I know I looked like a dork in that picture. I was freezing my skinny ass off !! :)
That hat and hoody keep my nearly bald noggin warm 8)
"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
PeteE
Posts: 3346
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:20 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Winter hHaven Florida
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by PeteE »

Sue Z :)
Since you liked that hat.... :)
I wasn't going to put this one up because of the bad focus and the dorky look, but...then I thought, "What the hell!" 8)
If one can't have a sense of humor, well....... :mrgreen:

Anyway...I'm blaming the first two photos crappy focus on being COLD! :lol:
I didn't want to layer up too much at the start, get sweated up going up that hill, and then get chilled.
So I start being a bit chilly and then try to adjust my pace to stay comfortable, notice I said comfortable and not "warm".
I actually managed to stay quite comfortable today after I got going for 15-20 minutes.

We moved along at a pretty good pace[for me] all things considered--we averaged about 2.5mph(25 minute miles) when we were moving.
The picture below was taken at 0803.
Trail junction was taken at 0936. So 93 minutes to do 2.6 miles to the junction.
That works out to 35 minute miles(1.7mph) going up that somewhat steep hill to the junction.
About the best I can do....for now :)

I needed to post this anyway so you can see where the actual trailhead sign is there by the Kelly hump.
Image

I'm working on the video. It shows some things I didn't have stills of.

pete
:wink:

Getting back to the hike...

On the way back down we did a side trip down to this rather curious installation on a spur ridge. The building was fully camo'd including "ghillie suit" style netting. Solar array and what appeared to be ventilation for a generator. A couple of stove pipe type antennas as well as a directional microwave dish of some kind?
Image
Image
Image

There was not one single clue as to the "owner" of this installation. Probably because they don't want to be known as the "entity/agency" who flunked "Installation Concealment 101". There was a "peephole" on the heavily locked door. It's just to the right of the large data plate. I flipped off whoever was inside :mrgreen: I thought about "mooning" the peephole too, but figured I might get whacked by a drone launched hellfire missile once I was at a safe distance away from their comm site 8)
Image

cheerios

pete :wink:
"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
teapot57
Moderator & 2.1 Donator
Moderator & 2.1 Donator
Posts: 940
Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 3:59 pm
Gender?: Female
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Calgary, AB
Has thanked: 89 times
Been thanked: 77 times

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by teapot57 »

Hi Pete,

Looks like a great hike! Those grizzly diggings were impressive. Would be interesting to learn more about that camouflaged building. Thanks for showing us a bit of this unique area!

Tina
PeteE
Posts: 3346
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:20 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Winter hHaven Florida
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by PeteE »

teapot57 wrote:Hi Pete,

Looks like a great hike! Those grizzly diggings were impressive. Would be interesting to learn more about that camouflaged building. Thanks for showing us a bit of this unique area!

Tina
Hey Tina:

Mt Hefty is a good hike. Having now done both Thoma Lookout and Mt. Hefty.
I would recommend doing Mt Hefty over Thoma Lookout if I could only do one if---views/vistas were your main interest.
Thoma Lookout would be my choice if I had a bucket list of "lookouts" I wanted to visit, or maybe chat with the lookout person, or just a historical interest in Thoma and other lookouts.
They are both good. And personally, I would hike to Thoma the route we used for Hefty....just make a right at the junction of TR18 and TR15.

Yeah, the bear(s) had worked that ridge line pretty well. You'll see some of that in the video when I get it done.
Digging is what the bear I saw on the Canadian side was doing on that ridge.

I think that installation is a relay station for the Border Patrol/Homeland Security "sensors" located in the border "cut line".
There are antennae(antennas) ? that pickup sensor data from the cut line and then that directional microwave "dish" that is pointed south, relays it to the Border Patrol Office in Whitefish. Whitefish is just a few degrees east of due south from Hefty.
That facility has an unimpeded "view"(transparent to radio frequency energy) of the entire cut line from the Mt Hefty location all the way to Long Knife Mountain in GNP. Long Knife is north of Kintla Lake and on the border.
There won't be much going on in that cut line area that the the Border Patrol won't know about very quickly.
I wouldn't want to wander out into that cut line area; that could end up being an enormous hassle. 8)

later and thanks Tina

pete :wink:
"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
User avatar
Jay w
Posts: 1920
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:17 am
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: St. Paul, MN
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 40 times

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by Jay w »

I think I'll wander that clearcut with a bottle in hand, and have a "Navy" hat on.

Jay

Call it a QC check.

In the name of security.
The NSA...the only people in the government who listen.
glacialbeast
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2015 4:10 am
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by glacialbeast »

Wow there are some really great photos. Definitely one for the B-L!
PeteE
Posts: 3346
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:20 pm
Gender?: Male
Please add the numbers(11): 11
Location: Winter hHaven Florida
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Mount Hefty 10-23-2015

Post by PeteE »

glacialbeast wrote:Wow there are some really great photos. Definitely one for the B-L!
Thanks man :)
I replied to your trailer question on the other thread too.

I had forgotten this video wasn't up yet :(
So here is the video from the Mt Hefty hike.
My friend Mark is a big fan of Z-pack gear 8)


I believe y'all will agree that Mt Hefty is a good hike if you have the time to get over there from the park.
It's about an hour drive from Polebridge to the trail head. :shock:
Boondocks!!!

Video runs about 14 minutes.


pete :wink:
"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
Post Reply

Return to “Areas Surrounding Glacier”