Milking the waning days of Fall color and hiking

 

My companions on Piegan Pass:  Katie, Vicky and Camille

The Garden Wall at Piegan Pass

A nice surprise herd of elk on our way to Smith River State Park

Smith River park has built up since I last visited

The Smith near the put-in

We got out to see the Smith River State Park, Katie's 55th state park (out of 56), hiked to Piegan Pass in Glacier Park and I soloed Mount Jumbo in Missoula as we are beginning to run out of hiking days.  A wicked snowstorm hit us last week, and we encountered remnants of it traveling and hiking.

The larch are just starting to turn on the west side, taking on a chartreuse hue before putting on their autumn blaze of yellow or deep orange.

Katie is out to get all the parks and now has only the Thompson Chain of Lakes near Libby, which she'll have within a week.  Her qwest has taken her throughout the state in the past couple of years and is truly remarkable given that nine months ago she was bedridden with 13 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a concussion, a broken sternum, an injured windpipe and multiple contusions from the car wreck Jan. 4 near the Flesher Pass turnoff on Highway 200 just south of Rogers Pass.  Two dear friends in the car were killed and another badly injured as an oncoming truck slammed into the car they were in.

We were pleased to hear this week that the driver of that truck was found guilty of four counts of negligent driving.  A sentencing and restitution hearing will be in December.  We were forced to sit through an agonizing day long court session where a not guilty plea was explained by the truck driver claiming that being from eastern Montana the driving conditions were far different than where the accident happened in western Montana's mountains.   He did not adequately explain why he set his cruise control at 75 mph in a 70 mph zone where there were icy conditions.

It has been more than 40 years since I floated the Smith, when my kids were still in elementary and junior high schools.  I was surprised at how nice the park was.  Hiking was limited mainly to the roadway and along small stretches of the river, near where a tributary flows into it.  There was a nice outcropping of rock above the park.  We drove through White Sulphur Springs and then 26 miles along a good rural road to reach it.  The drive was through beautiful ranch and foothills country.  There looked like good camping and picnic spots at the park.  The takeout is down near Ulm, some 60 river miles from the put in.

On the drive we saw a large elk herd and several golden eagles.

Not a particularly friendly sign under this friendly Golden Eagle on way to Smith

I went to check out the snow in the high country a couple of days later and progressively went from one prospective hiking spot covered with snow to another until reaching Missoula where I opted for Mount Jumbo over Mount Sentinel.  It turned out to be a good choice, with 4.4 miles roundtrip and more than 1,800 feet of elevation gain and loss. Missoula was a blaze of fall color.  I was very impressed with the Fall beauty there.  The mountains beyond Lincoln had less snow than the east side.

Katie had done Grinnell Lake in Glacier park the day I did Mount Jumbo and came back with news that the trails were mostly clear and the weather beautiful.

So two days later we headed back to Glacier and did the 9.4 miles and 2,400 feet up and back to Piegan Pass in stunningly clear weather.  We hit some ice and snow on the trail in the forest, but for the final 1.8 miles to the pass it was in the sun and the trail was as clear of snow and ice like it was summer.

I had a pretty rough time of it on Piegan.  I had made the mistake of getting both the flu and Covid shots the day before and my body reacted with aches and fatigue.  

Despite that, the trip was glorious.

The neighborhood below Mount Jumbo was lit up in Fall colors

I took the "L" trail up Mount Jumbo in Missoula

Pirogue Island, Medicine Rocks, Makoshika state parks on quick tour

 

Typical Makoshika view

Makoshika's Kinney Coulee started with a 300 foot dropoff

Numerous "Medicine Rocks" at this state park near Ekalaka

This Medicine Rock reminded me of a grump cartoon character

T

Katie crossing a dry channel at Pirogue Island State Park

On the banks of the Yellowstone at Pirogue Island State Park

Looking ahead to the end of stunning Fall weather, we took a quick trip to Eastern Montana as part of Katie's quest to visit all 56 state parks.

The weather cooperated with temperatures in the 70s and scant winds.  Two days later Great Falls had snow.

We started with Pirogue just outside Miles City.  It an island park in the Yellowstone River, easily reachable when the water recedes as it does in the Fall.  We had dry feet as we walked across a grassy area that had been a channel of the river.  

The park reminded me of much of the low lying undeveloped areas on the Missouri River near Great Falls.  It had been homesteaded for a time, and there are interpretive signs explaining the parks history and wildlife.  There are spots for picniking and great access to the river.  It is a nice green space for eastern Montanans, but nothing exceptional.  Unfortunately it is also close to the Miles City industry which mars the environment with noise and visual pollution.

We next drove to the Ekalaka area and the Medicine Rocks State Park, which is exceptional.  It sits in the rolling hills not far from where Montana meets South Dakota and Wyoming.  The numerous, tall rocks seem to "appear" on the surrounding treeless plain. There are several loop trails to see these behemoths. These sandstone rocks are shot through with holes created by weathering.  Unfortunately, over the past 100 years tourists have carved their names and messages into the rocks.  They are somewhat historically interesting. 

We found Ekalaka to be a charming small ranching community with a couple of motels and places to eat.

Finally, the grand finale of our trip was Makoshika State Park, Montana's largest state park, spectacular for its striking badlands and a nice interpretive center.  We spent the day hiking four loop trails that I found surprisingly challenging for their steepness.   I've always liked the badlands, particularly nearby Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND, but for hiking this park was much better. 

I'd recommend Kinney Coulee and Cap Rock trails if you're looking for a challenge.

Katie has done 54 of the 56 parks, with only the Smith River and Thompson Falls Chain Lakes left.  

 

 

 

A Sunday drive: glorious Fall

We were entertained by some young bighorn sheep and their mother 

We visited the Metis cemetery on the South Fork Teton 

Firery aspen above scarlet rose bushes on the ground

 

Even the grasses were turning Fall colors

We passed through a gauntlet of aspen on the North Fork Teton Road

 I needed a rest day after doing Glacier's Firebrand Pass the day previous, but the Fall colors and weather were too glorious so we opted for a Sunday drive to the Rocky Mountain Front up the forks of the Teton River west of Choteau.

We were not disappointed as saw bighorn sheep, visited the Metis Cemetery, checked out the trailhead to Indianhead Rock and enjoyed the Fall colors while basking in the warmth the clear sky delivered.

I've always thought the September/October transition was the most beautiful time in Montana, and given Montana's substantial beauty, that's saying a lot.

 

The annual Fall hike to Glacier's Firebrand Pass

 

 

 

Gordon Whirry at the pass

 

Fall wouldn't be complete without a trip to Glacier Park's Firebrand Pass.

We completed that trip on Friday, Oct. 5.

It seemed a bit later than usual for the 10 mile, 2,500 foot elevation gain hike.  The colors were a tad muted than what I've come to expect.

The park was unusually empty.  We were the first to the pass and saw only one couple on the way down.

Wind was predicted, and wind there was, probably in the 40 mph range when we got to Firebrand Pass itself.

I love this hike for the fall colors:  the huckleberries were a bright red, the whortleberries and mountain ash leaves, orange, the aspen ranged in color from bright yellow to a chartreuse.  Some of the leaves were a combination of red and orange.  The colors were uneven.  Some aspen trees had lost their leaves entirely, other groves were a brilliant wall of gold.

Given all the talk about the failure of the huckleberry crop and its affects on the bears, we were shocked to find thousands of unharvested, hard, white, shriveled berries on the bright red bushes. 

We hiked with wind to our back up the pass, but when we arrived at the top we nearly got blown away from the gusts in our face.

Another surprise was how clear the conditions were.  We could see the Sweetgrass Hills miles off to the east clearly.  Looks like smoke from our active fire season is gone.

Now comes the snow?

 

 

 

Russia looms over the Baltics like a menacing grizzly

 

The Russian Embassy in Tallin, Estonia was plastered with anti-Putin, anti-Russian signs.

Many signs compared Putin to Hitler

In Vilnius, Lithuania, an anti-Putin sign on one of downtown's skyscrapers

The Soviets left brutalist sculpture like this in Riga, Latvia

We just finished a 12 day trip to the Baltic nations, Poland and Finland with our big takeaway as Russia's menacing presence in the area.

We couldn't go anywhere without experiencing Russia's negative impact on these nations, and for the most part, the fear they have for their massive eastern neighbor.

The most visible sign were all the Ukrainian flags flying off government and business buildings.

There is fear that if Russia succeeds in their war with Ukraine that they will be next.

In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, a giant banner was draped over one of that city's new skyscrapers that read, "Putin: the Hague is Waiting for You."

Naturally, we also saw the damages created by the Nazis from WWII in addition to the horrors of years of occupation by the Soviets.  We visited the KGB prison in Vilnius where countless Lithuanians were held, tortured and murdered. 

The monument to WWII Polish Underground fighter Witold Pilecki at the WWII Museum 

We began our trip in Gdansk, Poland, our second visit there, to see the WWII Museum.  Gdansk is where the war began on Sept. 1, 1939 when Hitler used the provocation that Poland wouldn't grant him access to the Baltic Sea from there. 

It is an extremely modern building architecturally, and we spent hours there visiting well-curated exhibits about the war.

We also stopped at the Solidarity Museum, where ship workers struck in the late 1970s which led to the breakup of communism in eastern europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

We also broke away from the grimness to enjoy this vibrant port city.

We took an extremely modern train to Warsaw for our next stop.  The first class fare was about 40 Euros and included a lunch served during the two hour trip. 

 In Warsaw we fulfilled Katie's wish to see a European bison, which looks very similar to the American bison, and called a Zubr.  Poland and Belarus have the last remaining free roaming European bison, but we went to the Warsaw Zoo to find a small herd in captivity.  The zoo is famous for having sheltered Warsaw Jews during WWII in the animal pens to keep them from being killed by the Nazis.  This was chronicled in the movie, "The Zoo Keeper's Wife."

A European forest bison in the Warsaw Zoo

On the way back to our hotel we visited the St. John Basilica in the Old Town,  a center of Polish Catholicism.  We went through the catacombs there and viewed the tombs of famous Polish historical figures like Henryk Sienkiewicz (author: Quo Vadis) and Cardinal Wyszynski, who fought the communists for years.

I finally got into Holy Cross Church where Chopin's heart is entombed, and where we heard a very moving choral performance of mostly sacred and patriotic songs.

The place where Chopin's heart is entombed in Warsaw's Holy Cross Church

We started our day with a tour of the Warsaw Botanical Gardens and a visit to Lazienski Park where there is a spectacular sculpture of Chopin. 

The monument to Chopin in Warsaw's Lazienki Park

This was a third trip to Poland and I left with a heavy heart, thinking that it was probably the last time I would see my ancestral city and country that I love. 

On to Vilnius, a city of parks and museums and a beautiful river flowing through the middle of it. We climbed its high point to an old fortress/castle for a great view.  The next day I did the Old Town and a grand church  and square, the Vilnius Cathedral, and the baroque St.Casimir Church with its 2,000 plaster sculpted statues. We came upon the "country" of Uzupis, the pretend state within the city inhabited by the Bohemian/artist crowd, where you could get your passport stamped.  In the afternoon it was a tour of the KGB headquarters.

I really like Vilnius, but the scooters and electric bikes and Uber Eats motorcycles oron the trails and sidewalks through the city made walking downright dangerous.

On our way to Riga we stopped just short of the Latvian border where there is a religious pilgrimage site on a small hill covered with thousands of mostly wooden crosses. Riga, Latvia was a surprise and a delight.  Its well preserved neoclassic architecture is recognized as a UNESCO Heritage site.  The city reminded me of a mini-Paris.  There are pathways through gorgeous parks that gave the city a leafy feel and which led from the Old Town to the downtown.  I could have used more time in this capital.  The market was the best of our trip, oddly located in an old zeppelin hangar. The tour guide was the best we had during our trip.

Estonia was a bit of disappointment for a huge amount of tourism that overran the capital Tallinn.  Gargantuan cruise ships plugged its harbor, disgorging tourists from all over the planet that clogged the city.  Its Old Town was mildly interesting, but the new skyscrapers and buildings showed how far the city has come since Russian domination. 

Perhaps the most interesting part of my visit to Old Town in Tallinn was the Russian Embassy where we encountered the only police we saw there.  They were watching that embassy where a fence was set up and it was plastered with tons of anti-Putin, pro-Ukraine posters.  

I guess I've reached the point where I've seen enough Old Towns in Europe to last a lifetime.  Contact with people and current and cultural events are where I'm at.  

We took a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, Finland, a city that took me for surprise for its mix of dynamism and historic treasures.  We stayed in a boutique hotel on the tree-lined Boulevard Street, centrally located with access to parks, shopping, eateries and historic sites.

We toured a Russian Orthodox Church, and a former Russian Orthodox Cathedral converted to the country's Lutheran Cathedral above a great square.

A Soviet cannon left after WWII in Helsinki's Sumenlinna Fortress Park

 

The Sumenlinna Fortress Park is a UNESCO Heritage site for its massive stone walls

We took a ferry to Helsinki's Suomenlinna Fortress Park and spent hours touring this island and its rugged coast line.  I was impressed by the massive cannons the Soviets left behind during its occupation.  The fortress was developed by the Swedes.

 I've never seen so much public transportation as we encountered in Helsinki:  trains, trams, buses, ferries, everywhere all the time.   They were really inexpensive.  For the day pass I paid 15 Euros and was able to take the ferry to Suomenlinna and use that ticket on the train to the airport, an hour away.  I could have used that same ticket on any of the other types of transport all day, too. 

I regret that we missed seeing the new public library, but we were so busy that seeing it was out of the question. 

The Helsinki train station with its Soviet era statues

The train station square and the monuments on the station itself were impressive. 

On the homeward flight between Helsinki and Amsterdam we were seated next to a former Finish member of the European Union,  Petri Sarvamaa, who now works in an auditing capacity for the EU.  He was a career journalist for Finnish Public Television and at one point was at the station's Washington, D.C. bureau.  The two hour flight went by quickly because of his conversation. 

Most of the political talk during our 12 days involved Russia, although President Trump came up from time to time as an object of bewilderment. 

We climbed to the foot of this castle in Vilnius, Lithuania to watch the sunset 

The Russian Orthodox Church in Helsinki

Helsinki's national cathedral that was once a Russian Orthodox Church 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mount Williams Lookout in Fish Creek State Park

The view from the top of Williams Peak in Fish Creek State Park lays bare the historic logging there

The now unused lookout tower on Williams Peak

The 350 foot Ponderosa Pine said to be the largest in Monana

Fish Creek for which the state park is named

 I wasn't prepared for the logging/industrial nature of Fish Creek State Park near Alberton.

There I climbed Mount Williams, elevation 5,445 feet, over a 3.4 miles roundtrip hike gaining over 1,200 feet There's a lookout tower on the top that's on the National Historic Registry.  The full hike takes less than three hours to the top and back.

 I'd classify the hike as easy.

The views, while expansive, were of extensive logging roads in all directions.  

I marveled more at the construction of the roads than the views into the Bitterroot Mountains and the proposed Great Burn wilderness.

Fish Creek park is a relatively new state park, added in 2010.  It's what's left of Plum Creek timber harvest.

 The park is the second largest state park after Makoshika in eastern Montana, although the surrounding public lands are more than 45,000 acres in size.

While there, a 205 mile drive from Great Falls, we had a look at Fish and Rock creeks, and the nearby Alberton Gorge area on the Clark Fork River.  The streams are beautiful.

The park also contains the largest Ponderosa Pine in Montana:  350 feet tall, and more than 200 years old. It's at a nice fishing access site and worth seeing.

The lookout tower is fenced off and not manned.  It was hauled to this site in 1977 from Idaho.

It is 53 feet tall and replaced a tower that had been built in 1934.  

 It was a long day trip, but worthwhile on our quest to see all 56 of Montana's state parks.

Yet another failure to positively link Blackleaf to Clary on the Front's 'Grand Traverse'

The Blackleaf to Clary Grand Traverse starts at Blackleaf Canyon

Mineral developers left evidence above Muddy Creek Falls

The prominent "block" above Blindhorse Creek where we couldn't find our trail link

This poor ram didn't make it out

Evidence that Fall is nearby

 

We were running out of daylight, but treated to a Rocky Mountain Front sunset

 

 The scenery was unbelievably beautiful, but the Rocky Mountain Front "Grand Traverse" hike was unbelievably frustrating.

For the second time in a row I failed to find the link between the Blackleaf Canyon (FS 153) and Clary Coulee (FS 177) trails, which meant we had to rely on an old bushwhack.

It also meant we hiked out in the dark, getting off trail at 10 p.m., and home at 1 a.m..

This was even more frustrating because about 20 years ago I easily led a group through this linkage that went down a dry waterfall.  What's more, my wife Katie subsequently did a Montana Wilderness Association hike on the linked route under the guidance of the late Dan Bennett, and she doesn't recall any problems.

But we sure had problems on this most recent hike.

We started at Blackleaf and began exploring for the linkage at the forks of Blindhorse Creek.  We spent some three hours clawing our way up steep and wooded hillsides in vain.  This is where we were skunked five years ago.

Luckily, Gordon Whirry had mapped the bushwhack when we didn't find it in 2021. 

Our failures cost us daylight, but it was a delight to watch the sun set on the Rocky Mountain Front over the Ear Mountain area.   We walked more than an hour in the dark down to our cars at Clary Coulee.

The roughly six miles to where the hike went awry were a forest that reminded of what the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area looked like before fires started sweeping through it in the early 1980s.

It was also interesting to see where the oil and gas exploration and development had occurred above Muddy Creek Falls.  The old extraction equipment littered an otherwise beautiful meadow.

 Beneath three unnamed peaks, one of which resembles a square block, the terrain opens up into grassland and great views of a peak we've named Guthrie, in honor of the late Choteau writer,  and the adjacent Choteau Mountain (referred to locals as the Sleeping Giant). 

There's been considerable cattle grazing on most of Blackleaf trail segment.

But none of this really distracts from the high limestone peaks that march north to south along this mountain front. 

My Garmin InReach GPS showed we had hiked 15.5 miles and had a cumulative gain and loss of 4,000 feet.  We hiked for about 11 hours.

As we hiked beyond Blindhorse toward Pamburn Creek and our bushwhack route, I was unsettled by the sight of a new cabin behind a fence that announced a firing range with keep out signs.

I can't imagine what it took to haul the materials into this remote area and to build it and fence it.

This was my last shot at a hike for a clear route approximating what I had done more than 20 years ago.

The bushwhack route will have to do.

POSTSCRIPT:  A week prior to this Grand Traverse I managed to hike the length of Crawford Creek and to the tunnel on the Sluice Boxes State Park trail, both in the Little Belts.