North Circle Route 7/31 - 8/5 trip report (day 3 updated)

[nkrainywindlg]

I've been reading posts on this forum since the beginning of the year. Thanks to everyone who asked questions and provided information.
Especially thanks to Pete, who is so warm-hearted and gave me so many great suggestions.

This is my first time to write a trip report, in English. Please forgive my poor writing.

The idea of this trip started after I came back from Glacier NP last year in mid August. Last year I made a perfect plan, but the Thompson fire started on the first day of the trip. Then the whole trip was full of smoke and fire. I felt sad since the beautiful view was covered by smoke. After I came back from Glacier, I decided to go one more time to see the real beauty of the park. I always wanted to do a backcountry trip, but my husband was reluctant to do it unless I find other people to go with. Luckily my friends (a couple) agreed to go together.

The North circle route was our first option and the Bowman lake to Kintla lake (through hole in the wall and Boulder pass) was the second option. We finally got our first choice (how lucky we were), the backcountry permit for 5 nights on North Circle Route (7/31-8/5).

7/31/2016 Logan pass to Granite park chalet (GRN), 7.6 miles, 900 up
8/1/2016 to Fifty Mountain (FIF), 11.9 miles. 1910 up and 1780 down.
8/2/2016 to Stoney Indian (STO), 8.2 miles,1725 up, 2800 down
8/3/2016 to Mokowanis Junction (MOJ), 5.7 miles, 1000 up and 2410 down
8/4/2016 to Elizabeth lake (ELF), 8.8 miles, flat
8/5/2016 EXIT- Many glacier, 10.1 miles, 2518 up and 2480 down.

This trip was almost ruined by a black bear in thousands miles away from Glacier NP. Before the Glacier trip, we went to Great Smoky mountain NP for a one-night backpacking trip in June. After we set up the tent, we found a black bear was reluctant to leave the campsite and was chasing a young boy around. We were so scared so we packed out our items immediately and drove home. It seems everyone was terrified by the bear, except me~ My husband wanted to change the backcountry trip into a day hiking trip and my friends hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing an aggressive black bear. Since we have already bought the tickets (luckily ), my friends finally decided to stick with the originally plan.

[nkrainywindlg]

Day one: Logan pass to GRN

We stayed in St Mary campground on the night before day one. In order to escape the 2000+ feet climbing from Many glacier, we drove our car to Many glacier, parked at the trailhead (where we came out on the last day), had a big breakfast in the restaurant, took the hiker's shuttle from Swiftcurrent motor inn to St Mary, and then took the free shuttle to Logan pass. By the time we reached Logan pass, it was around 10:30 am, a perfect time to start.

It was only one week earlier than my last year's trip, but there were a lot more wild flowers than the last year, especially the bear grass. Last year I didn't see any blooming bear grass, so I gave this year's trip high expectation. When I saw someone posted blooming bear grass in April, I was worried that it wouldn't last long. I was closely following Pete's posts and glad to see these flowers last till my trip start date. Thanks to the cool and wet weather in Glacier this year, I finally get chance to see the blooming bear grass, a lot of them. Bear grass were all gone in lower elevation, however, it was right in time in high country. I felt sooooo lucky.

On the trailhead with full energy! The weather could not be better~~

20160731_103813_resized by Chie Chie, on Flickr

20160731_132446 by Chie Chie, on Flickr

20160731_132455_resized by Chie Chie, on Flickr

[brindledog]

So glad you didn't let the black bear in the Smokies deter you from your trip to Glacier. Sounds like maybe someone in the campground in NC did not properly store their food.

Off to a great start. Keep the updates coming.

[teapot57]

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

[joybird]

Looks like you had great weather! Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story!

[nkrainywindlg]

Day 2, from Granite park chalet to Fifty Mountains

Did I mention that my husband didn't want to do the backcountry trip? First, he was afraid of bears, especially grizzly bears. Second, he doesn't like too much outdoor activities. He wants to sleep on a soft bed, wake up at 10 am, have big meals, and drive around for sight seeing. In my opinion, that was totally waste of time. Unlike him, I love hiking and enjoy the beauty of nature. Even my energy level and body strength was kind of low, I still pushed myself to complete this 50+ miles backpacking trip.

Well, I ignored his complaining and head to fifty mountains around 9 am. The first day was kind of easy, but the second day really killed me. With 30 lbs pack on my back, the 12 miles hiking was tough. I felt the pack was 100 lbs on the last several miles. It was all up hills.

Did I say my friends were terrified by the black bear in Smoky mountain? They insisted to sing and shout loudly every other second, even in the open area. Yes, we didn't meet any bears, and we didn't see any animals either, except ground squirrel and marmots. No goats, no sheep.

At mile 3, we saw a patch of snow on the trail. It was impossible to pass without tools. Luckily two trail staffs leaded us to a detour route to by-pass the snow patch. One of them took my pack, so it saved me a lot of energy. Thanks to the hard-working staffs. Love you~

The fifty mountains campground was really beautiful, but I was too tired and hungry, so I didn't take many photos. In addition, photos only shows 10% of the real beauty of fifty mountains. If you get chance, you have to see this place in person. I was really hungry, but we have to set up the tent, filter water and make meals. By the time my husband poured hot water into the pack of the dry food, I smelled the food and I almost throw up. I believe it was coconut Thai curry. I don't think the food was that bad, it was just because I was too hungry. The hungriness made me sick. I didn't eat anything and immediately went into my sleeping bag. My husband was really worried about my health condition and insisted to change the plan. He wanted to exit the backcountry from flattop mountain (if I remember correctly) on the next day. I ignored him and went to sleep. That was around 6:30 pm? I usually go to bed around 12 pm at home.

The snow patch

20160801_111335 by Chie Chie, on Flickr

uphill uphill uphill!
20160801_124607 by Chie Chie, on Flickr

Finally we reached fifty mountains. wild flowers were everywhere. The photo cannot tell the beauty.
20160801_170255 by Chie Chie, on Flickr

20160802_100320 by Chie Chie, on Flickr

[nkrainywindlg]

Thank you, all! I will keep updating my trip.

[al_in_al]

I'm jealous that you saw bear grass! I haven't seen much blooming since my first trip several years ago, so I'm going to try to get to the park earlier next year. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

[Jay w]

I'm enjoying the report. You'll cover ground I haven't seen, so keep it coming.

Jay

[llholmes1948]

Great photos and thanks for posting those. If I am oriented correctly, I believe the snow patch is Ahern Drift which is often a challenging place to cross on the northern Highline. In past years the Park Service would normally use dynamite on this drift every year to blast out some snow and make it more passable. I haven't heard if this has been done in the past few years. The trail crew would also shovel a tread across the drift and it looks like the trail crew in the photo may be just starting to do that.

I have heard that a portion of the Highline trail near Ahern Drift collapsed a few years back which made the surviving trail much narrower in that section. I have never seen any photos of that section and i don't know if it has been repaired but maybe someone knows.

Lyman

[PeteE]

Great report!
And thank you for the nice compliment!
I just wanted to let you know I hadn't forgotten about your report.
Been busy with my sister and brother-in-law.

Lyman is correct about Piegan Glacier in an earlier post.
And that is Ahern drift.
I hiked that section on the way to Helen Lake overlook last year in Mid July. No snow. What a difference!
The "collapse" may have happened and the trail narrowed. I don't know.
However, the trail was plenty wide imo all the way through that section coming down to the drift and beyond.

But what do I know?
The "Garden Hose" section of the Highline that scares so many people ain't "narrow" in my opinion.

Great report. I'm glad there were good flowers for you

pete

I'll be away for 3 days. Sis and I hiking to Sperry Chalet tomorrow for 2 nights !

[llholmes1948]

Pete,

Thanks for your post on this. When you hiked this section last year did you actually find NO SNOW at Ahern Drift? I guess in my naiveté I thought Ahern Drift always had snow and rarely if ever completely melted out. I am going to have to go back and re-read your trip report because I must have missed that point.

If you or anyone else has a photo of the trail at Ahern Drift without snow (the Driftless Ahern Drift) I would love to see it. Every other photo I have seen shows the drift with plenty of snow.

Thanks,
Lyman

[PeteE]

Lyman I may have to look at the video I made to get a picture of the drift area.
This is just before the Ahern drift. You can see the group I was tagging along with just before they rounded the corner.
There was a small bit of the drift left, but no snow on the trail itself.
Gotta go eat breakfast in a few on the sister's last day here.
later.
I found the video clip of the walk though the drift area. NO snow and just a bit of the drift left.
I'll post it this evening.

pete

[llholmes1948]

Pete,

Thanks very much. No rush on my part so please post the video and any other photos at your convenience.

Lyman

[PeteE]

Here's a 3:30 video of the Ahern Drift area from July 20 2015,

pete