Navigating a late May heat wave: Skidway, Swift (again), Highwoods, Kings Hill

Arrowleaf Balsalmroot on Center Ridge in the Highwoods

Swift Reservoir with Badger-Two Med mountains, the Poia complex, in the background

Lady Slippers along Swift Reservoir

Jones Columbine in the Little Belt Mountains

 If there is any clearer marker for climate change than what we experienced at the end of May, I'd like to know about it.

On Saturday (May 31) we had temperatures on the Rocky Mountain Front as high as 95 degrees!  That was after days of heat in Great Falls and in the mountains.

In year past there were a couple of rules we followed strictly:  don't put in your garden before May 31 (Memorial Day weekend), and keep your skis handy for a Memorial Day snowstorm.

I don't do gardens anymore and I put my skis up three weeks ago.

Since then I've been dealing with the heat and the ticks as I've enjoyed what seems like mid-summer hiking.

We've been on the hunt for wildflowers at Skidway in the Grassy Mountain area between White Sulphur and Townsend, enjoyed the balsamroot bloom in the Highwoods, checked out the calypso orchids in the Little Belts, took a second hike along Swift Reservoir near Dupuyer on the Front (Lady Slippers), and got an eyeful of bright blue/purple Jones Columbine in the Little Belts (I've never seen so many!).

I particularly enjoyed the Highwoods and Swift Dam hikes.

The Highwoods, because the grasses were so bright green and the balsamroots were so bright yellow and the sky so bright blue.

Swift Dam because the lake was an unearthly bright turquoise.

 

 

Have I been commuting to Rogers Pass?

The blue Forget-Me-Not, yellow Yellowstone Draba and pink Douglasia

A rest along the CDT ridgeline

Red Mountain, the Scapegoat Wilderness Area's highest peak, was showing off

The red shale of Rodgers Peak was eye-popping

 It sure seems as though I've been on a commute to Rogers Pass and the Continental Divide Trail these past two weeks.

There have been four trips there to see the early alpine flower bloom as the dominate flower has passed from pink Douglasia to the blue of Forget-Me-Nots.  The yellow Yellowstone draba have been a constant. It used to be that we waited until nearly Father's Day for such a show.

Usually we see our best display on the west side of Rogers (up from the staircase).  But this year the display be even better on the east side as the prolific blue flowers stand out against the brilliant red shale outcroppings heading along the CDT toward Flesher.

The trail is more carpeted in these miniatures than I can remember this early.

 Despite the dryness, the monarch of the west ---- Red Mountain (9,411 feet) is loaded with snow.

I found the ridge leading to Rodgers Peak inviting enough to go up one hike and down another.

Lady bugs are out on the top of Rodgers, and so are the ticks.  I'm nursing a fairly substantial tick bite at the moment. 

Katie led a Montana Wild group of 14 up Rodgers Peak that I joined, and really enjoyed the thrill they experienced seeing the alpine flowers.

We liked it so much we went up a second day in a row with friends Dave and Sandi Ashley from Helena.  On the west side the wildflowers sent up a strong, sweet smell.

If you've got to be stuck in a rut, the Rogers Pass you can't go wrong with the alpine wildflowers bloom.

The CDT flowers have me so agog I nearly forgot to mention our trip to the Pioneer Ridge in the Little Belts where the Calypso orchids are in bloom.

 

The Calypso orchids were in bloom in the Little Belts

 

The mountains are ablooming: Swift Dam, Highwoods, Mount Sentinel

Swift Reservoir looking toward the North Fork Birch Creek valley

We were surprised to find orange paintbrush

Lots of Forget-Me-Nots at Swift

We've been busy enjoying the wildflowers that are blooming everywhere in the mountains.

In the past week we've been to Swift Dam's Hurricane Ridge, the Highwood Mountains Center Ridge, and I've done my annual climb of Missoula's Mount Sentinel.

We're already seeing blooms that appear to be several weeks ahead of schedule, like Forget-Me-Nots, which we saw in clusters at Swift Dam.  

I did a marathon car trip to climb Sentinel, covering nearly 600 miles by taking in the Missions, the east shore of Flathead Lake, the southern end of Glacier Park enroute home via the Front.  I had many stops along the way, including the National Bison Range, Findley Point on Flathead Lake, and the waterfall on HIghway 2 pouring out of the Great Bear into Bear Creek.

The scenery along Flathead Lake, with snowcap mountains, blooming cherry trees and lake vistas was stunning.  The wealthy developments in that area are also stunning, but in a bad way. 

Missoula is bursting at the seams with development, but Mount Sentinel is as beautiful and challenging as ever.  I made it to the top in 61 minutes, which felt very satisfying.  I think it was my best time in several years.  It didn't seem that difficult, either.

Wayne Phillips on Center Ridge in Highwoods

Wayne Phillips joined me trip to Center Ridge in the Highwoods where we counted 17 varieties of wildflowers.  We were both surprised to see the Arrowleaf Balsamroots dotting the hillsides.  I found them in full bloom on Sentinel as well.  

Finally, Katie and I went wildflower hunting at Swift Reservoir west of Dupuyer and counted 34 different kinds of wildflowers.  The aqua color of the reservoir was beautiful against the snow-covered peaks of the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Badger-Two Medicine. 

The Bear Creek waterfall spilling out of the wilderness

The Mission Mountains near Polson showing off

 

Two Med, Rogers Pass, Trout Creek, Pioneer Ridge snow and alpine flowers

 Katie's hat color matches the profusion of Douglasia alpine flowers on the CDT above Rogers Pass

 

 

 

 

The Kelsia bloom at Trout Creek

Above the Two Med campground in Glacier

 

 We've been making the rounds of favorite early Spring hiking spots:  Two Med in Glacier, Rogers Pass on the Continental Divide, Trout Creek near York, and Pioneer Ridge in the Little Belts.

We're finding earlier than usual alpine flowers while the snow levels vary according to location.

The Front is unusually dry, portending a summer fire season.  Glacier has snow, but not as much as we expected:  Two Med Lake is pretty much thawed.  There looks to be pretty good snow in the Island Ranges.

We were particularly surprised by all the alpine flowers already out on Rogers Pass:  glacier lilies, pink Douglasia in profusion, Yellowstone draba, fritilary, shooting stars,buttercups, Pasque flowers, kittentails, spring beauties, prairie smoke.  We wondered if the trails would be cleared this year as we ducked under deadfall and in light of the Trump/Musk budget cuts to the Forest Service.

In the Little Belts we saw Balsamroot Arrow Leafs emerging, and the hillsides near Belt covered with them.  We were surprised by a cluster of bluebelles on the Pioneer Ridge.

We saw only smatterings of the pink kelsea, hanging from limestone perches,  at Trout Creek.

At Two Med we hiked up a little more than a mile on each side of the lake in intermittent and in places, deep snow.  We also crested a hill behind the campground covered in alpine flowers, which offered stunning panoramic views of the Two Med valley.

I'm not planning to return to Glacier during the height of the tourist season, with the exception of a trip to Sperry Chalet and a backpack into the Belly.  Two Med is out of the question. With the construction congestion at Many Glacier and entrance restrictions at West Glacier, we expect significant traffic at Two Med that will make that venue unpleasant.

Many Glacier in Springtime glory; Shaw Butte's big toe

 

Some bighorn ewes we encountered

This will have to do for my 77th birthday photo on Lake Josephine

We were lucky to encounter a mother moose and yearling grazing near the roadway

Looking out across Swiftcurrent Lake toward Grinnell Point

During the height. of tourist season Glacier National Park has become a congested nightmare.

The worst nightmare is the Many Glacier valley.

Luckily for us, we were able to visit Many Glacier when the road opened this week, and there was no one around except the wild animals, the bighorn sheep, and moose particularly.

Many Glacier will offer only limited access this summer as the Swiftcurrent Inn parking area is being expanded to accommodate more visitors.  The restaurant won't open.  Even getting into the Many Glacier area to hike will be difficult.  Only visitors with passes or who are staying at the Many Glacier Hotel will be able to drive that far.  Others will be bused in, only as far as the hotel.

That means having to walk from the hotel to the key trailheads like Iceberg Lake/Ptarmigan Tunnel, the Swiftcurrent Valley, Grinnell Lake.  In some instances it will add miles to the hikes.

The congestion at the entrance gate promises to be monumental.

That's why we seized on a beautiful spring day to jump the line and drive into Many with no permit.

In spite of some substantial snow on the trails we were able to hike around Swiftcurrent Lake to Lake Josephine, where we got stunning views of Mount Gould. 

We bumped into maybe a dozen hikers during the time we were there.

The access will tighten down to buses without permits July 1.

Go now if you want to avoid chaos.

 

Shaw Butte:  walking up the big toe

Square Butte to the east offered an exceptional view

Walking the craggy ridge toward the Big Toe

The Big Toe in front of us

The view from below

A day before our Glacier trip we visited Shaw Butte outside Fort Shaw.

 

This is the low lying butte located between massive Square Butte and Crown Butte to the west.

 

It begins at a Hutterite colony at the foot of the butte where we found igneous outcroppings.

 

We walked to the top of the butte where there is communications towers and buildings but impressive 360 views of the mountain ranges and prairies.  The snow-covered Rocky Mountain Front was most impressive.

 

This was generally the same hike we took several years ago.

 

We descended to a long, craggy ridgeline that led us to a prominence I like to refer to as Shaw Butte's "big toe," and climbed it, looking down on the Hutterite gravel pit and many industrial-farm operations below.

 

There were scatterings to wildflowers:  yellow bells (fritilary), shooting stars, phlox, and violets.

To avoid the ridgeline's crags, I walked in a precarious game trail below them, while Mark Hertenstein and Gordon Whirry, worked their way through them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting the birthplace of democracy as ours is being dismantled

The night time view from our hotel

The Rio-Antirrio bridge, an engineering marvel connecting mainland Greece to the Peloponnese

Katie and I at a Hydra Island high point monastery site overlooking Greek isles

We were fortunate enough to enjoy lots of spring flowers in bloom

The Parthenon view from our hotel restaurant as the sun rose during breakfast

 We've just finished a three week trip to Greece (March 27-April 16), which included six days in Athens, the birthplace of democracy.

Despite the hordes of tourists, the ancient monuments  were a refresher course in history.

For two weeks we traveled with a group that included Australians, Canadians, Filipinos and Chinese.  They all expressed their horror at what's happening to democracy in the U.S. 

There were daily checks by all of their bank accounts being hammered by President Trump's tariffs.

All of the foreigners said that travel to the U.S. is now out of the question, a combination of the President's actions and fear of widespread the prevalence of gun ownership.

I put that aside to immerse myself in a primer on the development of Greek culture while visiting where the Mycenians, Minoans, and Cretans developed western civilization over 7,000 years ago.

We caught a glimpse of Mount Olympus on a gloomy, drizzly day.  We hiked to the Delphi Oracle site and, of course, the Acropolis in Athens.

Greece revealed itself not only as a historic place, but a scenic one as well.

Many of our friends have cruised the Greek isles.

We traveled inland on land, but hugged the scenic coast lines as well.  It is a ruggedly mountainous country.

The Oracle of Delphi

Five of our city stops were outstanding:  Athens, Thessalonika, Naphlia, and Hericleum and Chania on the Isle of Crete.  We also took a boat to the Isle of Hydra, where we climbed to within 300 feet of its highest mountain. 

The city of Thessalonika, Greece's second largest, impressed me the most for its location near where Albania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia meet.  It is a modern, seacoast city with great museums and scenery.

Athens is full of antiquities everywhere you turn, but it is a city overrun with vehicles that present a constant hazard.  Houses are built on top of each other, even atop and into ancient walls.  There's no such thing as a yard and boulevard trees are scarce.

We found very affordable lodging at the Acropolis View Hotel, a 10-minute walk from the Acropolis and Parthenon.  It served a wonderful breakfast included in the cost of the room, and stunning views of the nearby Acropolis.  The staff was friendly and beyond helpful.  I highly recommend this hotel. 

My wife, Katie, did a daily blog of the trip which I offer here:  whereiskatie.weebly.com

I found that my knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet was somewhat helpful in reading Greek signage as it shares some of the letters of the Greek alphabet.

It's all Greek to me

Katie climbing the 1,000 stairs to fortress atop Naphlia

The Naphlia fortress/prison

Greece felt like a country heavily influenced by its proximity to Turkey.  The Islamic, Roman and Byzantine architecture revealed its dominance by those cultures.

I was fascinated with the numerous Greek Orthodox monasteries, some built off the grid on high mountain or precipitous locations.  We reached one on a trek on the island of Hydra.

The orthodox churches were resplendent with colorful icons that reminded me that Greece is not entirely a western country, although it belongs to the European Union.

The country is rightly proud of its olive production, only second to Spain, and the trees were everywhere.  We toured an olive oil factory as well as a winery and a honey farm.

One of our most interesting stops was to a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Vergina where Macedonian King Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, is buried in a museum built under an earthen mound.

I was unaware that Athens was not the original selection for the capital of modern Greece.  We spent two nights in Naphlia, a coastal city with an island fortress and a massive prison towering over this ancient city. We hiked up to this castle, covering more than 1,000 marble steps for lofty views.

We flew from Athens to the large island of Crete, the southern-most part of Europe, where we spent four nights, two each in Heraklion and Chania.  Chania was the most beautiful city on our trip.  When I was told the mountains there were in the 8,000 feet range, I didn't think much of it.  That is an average elevation mountain on the Rocky Mountain Front.  But when I finally saw these snow-draped peaks, called the White Mountains towering over the sea, I realized that they were 8,000 feet above that nearby sea.  Our Front mountains rise a mere 2,000-4,000 feet above the Great Plains.

Greece is a cat-tolerant nation.  I've never seen so many feral cats wandering around on the islands as well as the mainland.

Each European trip deepens my distaste for the tourist model that has been developed:  getting the tourists into areas to buy stuff and eat expensive meals. It's particularly bad for cruises, where tourists coming off immense ships hit land and immediately are swamped by a wall of trinket sellers.

Give me the small towns and their markets for an authentic experience. 

Food?  A bit of a disappointment.  A Greek salad is a thing with tomatoes we'll never see in the U.S.  However, so much of the diet is meat, fish and cheese, that I hungered for a vegetable stir fry or tofu.  We found good pizza and in Athens a top notch Indian eatery.  The street food was passable, with the falafel gyros the best. Baklava ---- top notch. 

We saw and experienced so much on this trip that it will take some time before I've digested it all.

Greece is a great destination.  

We found antiquities everywhere, raising the questions for me as to where did they find so many artisans, and who and how were the massive temples constructed.

Some impressive sculptures from a museum in Athens:

 

 

Stunning Spring scenery in Wagner Basin

A day of breath taking, including scenery (Katie Kotynski photo)

It was an uphill battle of nearly 2,000 feet

The pink Douglasia with the yellow Yellowstone Draba alpine flowers

Sawtooth Mountain across the valley

A nice bighorn ram

 An annual early Spring hike in the Wagner Basin of the Rocky Mountain Front has become a satisfying tradition.

By the middle of April the first of the alpine flowers are out, things are starting to green up and the bighorn sheep invariably show themselves.

And, oh yes, the ticks are out.

The hike starts off Hannan Gulch off the Sun River below Gibson Dam on the southern flank of Castle Reef Mountain

It's strictly social trails, out and back.  

There are the usual sights:  the pictographs, the skull tree, beaver dams in the swamp.

This is an approach used by Castle Reef  mountain climbers.

Katie put together a group of 12 hikers and everyone made it to the top of the high ridge to the east of the basin, covering nearly 5 miles and 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

We saw several bands of bighorn ewes, a little one, and a full curl ram.

The alpine flowers were a delight, particularly fields of magenta Douglasia.  It was the day before Easter and we were treated to the white Easter flowers, saw a couple patches of purple Pasque flowers, several yellow bells (fritilary), shooting stars, Yellowstone draba, white phlox, prairie smoke, Oregon grape.

The high mountains, like Sawtooth were snow capped, but the south face of Castle Reef was snow free.

This is a lightly used area, but we saw at least three other hiking parties.  I think one of them was headed up to climb Castle Reef. 

Winter ends with ski to Mizpah and hike to Cochrane

A tough way up

At the Mizpah bowls

 Winter ended with a ski to the Mizpah Bowls in the Little Belts to enjoy some fresh snow and brilliant sun a day before the Solstice.

Earlier in the week I hiked to Cochrane Dam along the River's Edge Trail connecting the Chaos, Mayhem, and Rocky Road side trails, also on a gorgeous late winter day.

What a contrast!

Skiable snow and trail within a couple of days of each other.

How would I describe this winter?

Positively, because there was good snow, although there were long stretches of brutal cold that made getting out difficult.  It was a better winter than last year by a long stretch.  The snow we got laid down a good base.  Last year the base was horrible all winter.

My biggest regret this year was not doing old favorites like Nugget Creek, Stemple to Flesher, Rogers Pass, Marias Pass and Looking Glass Pass.  I'm not sure I'm even up to Nugget or Stemple/Flesher any more.

My back country trips were definitely less lengthy --- in the 6-8 mile range, where I had been doing 10-12 mile runs in past years.

Age is taking its toll.

While the Little Belts and other Island Ranges got great snow, the Front was a disappointment.  Too darned much wind, in addition to the brutal cold.

Although we've normally skied into early May, I see open South-facing slopes inviting early Spring hiking trips.

The Cochrane hike reminded me of how fantastic our River trail in town is.

The MIzpah trip reminded me of the tremendous snow at the Great Falls doorstep.

Chaos side trail on way to Cochrane

On the Rocky Road side trail

Ski, hike, snowshoe in late winter

 

 

The North Fork Teton Country near the West Fork needs a blast of snow

 

 

 

 

The ice encrusted lower Falls Creek Falls

 

 

Our snowshoe group at the oddly featureless Kings Hill Mountain summit

Things lined up just right in the past week so that I could backcountry ski, hike, and snowshoe all in one week.

Some of this is thanks in part to retreating snow, particularly on south and west mountain exposures.

I skied a Waldron Creek loop near Teton Pass Ski Area in the Front one day, hiked the Falls Creek Trail in the Rocky Mountain Front's Dearborn Country another, and snow shoed Hill Mountain in the Little Belts.

The wind and warm weather has really carved up and hardened the Front country.  The Mount Wright summit, one of the highest in the Front, looked as though it had been sandblasted and accessible for climbing.  The snow up Waldron Creek was hard and horrible, particularly on the side trail back to the ski area.  It wasn't so bad skiing the West Fork Road, however.

The Falls Creek Trail was relatively open for hiking.  Skiing it is out of the question.  Some of the ground cover is starting to green up.  The big waterfall was particularly impressive because of ice formations.  Bear Den and Monitor peaks looked climbable from their east faces.  There is still good snow toward the Continental Divide Trail in the high country.

 The snow off Kings Hill Pass exceeded my expectations.  Yes, it was icy down low, but the near one got to the ridgeline, the better the snow.  I wished I had brought my skis rather than snowshoes.