Got volunteered to Sherpa a herd of flatlanders to see Grinnell, one of the glaciers the Park was named for. A pretty easy hike from Logan Pass along the Garden Wall/Highline but even so they were woefully unprepared and the trip was aborted about a mile short of the goal. Thank God my wife got stuck with walking them down to the Loop while I retraced the 7 miles back to the truck (they were so slow, the last shuttle back to Logan was long gone); a bit of a slog, but I made good time and even managed to see a mama ptarmigan with a pair of chicks and a number of bighorns in the parking lot, cleaning up after all of us sloppy tourists (no pics; sorry).
Amazingly, 2 of the members of the ill-fated trip wanted to try it again so, never one to turn down a chance to hike in the Park, off we went, this time straight up from the Loop.
been pretty dry but still a little water in the creeks
Heaven’s Peak (stayed in the clouds the whole day)
McDonald Creek valley
black bear; happy for now, but the berry crop up on the trail looked pretty sparse
lots of these guys around
had to wait out a nasty thunderstorm (luckily we got to Granite Chalet before it hit); once that cleared we headed on up
Most of the ones in these pics burned in 2003 (and 2007, I think); a few are remnants of another fire in 1967. Could be some beetle kill in there, too.
Sadly, over the past 2 days a nasty fire has brewed up on the east side of Logan Pass
Was hoping some of the rain we got Wednesday morning would have crossed over the Divide but all they got was the wind, which just makes things worse. Saw a slurry bomber landing at the airport in Kalispell; things have cooled off a bit from 3 weeks ago and we got a bit of rain, but obviously not enough. We’ll see what Mother Nature (and mankind) has in store for us.
