Trip Report - Early June 2007

[llholmes1948]

I thought I would post a report of my recent trip to Glacier in early June. Hopefully my comments will be of some help and interest to others who may visit Glacier in early June.

I had not planned to visit Glacier this year and certainly not in early June when I knew the Sun Road was closed and the trailheads along the road could not be easily reached and that many trails were still snow covered. However my daughter, Christi, was going to be working at the DeBoo Ranch on the Birch Creek Road in Valier for about six weeks and I wanted to visit her while she was there.

Unfortunately my wife and son had commitments and could not go on this trip so it was not our usual family trip to Glacier. I wasn’t sure how much time Christi could take off from work so I didn’t know how much time we would spend in the Park. I did not make any advance reservations aside from the rental car and plane. As it turned out, lodging reservations were unnecessary.

On Weds. June 6, we left Valier and headed on Route 2 to the west side. It was overcast with some rain but not a steady rain. We discussed various hikes, Elk Mountain, Autumn Creek, Scalplock Mountain and even Mount Brown. The latter is a difficult hike but at least it opens early. We saw four goats on the south side of the river at the Goat Lick, right opposite the parking lot. (On our return the next evening there were several goats right by U.S. 2 on the north side of the river near the ravine which leads to the Goat Lick.) We stopped at the Walton Ranger Station hoping to get some advice on hikes but it was closed. We were later told that that station is usually not staffed.

We continued to the Apgar Visitor Center where it was a pleasure to see Ranger Doug Follett again. We had missed seeing him on our visit in 2005.

Christi and I settled for the old standby hike – Avalanche Lake (Well, an old standby for me but she had only done it once before). The light rain and low clouds discouraged us from doing a higher elevation hike such as Mount Brown – otherwise she might have been up for that challenge and might probably have talked me into it. I hiked Mount Brown twice in 1972 (35 years ago!) and I haven’t given up on the idea of a return hike but I probably need more time to get in shape for that hike.

Avalanche Lake is always a delight even in the light off and on again rain. I would not recommend doing it in sneakers this time of year as there were some wet spots on the trail. There were a modest number of other hikers on the trail. When we got to the lake there were about four people there and we could see another group at the head of the lake. The clouds lifted a bit so we could see almost all of the wall but the Little Matterhorn was still obscured by clouds. Avalanche Creek was flowing strongly but I expected the waterfalls at the head of the Lake to be a bit more robust than they were and I had wondered if there would be any beach at the Lake (there was). Perhaps there was not much melting at the higher elevations yet.

We left Avalanche, went to Kalispell for dinner (Nickel Charlies), and then to Whitefish as we wanted to have breakfast the next day at the Buffalo Café on Third Street. We stayed at the Chalet Motel and enjoyed the hot tub and heated pool. As I recall all of the motels and cabins at East Glacier, West Glacier and in between that we saw had vacancies. We had almost stayed at the Glacier Highland at West Glacier which I have mentioned in another recent post.

On Thursday, June 7, we had a great breakfast at the Buffalo Café, walked around downtown Whitefish for a bit, visited a couple friends for all too brief visits, and then decided to go to Kalispell shopping as the weather was overcast, rainy and not promising. Mid to late afternoon, we left Kalispell and made our way east along U.S. 2, stopping by the spigot at Bad Rock Canyon for a traditional drink of water. We have so far lived to tell about it. Stopped at various points along U.S. 2 including the Silver Staircase or whatever it is officially called, where the falls were running at full force. As we got to within a few miles of East Glacier we hit bright sunshine and I believe it had been nice there all day. Too bad we hadn’t called someone on the East side of the Park as we might have rushed to Two Medicine to do a hike had we known of the good weather on the East side.

We were going to eat at Serranos as it is always highly recommended but at 7 P.M., there was a waiting line of about 12 people or more so we opted for the Two Medicine Grill instead where the grilled cheese and bacon special was very good. The Thimbleberry Restaurant where we had an excellent meal in 2005 is closed and is for sale. (If there is a waiting line of a dozen people at Serranos on June 7, I wonder what it is like in July or August.)

On Friday we spent a great afternoon horseback riding on the DeBoo Ranch. It was a beautiful sunny day but the wind was strong and cool. We wore long sleeved shirts and jackets on this ride. On Saturday we continued with some non-Glacier activities and enjoyed the Whoop-Up Trail Days Rodeo at Conrad.

Sunday, June 10 it was back to Glacier but this time on the East Side. We first stopped at the Visitors Center at St. Mary where we demanded to see the new (2006?) Glacier Park film produced by the Discovery Channel. (Actually we asked politely.) We had been looking forward to seeing this film for two years since our family appears in the film on the hike to Grinnell Glacier. Christi was quite pleased that they used a nice shot of her in the film and I was pleased that I do actually appear in the film and was not left on the cutting room floor as friends had rumored. I suspect that if I had been wearing a “cooler” hat that day instead of my $2.88 Walmart hat I would have been given a more prominent role. We also enjoyed seeing the osprey nest through the scope at the Visitors Center.

Christi and I then drove to Thronsons Motel in Babb and when we saw a vacancy sign on the Motel, we decided to take a room there since sometimes reasonably priced accommodations are not easy to find on the East side. As it turns out we shouldn’t have worried. I believe we were the ONLY people in the motel that night and all other 20 rooms or so were vacant. In hindsight, I probably should have called the hotel at Many Glacier since perhaps their rates this time of year wouldn’t have been much more than Thronsons and it would have been quite special to stay there.

We then headed for Iceberg Lake.mid-afternoon. Although it had been a bright sunny day earlier, by the time we got to Swiftcurrent it was rainy and overcast and many of the mountains were obscured by clouds. The motel and restaurant at Swiftcurrent were not open although the store was open for limited hours. We encountered a few people on the hike to Iceberg and there were sections of the trail which had washed out but were passable without great difficulty. We saw a bull moose below the trail and six goats on meadows above the trail near the lake. The bridge was out over Iceberg Creek which flows from the lake. Although we found a possible place to ford, we decided not to try it so we did not reach the lake itself. Hopefully the trail crew will install the bridge soon as the vegetation will probably take a beating from people tromping around trying to find a way to cross. Not the greatest weather but we enjoyed this hike very much even if we did not reach the lake itself.

We were planning to meet some friends for dinner at Johnsons in St. Mary so we tried to get down the Iceberg trail fairly quickly. However, we called our friends from the pay phone at Swiftcurrent and found that they were not coming. The phone cost of $1.00 proved to be money well spent because as we drove down the Many Glacier road toward Babb we saw two black bears in a meadow near the road and were able to watch them at length without having to worry that our friends were waiting for us at Johnsons.

After a truly excellent meal at Johnsons we decided to drive up the Sun Road. There was virtually no traffic at all. We had Wild Goose Island and Jackson Glacier overlook all to ourselves. On our return we watched about twenty elk in a field near St. Mary.

The taco shop near St. Mary which was open in 2005 no longer seems to exist from what I could see.

The next day after a nice breakfast at the Babb Press (Two Sisters is presently not open for breakfast and is advertising for a cook) we headed for Two Medicine and decided to do Scenic Point. It was a mostly sunny day with very high winds. After a while we decided that the high winds were not to our liking and decided to turn back and do a more sedate hike along the Lake. We did the North Shore Trail of about 3.8 miles and encountered two other hikers on this trail. In a few places the trail had washed out and there was one major rockslide across the trail but I don’t know if it is recent or not. The yellow ribbons were very helpful in finding the trail on the other side of the slide as it was not obvious. We saw a solitary goat in a meadow above the trail. We then went to Twin Falls which were going full blast and were very impressive. I was last there around July or August of 1971 and they were much more sedate at that time of year. We had the Twin Falls to ourselves although we encountered four hikers near the falls. I understand that boat service on Two Medicine starts this Friday, June 15.

I believe it was on the trail to the upper boat dock or at the start of the South Shore trail that we encountered a lot of water on the trail. Streams were either running down the trail or cutting across the trail in places and sections were under water but fortunately not real deep. It was good that our boots were mostly waterproof. Some of the hikers we met near Twin Falls said they spotted bear tracks on the South Shore trail and sure enough, soon after we started the South Shore trail we came across a muddy section with a half dozen bear prints on the trail and they did not look very old. We proceeded cautiously but had no problems. The South Shore trail is much more varied than the North Shore trail and has much more uphill and downhill. As I recall it is 5.5 miles. We did the side trip to Aster Falls as well. As we needed to get back to the Ranch at a reasonable hour, our hike on the South Shore trail was not as leisurely as I would have liked but I enjoyed it. Christi and I were both surprised that we did not meet anyone else on the South Shore trail.

That is the report. Certainly the weather was a bit discouraging at times but I discovered that Glacier in early June has a certain charm with so few people in the Park at that time. There were times a few weeks ago when I questioned the wisdom of going to Glacier this early in the season and thought of canceling my plans. However I am very glad that I went as it made for a most memorable trip. Anytime a person can go to Glacier has to be a great time!

Lyman Holmes

[smokies_hiker]

Hey, thanks for the report! Yes, off-season travel has its advantages and disadvantages, but it sounds like you definitely accentuated the positive; I probably would have been more bummed out by the rainy spells than you seemed to be.

One question: Since there were just the two of you, and you knew there wouldn't be a lot of other hikers on the trails, were you more conscious of bears, deliberately making more noise or whatever?

Oh, and another question: Any pictures???

[llholmes1948]

I probably would have been more bummed out by the rainy spells than you seemed to be.

One question: Since there were just the two of you, and you knew there wouldn't be a lot of other hikers on the trails, were you more conscious of bears, deliberately making more noise or whatever?

Oh, and another question: Any pictures???

I was initially quite bummed out by the weather and the reduced hiking opportunities but we did fine and it was some nice to see better weather later in the week. I certainly wouldn't recommend this time of year to someone who wanted to make a once in a lifetime visit to Glacier.

Thank God my daughter is a good talker and we made a fair amount of noise on the trails. I didn't have to convince her to be careful or to make noise. In 2001 on our first family hike in Glacier, a grizzly crossed the Iceberg trail in front of us. Christi had also seen grizzlies twice on the ranch at Valier (and the ranch owner, Chuck DeBoo, had spotted two grizzlies on the ranch last Friday).

As a result on the Iceberg trail we were cautious and made a fair amount of noise.

And on the South Shore trail at Two Medicine, the bear spray was out of the holster and in my hand for a good part of that hike after coming across the grizzly tracks. And we kept up a running conversation down that trail!

On some of the hikes it was not evident to us that we were virtually the only people on the trail until we had actually finished the hike. We really expected to meet several groups of people on the South Shore trail but it did not happen.

I may attempt to post some photos in a few days but given my lack of expertise with digital photography and with internet posting it may take a while! Please be patient.

Lyman

[Kathy]

We patiently await pictures. Thanks so much for the trip report!!! I've been to the Park in spring (mid June), summer and fall (late Sept.) and yes indeed! - The Park has a different "feel" in each of those seasons, but still holds its allure and beauty!

I bet it was good to spend some good one-on-one time with your daughter too. Thanks again for the great report!!!

[llholmes1948]

As a follow-up to my early June trip report, my daughter Christi was the subject of a recent article in the Valerian, published in Valier, Montana about 40 miles or so from the Park. Some people will do anything to get their name in the paper.

Here is the link which I hope works:

http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/artic ... /news2.txt

Now that Christi is home and is computer literate, maybe over the next few weeks she can help me post some of our photos on the Chat. Unfortunately, don't hold your breath. It may be a while yet.

Lyman

[smokies_hiker]

Why, oh why, didn't I do that when I was in my early twenties!!!

Do you ever wonder about things like that and how your life might have gone off in a totally different direction? I was supposed to be a cowboy; how in the world did I end up a computer programmer?

Oh yeah, and I was supposed to have been born somewhere in the Rockies! And about a hundred years earlier!

[llholmes1948]

Do you ever wonder about things like that and how your life might have gone off in a totally different direction? I was supposed to be a cowboy; how in the world did I end up a computer programmer?

Yes it is quite amazing to think of the opportunities we had when we were younger. Sometimes I took advantage of them and sometimes I didn't.
And often the opportunities came quite unexpectedly.

I am quite thankful that I had the opportunity to work at the Park for three great summers and that opportunity came as a result of a casual conversation with some fellow students. I can still remember their comment to me: "We worked there but we didn't like it and quit after three weeks. But you might like it."

On the other hand, I recall one of the counselors at my college career center around 1970 handing me a flyer about a federal law enforement position. One of the aspects of the job was retirement at full pension after 20 years. Of course maybe I wouldn't have qualified or survived, but if I had I would have been eligible for retirement 18 years ago (and maybe gotten a summer job at Glacier)! Instead I had to follow the self-employment myth with retirement no where in sight.

Lyman