Day 87 - Glacier Grinnell Glacier

Since the west-to-east Going-to-the-Sun road was closed heading east past Logan Pass, I drove back around the south edge of the park and up past park areas Cut Bank and Saint Mary to the "heart of the park" Many Glacier. Once settled at Many Glacier, I set out at 4pm toward famous Grinnell Glacier, knowing there was a "high-angle snow shute" that the park service did not recommend I cross. I decided to have a look for myself.

Saint Mary area looked special but only one mile of road was open, so I drove on to Many Glacier:

Many Glacier Hotel was situated very nicely by Great Northern Railroad in 1930s to promote tourism to "The Swiss Alps of America":

Grinnell Lake glows green as viewed from the ridge-line hike to Grinnell Glacier:

The "dangerous" trail section consisted of a waterfall on trail, a snow shute crossing with deep steps cut into it, an off-trail moraine rock scramble and some minor, level snowfield crossings, all well within my capability, so I hiked on alone:

Alone until I met a Mountain Goat, who I nicknamed Charlie, on the ridge past the snow shute, we watched each other lazily for fifteen minutes before my slow advance saw him climb back and down, allowing me to pass:

A jump pic was necessary to mark my end to a marvelous hike, my favorite of Glacier so far. Note the almost-gone Glaciers, a common climate-change impact story at the park. I was so thrilled by this hike, perhaps since no one else hiked on to the incredible end section, that I took a shower in the waterfall shown in the previous pic. Haha was the feeling I had, while freezing my naked, proud but off, on a high-ridge, just me, the Glacier and Charlie.

Sun-setting shots on the return voyage past Many Glacier Hotel, the uneven ridge-line in background is of the Ptarmigan Wall, destination of tomorrow's hike:

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Day 82 - Yellowstone to Montana

My alarm sounded at 5:30am, a time early enough for me to arise before someone found me secretly camping. The geyser prediction said Grand at 6:15am so I set out toward it. I ran into geyser gazer Jim there and he said it likely erupted at 4:30-- missed it. Early morning eruptions are hard to predict as someone needed to have seen the previous overnight eruption in order to make a prediction. I walked on toward Artemesia, an unpredictable geyser at the far corner of the basin. I had seen her erupt from a mile away and wanted a closer inspection. The early morning setting was momentous, yet I didn't see a geyser erupt up close until Grand at 10:30. Then Sawmill erupted with its twirling thirty foot action (pic). The only remaining geyser left to experience on my mental list was Beehive up close. With a predicted window of 810 to 1210, I arrived at 1030 and waited until 1pm, before giving up. The sun was hot, I had read the geyser book cover to cover, and while seeing e...

Day 78 - Yellowstone Old Faithul Geysers

See Old Faithful, Grand, Lion and Beehive geysers erupt in 60 seconds: http://youtu.be/tv7BPXW4x5g This morning was one of the most exciting mornings of my trip. It started off when I decided to take a long solo hike through the geyser field, leaving at 630am. Mist was still covering this dense geyser field as I walked from geyser to hot spring (20% of the world's active geysers reside here in this one square mile area). Following a boardwalk, so not to get burned, I saw a man sitting on the boardwalk staring at an empty geyser hole. I asked him if he worked for the park service and he responded no-- he was an amateur geyser gazer-- he watched the geysers and recorded eruption times. He mentioned that we were quote "entering the window for Grand" -- geyser gazer speak for Grand geyser is about to go off. I walked a short ways to Grand and waited, one of a few at first and then one of a few dozen as a quick hour passed. The Geizer Gazer, Jim, instructed me on how to wa...

Day 104 - Glacier to Vancouver

The hike up Balu Pass was supposed to be fairly easy, beautiful and dotted with waterfalls, but when I talked to the park ranger and learned that Vancouver was an eight hour drive away, I decided to skip Balu and drive west. I left behind this pretty view. And drove many hours through pristine mountains, fewer and fewer snow-capped ones the further west I drove. Some of the valleys were flooded to make reservoirs, leaving scenic sights. I eventually made it to Vancouver and drove right on through to Point Roberts USA, a five mile by five mile coastal land just below the 49th parallel and thus in the USA. The park ranger had suggested this as a good place to camp but being late of the Thursday night before the Fourth of July there were no spots available. I drove around instead and stopped at a forested coastal park. After ten minutes of walking I came to my first grand Pacific view with Mount Baker 60 miles east. The San Juan Islands and Orca Islands could also b...

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