Alternating hiking and ski trips (10 days worth)

 

Wayne Phillips above Holter Lake in Big Belt Mountains

Skiing along O'Brien Creek in Little Belt Mountains

Katie at Two Medicine Lake in Glacier

The past 10 days I've whipsawed between exceptional Winter and Spring backcountry hiking and ski  trips:

• A hike into Glacier Park's Two Medicine Lake after watching the migrating snow geese and tundra swans at Freezout Lake
• A quick day trip to Showdown Ski Area in the Little Belts to take advantage of the exceptional snow --- 18 inches of powder in a week --- to yo-yo telemark turns on empty mid-week runs
• An 11-mile backcountry ski trip in the Little Belts where we linked the 747 loop with the O'Brien Creek trail
• A loop hike in the Big Belt Mountains above Holter Lake from Juniper Bay to Log Gulch and back with a quick run up the high point

The snow geese have been exceptional at Freezout and we've taken five trips there to see the magnificent spectacle of them rising from the ponds and into the air.  There's hardly a better wildlife show in Montana than this annual spring migration event.

We were unsure just how far we could go on the Two Med Road and were delighted to find we could hike all the way to the lake.  The road was clear to Running Eagle (Trick) Falls, and icy and somewhat snow-covered to the lakes.  It is an 8-mile hike round trip.  We were joined by our friend Lauri Lintner of East Glacier Park, who bicycled against the wind to join us at the falls, where she stashed her bike and hiked with us to the lake. I was excited to see Two Med, closed off last year because of the Blackfeet/Park Service Covid closure.  I don't remember another year in my 48 years here when I haven't gone to Two Med, my favorite valley in Glacier Park. We bucked a really high wind to Trick Falls, which abated.  There was plentiful snow near the lake.  In normal years we ski to the lake.

The 11-mile 747-O'Brien loop was probably the best backcountry ski trip of the season.  I've never had better snow consistently throughout this ski. Because of Covid last year I didn't do the annual O'Brien Creek trip (because I wouldn't get in anyone else's car in this point-to-point).   Because I'm fully vaccinated, as is Gordon Whirry, who with Jasmine Krotkov accompanied me on this trip, Gordon and I could travel together.

The following day Wayne Phillips, 79, revived his Wednesday Wayne's Walks after a year's Covid break, and three of us did the Juniper-Log Gulch loop near Holter Lake in the Big Belt Mountains.  There was just a hint of snow on north facing slopes, a big contrast to what we found in the Little Belts.  It was terrific to be around a Wayne hiking group again after its hiatus. Besides dandelions the only wildflower we saw blooming was one biscuitroot.  The scenery in this area, above this Missouri River reservoir, adjacent to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area, Beartooth Game Range, and the Sleeping Giant mountain, is outstanding.  The hike is roughly 5-miles with more than 1,000 feet of elevation gained.