Firebrand in Fall: Let me walk in glory

 

The Lake Creek aspen show on the Looking Glass Road

Bold Ptarmigan didn't move when we hiked by

My favorite section of the Firebrand Pass trail

A sharp eye will spot the larch in golden color behind Summit Mountain

Peak 8888 dominates the horizon from Firebrand Pass

Mountain Ash tree is a blaze of color

Gordon Whirry enjoying the explosion of color on Firebrand trail

A wall of brilliant aspen

My headline is from an old Indian prayer to the Great Spirit, "Let me walk in glory," extolling the wonders of nature.

We walked in full Fall glory Oct. 3 on our annual autumn trip to Firebrand Pass in Glacier Park.

It's a relatively easy 10 mile, 2,000 feet trip to an out of the way spot on the southeastern edge of the park, entered across a railroad track and a barbed wire gate at a place called False Summit, about 7 miles from the park.

We time this hike for the last couple of days of September or the first couple of days of October when the fall colors on the east side of the park are at their peak.  That means the copious aspen groves and ground cover, especially the huckleberries are bursting with golden leaves and scarlet foliage. 

I love this hike any time of the year, but fall is when it is at its best.

It also has the advantage of being off the park's beaten path, but increasingly we're finding more and more people on this trail.  A portion of the trail is part of the Continental Divide Trail, but ultimately climbs to the divide above Ole Creek, which empties into the Middle Fork of the Flathead at Essex.

Red Crow Mountain is an easy climb from the pass via climbers' trails  Calf Robe is accessible via ridges from the trail at various aspects.

Along the way we got great views to the south of the spectacular aspen groves aglow in the Badger Two Medicine area in the Helena Lewis and Clark National Forest.

To change this up when we reached the flat below the pass we opted for the old, abandoned trail to the pass, which goes straight up the gut, rather than the new trail that hangs to the south high above steep scree fields.  We found the old route still passable, although some trees had grown over the path, easy to skirt.  We took the high trail back down.

On the return trip the sun had hit the aspen groves, lighting them up even more than in the morning.

At the pass itself we were treated to fully illuminated golden larch trees beneath Summit peak.  It will be a couple of weeks yet before we return to the Middle Fork country to enjoy the Fall larch show.

As an aside, I continue to marvel at the number of women and women's groups that do this Fall hike.  There was just Gordon and me and one other man, and 18 women in five different groups.  All were from the Whitefish/Kalispell area who misidentified themselves as being from, "here."  We set them straight that they were from the West side, and we, being from Great Falls, were "here" on the East side of the mountains.