A nephew's visit: Glacier and Waterton, Katie to the Missions

The Mission Mountains Wilderness boundary sign, accompanying Katie on her backpack

Katie and her girlfriends at Crescent Lake in the Missions

The Donnie Kotynski family from Crown Point, IN.  From left: Caleb, Carson, Shannon, Sam, Donnie and A.J. Smith

I made it to Grinnell Glacier

Grinnell Lake is a breathtaking sight

 We had a wonderful visit from a Chicago-area nephew, his wife and four boys who experienced Montana and Alberta Rockies for the first time.

For us, the highlight of the trip was a hike to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier Park.

For them, they were on their own for the Waterton Crypt Lake hike.

The weather here has turned brutally hot, but the mountain air was a bit cooler and manageable.

It had been about 9 years since I had done Grinnell.

The trail had been opened only one day before we did our hike this year and waterfalls were spilling in all directions.  One came down directly over the trail, drenching us coming and going.

I don't know that I ever appreciated this Grinnell hike as much.

Glacier, as expected, was full of people and the trail to Grinnell was crowded, particularly when folks who took the Lake Josephine boat emptied for the shortened hike.

We hiked to and from the glacier from the Many Glacier hotel, more than 11 miles and 2,000 feet in elevation gain and loss.

We were lucky enough to draw permit.

We've found Two Medicine fills up and is closed early most days because the folks hoping to do Going to the Sun Highway from West Glacier don't have permits and opt from Two Med instead.

Many Glacier's crowds made the area feel frenzied.

By comparison, Waterton had a relaxed vibe, and we enjoyed the big lake, the lodge, and business district, Lake Linnett, and Red Rocks.

We stayed in nearby Mountain View at a bed and breakfast connected to the country store/gas station.

We had meals at Kilmorey Lodge and the Prince of Wales, which we found expensive.

We thoroughly enjoyed my nephew, his wife and children, who took to the mountains like they had lived here all their lives.

After a return to Great Falls, I took Katie to the Mission Mountains Wilderness Area, where she planned a backpack and friends.  I walked into Crescent Lake with them and turned around and came out.  That night I headed to Cut Bank, where my nephew was staying at a nice farm house/bed and breakfast in an isolated wheat field 12 miles out of town.

It was so pleasant there that I spent the night in  tent, enjoying the summer breezes, rather than sleeping in the house.

I think the family enjoyed the splendor of the prairie as much as the mountains, a fitting end to their trip.

 

Summer in full swing: Shasta, Garry Lookout, Alice Creek

Mount Shasta is the dominant visual

Katie at the Wilderness boundary

The Castle Crags

 It was great to see some new places, as was the case with our trip to California and Mount Shasta.

It was followed by a hike to the former Garry Lookout site near Essex adjacent to the Great Bear Wilderness with views into Glacier Park, and an ambitious nearly 14-mile loop on the Continental Divide Trail in the Alice Creek drainage near Lincoln.

Shasta, at over 14,000 feet seems so huge that it is hard to comprehend.

We visited Katie's brother, who has a cabin near Mount Shasta and hiked in the adjacent national forest including an exciting trip into the Castle Crags Wilderness Area, Cliff, Castle and Terrace lakes.

It was scaldingly hot with temperatures over 100 degrees.  On our drive there we experienced 117 degrees in Redding, CA.

The Crags, which I had never heard of,  was my favorite hike, climbing to the base of immense granite spires.  The trail was steep and challenging in spots.

I was surprised that there were so few hikers in this gorgeous area, although we encountered larger numbers at both Castle and Cliff lakes over this 4th of July holiday.

The outdoor recreation at Shasta is limitless.

I would have enjoyed climbing the big mountain some 20 years ago when my fitness and balance were better.

I was amused by all the "spiritual" attributes ascribed to this area, particularly the Lemurians, who believe there was a city inside the mountain with a special race of people.  Crystals are the thing here with many shops touting their healing.

I came looking for Bitterroot and found them

Silky Phaecilia was everywhere on Green Mountain

A look back at the ridge I walked

Lodgepole is coming back from a devastating fire

Alice Creek loop with Green Mountain

 I've done this 11 mile loop at Alice Creek near Lincoln numerous times and have written about it.

What made my latest trip different was that I added a climb of nearby Mount Green on the Continental Divide Trail.

Besides climbing the mountain I was hoping to find bitterroot flowers and I wasn't disappointed, spying a patch about 100 feet below the peak in the red shale that had been "rototilled" by grizzlies.

When I got back down to Lewis and Clark Pass I decided I was still fresh enough to do the Alice Creek Loop that included Red Mountain and a walk across a long shelf of limestone.

The flowers this year are unexceptional except for blooms below Green Mountain that included an array of purple and lavender Townsendia, and Silky Phaecilia.

It was a hot and somewhat hazy day, but I had enjoyable solo stroll of nearly 14 miles and an elevation gain of more than 4,100 feet.

The view into Glacier from the Garry Lookout

Garry Lookout looking into Glacier

This is a 3.6 mile climb to the site of the former Garry Lookout just east of U.S. 2 mile post 168.

This hike was an after-thought on our way back from Kalispell, where we had caught a flight to Santa Rosa for our Shasta trip.

The only thing left of the lookout are the footings.

However, the views into Glacier from just below those footings are remarkable.

The trailhead is unmarked and there is a gate across it. It is a 900 feet gain in deep forest. The wildflowers were quite beautiful.

We had a black bear encounter on our way back to the car.  I thought it was a big, black dog at first and it was bold.  But after we shouted and clapped it worked its way uphill for a better view of us.  No sweat. 

                              

A CDT section hike: Rogers to Flesher

Many dead trees litter this section of the CDT

A grizzly's calling card.  We saw seven piles along the way

The late alpine flower bloom --- Forget-Me-Nots

We were blown away by a vast Forget-Me-Not bloom

The scenic marker of our CDT section

 Many of the section hikes along the Continental Divide Trail are worth repeating.

Such was the case Wednesday when we hiked from Flesher Pass to Rogers Pass, a jaunt of 13.5 miles with elevation gain in excess of 3,000 feet.

I've also skied this section twice.

It is a particularly nice hike in the late Spring and early Summer as the alpine flowers emerge.

I'm used to visiting the Rogers Pass area to see the flowers in late May and early June.  There they peak the first week of June.

So I was blown away by the display of blue Forget-Me-Nots and Jacob's Ladder blooms about half-way into our hike on a very steep hillside where there is a transition from forest to open slope.  This section is sort of scary as a misstep would send a hiker down precipitously.  I can't imagine how we did this on skis.

Tons of trees have died and collapsed on the trail between Flesher and this point.  We scrambled around a half-dozen in the trail.

While Forget-Me-Nots dominated this section, every quarter mile or so, a different alpine flower, like the Jacob's Ladder or Silky Phacelia would dominate.

Also in the trail at seven different points was sizeable grizzly scat.  There is a bear(s) frequenting this section of the CDT.  They had been digging for roots here, too.

We were disappointed that we didn't see any bitterroot, which we know is blooming now elsewhere, nor had the beargrass begun, although we saw some nubbins near the Rogers Pass trailhead.

To the west, Red Mountain, at 9,411 feet, the highest point in the Bob Marshall-Scapegoat wilderness complex provided a scenic backdrop.  I noted that most of the snow had already been stripped away, so it is climbable. 

I had expected to see other CDT hikers, but there were none.  We encountered a horseback party near Anaconda Hills from Wolf Creek's Blacktail Ranch of four who said they were doing a loop ride.

The skies were hazy and clouded up later in the day and the temperature heated up, but not as high as the 90 degrees in Great Falls.

We could see a small fire smoking near Lincoln to the south, but otherwise we were rewarded with great views of mountain ranges and buttes in all directions.

Annual Patrol Mountain climb

A glorious ridge walk to the top (Gordon Whirry photo)

Samsara Chapman at the lookout helm for the 27th year

We crossed a cold Straight Creek coming and going

The Patrol Mountain Lookout was framed in snow

Gordon Whirry in a field of buttercups in Honeymoon Basin

 Summer really begins after I've climbed Patrol Mountain in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and visited with ranger Samsara Chapman, now in her 27th year on fire duty.

I accomplished that Sunday on a blazing hot day in Great Falls with temperatures in the mid-70s at the lookout.

My goal is to climb the mountain through my 80th birthday, so I'll make four more annual trips on this 12+ miles, 3,600 feet gain and loss trek.

As usual, Samsara was a gracious hostess, and this year I really needed it because I neglected my electrolytes and crashed about midway up the mountain.  I've never considered the peak, which I've been climbing annually since 1982, particularly difficult, but this year I could barely make it up the final 1,000 feet to the top because of exhaustion.

After surveying me, Sam prescribed and fixed me a tall electrolyte drink which did a great job reviving me.  The trip down was a breeze, figuratively and literally.

Once my head cleared, Sam gave me and Gordon Whirry and tour of the blooming alpine flowers blooming around her wilderness perch.

She expects fire this summer as most snow is gone early.

The 360 views from the lookout are world class with the Scapegoat plateau and with the the high mountains of the Rocky Mountain Fron to the east and north and the Swan Range in the distance to the west.

The high pass just below the lookout is a multi-colored display case which reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream with its stripes and layers.

The only disappointment of the day was a less than stellar floral display.  The flowers du jour were globe flowers, columbine, buttercups, and sprinkles of lupine.

The day previous, Katie and I went to Paine Gulch in the Little Belts just outside Monarch and enjoyed a great bloom of Lady Slippers orchids.  On Saturday we did a leisurely  8.5 mile walk around Two Medicine Lake in Glacier Park.

Lady Slipper orchids in the Little Belts

My favorite late spring flower:  Camas in Badger Two Med

A couple of rascally hoary marmots in Glacier

One of the many moods of Glacier near Rising Wolf Mountain

All about flowers: Pioneer Ridge loop, Rogers Pass flowers, Mount Wright, Swan Lake, Kings Hill columbine and Highwoods Center Ridge

 

My daughter, Leila, on Center Ridge in Highwoods

A Calypso bouquet in the Little Belts

Camas in bloom at Rogers Pass

Jones Columbine on Kings Hill

Leila and Katie coming off CDT at Rogers Pass

Gordon Whirry atop Mount Wright with "Bob" behind him

Lots of late Spring activity to report.

Gordon Whirry and I did our annual Mount Wright climb.  In spite of downed trees I did the Pioneer Ridge loop in the Little Belts and returned to find Jones columbine on Kings Hill there.  Katie and I joined friends at the Laughing Horse Lodge at Swan Lake and did a hike to Holland Lake Falls.  And, there were several trips to Rogers Pass to view the alpine flowers and chocolate lilies. 

My daughter, Leila, joined us for Father's Day at Rogers, Kings Hill, and the Highwoods Center Ridge walk.

This is a magical time to hike in northcentral Montana's many mountainous areas.

We encountered enough snow on the Mount Wright trail that we had to skirt the trail and scramble to a ridge top to climb that peak.  The views from the top never disappoint, offering 360 views across the Bob Marshall and into Glacier Park and out on the Great Plains to the Sweetgrass Hills.

It's our great fortune to live so close to the Continental Divide Trail, and at Rogers Pass the alpine flowers emerged early this year.  We've enjoyed the progression of new, emerging alpine flowers on our repeated trips.  Beargrass is starting to emerge and should be in full display within a week or two.

Marking 20 years of "Out There With Tom": Mount Brown in Sweetgrass Hills

 

Mount Brown, tallest mountain in East Butte region of Sweetgrass Hills

Coming off Mount Brown was easier by taking the snow ridge down

At the Mount Brown summit with our Canadian hiking companions

In the Devil's Chimney cave

Me, coming out of the cave

This post marks 20 years of my "Out There With Tom," blog.

This blog has chronicled more than 1,000 hiking and climbing trips over those years.  I'm now 76 years old and not as energetic or steady on my feet as I was when I started writing this.

But the past 20 years have brought me endless joy and adventure in Montana's mountains that I've shared with my readers.

The first post was a Glacier Mountaineering Society climb of Singleshot Mountain in the St. Mary's Valley.

Today's post is Mount Brown in the East Butte section of the the Sweetgrass Hills.

I've done this mountain at least three times.  It includes a fun side trip along the route to the Devil's Chimney, a limestone cave that features a sunlight hole at its top, near a historic iron mine.

At 6,958 feet, it is the high point in East Butte, an area reached from Chester, the Liberty County seat.  It is about 35 feet lower than West Butte, at 6,983 feet, the highest point in this Island Mountain Range just south of the Alberta border.

Mount Brown's summit is unexceptional for its lack of views in a densely tree-covered top.

Most of the ridge line to the top from a saddle between it and the more scenic Mount Royal, was still snow-covered.  So most of our group dropped to an elk trail on the mountain's west face just below the ridge-line.

We came back to the saddle on top that snow.

The ridge is littered with blowdown trees that are easy to walk around.

Our hike began on the standard route through a gate and across private land (we got permission) to a faint trail on the east side of the mountains that had once been a jeep route to the iron mine.

We had wonderful views of nearby Mount Lebanon and Mount Royal through most of our trip.  From the saddle between Royal and Brown we could see the Rocky Mountain Front, Glacier Park, Waterton and the southern Canadian Rockies, Alberta's Milk River country, and the other Sweetgrass Hills, Gold and West Buttes.

There were elk signs everywhere, and the local ranchers warned us of bears.

There were wildflowers in abundance with bright, tall, deeply magenta-colored shooting stars most prominent.  We didn't see alpine flowers like forget me nots, Douglasia or Draba, though.

The Hills had been hard hit with drought the past seven years, the local ranchers told us, but they were smiling with considerable rain and snow this spring.  It was green everywhere.

The Hills are sacred to the Blackfeet Indians, and we saw evidence of that by the many prayer flags along the way.

Our route covered 11 miles with an elevation gain and loss of 3,200 feet.

The toughest part of the trip was trail finding.  There were portions where the trees had been damaged, many split in half, by recent snow and winds.  The most severe uphill was from the Devil's Chimney area to the Royal-Brown saddle.

Of the Sweetgrass Hills, this East Butte section is the most lush.

 

Alpine flowers spectacle at Rogers Pass

 

The Forget Me Nots and Yellowstone Draba remind me of the Ukrainian flag

Gordon Whirry approaching the top of Rodgers Peak

Bagging Rittel Peak

The pink Douglasia climbing the hill

Great Falls folks don't appreciate or really know that they have a world class hiking trail just an hour's drive away.

We confirmed that Tuesday on a walk to the east from Rogers Pass along the Continental Pass to Rittel Peak (elevation: 6,939 feet).

Not only is hiking spectacular along the Continental Divide, but the alpine flowers, the pink Douglasia, the yellow Yellowstone Draba and the blue Forget-Me-Not, put on quite a show.

I wonder if Global Warming had anything to do with it, but this show seems early.

In years past I've recommended seeing the alpine bloom around Father's Day.

This floral display was highlighted by dapplings of snow that enhanced the alpine scenery.

As usual, this stretch of trail (we went out 4 miles south along this spine), was nearly empty.

Early on, we saw two hikers and a dog in front of us, but they must have turned  back.

That was it.

We also climbed Rodgers Peak (elevation: 7,002 feet).

These past eight days have been a great tuneup for hiking season.  I did the Spring Gulch into the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness twice, and this hike.  All were about 8.3 miles and 2,600 feet in elevation gain and loss.

Spring is here and lots of hikes: Indian Head, Sentinel, Missoula Waterworks, Rogers Pass, Cochrane Dam, Spring Gulch in Gates

In the Gates of the Mountains descending to Colter Campground

On top of Mount Sentinel above the city of Missoula a wind sailor readies his craft

An alpine bouquet atop Rogers Pass on the Continental Divide Trail

Thank God I startled a big bull snake, not a rattler on my hike to Cochrane Dam

 I haven't been posting, but I've been plenty busy hiking as Spring settles in.

The weather has been pretty mild, with the exception of snowstorms in the mountains, one of which knocked down lots of trees in the Belt Creek Canyon between Monarch and Neihart.

Over the past three weeks I've hiked Indian Head Rock in the Front where we saw tons of early alpine flowers, two Missoula trips to do Mount Sentinel and the Waterworks Trail, Rogers Pass for more alpine flowers, a hike out to Cochrane Dam, and my favorite, the Spring Creek Trail in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area.

It seems as though the alpine flowers are ahead of schedule.  We've seen Yellowstone draba, Douglasia, and Forget-Me-Nots, weeks ahead of schedule.  The ticks have been out on schedule, though, and I got a good bite on my lower right side above my hip.

I was pleased I could still climb up Mount Sentinel's 1,930 feet in just under an hour, several minutes faster than last year's annual climb.

It had been nearly 25 years since I had done the Spring Gulch hike in the Gates. Then, it was memorable not only for the scenery but because it was the first time I had used hiking poles.  Our 8.3 miles trip yesterday from the gulch to the Colter Campground on the Missouri and back was spectacular for the rugged limestone cliffs and numerous wildflowers.  I reconnected on that hike with the Helena Outdoor Club, which I had hiked with on and off again going back some 50 years!  I never hike without hiking poles now.

I am working very hard to get this 76-year-old body in shape for several backpack trips this summer, and if these hikes are an indicator, it looks as though I'll probably be able to do them.  

Willow Creek/Fairview Mountain is one of my favorite hikes on the Front.  The lack of snow there is scary.  On our April 24 hike, we could have climbed a clear Fairview Mountain had we wanted.

The Missoula Waterworks Trail was new to me. It is a high ridge that sits above Rattlesnake Creek with great views of the Rattlesnake Wilderness.

On the way home we stopped at Rogers Pass and climbed to the ridge to the west along the Continental Divide and were richly rewarded with early alpine flowers.  Likewise, the ridge to the east leading up to Rodgers Peak is clear.

We took a short day hike to the top of Indian Head Rock in the Front with friend Laurie Lintner and were delighted with early alpine flowers, but unsettled by the lack of snow.

I've been frequenting the South Shore of the River's Edge Trail and for the first time in about five years did the Cochrane Dam 7-miler, enjoying prairie wildflowers and below me a high Missouri River, swollen with snow melt.

Hitting the ground running: Trout Creek Canyon, Willow Creek Falls, Calgary, Head Smashed In

Walking the Willow Creek Falls Trail

The early Pasque flowers

Calgary's new Central Library's futuristic design

Calgary's powerful skyline

The Stephen Avenue walking mall in Downtown Calgary 

 We've been back from the UK and Ireland just a week and in that time we've been moving quickly.

We went for a look at the Trout Creek Canyon near York for the kelsea (a failure), a hike to the Willow Creek Falls on the Front (a great success), off to Calgary for a birthday celebration at the opera (failure), a visit to the spectacular library, and a play (both successes) and our first visit to Alberta's Head Smashed In buffalo jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (a great success). 

It would be hard to beat Willow Creek.  While it appeared to have a lot of snow, it didn't and we could proceed to the Red Hill, which we ascended several hundred feet.  Along the way we were treated to an early show of alpine wildflowers:  Pasque, Douglasia, Yellowstone Draba, buttercups, and even Glacier lilies.  The Front appears to have scant snowpack this time of year portending potential fire danger this summer.

We failed to find kelsea in bloom at Trout Creek, although it was greening up.  Nonetheless, the trip there is always rewarding with a trail that wends its way through steep limestone walls.

We've so enjoyed our local buffalo jump, the First Peoples Buffalo Jump near Ulm, that we detoured on the way back from Calgary to see the Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, which is much more developed and highly preserved.  The jump center hikes up four floors of stairs to the top of the site, which draws views of Glacier, Waterton and the Canadian Rockies in the distance.  The walk down through the center is past highly developed exhibits explaining the buffalo jump and the centrality of the bison to the native culture. Our First People's site is the largest buffalo jump in the world, according to Wikipedia.  Why wouldn't it rate a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation as well.  Katie and I thought we'd bring up the topic with local tourism officials.

Covid had erased our regular visits to Calgary these past four years, so it was great to be back.

It was my 76th birthday present and included tickets to the Calgary Opera Company's presentation of Wagner's Ring Cycle prelude:  Das Rheingold.  I had been thrilled by a Chicago Lyric Opera production about 10 years ago.  I wasn't so thrilled this year. What ruined it for me was the set.  The orchestra performed on stage, and much of the action --- the Rhein Maidens, the Niebelungen --- performed in the orchestra pit which was almost impossible to view.  Calgary's Jubilee Auditorium is not a particularly great place for views to begin with.  The costuming was Star Wars knockoff, and digital light backdrops, cartoonish in nature, turned me off.  The orchestra and singers performed well, but I was far too distracted by the set and costuming to enjoy the show.

The trip was redeemed by the next day that included a visit to Calgary's new(2018)  $245 million Central Public Library, a visit to the Mountain Equipment Coop store, and an original Calgary play at Theatre Calgary of the life of American sculptress Selma Burke, which was quite good.  Burke did a sculpture of FDR that was used on the U.S. dime.

At nearly 2 million people, Calgary is growing rapidly.  My first visit was exactly 50 years ago and the population then was 443,000.   That's a growth of almost 5 times!   Driving to our hotel at the airport we were in four to eight lanes of traffic.  The Deerfoot Trail was packed any time of day or night we got on it.  I was totally intimidated.  

Luckily, the city's amenities make up for its congestion.  We enjoyed our time on the walking mall, and a chance to sample many kinds of ethnic foods.  Most impressive is the variety of the city's skyscrapers, and public buildings.  The library was a prime example. The buildings now dwarf the Calgary Tower, which when I first visited, was the tallest building in downtown Calgary.  The city is down right beautiful architecturally.

My intimidation will probably reduce the frequency of my visits in the future.

The Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump center near Fort McLeod, Alberta

At the buffalo jump.  This will have to serve as my 76th birthday official photo

The buffalo jump terrain