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| Hiking | 8.65 Miles |
2,448 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.65 Miles | 6 Hrs 41 Mns | | 2.07 mph |
| 2,448 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I woke up to a blistery morning at the Rising Sun, gathered my things, had a quick breakfast at Two Dog Flats restaurant and headed on my way to the Two Medicine Valley. I stopped a couple times to take pictures of the ominous weather. I also pulled over at the stone bridge that crosses St Mary River as I had never stopped there before. At least it wasn’t raining.
I continued the drive taking the beautiful and windy Kiowa Loop (Hwy 49) off of 89. It’s such an incredible drive that you have to go somewhat slowly due to road conditions. As I drove down the Two Medicine road and running a little late, of course I run into a bear jam  . Fortunately I was at the tail end of the entertainment so I arrived at the boat dock with 10 minutes to spare. I had made my reservation so I just had to show ID and gather my gear. The weather was still very tenuous but we were on our way.
Before taking off, Ranger Pat Hagan had us do a name remember game. A fellow hiker was Spruce Bruce, I was Angel Angela, Richie Rich, Pat on the back and I already forgot the other two, shoot! Anyway, the older couple, probably in their 60s had done this hike way back. The other couple was originally from China but now living in CA; this was their 4th trip to GNP I think.
As you start walking on the lovely trail you are overwhelmed by the green of the flora and the trees  . This sense would continue until you got out of the treeline. Ranger Hagan kept a pretty decent pace so you’ll hear me breathing a little harder than normal on the videos. He did stop a few times to give us some information and he had a lot  ; all of it fun to hear. He taught Blackfeet language and had been a ranger for 27 years originally from Anaconda MT but now living in East Glacier I believe.
He had great stories and a wonderful sense of humor which came in handy as we started the serious part of the two part climb. Fortunately, the elderly lady got a little more winded than me from time to time so I got to rely on her stopping almost as much as me (sorry to say). Ranger Hagan would show us a couple times where the bears had been rubbing on the trees and that’s where fir trees really got their name  . He would talk about many of the plants and was familiar with their medicinal uses. He actually tried most of them with interesting results but most true to their use.
As we gained altitude, I mean elevation, Pompelly’s Pillar (7620 feet - This glacially carved, cone-shaped rock is named after Raphael Pumpelly, leader of the Northern Transcontinental Railway Survey party that crossed Pitamakan Pass in 1883.) loomed like a skinny pyramid high above you. Ranger Hagan said, “and just think, when you get to the Pass, you will have climbed past the height of the Pillar”. OMG!!! (you have to see the picture of the Pillar from where we were looking) What was cool about the Pillar is that it turns into a shield as you hike to the other side of it. The Indians had a different and more appropos name for it (maybe the point of an arrow shape?) but I forgot that too. You will see in the pics. It’s no wonder I can't identify a mountain when you’re looking at it from a different side  .
Not too far from you is a hillside of Fool’s Huckleberry. WOW, that is amazing. Good thing it’s Fool’s as otherwise you’d never be able to hike here due to a huckleberry-feeding frenzy by bears  . After winding thru some switchbacks about ½ way into the hike the trail levels for a while. That’s a nice surprise. Since we hit the No Name Lake junction, I thot we might be going over there but apparently not. It is also a camping spot.
We edged our way up and up and up; still a wonderful trail despite some deadfall we had to go over and under. We eventually reached what the ranger called the “official” end of the hike. What this meant is that we now had snowfields ahead and you could choose to continue or not. The older couple decided they would be better off not going but 3 of us wanted to continue. Fortunately, every year that I’ve been hiking in the Park, I’ve had to do snowfielding. Two of the fields were just fine but one was just a bit nerve-wracking. However, as long as you have 3 points of contact, you’re generally good to go.
It started getting windier and a little colder as we finished off the snowfields. I had been sweating but am delighted to report, those micro-fiber shirts really do the job so I was neither cold nor wet. We donned our jackets because as you near the top, it is like a wind tunnel and when the sun isn’t out, it is darn right nippy (Joe, we need a cold emoticon - I know you could have used one a couple times this summer). Ranger Hagan said to be prepared for an incredible view as you came up over the pass so with camera in movie mode, up we went to finish off this glorious climb. And you know, yep, it was everything you can imagine and more  . The pictures I had seen don’t even do it justice.
There is just so much to see even as the wind rips around you. We all took picture after picture after picture. I took two movies of almost the exact same scene pano just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The sun even came out for a few wonderful minutes. You got to look across to some of the tallest peaks in the Park as you overlooked the Nyack Valley and a few little lakes WAY below. Ranger Hagan didn’t put any pressure on us to leave any sooner than we wanted but the wind and chill did.
We would hike about a ½ mile or so I think to a lunch spot secluded from the wind right on the trail. I was starved as we only stopped very briefly for a Tibber snack. It took us four hours and 2400 feet in about 4.5 miles to make the Pass and it was now 2PM at this stop. So we scarfed down our lunches, and got back on the trail with an incredible view of Two Medicine Lake, No Man Lake and the snowfields on Mount Helen with Mount Pompelly still showing off its shield  .
The Ranger had another surprise. He wanted to boot-ski down the biggest and steepest snowfield. WHAT? Are you crazy? I’ve never heard of boot-skiing. So he puts on his gators and tells us to wait for him around the corner at the middle of the snowfield (where the dirt separated it). Well who are we to stop a ranger from pursuing his fun time. Yep, got it on video; pretty cool  .
After that excitement, it was time to get 'er on down the trail. After all, we have a boat to catch. As we got lower the skies got darker and then boom, the thunder started and the sound of the wind or was it rain? Anyway, we had to put on some after jets; where this might normally might not be too bad, I had just hiked over 13.5 miles the day before so I wasn’t sure how long I could keep that up  ; especially at this steep level.
But get this, in the next 1 ½ hours I only took 18 pictures…. 18. Of course, the light rain deterred some of that and the fast pace…but still. The Ranger apologized for making us bust our way down but he was concerned about the weather. He had already called ahead to let the boat know we would be arriving 10-15 minutes late. Well when we got there, the boat hadn’t even arrived yet (may have done so on purpose) but would shortly.
As we boated back to port, the rain started to come down lightly and as we left the boat it was coming down hard. I sat in my car and had a snack before driving away. I had debated running over to Glacier Park Lodge as I thot there might be some relatives there but the weather deterred that. As I was rounding the hill far above Two Medicine Lake, the sun broke through and I stopped a few times to get pictures. As I got back over to the St Mary side though, the weather got a bit tenuous again.
My mission however, was to find a piece of huckleberry pie. Not at Park Café but no surprise so I thot I would try Johnson’s restaurant up on the hill; I asked if they had huckleberry pie and the waiter said yes. Come to find out, not exactly as I didn't say huckleberry ice cream pie. Normally I would have gone for it but the piece could feed a big bear and her cubs. So I had to be satisfied with the stew and homemade bread with no dessert. I was not deterred as there was one more restaurant over at St Mary Lodge. There I had to be satisfied with a couple scoops of huckleberry ice cream but it was better than nothing. I finished the nite off by picking up a huckleberry wheat lager beer from the camp store at Rising Sun.
This is such an incredible area that I definitely want to spend more time in. I would love to do the Dawson-Pitamakan Loop. It's a few miles longer plus the boat would not be an option due to timing. However, you could take it if you didn't start til 9AM; you would miss it on the way back.
Video 1 - stop at St Mary stone bridge, start of hike: http://youtu.be/Nap7xHrMykA
Video 2 - hiking up and up: http://youtu.be/9EqaldYt3s8
Video 3- getting to the Pass and the boot-skiing: http://youtu.be/i59zzKvVcJk |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
thimbleberry, fool's huckleberry, paintbrush, glacier lily, moss campion, globe flower |
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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. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
. Even the normally spectacular views to the south were shrouded in smoke as I could barely make out Mount St Nicholas.
. One didn't linger long on these saddles because of the wind which you would think would blow the smoke out; just too much of it. Across the way is Mount Phillips looms large above the Nyack Valley. There is still a large snowfield on its side that once was Lupher Glacier. These snow masses always get my attention. Soon we were at Dawson Pass where all of a sudden the wind almost stopped; but it was just a tease as we made our way up and over the small hill before heading down a couple switchbacks to the head of the Bighorn Basin.
