Monday, August 30, 2021

A brush with Covid, a return to Glacier's Scenic Point

 

Part of the herd of 19 bighorn sheep ewes and lambs we encountered

The dogbane put on a yellow, colorful pre-Autumn show

Rising Wolf, above middle Two Med Lake, was as colorful as I've ever seen

Katie on "photograph rock" with Mount Helen in the background

One of the scenic "ghost" trees

I don't know anyone who has been more careful in dealing with the Covid pandemic:  we were vaccinated early, we mask and were careful not to have guests in our house for a year and a half.

But, we let our guard down and in August entertained vaccinated relatives in our house, thinking we were safe.

Not.

Two of our vaccinated guests came down with breakthrough Covid while here and one of them was hospitalized.

And....while we have tested negative on three occasions, we've had to go into a 14-day isolation in the event we'd spread the virus asymptomatically.

I'm not sure what to think.

Do we go back into the strict lockdown we practiced before the shots?  

We're now suspicious of everyone again.

In Montana we don't have contact tracing, less than 50 percent are vaccinated, and 90 percent of the folks are unmasked.  Our governor and lawmakers won't allow lockdowns or mandatory vaccinations.

Well, I guess we can still hike.  But do we go back to separately driving to trailheads when we want to hike with friends.  I'd wonder who they had been in contact with. I don't think you can trust anyone.

We've hiked several times during our isolation period, both in the Glacier Park area.  We hiked toward Flattop Mountain in the Badger Two Med one day and as the smoke cleared climbed Scenic Point in the Two Med, a favorite.

Hiking through the deadfall mess on the CDT below Flattop Mountain the Badger Two

There is still a lot of blowdown on the Flattop trail portion of the Continental Divide Trail that makes going rough.  I'd recommend walking the Pike Creek Road rather than taking the trail.

We had an absolutely clear, smoke-free sky in Two Med for Scenic Point.  The reds, greens, buff and browns in the mountains really popped.   There are some early fall colors starting and the berries, particularly the mountain ash, are a bright orange.

We encountered a herd of 19 bighorn ewes and lambs below the trail, highlighting our trip.

Surprisingly, there were very few hikers on this popular trail, some four parties going up and four coming down.

Fall is definitely in the air.

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