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 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 48 - Canyonlands Island in the Sky Pt 2

Mountain biking the 100-mile 4x4 White Rim Road is said to be a great American adventure. But without any water, you need a follow truck to carry your water and gear, and reservations must be made three months in advance. So I just decided to hike down 1500 feet to the white rim and hike the road a bit. Steep, steep, steep was the descent down the Goosberry trail, but I reached the rim level in only 45 minutes! I hiked further down to the white rim road and then past to the very edge. Looking around for a possible path down to the river bottom 1000 feet below was a fun task, but a hard one as the "white rim rock" has a solid sheer 50-150 feet dropoff. I found one possible path down but a lone Nalgene bottle left down below the white rocks indicated an aborted attempt down. I continued to walk the rim for a few hours, finally climbing a small Mesa edge to enjoy the high view of the other side. After a brief respite, I walked back an hour along the Jeep 4x4 road to the G...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

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