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?