Mount Wright, an annual tuneup ritual

The Beargrass bloom has begun

Gordon Whirry and Mark Hertenstein on the descent from the summit

Tons of Jones Columbine along the ridge line

I was delighted to reach the top

 I hadn't done anything in the Front since last summer, so Friday's climb of Mount Wright in the Rocky Mountain Front/Bob Marshall Wilderness was quite the treat.

Yes, it's dry in the foothills, but Wright, one of the Front's tallest peaks at 8,885 feet, was still sporting its "collars" of snow at the top.

The spectacular view from the top revealed pretty good snow, particularly looking back to the west where Silvertip Mountain was well covered.

I maintain that the view from the top of this mountain are among the best in the Rocky Mountain Front, stretching to the Swan Range on the west, and looking directly into Glacier National Park on the north.  To the east one can clearly see West, Gold and East buttes in the Sweetgrass Hills.

The trailhead is located on the West Fork of the Teton River,  which was hammered by a 2007 wildfire that left timber scattered in burnt heaps on the mountainsides like pickup sticks. The west facing slopes on the Front have not recovered yet, scorched by the fire's intensity.

I've been climbing this mountain, a 7.4 miles roundtrip with a cumulative gain and loss of about 3,600 feet, since 1981.  The gulches adjacent to the mountain are often snow filled early in the season, and the melt creates handsome waterfalls. 

For the first time since I've been climbing, the trail is clear of deadfall, which we used to scramble over.

A real treat are the wildflowers along the trail. Thes white/cream colored flowers were out in full force --- the white pinstamen, the Sego lily, anemonie, the globe flowers.  We saw three beargrass in full bloom and the deep purple silky and spiky phacelia and sticky geranium. 

I was surprised by the Jones Columbine bloom along the Mount Wright ridgeline.  It was the best I've seen there.   

 How fortunate that this year we were able to see two separate Jones Columbine blooms --- the other at its peak on the top of Kings Hill Mountain in the Little Belts nearly a month ago.

Another surprise was how well my eyes are working after cataract surgery.  What particularly struck me were the deep, vibrant blues in the alpine Forget-Me-Not flowers.  I guess I've been missing out all these years without realizing it. 

This was another step in my recovery.  The foot worked beautifully.  

Playing catch up after healing

An early and large Bitterroot bloom in the Scratchgravel Hills near Helena

 

Lady Slipper orchids in Waterton

The biggest bloom of lupine I'd ever seen on the Waterton flats

Crandell Lake in Waterton

Early blooms of Beargrass in a number of areas.  These in Waterton

The best of the waterfalls on our Waterton hike

Okay, I haven't posted for a month, but that doesn't mean I haven't been getting out.

Just the opposite.

I've used that time to get in a lot of hikes and do some final fix-ups on health issues.

Perhaps the most significant fix-up was having my cataracts removed.

That meant having to back off many of the more strenuous hikes I would have liked to do.

But now I see significantly more clearly.  Colors, in particular, pop.  

The flowers during the past month have been ahead of schedule and prolific.  The snow melted off the mountains earlier than usual and copious rain has greened up the hillsides.

I found chocolate lilies two weeks ahead of schedule.  Ditto for our state flower, the Bitterroot.  The high points on both sides of Rogers Pass were spangled with alpine flowers I usually expect around Father's Day.  The fragrant, blue Forget-Me-Not, was the best I've seen in more than 40 years of visiting the Rogers Pass area.  Beargrass also got an early start.  

Wandering the Waterton roadside

We also got in trips to the Placid Lake high trail in the Seeley area for an Arrow Leaf show and Camas, the Scratchgravel Hills, several trips to Mount Helena, the Pioneer Ridge Loop, the Sluice Boxes, Crawford Creek, and  Kings Hills (early Jones Columbine) in the Little Belts, and a climb of Windy Point peak in the Highwoods.

My favorite trip during this past month was three days at Waterton National Park in southern Alberta.  The highlight was a 7-mile walk from the Crandall Lake trailhead back to the Waterton townsite.  It included a side trip Crandall Lake.  The hike roughly parallels the road that goes to Cameron Lake and the Akamina trailhead.  We passed several powerful waterfalls along the way, and were treated to a multitude of wildflowers, with the Lady Slipper orchid being the most outstanding one encountered.  We saw one black bear on this trip. The day before we also walked along the Cameron Lake shoreline to near the U.S. border.  On the Waterton flats near the Red Rocks turnoff we found the largest display of blue lupine I've ever seen.

It appears as though there is pretty good snowpack in the high country, but the Great Plains are super dry. We benefited some with a pretty good soaking rainfall before and after our Waterton trip.

I'm ready to go!  

My surgically repaired foot handled all the hiking quite well, and combined with my repaired eyesight, I'm ready for the hiking and climbing season to begin in earnest. 

A 78th birthday week: Mounts Helena, Sentinel, Hurricane Ridge hikes and Showdown ski

Early Forget-Me-Nots alpine flowers on Hurricane Ridge

The Glacier lilies are out!!

This will have to do for a 78th Birthday photo at Swift Reservoir on Hurricane Ridge hike

A "selfie" on skis enjoying late, Spring snow in the Little Belts 

 I took full advantage of superb Spring weather and snow-starved mountains to celebrate my 78th birthday week and test my surgically repaired foot.

With temperatures climbing to the high 70s just days after a dump of snow, the alpine flowers were out in full force.  I saw flowers that don't usually appear until early June, like Forget-Me-Nots, Yellowstone Draba, Arrowleaf Balsamroot.  The pink Douglasia dotted hillsides. Climate change?

Yet, the snow at Showdown, two weeks after the ski area closed, was good enough that I was able to ski to the top of Golden Goose run, and could have gone to the top of Porphyry Peak had I chosen.

I had put my skis up last April thinking there was no way my foot would be ready to ski in 2026, but the healing has been so good I could get into my boots, climb and turn without much problem.  It portends well for the next season.  The snow was of Spring quality and a bit thick and uneven to turn in, but I was just thrilled to be out in it.

Sentinel in Missoula is my usual gauge for conditioning and I had no trouble handling the nearly 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

I did Mount Helena twice on different routes, just because I love to do Mount Helena and visiting with old friends in the Capital City. On a Thursday the mountain was empty, but on Saturday it was crawling with people. I treated myself to the scenic Frontage/Recreation Road drive adjacent to I-15, leisurely enjoying the Missouri River and Adel Mountains spires.

On a Friday "rest" day I walked along the top of the First Peoples' State Park Buffalo Jump outside Ulm.

On Sunday, it was off to Dupuyer and Swift Dam for a walk up a section of Hurricane Ridge to look for wildflowers. 

It would be tough to have a better birthday week of outdoors adventures. 

 

Mount Acension, Rogers Pass, Many Glacier: lots of flowers

Even Glacier Park lacks snow as this photo of Chief Mountain bears witness

Dear friends Barry and Laura Webster on the Fishercap Lake shore

I found tons of pink alpine Douglasia above Rogers Pass

 We're having a record breaking, beautiful April and the alpine flowers are responding, and so are we with recent hiking trips to Helena for Mount Ascension, Rogers Pass and Many Glacier.

These were all day trips.

My foot continues to respond well as I'm pressing it a little more each trip.

We did a traverse around Mount Ascension, with a climb to the top.  We went to the top of the west side of Rogers Pass.  Finally, a quick trip to see Many Glacier before the crowds descend on it. 

We're told the ticks are out, but we didn't encounter any.

Mount Ascension is about a four mile total traverse, with great views of the Helena Valley and the Big Belt and Elkhorn mountain ranges. 

The Continental Divide Trail on both sides of Rogers Pass is accessible for hiking, but there is more snow on the east side. 

Once on top, we were treated to a gigantic display of pink douglasia alpine flowers.  We were surprised by quite a bit of Yellowstone draba flowers in bloom.

There is still a  lot of snow on the Many Glacier trails.  We hit Fishercap Lake and walked to the mid-point of  Red Rocks Lake with a view of the falls.  We completed our hike with a side trip to Wilbur Falls.

We stopped by to have a look what remains of Babb's Cattleman's Club that was destroyed in a winter fire.

What's left of Babb's Cattleman's Club.  Those are two temporary structures, to get the restaurant going again,  next to the rubble

 

 

An early April hiking window opens: Holter, Glacier

 

Holter Lake with the Sleeping Giant in the background

  

Plenty to point out on our Holter Lake traverse

Two Med Lake is already largely clear of heavy ice

  

We found this scroungy young moose browsing willows on Pray Lake shore

  

Impressive colored rock below Running Eagle Falls

We've just had two of the most beautiful April days for hiking that I can remember.

And, I've taken full advantage with hikes to the Holter Lake area in the Big Belts and the Two Med in Glacier Park.

I'm still testing that left foot and can report it's performing beautifully. 

At Holter, we started the hike at Juniper Gulch, hit a high point, and traversed a ridge on a long loop.

Along the way we got breath-taking views of the Sleeping Giant and Oxbow Bend in the Missouri River and enjoyed a surprising number of early alpine flowers:  Pasque, prairie smoke, kitten tail, yellow bells, larkspur, douglasia, phlox, vetch, shooting stars, two kinds of biscuit root (lomatia) and rock cress.

The fabulous views of a glass-like, mirror Holter Lake were enhanced by bright blue skies and a light breeze.

The weather encouraged us the next day to go to Glacier National Park's Two Medicine area for a hike up the road to Two Med Lake.  The road is blocked at Running Eagle  (Trick) Falls making the trek a round-trip four-miler.

There were only patches of snow on the sides of the road, and no ice or snow on the road.

The north and east faces of the mountains had good snow up high, but there were open slopes on south and west slopes.

After going to the lake, we walked its shore back to Pray Lake where we spotted a scroungy looking young moose browsing willows and unfazed by our presence.  The road in the campground was also clear.

We normally make a late March-early April trip to Two Med Lake, but usually on skis, snowshoes or Yak-Tracks.  Some years at this time of year the snow is piled up well over our heads and cover the restrooms at the lake;  the campground is nearly impassible. 

Because the weather was so clear, Two Med attracted a crowd, many, we found, from the West side.

As we drove through East Glacier Park on the way to Two Med we saw the remains of several wind storms, the most recent March 19, that knocked down thousands of trees.  Many were piled in front of businesses.  There were some areas where formerly tree-covered patches were now reduced to dirt.  The trees in front of the East Glacier Lodge took a big hit and many were stacked in piles.  

I can't imagine what the backcountry trees or the Continental Divide Trail look like.

  

 

A painful way to start 2026

Katie with the late Josy McLean in 2022 off trail hike to Glacier's Margaret Lake

The late Mike Smith on our Highwood Center Ridge hike in 2025

  

Me on Bomback Hill in Helena

A selfie on Mount Helena, where I tested my post-operative foot

I thought things were bad in December after my surgeries and hospitalizations.

Those were nothing compared to what happened to Katie shortly after.

On Jan. 4 she was on her way to lead a Montana Wild snowshoe hike at Flesher Pass, when near the turnoff to the Lincoln Highway on Montana 200, a big pickup crossed the center line, slamming into the car that was carrying Katie, killing Mike Smith, the driver, and backseat passenger Josy McLean and severely injuring Katie, who was in the front seat and Kayla Paisley behind Katie in the back.

Katie and Kayla were airlifted to St. Patrick's Hospital in Missoula.  Katie broke 13 ribs and her sternum and had multiple bruises and contusions and spent eight days there before I was able to get her home.

Then, for the next two months, Katie slept in a rented hospital bed I put in the front room and started the painful healing process that continues to this day.  Her body will heal, but there's been emotional damage from the accident and the death of our friends.

She's finally up and around with hopes that she'll be able to return to hiking sometime this summer.

In the meantime, my foot and gut have been healing and I've started to hike.  Having a healthy foot within five months seems like a miracle.  I'm still adjusting to some digestive issues now that I don't have a gallbladder. 

I've been taking it easy, starting with neighborhood walks, graduating to River's Edge Trail, and now hikes on Priest Butte near Choteau, Mount Helena and Bompart Hill in the Mount Ascension area in Helena.  We've also enjoyed the annual snow geese and tundra swan migrations at Benton Lake and Freezout Lake wildlife management areas. 

Needless to say, for the first time, I didn't back country ski.  This might have been fortuitous, as it was an unusually dry and mild winter. My friends complained about the lack of snow. 

I was sadly fortunate not to have signed up for Katie's snowshoe hike because I was recovering from my surgeries.

I need to honor Josy and Mike who died in the accident.  

Josy, 61,  was a frequent back country companion, because of Katie's hiking group, of which Josy was a member.  She was a cheerful and strong hiker, the strongest woman I have ever met.  

Mike Smith, 67,  was relatively new to Great Falls, a Montana native who spent most of his working career out of state, he returned to Montana upon retirement.   He was a delightful companion on the few hikes when he accompanied me.  The last such hike was the off-trail Pioneer Ridge hike in the Little Belts last September.  He was always good energy to be around.

Such a painful way to begin this new year.  

 

 

 

My foot surgery full of (upleasant) surprises

My left foot after surgery

 This has been the sickest month of my life.

I went to Missoula for the minimally invasive foot surgery on my left foot's large bunion and hammer toe on Nov. 6, and my entire world turned upside down.

The surgery went as planned and we returned to Great Falls the same day, but that evening and next morning everything became dystopian.

As I sobered up from the anesthesia, violent and painful acid reflux developed.  I began to vomit blood, which I later learned aspirated into my lungs, causing pneumonia.  

Then hiccups followed, at 2.5 to 3 second intervals that lasted day and night for four full days.

Luckily for me, Katie rushed me to the Benefis emergency room, which took me directly to ICU.

That became my home for the next six days as staff tried to tame the hiccups.

I was told later that the hiccups triggered a "type 2 myocardial infarction (heart attack)" because they deprived me of sufficient oxygen.  No real damage, but real scary. 

I was taken in for an endoscope to see what kind of damage the reflux had done to my esophogas.

Drugs and IVs everywhere.

I was not only off solid foods for five of seven days in the hospital (not that I wanted any), but the hiccups wouldn't let me sleep.When the drugs seemed to eliminate the hiccups I was discharged home, but returned to the ER within hours because they came back and I couldn't breathe.

Finally, though, some rest at home.

That didn't last long, though as I developed severe belly pains and Katie, once again, took me to ER.

That was Thanksgiving Eve.

At about 10:30 p.m., the ER doctor informed me that my gallbladder had died, was full of sludge and gangrene and would have to be removed.

At around 5:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning I was in a Benefis hospital bed recovering from gallbladder surgery.  It actually felt good:  no hiccups, no bellyache.

I could eat.  I could sleep.

The unfortunate casualty in all this was what started this cascade of ailments:  my left foot!

I'm now at home nursing that foot and  anticipating endless doctor and therapy visits.

Katie and I wonder if a sick gallbladder triggered by anesthesia was the cause.

I feel pretty good and am optimistic about my recovery. 

   

Cooper's Lake larch finale as foot surgery looms

Cooper's Lake at the height of the larch color

We were surprised to see gorgeous ground cover this late in the season

 

 

My left foot:  why I'm having surgery

My hiking, and most probably back country ski seasons are over.

I sit here writing this before I leave for Missoula for long-overdue left foot surgery.

The surgery is to repair an injury suffered six years when I struck a rock while hiking.  It didn't take long for a large hammer (second)  toe to develop that has bedeviled me since.  I can't get hard-topped shoes and most boots over the top of the toe.  I thought I could dodge surgery with wider boots and silicone sleeves to deal with the rubbing on the top of injured toe.  Then, a big bunion began growing and pushed the hammer toe over the third toe creating a sort of toe "sandwich."

Needless to say, hiking, even walking became problematic.

I chose a Missoula surgeon who is offering a minimally invasive technique that will drill into my toes through small holes where the toes will be straightened, shaved and secured with small pins.

I'll be off my feet completely for two weeks, unable to put a shoe on for six weeks and unable to hike or ski for 12 weeks to six months, depending on how I heal.  There will be some swelling during the healing process.

I'm hoping to have a hiking and backpacking season next year. 

In the meantime Katie and I got to enjoy my season-ending hike at Cooper's Lake near Ovando near the west end of the Scapegoat Wilderness.

We managed to time it for the height of the larch.

The deciduous tree that has needles like a pine, but turns a brilliant yellow and gold in the fall and drops those needles, was brilliant with color.

I'll do an update after my surgery during the healing process. 

 

State Parks, Rodgers Peak twice, Mount Helena, Beartrap Gulch

 

Gordon Whirry on a CDT precipice below Rodgers Peak

 

Scarlet huckleberries lit up the Rogers Pass Trail

The Painted Rocks as Katie walks across the top of the state park dam

We've been chasing October's spectacular colors as well as making progress on Katie's state parks project.

We visited grandkids in Salt Lake City and hit two state parks on the way there and four on the way back.The parks included:  Painted Rocks, Bannack, Clark's Lookout, Beaverhead Rock, Traveler's Rest and Fort Owen.

A week later, two more in the Missoula area, Council Grove and Frenchtown Pond and the St. Mary's Mission (not a state park, but it should be)  in Stevensville, as well as. 

That brings to more than 30 the parks Katie visited this year out of the 53, leaving 27 to go. 

We hiked at each of the parks and then over the past three weeks I climbed Mount Helena and Rodgers Peak on the Continental Divide Trail (twice) .

A highlight of this traveling frenzy was joining the Helena Outdoor Club for an exploration of the Beartrap Gulch trail near York. 

I had noticed the trailhead on our yearly visits to the Trout Creek Canyon at Vigilante Campground in the Big Belt Mountains of Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, and when  the Outdoor Club offered it, I jumped at it.

It follows a tight gulch through a heavy forest of Ponderosa and Doug Fir that opened occasionally into grass.

It was an up and back hike of 9 miles that gained over 3,000 feet in elevation.  We got occasional views of limestone spires that mark this area adjacent to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness.

Bob Bukantis of York (bearded) was our trip leader

The hike was led by Bob Bukantis, who lives near York and at age 76 has devoted himself to leading hikes in the York area.

I don't think I've seen a better trip leader.  He evenly paces his hikers, keeping them tightly together and grabbing their interest by sharing his deep knowledge of the Big Belts. 

The Beartrap Gulch is interesting in that there was once a road for a distance up its gut that has been converted for a way on a trail that parallels the hikers' trail, to accommodate mountain bikers. 

Despite this being the opening of rifle season, we encountered no hunters and only one other couple, who was known to our party of eight.

The Painted Rocks State Park was the most unusual of the parks we saw during this period, an impoundment of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River.  The "painted rocks" are bright green and yellow vegetation on the headwalls surrounding the canyon and lake.

The drive down the Bitterroot River from Lost Trails Pass was breathtaking for fall colors and wildlife.

We encountered herds of bighorn sheep and near Darby large herds of elk.  Likewise, going up the West Fork we saw numbers of elk that were quite casual about our presence.

I figure I've done Rodgers Peak about seven times this hiking season.  This past week there was good snow on the peak and adjacent bumps on the CDT.  The trail down to Rogers Pass was lit up in spots with scarlet huckleberry bushes. 

The state parks tour with Katie would fill a book, so I'll keep it now to the destination hikes. 

The courthouse at Bannack State Park

 

 

 

  

 

 

The best of Fall: Our Lake, Police Outpost (Alberta), Firebrand

Huckleberries are even better in Fall color

My favorite mountain on the Front, Walling Reef, on our drive to Glacier

We hit a large patch of orange color on the Our Lake hike

At the U.S. border from the Alberta side at Police Outpost Provincial Park

It's real Fall, colors and all.

We hiked to Our Lake in the Front, took a day trip to Police Outpost Provincial Park in southern Alberta, and caught spectacular huckleberries in full red color at Firebrand Pass Trail in Glacier Park.

We've been slowed by Katie's struggles with her blood cancer.  My hiking season will be over soon when I get surgery on my left foot's hammer toe and bunion that will put me out of commission for months.  Sadly, I'll lose the ski season for the first time in more than 50 years. 

Bringing summer to a close: Falls Creek colors, Glacier's Piegan Pass, Mount Aeneas in Jewel Basin, Cold Lake in Missions

Falls Creek

The Garden Wall at Piegan Pass

The Jewel Basin's Mount Aeneas summit ridge

This billy tried to block the top of Mount Aeneas

The huckleberries really showed off on the Mount Aeneas Trail

Brilliant fall color spangled the Mount Aeneas Trail hillsides

Lots of hiking in this final week of Summer.

Katie was organizing and pushing.

I was along for the ride, testing my left foot and its large bunion and hammer toe, that will undergo surgery in November.

The surgery will put me out of commission for 16 weeks to a half year, if I understand my orthopedic surgeon.  Healing for a guy my age takes more time.   I deeply regret that I'll miss the backcountry ski season.

With any luck I may be able to put on snowshoes at the beginning of Spring, and do some moderate hiking when the weather melts the snow.

 We were delighted by a very short hike to see the waterfalls on Falls Creek, and were surprised by the early show of autumnal colors.

It look as though the parking area for Falls Creek is undergoing a major upgrade that may include some camping or picnic spots.  

Then, we took off for Glacier and a 9-mile, 2,000 feet elevation gain day hike to Piegan Pass.  I'm always stunned by the beauty at the pass with the Garden Wall thrusting its jagged points to the sky.  Coming down there are sweeping views of the glaciers around Mounts Jackson and Blackfoot.  Going up ---- Piegan glacier and its several waterfalls.  We saw two immense bighorn sheep.

Instead of going home, we headed for Swan Lake and a two night stay at the Laughing Horse Lodge, a favorite, quirky getaway.  We saddened to find out that the owner, Kathleen Moon, is saying this is her last year of serving meals and may do tapas and cocktails in the future.  She's ready to sell this charming place.

The next morning we traveled to the Jewel Basin, where we hit the Mount Aeneas trailhead for the 7-mile, 2,000 feet, climb of Mount Aeneas that looms above the many lakes in the basin below.  We were greeted by five mountain goats below the summit, a treat that climbers have experienced for many years.  Unfortunately, wildfire smoke obscured some of the views towards Flathead Lake, but Glacier and the Swan Range as well as Hungry Horse Reservoir, were hazy, but viewable.  The ground colors ---- spirea, huckleberry, red osier ---- were outstanding.

On the way home we took a stab at hiking the Cold Lake Trail in the Mission Mountains Wilderness, but only went up about a mile, tired from our multiple days of hiking.

The week was a superb ending to Summer. 

A week's worth in Glacier: Sperry and Belly River country

 

Katie at a Sperry Glacier remnant

Above Comeau Pass

We saw tons of mountain goats

At one of the tarns below Comeau Pass

Getting to the top of the pass was tricky

We had two special trips in Glacier Park designed by Katie:  two nights at Sperry Chalet and three days in the Belly River Valley on a backpack trip.

Both were magnificent trips.  We reached Sperry via the nearly 14 miles route from Jackson Overlook through Gunsight and Lincoln passes.  We used the Chief Mountain trailhead to reach Lake Elizabeth head and foot for overnight stays and a day hike to Helen Lake.

The highlight of the Sperry trip occurred on the second day when we hiked to Comeau Pass to  view the Sperry Glacier.

The highlight of the Belly trip was Helen Lake, something I had only seen from the Ptarmigan Traverse, high above, and the Helen Lake Overlook on the Highline Trail.

We dealt with heat and smoke on both trips, but both abated enough that the hikes were enjoyable.

I had visited Sperry about a half dozen times in the past and had stayed there only one time, in 1985, in the old chalet before it burned in 2017. In my younger years I had done the 20 miles through-hike from Jackson Overlook to Lake McDonald and don't remember much trouble with it.  This time, however, I barely made the chalet because I had so badly dehydrated in the withering heat.  Or maybe becaus

e I've aged significantly since my last try.  I had also been there on a climb of Mount Edwards with the Glacier Mountaineering Society.

The chalet has been beautifully rebuilt in its original style.   The stay there is expensive:  $222 per night, per person.  The food was plentiful, but not particularly delicious. 

The trail through Gunsight Pass looking down on Lake Ellen Wilson is a must-do as it flanks Mount Jackson and offers exceptional views of the many-striped and colorful Gunsight Mountain.

 But it is hard to beat the trail construction on the way up to Comeau Pass that culminates in a stairway cut into the rock headwall.

On top there are amazing views of the glacier, its remnants and mountains in all directions.

The 6-mile hike down 3,600 feet to Lake McDonald is through an old burn and not terribly interesting.

As usual in Montana we bumped into people we knew at the chalet:  Jake Bramante, the Glacier map maker and hiker who climbed Edwards the day we did Comeau;  the woman who runs the Granite Park Chalet, who remembered us, Kathie Larson Aasheim;  and a former colleague at the Great Falls Tribune, Kathy McLaughlin and her sister Beth.  Kathy went on to become a foreign correspondent in China.  Beth was Montana's Supreme Court administrator.

The Belly River ranger

The packs were oh, so heavy

Katie in Helen Lake below Ahern Glacier

We had a group of seven of us on the trip into the Belly.

 It seems as though the Belly has become a regular backpack destination. 

 Smoke obscured our views going into the Belly and a light rain coming out.

I had backpacked into Lake Elizabeth at least a half dozen times in the past 40 years, but had never gotten into Helen Lake.  There are tremendous views of Many Glacier's Mount Wilbur and Iceberg Peak and Ahern Pass.  We hiked just below the mighty Mount Merritt with its Old Sun Glacier and its many waterfalls , viewed Ipasha Glacier on the side of Mount Ipasha and saw Ahern Glacier emptying into Helen Lake.

I was particularly thrilled to see Merritt from this angle, a peak I had climbed from Mokowanis Junction more than  25 years ago and the famed, adjacent and unclimbed Lithoid Cusp shard. 

It was fun to pick out the high mountain goat trail that is the Ptarmigan Traverse high above us.

I was quite pleased I could still handle hikes and backpack trips like this at age 77.

The waterfall melt off Merritt Peak's Old Sun Glacier

 

Below Mount Merritt and Old Sun Glacier