Stoney Indian Pass • Hike • Montana • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Jul 22 2022

tibber

Guides 21
Routes 1,182
Photos 36,858
Triplogs 1,570

69 female

Joined Feb 26 2004
Phoenix, AZ

Cosley Lake to Chief Customs Trailhead, MT

Backpack		Jul 22 2022
		tibber • Triplogs 1,570

Backpack	9.32 Miles	1,316 AEG

Backpack	9.32 Miles	5 Hrs 29 Mns	1.84 mph
	1,316 ft AEG

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Stoney Indian Pass

The Belly River Trail

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desertgirl

Written on Oct 18th. Sadly, we have to hike out of here and it will be the hardest/longest day of our backpack trip. We woke up to a fabulous morning and just before leaving our campsite, we checked out our beach only to be delayed due to loons and the sunrise lighting up Cathedral Mountain and all its waterfalls! After fifteen minutes of soaking it all in, we finished gearing up and headed on out.

So off we went east on the Stoney Indian Trail. We would be lucky to have overcast skies. After a little while I realized my water bladder was leaking and after some adjustments, we continued on. I had not been hiking well the last few days so I hoped today wouldn't be a disaster for me considering what lay ahead. The wildflowers were a constant distraction. This is a lovely hike in and out of the forest with occasional views of the grandeur of the mountains all around us. It was very green today; especially with the overcast sky. We passed by the junction with Cosley Cut-off and saw that the closure sign for the Elizabeth Lake Foot bear alert was still up. I seem to recall we ran into a lady ranger who said she would be spending the nite at the camp to see if the troublesome bear was still lingering. Not sure I would like that part of the job

.

Many times the trail was lined with wildflowers on both sides

. It's such a beautiful site but kind of hard to photograph. Surprisingly, I didn't take any videos or the videos didn't load up as I was starting to have trouble with my Ultra 20. So the videos I made are slideshows but still reflect the beauty of the hike despite the flat skies. An hour and a half later we arrived at the swinging bridge above the Belly River and passed by Gable Campground without stopping as everyone wanted to keep moving. The wildflowers are quite intense in this area. The Belly River Trail has lots to offer, thus 5 stars, altho I would like to dock it one for the elevation gain of the last two miles.

For the rest of the hike we would start encountering other backpackers and we stopped and talked to a couple of guys about backpacking the area since they were new to Glacier Park. A little later a different lady ranger was riding one of the horses from the Belly River Ranger Station that we had visited with a couple nites before. She was leading the mule and the other horse. FYI, there is no road to the Belly River Ranger Station nor has there ever been one.

Once again we passed in and out of the meadows and into patches of aspen and/or fir trees. We would occasionally have to glance back toward the south and west. We were lucky to get to see the full blown Mountain Hollyhock plants

near the Belly River as we continued our trek. The wildflowers continued to dazzle, including with some new ones we hadn't seen yet. We took a break by the same tree where we stopped on the way down as it's really about the only clear spot during this part of the hike to the border. My back end was still damp from the leaking water bladder but now I think I had drunk enough water out of it so it quit leaking. And actually, the dampness kept me somewhat cool.

It seems like it takes forever to get to the tall forest part of this hike. I kept thinking I needed to stop and take a quick break but I just kept pushing. Deborah and Ambika had hiked ahead so I didn't even see them in the last mile. Tina was ahead as well but I could see her from time to time. Once we got to the wider path and the taller trees, I was good to go. And when I finally made it to the top Ambika wanted me to do a "wendy"... let's put it this way, it sure wasn't the prettiest "wendy" I've ever thrown. I did better on this hike than I thot I might do, so I was glad of that.

We de-geared and Tina headed to East Glacier as she had to pick up some other glacierchatters and Deborah, Ambika and me headed for lunch at Johnson's in St Mary's. The food is very good as it's mostly homemade. We had a Huckleberry Creme Fizz which is a great treat altho I would have preferred some alcohol in it. After, Deborah headed back to Big Arm, MT and we went to East Glacier. We all had reservations at the same motel (Mountain Pine, second time I've stayed there).

I finally got to meet the infamous "Jen" of glacierchat. I don't know how many peaks she's climbed in Glacier but as of 2014 it was 16 including the tallest, Cleveland. We felt like we knew each other so well even though we haven't met. She and her daughter from Chicago were there and also Matt, who I met in person last year. So we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out to the picnic table and talked until fairly late.... well until the wine was gone, ha!

Here are the two videos I made: 10-20-2022 GOOD NEWS! I knew I had taken movies and it came to me today that maybe they were on the SD card from the old phone and guess what, I found them. So I'll be re-making these movies and as of 10-25-2022, here they are and I think they're pretty good too!
Part 1 [ youtube video ] Stoney Indian Pass Trail
Part 2 [ youtube video ] including Belly River Bridge
Part 3 [ youtube video ] Belly River Trail
Part 4 [ youtube video ] Belly River Trail, East Glacier

I also fired up my watch for this one which was a good thing since when I transferred apps and data from my old phone, all the HAZ routes got wiped out. 9:01AM-2:32PM, 4666-5216 feet, 129 bpm/159 max. 31% in Zone 5 maximum, 40% in Zone 4 anaerobic, 22% in Zone 3 aerobic, 7% Zone 2 burning 2105 calories.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Common Loon Hoverfly

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Bear Mountain Gable Mountain Mokowanis Cascade Paiota Falls Sentinel Mountain

Wildflowers Observation Substantial

_____________________

For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.

4 archives

Jul 21 2022

tibber

Guides 21
Routes 1,182
Photos 36,858
Triplogs 1,570

69 female

Joined Feb 26 2004
Phoenix, AZ

Glenns Lake Foot to Cosley Lake, MT

Backpack		Jul 21 2022
		tibber • Triplogs 1,570

Backpack	1.60 Miles	65 AEG

Backpack	1.60 Miles
	65 ft AEG

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Stoney Indian Pass

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desertgirl

Written Oct 14th. This would be the easiest of our days as we only had a couple miles back toward Cosley Lake. However, Cosley Lake is worth getting to early as it's a great place to hang out. We gave thought to doing Bear Mountain... key word being "thought". I think we got rolling after 9:30AM. Glenns Lake Foot doesn't have a beach so there was no point in staying longer. Before we left I did a little trail work at our campsite as the overgrowth made it difficult to see the roots that would cause one to stumble.

Oh, I forgot to mention that a couple of former Russians came over what they called "the hill" via the Ptarmigan Tunnel as Elizabeth Lake Foot was closed due to bear activity (that's about 13 miles). They were the last to stagger in for the day. He had quite the bag of food for their time out here. They had also been backpacking in the Beartooths (over by Red Lodge MT) with their son. They were surprised to learn I had been in the Soviet Union in the mid-70s. They had left shortly after that and have been on the east coast ever since.
We gracefully got onto the subject of the war with Ukraine and they are disgusted by it. We would have loved to probe more but felt this was not the place. (Note to self, next time, make notes of the various people we meet so I can remember the stories better). One of the things we all enjoy when backpacking here is the people you meet at camp.

The hike today was the usual in this part of the park with lots of wildflowers and abundant overgrowth on each side of the trail to the point you couldn't see where you were stepping. However, it comes and goes so it's not too bad and the flora doesn't have that "stick-you stuff" nor are there things that rattle (bears and moose don't make sounds for the most part). We crossed Kaina Creek that comes from Kaina Mountain to the northwest. I got distracted by all the wildflowers as we hit prime and then you skirt the shore of Cosley Lake that you can see through the trees. Taking the trail into camp is very crowded with very tall flora on both sides. In fact, one time when I looked ahead I could barely see the other hikers' heads.

We set up our tents, hung out by the beach and then had lunch.... and then hung out by the beach for the entire afternoon. I kept hoping we might see some wildlife but we had to be satisfied with the views and the wildflowers around camp. Deborah attempted to get to the Bear Mountain Overlook but only got as far as the Cosley Crosscut where she encountered a large group of backpackers. She wasn't sure where to go so she just came back with them. She came and joined us at the beach where we were all admiring the colors of the rocks in the water and the remnants of the glacial action on the side of the mountain across from us. We would also see a bit of Chief Mountain to our east and of course Kipp, Pyramid, Cathedral and part of Stoney Indian Peaks. Cathedral had 3 major waterfalls coming down and the Mokowanis Cascades. It was a great matinee.

Deborah had brot her suit so she went in for a swim. She's used to cold Montana waters but Cosley Lake got her attention as she came out very wide-eyed. Pretty soon it was time for Happy Hour and we wanted to finish off our vodka and rum plus our sausage and we had canned oysters as well. We had brot crackers and cheese dip from Pak-It Gourmet along with two kinds of chips. As people came around they were very impressed with our Happy Hour fare. We ended up sharing chips and sausage with other hikers as we didn't want to carry it out. We visited with everyone including a fellow that knew one of our classmates from Havre.

We really had a beautiful day. We love Cosley and were so lucky to get the permit adjustment. Come enjoy with us (I found the missing movies so re-did these):
[ youtube video ] and
[ youtube video ]

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Angelica Blanketflower Common Pipsissewa Elk thistle Fireweed Indian Paintbrush Lyall's Penstemon Sulphur Buckwheat Western Yarrow Yellow columbine

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mokowanis Cascade Paiota Falls Raven Quiver Falls

Wildflowers Observation Substantial

_____________________

For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.

2 archives

Jul 20 2022

tibber

Guides 21
Routes 1,182
Photos 36,858
Triplogs 1,570

69 female

Joined Feb 26 2004
Phoenix, AZ

Gable to Glenns Lake Foot, MT

Backpack		Jul 20 2022
		tibber • Triplogs 1,570

Backpack	4.50 Miles	538 AEG

Backpack	4.50 Miles	3 Hrs	1.80 mph
	538 ft AEG

no routes

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Cosely Lake Cutoff Trail

Stoney Indian Pass

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desertgirl

Written two months later. Good morning from Gable Creek in Glacier National Park. We had breakfast and started to gather our gear when the bear alert went out by other campers. From the Food Court I actually saw two hikers somewhat chasing/herding a young looking bear; not a sight you expect to see. Elizabeth Lake backcountry site had been closed due to bear activity but this was not the same bear of course. Well that was a fun way to start our day. We were in no hurry as we only had 4 1/2 miles to travel.

Surprisingly, we got started at the same time as yesterday, 9:52AM. We said goodbye to the Belly River Valley and headed west passing through a meadow of wildflowers. We arrived at the long bridge that crosses the Belly River. Last time when Tina and I came across we got to watch one of the Glacier Guides almost run across wearing her heavy pack. This is a long bridge that is not stationary so that was quite the feat. However, today we would all walk across one at a time per the instructions on the bridge. Tina did the best, it's on the video.

Now to climb up the hill via a couple switchbacks. The view once you level out is really spectacular

. You can see the Ranger Station surrounded by the meadows with Chief Mountain lurking above and Gable to its south. You can see all the way down the Belly River Valley toward the Ptarmigan Wall and the Iceberg Notch. In front of you is Cosley Ridge which would be part of our view for a good part of our hiking day. The wildflowers were almost constantly at your feet even as you walked in and out of the forest.

About an hour later we got a good view of Bear Mountain to our north before turning west again and you get your first good look at the tallest mountain in Glacier Park, Mount Cleveland and also Stoney Indian Peaks and wow, what a view we get to enjoy most of the rest of the way. I learned while researching that there was indeed a Stoney Indian Tribe. And then it was back into the forest that was lined with very high thimbeberry plants that sometimes blocked your view of the trail below your feet. Next up was the hike down to Gros Ventres Falls. Gros Ventres is also a tribe and in fact, they are one of the tribes in the area I grew up with around Havre. The Falls were flowing pretty hard. We had a snack and enjoyed being by the Falls.

We headed up the hill and leveled out with those fabulous views toward the end of the Mokowanis Valley

with all those fabulous Peaks watching you get closer than it seems. The wildflowers continue to dance all around you but it was hard to shoot them as it was quite windy when you were in the open. Eventually you get a little closer to the shore of Cosley Lake's intensely deep turquoise blue water. Once again in a forest, the vegetation is so high and there are wood trunks across parts of the trail to control drainage that you can't see; thus, Tina did a turtle and her pole actually broke. Next you come to beargrass lane that is devoid of blooms except for one. When you walk on a bridge across Kaina Creek, you know that Glenns Lake Foot is only a little bit further.

I think they changed the tent sites since we passed by here in 2019 as the one I remember being near the Food Court was not there. We all checked out the various spots and they were all somewhat small. We ended up getting closer to the lake and after some trial and error, we figured out an arrangement for our four tents.... and believe me, it was a small space. We had lunch and then ended up just hanging around camp and Glenns Lake for the rest of the afternoon.

It was always fun to greet new campers as they rolled into camp. I should have made notes about this part of the day and evening as I don't have pictures to document what we did other than our usual Happy Hour. We did our usual chatting with other campers, part of the fun about having to congregate in a common area. I know all the campsites filled as well but mostly because Elizabeth Lake foot was still closed due to bear activity.
We ran into a female ranger who said she would be staying there the night to see if the bear was still around.

I just finished these videos this morning so I haven't reviewed these videos so hopefully they turned out okay on the big screen. Yep, I'm re-editing as the greens are too green... so I just went back and fixed the frames and am re-loading. Samsung camera's have a tendency to oversaturate and while I like color, too much makes me nauseous.
[Video deleted] Gable to Gros Ventre Falls
[Video deleted] more of Gros Ventre Falls and onto Glenns Lake Foot

2022-12-23
I went through and re-edited the videos for this hike/backpack as the saturation was so heavy for some reason. I can't remember why I even watched the video other than I'm just now making them public on youtube. You all get first looks before that. Anyway, I changed them up and also realized the third video never got added:
Video 1 Gable to Gros Ventre Falls: [ youtube video ]
Video 2a Gros Ventre Falls to Glenns Lake Foot [ youtube video ]
Video 2b Cosley Lake area to Glenns Lake Foot [ youtube video ] including around the campsite

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Beargrass NW USA and Canada Magenta paintbrush Rocky Mountain goldenrod Shorttooth Canadian milkvetch Twinberry honeysuckle Unidentified Flora Yellowhair Indian paintbrush

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Bear Mountain Belly River Cathedral Peak Gable Mountain Gros Ventre Falls Iceberg Notch Natoas Peak Ptarmigan Wall Stoney Indian Peaks

Wildflowers Observation Substantial

Gros Ventre Falls

Heavy flow

Kaina Creek

Heavy flow

_____________________

For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.

1 archive

Jul 13 2022

shelby147

Routes 5
Photos 435
Triplogs 119

female

Joined Mar 26 2022
Flagstaff, AZ

Stoney Indian Pass

North Central, MT

Stoney Indian Pass

North Central, MT

Backpack		Jul 13 2022
		shelby147 • Triplogs 119

Backpack	58.00 Miles	10,000 AEG

Backpack	58.00 Miles	4 Days
	10,000 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

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no linked trail guides

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Glacier had lingering snow (plus the rangers certainly exaggerated this to me

) so I took a safe relatively low route to explore the park. Made a bit of a loop out of Many Glacier with Ptarmigan Tunnel and Red Gap Pass, plus exploration out to Stoney Indian Pass in the middle of the trip. I wish I'd spent more time up high because the bugs at the big low lakes were fierce!

But I had a great adventure nevertheless and met some cool hikers. Didn't see any big wildlife and that's perfectly fine. The less-travelled trails are quite overgrown by annuals up to chest high. Thru-hikers I met said all passes on CDT are finally thawed enough to skip snow equipment.

3 archives

Jul 12 2019

tibber

Guides 21
Routes 1,182
Photos 36,858
Triplogs 1,570

69 female

Joined Feb 26 2004
Phoenix, AZ

Cosley Lake to Chief Customs Trailhead, MT

Hiking		Jul 12 2019
		tibber • Triplogs 1,570

Hiking	9.50 Miles	1,748 AEG

Hiking	9.50 Miles	5 Hrs 58 Mns	1.90 mph
	1,748 ft AEG	58 Mns Break

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Stoney Indian Pass

Belly River to Ranger Station GNP

Cosely Lake Cutoff Trail

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July 12th, Day Six of Six: and like all good things, they come to an end. This would be a bit of a haul the last two miles as it takes you UP a hill to an ending you really don't want to have. Sigh. This was the first nite I didn't sleep well, tossed and turned a lot. We had a nice breakfast again as we still didn't have to be in that big of a hurry. We said our good byes from Cosley Beach to the scenery to our west that we had enjoyed for three days and turned our backs to head east.

Tina thot we could walk along the beach and catch a bit of a non-use trail to take us over to the main Stoney Indian Pass Trail but alas, the water was too high so we had to back track to the food court and take the campsite trail. Maybe it was a bit fortuitous as we got to see another large moose eating off to our right so we enjoyed watching that for a moment. As we walked in and out of the forest and in and out of the meadows, the wildflowers were still showing off

. Sometimes as I passed them I swear they were yelling, aren't we awesome

.

Tina practiced her flower learning and learned some more as we headed up and down not too far from the lake. We would constantly steal a glance to the west as we continued toward our first stop and past the Cosley crossing where we were now on the Cosley Cutoff Trail. We stopped to check out the trail to the Bear Mountain Lookout and encountered some hikers that were on their way out. Their older father was with them and apparently was a little gimpy so they were hiking ahead. Soon we arrived at the side trail to Gros Ventre Falls. It may not be tall but it's mighty and only a short trek down to the Mokowanis River to behold this site. It's less than a mile and 1/2 from camp. I grew up between two Indian tribal lands in northcentral Montana, the Gros Ventre was one of them. We only stayed at the Falls for about ten minutes. I took way too many pictures and video. But it was so nice here.

Onward we continued. Sadly you don't get to see the Mokowanis River for the rest of the trip. A little ways into the forest we encountered the Glacier Guides group. We would yo-yo with them a couple times. Eventually you come out of the forest and have your first views of Chief Mountain and Ninaki with its spires as they hover above the meadow which hosts the Ranger Station below us. You don't realize how high above the valley you are as it doesn't seem like you climbed up at all; in fact you've been coming down out of the Mokowanis Drainage which is higher than it seems.

So you do a little criss-crossing on this flank of Bear Mountain and head down toward the river. I find myself looking south at the mountains of the Belly River Drainage where we were 5 days ago. I still take glances back to the mountains of the Mokowanis as well. Once at the bridge, it's a one at a time thing so we let the Glacier Guided group go across. Apparently they were making a game of getting across this sway bridge: don't grab the cables. The last two did a pretty good job and didn't grab the cables but then the sweeper came up and she nearly ran across

and had a very heavy pack (I got it on video). And once again, Tina crosses eloquently without touching the cables as well.

Next up is our lunch stop at Gable Campground. We talked to another couple while there. They had their fishing poles. But now, it was time to knock out these last six miles. The meadows were still alive with wildflowers everywhere and the clouds were also putting on a bit of a show. The trail was still problematic in places from the rains. We would encounter a couple different hikers but when Tina recognized a ranger in civilian gear, he was with his wife, we both stopped to chat and realized we had both gone on a ranger-guided Iceberg Lake hike with Ranger Schultz of Oregon. How about that! Glacier's like that. Remember in 2017 when Wendy and I were running into all sorts of people not once but a few times.

We stopped at where we think the old Three Mile Trail was to have a snack and rest up for our last three mile push of which the last 2 was 720 feet elevation gain. It did start to get warm and humid as we tried to keep our pace up and I kept waiting for the forest which I thot was much closer. The forest finally came in the last mile and the trail was very nice too. We still enjoyed the trek through the forest with its mostly Thimbleberry ground cover. And before you knew it, we were at our vehicles with no parking signs behind them as they were re-paving the lot and had to work around vehicles coming and going. I am sure they were frustrated with ours being there for six days.

We parted company, Tina for Calgary and me for Chester. I stopped at Two Sisters to have a salad and huckleberry beer. But alas, it was some sort of Indian Days so being on the reservation, it was dry; I had to settle for a Huckleberry Milkshake to go. The drive to Chester wasn't too bad except I had to stop and fuel up in Shelby and pick up some munchies and check with Cousin Connie to see if I could bring anything for dinner. US 2 (the one that goes across the entire USA) was under complete reconstruction around Galata so I had to drive 35 MPH for about 9 miles. What's surprising about that is everyone else was driving that speed too which is highly unusual for Montana drivers .

The next two days I got to enjoy the ranch and lots of cousins. My cousin Connie kept me well fed which was pretty darn nice after 6 days of hiking/backpacking. Here is a link to a video as we drove around some of the Romain ranches [ youtube video ] and of course, I posted our kayak trip on the Marias and the ranches here: [ photoset ]

[ youtube video ] Cosley Lake to and at Gros Ventre Falls
[ youtube video ] Gros Ventre Falls to Belly River Bridge

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Cow Parsnip Falsegold groundsel Subalpine fleabane Thimbleberry Western sweetvetch Woodland horsetail

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Moose

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Atsina Falls Bear Mountain Belly River Cathedral Peak Cathedral Peak Chief Mountain Cosley Lake Cosley Ridge Gable Mountain Gros Ventre Falls Mokowanis Cascade Mount Kipp Paiota Falls Pyramid Peak Raven Quiver Falls Shepard Glacier

Wildflowers Observation Extreme

_____________________

For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.

1 archive

Jul 04 2017

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

The Belly River Trail

North Central, MT

The Belly River Trail

North Central, MT

Backpack		Jul 04 2017
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Backpack	65.87 Miles	9,182 AEG

Backpack	65.87 Miles	5 Days
	9,182 ft AEG

Linked

6 linked trail guides

Belly River to Ranger Station GNP

Redgap Pass Trail - Glacier

Helen Lake

Cosely Lake Cutoff Trail

Mokowanis River - Stoney Indian Pass

Stoney Indian Pass

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This was my most ambitious undertaking while at Glacier National Park and the reason I chose to spend my summer in the northern Rockies. A big thanks to @tibber who spent a couple hours in Starbucks with me putting together the itinerary for this trip and teaching me the ins and outs of a permit system where first time success is rare.

The Belly River region is a lesser traveled area in the far northwest corner of the park. The trailhead for this park starts about 500 feet from the Canadian border. I spent a night at four separate lakes: Elizabeth, Helen, Mokowanis and Cosely and made two side trips up Red Gap and Stoney Indian Pass. The weather was generally great with no rain, but it was a little warm at times. There was no rhyme or reason to the bugs though, some lakes seemed to be devoid of them, while at others they were so bad I was compelled to retreat to my tent.

Day one was a very standard hike into the foot of Elizabeth Lake backcountry campground. The highlights of this day were the large meadows along the Belly River Trail, Dawn Mist Falls and Elizabeth Lake at twilight, although, it should be noted that twilight does not come until about 10 p.m. in Glacier this time of the year. The backcountry campground at the foot of Elizabeth was also superb and I would strongly recommend trying to reserve a site at the foot of the lake versus the head.

I started day two off by putting on my slack pack and heading up Red Gap Pass. The views from the pass were amazing and the portions of the trail above the treeline were unique and scenic. In particular, there were some great views of Helen and Elizabeth Lakes, as well as the glaciers that were feeding them. After my little nine mile side trip, I made the short 4.5 mile hike to my campsite at the desolate Helen Lake. The bugs nearly carried me away at Helen, but I shared the lake with some pretty cool Polish ladies via Wisconsin and slept very well at the remote lake.

I hiked to the foot of Elizabeth Lake with my camping neighbors and then began a long hike to Mokowanis Lake. I used the Cosley Cutoff to save some redundant mileage and took a nice break at Cosely Lake on the way to Mokowanis. This campsite ended up being my favorite of the five day trip, as I had the entire lake to myself. I also did a little exploring based on another backpacker's lead and found a pretty nice little off trail route to a nice set of falls and another lake. Although, I only went to the falls, as I was trying to play it a little safe, being solo and off trail. I ate well, swam a lot and slept great.

After a quick hike out to the Mokowanis River backcountry campground, I hung my gear and put on the slack pack for a quick trip up Stoney Indian Pass. This pass and the hike up proved to be the highlight of my backpack into the Belly River area and one of the highlights of my month in the northern Rockies. In fact, the scenery from the tiny but scenic Atsina Lake to the pass was perhaps some of the most scenic and awe inspiring trail I have hiked. The fireworks start at Atsina when the impressive twin falls Atsina and Paiota come into view along with another equally impressive one thundering down from the basin above them. The two fords at the top were running fast and were not dry crossings. The final push up to the pass highlighted by an unnamed lake, views of glaciers and distant waterfalls. After reaching the pass, the other side yielded even more treasure, highlighted by the brilliantly blue Stoney Indian Lake. I took a quick break here and returned to my gear for the five, or so mile hike to my campsite on Cosley Lake. This lake was certainly one of my favorites and very scenic with a great sites that included little private beaches and a very scenic spot to eat meals.

The final day was a quick 9.5 mile hike out, with the highlight undoubtedly being the Gros Ventre Falls. The rest of the hike was trail already covered and nothing overly eventful.

Its hard to identify favorite backpacks anymore these days, but this little trek certainly ranks somewhere near the top of my list and its beauty rivaled the Sierra Nevada, something I thought not possible. Its hard to articulate, but everything seemed a little more wild out there and I feel I encountered a level of wilderness that I have never encountered before. This backpack only marked about my halfway point at Glacier and much more would follow, however, this trip into the backcountry probably left me the most fulfilled and on so many different levels.

Meteorology

Meteorology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Rainbow

Wildflowers Observation Light

_____________________

1 archive

WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

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