Day 1
9-19-2022 - GRN - GRANITE
Fires; NO
Segment; Length 7.80
Elevation; Up 1902 | Down 2134
Bear locker: no
Weather outlook:
Day 1: A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 47.
Night 1: Showers likely, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31.
Day 2:Rain and snow showers likely before 9am, then snow showers likely between 9am and 3pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers after 3pm. Snow level 7100 feet lowering to 6500 feet in the afternoon . Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35.
Night 2: A chance of rain and snow showers. Snow level 6600 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30.
Day 3:A slight chance of rain and snow showers. Snow level rising to 6800 feet in the afternoon. Partly sunny, with a high near 39.
Night 4:Partly cloudy, with a low around 31.
Day 5: A slight chance of rain and snow showers. Snow level 6900 feet rising to 8000 feet in the afternoon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 44
No long logistics post this time, pretty much a circle. Parked the car at Siyeh Bend and hitched back up to Logan Pass. It was just me, without pack, in a slight rain, and nobody wanted anything to do with it. My dad jokingly made me a Logan Pass sign, which I didn't attempt to use, but eventually went back to the car and finally someone stopped, looking for directions more than to pick me up, but it worked and off we went.
One logistics note is that we stayed in Whitefish again and finally ventured downtown for dinner. Ate at Tupelo and had the Elk meatloaf - really good. I'm sure the locals are laughing at me for being a cliché tourist, but it was a nice change from the usual chain food around NW Kalispell.
On the conditioning front, not good again. Haven't gotten back to the gym yet since Covid, but have been working out around the house, but that is no substitute for a stairclimber. Using the kid + carrier to break in my feet with the boots walking to and from the playground.
Obligatory picture of this years liquid pain relief and heater:
Usually I skip all the side trips because I get lazy and tired, but this time I was determined to hit Grinnell overlook, Ahern pass, and Sue overlook - all firsts for me.
So off we went, pretty foggy and rainy most of the first day. The highline is always a nice warmup (or cooldown) into the backcountry, as it's pretty easy and has views for days.
So off we went.
Obligatory cable hold picture.
After some negotiating, I was able to convince the party to go to Grinnell Glacier overlook.
And it was awesome, very tiring for the first day will a full pack, but very awesome. I had never seen it before, so very cool and we're off to a good start.
And that's a wrap. By the time we arrived, the campground was full (minus our spot). There was a mix of CDT crew going north (2 sites?) and another crew completing the northern circle (2 sites?). The former didn't fit the typical mold for CDT'ers near the end (malnourished and scraggly), so was curious if they were doing sections but didn't ask as to not offend. The latter were cold and wet from the day. One group ran out of fuel, I offered to use our stove but they just decided to cold soak oatmeal for the morning.