Katie's hat color matches the profusion of Douglasia alpine flowers on the CDT above Rogers Pass |
The Kelsia bloom at Trout Creek |
Above the Two Med campground in Glacier |
We've been making the rounds of favorite early Spring hiking spots: Two Med in Glacier, Rogers Pass on the Continental Divide, Trout Creek near York, and Pioneer Ridge in the Little Belts.
We're finding earlier than usual alpine flowers while the snow levels vary according to location.
The Front is unusually dry, portending a summer fire season. Glacier has snow, but not as much as we expected: Two Med Lake is pretty much thawed. There looks to be pretty good snow in the Island Ranges.
We were particularly surprised by all the alpine flowers already out on Rogers Pass: glacier lilies, pink Douglasia in profusion, Yellowstone draba, fritilary, shooting stars,buttercups, Pasque flowers, kittentails, spring beauties, prairie smoke. We wondered if the trails would be cleared this year as we ducked under deadfall and in light of the Trump/Musk budget cuts to the Forest Service.
In the Little Belts we saw Balsamroot Arrow Leafs emerging, and the hillsides near Belt covered with them. We were surprised by a cluster of bluebelles on the Pioneer Ridge.
We saw only smatterings of the pink kelsea, hanging from limestone perches, at Trout Creek.
At Two Med we hiked up a little more than a mile on each side of the lake in intermittent and in places, deep snow. We also crested a hill behind the campground covered in alpine flowers, which offered stunning panoramic views of the Two Med valley.
I'm not planning to return to Glacier during the height of the tourist season, with the exception of a trip to Sperry Chalet and a backpack into the Belly. Two Med is out of the question. With the construction congestion at Many Glacier and entrance restrictions at West Glacier, we expect significant traffic at Two Med that will make that venue unpleasant.
No comments:
Post a Comment