A Glacial Confluence – Glacier National Park

I was hoping to have a job by July or August, but despite my job hunting efforts, I was still drifting through the summer. Maggie and I talked on the phone almost every night. As it became clear that my job prospects were still months out, Maggie convinced me to fly up to Montana for a week, not that it took much convincing.

Separate, life was moving at a glacial pace, but for a brief time, we would have a confluence of shared experience. Seeing each other after the months apart was wonderful. We were both feeling some level of loneliness and frustration with our respective living situations, but for one week, everything felt right in the universe again 🙂

Since Maggie was working in the back country permit office at Glacier National Park, she was able to book an awesome backpacking itinerary for us, circumventing the hassle of recreation.gov. Our goal was to hike up Mt. Cleveland, the highest point in the park, as part of a three day backpacking trip.

9 August 2023

Maggie and I drove part way up Going to the Sun Road. By some miracle, we found a parking spot. We had hoped to take a shuttle the rest of the up to Logan Pass, but they were all full. After a few minutes of attempting to hitch hike, we finally decided to quit burning daylight and start our hike from the car.

With full packs, we hiked up towards Granite Park Chalet, getting the occasional excited inquiry from day hikers, “Are you going camping?!” Much of the first few miles went through burn scar, but the open canopy provides light for a host of berry bearing shrubs. Maggie rarely passes up the opportunity to feast on some back country fruit.

We made it up to the Highline Trail, which the CDT follows through the higher elevations of Glacier NP. Wonderful to think I could have turned right and walked home to Colorado. Maggie and I turned left, pushing north into the park. The cloud cover steadily grew thicker throughout the day as we made massive zig-zags into every valley and out on every ridge. The scenery was nothing short of epic – there’s a reason some call Glacier National Park “the crown of the continent”.

A cool drizzle started in the late afternoon. It was pleasant at first, a bit of relief from the summer heat. The drizzle slowly ramped up to full blown rain. We were still a few miles from camp. This is when the rage hiking started, partly to shorten the misery, partly out of necessity to stay warm. Our hands were curling up into wet, frozen claws on our trekking poles.

After 15 miles of hiking, with 5,300 feet of vert, we made it to the Fifty Mountain back country site around 5:30 pm, tired, wet, and hungry. I was intent on setting up camp as soon as possible before Maggie stopped me. “We have to hang up our food first! No food is allowed in the camping areas,” she instructed me.

Glacier NP is well known for being grizzly bear country. After decades of habituating bears to human food, in 1967 two young women lost their lives in separate bear encounters on what is called “The Night of the Grizzlies“. Serious reform was implemented to protect humans and bears alike, such as keeping food only in designated cooking areas.

We hung our food bags on the simple steel frame, commiserating as the rain continued to fall. We found an open tent site and quickly set up. Hunger was gnawing at our bellies, but it didn’t make sense to make dinner in the rain. I faded in and out of sleep as the downpour hammered our tent…

At last, around 7 pm, the rain let up. Everyone else at the campsite emerged from their tents. After seeing very few people for most of the day, Maggie and I were now having dinner with a dozen backpackers. It was nice to have a little company and chat about the typical hiker things – gear, food, and far flung adventures.

As we were eating, an interesting growl came from the woods nearby. Everyone perked up, and a few moments later, a little bear cub poked its face out from behind a tree. Momma bear was close behind. There was some tension in the air, but the bears kept their distance, probably intimidated by the large group of people, and they disappeared into the trees after a couple of minutes.

Most folks returned to their tents, and another couple joined us at the cooking area. “We heard you guys saw a bear,” they said. “Yeah,” I replied, “they’re right over there!!” Our curious grizzly friends had circled around, still tempted by our food, but again they kept their distance. It was thrilling to get a close up, yet seemingly safe grizzly encounter.

10 August 2023

Maggie and I had grand plans to summit Mt. Cleveland. In order to get there with enough daylight and stamina, it would require taking a shortcut over a steep, off-trail pass. After the heavy rains, the landscape was quite damp. When we got eyes on the terrain, we both balked at the idea of climbing up the 45° wet, chossy slope.

Instead, we continued on the trail proper, descending through dense, wet brush. We weren’t hiking in rain gear, and I think we got even more wet than the day before! However, the trail was lined with ripe thimble berries and blue berries. We honed our skills for grabbing berries on the go in an attempt to keep up the pace, and maybe have enough time to climb Cleveland.

We turned on the Pacific Northwest Trail and hiked 3 miles up to Stoney Indian Lake, where our next camp was. This is an incredible cirque, with precipitous walls shooting up two- to three-thousand feet. Looking closely, we could see small white specks on the upper reaches of Wahcheechee and Stoney Indian Peaks – they were groups of mountain goats, going about their day on the absurdly steep slopes.

Maggie and I ate lunch and discussed our game plan for the afternoon. It would be nearly 9 miles to the top of Mt. Cleveland and back to camp, a distance we could easily cover in a few hours on easy trail, but the terrain would certainly slow us down to 1-2 mph. It would be challenging and risky. Neither of us felt great about attempting Cleveland from our current position. Maggie was severely disappointed… But we still had time to go explore a little more.

We set up camp and traded heavy backpacks for lightweight running vests to go check out Stoney Indian Pass and the backside of our shortcut. It was a joy to cruise uphill with minimal weight. The gentians and yellow columbines made it all the more wonderful. Atop Stoney Indian Pass, we got to feast our eyes on an expansive new view.

To our left was the ridge towards Mt. Cleveland. It looked seriously sketchy, and at a glance, there wasn’t an obvious path up through the cliff bands. We turned right, traversing and climbing up the south slopes of Wahcheechee to get a better look at the shortcut. There looked to be one or two cliffy obstacles, but it looked doable. We studied the terrain and picked a line for our hike out the next day.

We scampered up some steep, rocky slopes. Maggie was leading the charge with complete confidence, as this was the sort of hiking she had been doing all summer, while I anxiously tried to keep up. We eventually met a impassable cliff band and turned back towards camp. Despite being shorter than we had planned, our day was still a respectable 13 miles with 4,000 feet of vert. We rested well ahead of our long hike back to the car.

11 August 2023

We packed up after breakfast and hiked up Stoney Indian Pass again. Learning the lay of the land was quite helpful as we knew exactly where to go as we went cross country towards the shortcut. A short, grassy gully highlighted a weakness in the lowest cliffband we had to climb up. From there, it was easy traversing towards a small glacier on Cathedral Peak. There was one more brief Class 3 scramble, followed by easy hiking up to the saddle.

The view was incredible. Beneath a jagged mountain horizon, we could see most of the trail we had hiked, and the route back to the car. But lingering below us was the steep gully we had to descend. We were committed now. It looked intimidating but not terrifying, essentially a steep staircase covered in scree.

Down we went, slow and steady. In most places, it was possible to use the natural ledges and steps that the sedimentary rock provides. There was, however, plenty of slipping on scree and dislodging loose rocks. The adrenaline was pumping, although we weren’t fearing for our lives. Going up is typically easier than going down, but we were glad we hadn’t attempted this in wet conditions. Route finding the way towards Stoney Indian Pass would have been difficult as well, so we felt somewhat vindicated in our decision to not take the shortcut the day before.

It took some time, but there were few obstacles going down. We were skirting the lower slopes of Cathedral Peak and back on trail before we knew it. The total time on the short cut was pretty comparable to taking the trail. Even so, it did shorten the distance by 3 miles, which was useful for our long hike out.

Maggie and I passed back through Fifty Mountain Camp, then cruised over to the aptly named Flattop Mountain. It was easy miles through forest, burn scar, and meadows with outstanding views of the mountains we had hiked by two days earlier.

We began descending towards Mineral Creek where we again found bountiful berry bushes. A group of three backpackers were stopped, filling up gallon sized ziploc bags with blue berries. They informed us that they had just saw a bear down by the bridge. Good to know! Maggie and I increased the frequency and volume of yelling “Heyyyy bear!“

We crossed the bridge and hiked for a bit in the flat valley bottom. There was no sign of a bear and we were feeling like we were in the clear, just a couple more miles to the car.

“OH MY GOD!!” Maggie yelled behind me. I swung around the left, thinking she had stepped over a snake or something – “WHAT?!” I responded..

“BEAR!”

“WHERE?!”

“OVER THERE!!!” [behind me to the right]

A fluffy brown face was staring at us inquisitively from behind a log, not ten feet off the trail. We yelled and shuffled backwards away from the bear, fumbling to get our bear spray out. The bear, perhaps an older juvenile, slowly paced out on to the trail, unperturbed by our aggressive shouting. It wasn’t really following us, perhaps only trying to get a good sniff. “Just move, Russell!” Maggie said to me, and we turned tail up the trail, glancing over our shoulders every few seconds. Our hearts were pounding, but after a few minutes, it was clear we weren’t being pursued. Whew! Three bears in three days. I’m just glad I’m still here to write about it.

After 18 miles, we made it back to the car, beat from three days of demanding hiking. While there were challenges each day, it was a fun and beautiful backpacking trip. Three days in the wilderness felt so easy and relaxing, free from all the riffraff of modern life. Compared to our five months on the PCT, this trip felt like it was over too fast. A good reminder that a life outside is a life well lived…

12 August 2023

Maggie had to work this day, so I took the opportunity to rest a bit and sort out our gear. I ran the bike path from employee housing to Lake MacDonald, where I couldn’t resist going for a swim. A short ways back through the Lake MacDonald village, I stepped into the backcountry permit office to visit Ranger Maggie. She was discussing the backcountry rules with an adventurous couple about to set off into the wilderness. I patiently inspected maps of the park hanging on the walls until Maggie was free.

Maggie wears Park Service green quite well. I wish I had gotten a picture of her in uniform.

She asked me if I had bear spray with me for running on the bike path. “Uhh.. no?” Thankfully, I did not see a bear, although my senses were definitely on high alert for the run home.

We enjoyed a relaxing evening and made plans to relax even more the next day.

13 August 2023

Maggie and I put a picnic together and drove up to Bowman Lake. With Maggie being a park employee, we were able to bypass scheduled vehicle entry requirements as the ranger at the gate waved us through. We passed a few groups of people walking up the five mile road, since they didn’t have vehicle passes. Maggie and I picked up a couple, and they were quite thankful for the ride, later leaving a few bucks in the windshield wipers.

We had been warned that Bowman Lake was a popular boating spot, so I set some realistic expectations. However, when we arrived, it was pure peace and quiet. Only about a dozen people were relaxing on the lake shore. We rolled out a blanket and joined them. This was exactly what we needed.

A ribbon of blue dividing the forest and sheer mountains in the distance, Bowman lake was our source of serenity for the day. We basked in cycles of soaking up sun and swimming in the icy waters to cool off. Ah… just perfect. It was hard to leave as the day waned.

14 August 2023

Feeling refreshed from a day by the lake, Maggie and I geared up for a little day hike across the street from Glacier National Park. Ousel Peak was a short drive from West Glacier, making for a casual, low commitment day. Maggie had attempted to hike Ousel earlier in the summer with some friends, but they turned back before the summit after getting a late start. It is only 3.4 miles to the top, but with 3,500 feet of vert, the climbing is relentless.

It was a pleasant afternoon hike through the woods, devoid of crowds. We only saw one other man with his dog heading down. After an hour and a half, we made it to the summit, a narrow, rocky ridgeline just peeking above the diffuse tree line. The air was quite smoky from nearby wildfires, but the view of Glacier’s mountains was still spectacular. It was nice to “take a step back” and take in the whole mountain range from a different vantage point, as each individual mountain in GNP can be rather in-your-face.

The solid workout and solitude that Ousel Peak provided was a great way to round out my visit to Glacier National Park. The visit as a whole was a great way to get my mind off all that was stressing me out, and simply being in Maggie’s presence was a big boost to my mood. The week was over, and Maggie graciously drove me to the airport at four in the morning. We embraced in the predawn darkness, knowing that we would be together again before long…