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 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view. Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...

Day 35 - Escalante River

Our group of eight intrepid but novice backpackers and two incredibly experienced guides gathered for breakfast at 8am to meet, greet and bulk up for 5 days in the Escalante River area. We laid out all our gear to ensure we had the needed hiking, camping and survival supplies and drove to our trailhead for departure. We hiked along a trail following the course of the Escalante River for a mile or so before getting to our first of many river crossings. Wet feet were not something we could avoid so we simply hiked across and sometimes down the river. When the river ran close to the canyon walls we knew we would have to find a shallow entry to the river, then cross the river to the bench on the other side. Guides Andrew Skurka and Alan Dixon offered instruction along the way on map reading and route finding and information on local vegetation and geology and how the knowledge of both helped make your off trail travel more efficient. For example in geology their were two main ro...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

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