SLEEPING MONKEY
I
boarded the train to Glacier National Park at 6:15 in Portage, Wisconsin –
about 45 minutes behind schedule. I was
given a comfortable, reclining seat by a window, which was great. I was looking forward to enjoying the scenery
as we rumbled across Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. I was particularly interested in checking out
the Wisconsin River through the Wisconsin Dells. The railroad tracks stay pretty close to the
river, and I really hadn’t seen much of the actual Dells during our brief visit
there.
That
plan was thwarted when we stopped at the Wisconsin Dells station. A large group of passengers got on, including
a tour group full of teenagers with special needs. There were probably 30 of them, with only two
adult chaperones. One girl was seated
next to me, while two guys were directly behind me. The girl was nice enough, but she was full of
questions. She peppered me with a litany
of them, and I missed most of the scenery in an attempt to be polite. Meanwhile, the two guys behind me sounded
like they were trying out for Dumb and Dumber III. They made an endless series of inappropriate
jokes at a volume that could only be described as ear-splitting. The only things louder than the jokes were
the burps and farts. That,
and the ensuing peals of laughter (following the jokes, the burps, and the
farts). Obviously I was being punished
for something.
I
eventually discovered that they were bound for the Mall of America near
Minneapolis. I consulted the train
schedule, and saw that they should be getting off around 10pm. However, with the train being behind
schedule, it was bound to be considerably later. I was really hopeful that I’d manage to get a
decent night’s sleep, but this wasn’t a good start. Unfortunately the sleeper cars had all been
booked when I purchased my ticket, even though that was several months earlier.
Fortunately
they calmed down eventually. We crossed
the Mississippi River at dusk, which was a little disappointing. I’d been looking forward to the scenery along
the river all the way to Minneapolis.
Since it was dark and the train car had quieted down, I made myself
comfortable and went to sleep. I managed
to sleep right through Minneapolis and Fargo, North Dakota. I woke in time to catch most of North Dakota,
though. We rolled all the way across the
state, which was pretty boring for the most part. I spent the day playing on my phone (I had a
good signal with WIFI most of the time) and suffering through a Dan Patterson
novel.
One
of the highlights of the journey was getting off the train in Minot, North
Dakota to stretch my legs. Prior to this
trip, North Dakota had been the only state I hadn’t visited. This visit wasn’t much, but it counts!
Meals
on the train were a challenge. I brought
some food with me, and relied on it for breakfast and lunch. There was drinking water, but I purchased
other beverages from the snack car. I
had planned to eat supper in the dining car, but they ran out of meals before
they even reached our car. I ended up
getting a mediocre pizza from the snack car.
The
last part of the journey was tedious. My
seat was comfortable, but after 24 hours even a comfortable seat becomes
tiresome. I spent most of the last half
of the ride obsessing with how far behind schedule we were. At one point we were running 4 hours
late. We were scheduled to arrive in
West Glacier at 8:30, which would’ve gotten me to my hotel before dark. However, being 4 hours behind meant arriving
after midnight. What if there were
further delays? Arriving at dawn would
be highly inconvenient.
Because
of the delay, the part of the ride along the southern boundary of Glacier
National Park was in the dark. Once
again I missed out on some of the best scenery.
Luckily we made up some time along the final stretch, and we arrived
around 11pm. The Conductor alerted me
shortly before arrival, which gave me time to get my bags.
From
the West Glacier station I walked a half mile to the West Glacier Motel. The office was closed, but they had left a key
for me. The room was adequate, if a bit
stuffy from being closed up all day. I
opened the window, turned on the fan, and took a lukewarm shower. I managed to pass out around midnight despite
the heat.
LUCKY MAN
I
got up at 7 on Thursday. I would’ve
slept longer, but the excitement of finally being in Glacier National Park
couldn’t be ignored. My plan was simple,
yet complicated. From West Glacier, I’d
walk the 2 ˝ miles to the Apgar Campground.
I’d get a campsite and then pick up supplies in Apgar Village. That afternoon I would do something of a
hike. Even if it was just a simple leg
stretcher, it would be good to walk a bit after 29 hours on the train.
My
plan was complicated for a couple of reasons.
First, I needed to make sure I had everything with me before I walked to
Apgar. If I overlooked something
important, I’d have to walk back to town.
More significantly, the Apgar Campground doesn’t take reservations. It’s a huge campground though, and I was
pretty confident that I would be able to find a vacant site. If not, things would get interesting. I didn’t have a backup plan.
I
ate a bagel and got coffee at the restaurant next door. The coffee was free, since I was a hotel
guest. I stopped at the adjacent store
and picked up a canister of bear spray.
I checked in to the hotel, packed my gear, and then checked back out.
The
walk to Apgar was tedious. It was a
pleasant morning, but my pack was overloaded since I had almost everything I
would need for 2 weeks. I even had almost
all of my food, though I hoped to pick up a few fresh items in Apgar
Village. I also carried a small duffel
bag, which contained clean clothes for after the trip and a few other odds and
ends. The duffel only weighed a few
pounds, but carrying it wore thin after a mile or so. At the park entrance station I had to dig out
my National Parks Pass and ID, which was also something of an event. After that I was able to follow a paved bike
path the rest of the way to Apgar. That
made for more pleasant walking than the shoulder of Going to the Sun Road.
I
went straight to the Apgar Campground.
The second site I passed was vacant, and I was not feeling picky. It was near a bathroom and a bear box, which
was handy. I dropped my pack, stashed my
food in the box, paid for the site, and pitched the tent. At that point it was still only late
morning. My next objective was to get a
backcountry camping permit. I had
attempted to get advanced reservations for a permit back in the spring, through
the Park’s lottery system. However, I
hadn’t been lucky. Fortunately, about
half of the campsites in the Park can’t be reserved. Those sites are held for walk-up
requests. My plan was to walk over to
the Ranger Station early the next morning.
Each Ranger Station in the park opens at 7am and begins filling
requests. I was planning to head over
there around 5am to be sure of being first in line. I had an ambitious trip through a popular
area planned, and getting the necessary campsites wouldn’t be easy. I was even prepared to hang out in Apgar for
a few days if multiple attempts were necessary.
When
I woke that morning I checked the backcountry campsite availability page for
trips beginning on Friday. While I had a
specific trip in mind, I’d come up with at least a dozen variations featuring
different starting and ending points, as well as alternate campsites. I’d been checking campsite availability on
the website for the last few weeks, and on some days none of those options were
available. However, a couple of possible
options were actually available at 7:30 that morning. I was sure that those sites would’ve been
snatched up over the last few hours, but decided to walk over to the Ranger
Station to check.
My
goal was to do a variation of the “Northern Traverse” – a trek from Chief
Mountain Customs, in the northeastern corner of the park, to Kintla Lake, in the northwest. However, the variation I had in mind involved
going only as far west as Boulder Pass.
At that point I would reverse course and backtrack to Goat Haunt, near
the Canadian border at the southern end of Waterton
Lake. From there I’d hike south, through
the Waterton Valley, and up to the Highline Trail at
Fifty Mountain. From Fifty Mountain I’d
hike out through Granite Park to Going to the Sun Road at Logan Pass.
Given
the nature of the route, I dubbed it the “Northern Reverse”.
This
route meant a couple of days of backtracking, and missing out on Upper Kintla Lake and Kintla Lake at
the end of the Northern Traverse. But it
would add the spectacular scenery of the Highline Trail from Fifty Mountain
through Granite Park. It would also make
the logistics much easier. Getting to
the starting point at Chief Mountain would be fairly easy using the Park’s
shuttle bus system and Glacier Park, Inc.’s bus service on the east side of the
park. However, there is no bus service
to Kintla Lake, and private shuttle services aren’t
allowed to operate inside the Park.
Getting back to civilization from Kintla Lake
would require either hitchhiking, or walking 17 miles on a dirt road to the
town of Polebridge, and getting picked up by a
shuttle service there.
The
Ranger Station was deserted when I arrived, except for a couple of
rangers. One of the rangers gave me
print out showing the campsite availability for the next five nights. Incredibly, I immediately saw that one of my
preferred options was available. In
fact, of all of the possible combinations of starting points, ending points,
and individual campsites that I’d considered, it was my second favorite option.
It
helped that I had already thoroughly researched my options before I
arrived. The ranger was surprised when I
immediately told her that I had something that might work. Of course I couldn’t be sure. There are several Ranger Stations in the
Park, and somebody could’ve been at one of the others booking one of the sites
I needed at that very moment. Also, the
print out only showed the next five nights.
My trip would be up to 12 days, depending on the exact variation I ended
up with. In theory, the days farther in
the future should be easier to get campsites for, but you never know.
The
Ranger and I went through each night.
The first 4 nights were available – Gable Creek, Helen Lake, Glenn Lake
Foot, and Mokowanis Lake. I hit my first snag with night 5. Stoney Indian Lake was booked. I decided to skip it, and hike on to Kootenai
Lakes. For night 6 I got Lake Francis. Boulder Pass was booked for night 7, so I
switched to Hole in the Wall. Luckily
Boulder Pass was available for night 8.
For night 9 I grabbed Lake Francis again. Incredibly, Fifty Mountain was booked for
night 10. Fifty Mountain
is one of the hardest sites in the Park to get, but 11 days in advance? The Ranger mentioned that Stoney Indian Lake
was available, so I decided to go back there, since I’d missed it on my first
pass. That would add a few additional
miles of backtracking, but at this point I just wanted to make the trip
work. Fifty Mountain
was open for night 11, which was great.
However, I only had 12 days for my trip.
That meant that I would have to hike all of the way out from Fifty
Mountain on the last day. That was
doable, but I would’ve preferred to camp at Granite Park the last night. Still, I was in no position to complain! I’d landed pretty much exactly what I wanted
on my first attempt, without having to get up at 5 in the morning!
I
was so giddy I barely comprehended the bear video I was required to watch. Fortunately I don’t think it was much
different from any of the other bear videos I’ve watched over the years. Before leaving, I picked up a map of the
northern part of the park, which was much nicer and easier to read than the one
I had.
I
picked up some last minute supplies in Apgar Village, and added a block of
cheese and several packs of carrots to my bulging food bags. Then I took an afternoon stroll around Lake
McDonald. From my campsite I walked back
to Apgar Village and passed a sandy beach that was crowded with tourists. It was a hot, sunny day, and it seemed like
everyone was trying to cool off. I followed
the outlet stream briefly, crossed it on a bridge, and then followed back roads
and a bike path to Fish Creek Campground.
I passed a couple of deer along here – the first significant wildlife of
the trip. From Fish Creek I continued
east along the shore of Lake McDonald to Rocky Point. That spot featured some nice views of the
lake and surrounding mountains. I took a
short break there before hiking back.
I
picked up a couple of beers on my way back to the campground. There, I cooked one of the 10 dehydrated
dinners my wife had made for me prior to the trip. That left me with 9 meals, along with two
packaged freeze-dried dinners. Breakfast
each morning would be a bagel (early in the trip), granola cereal with powdered
milk (just add cold water), or instant oatmeal.
Lunches and snacks included a jar of peanut butter, flat bread, tuna, jerky,
nuts, dried fruit, cheese, granola bars, and trail mix.
Since
I was hiking for 12 days, I wanted to keep my pack weight to a minimum. Food would be the heaviest thing, at least
for the first half of the trip. Aside
from food, my pack included a solo tent, a down sleeping pad, a lightweight,
2/3 length Thermarest pad, a Platypus water bladder,
and a gravity powered water filter. For
cooking I carried a stove that runs on denatured alcohol that consists of part
of a soda can, an aluminum windscreen, and a fitted pot. Clothing was limited to a pair of zip off
nylon pants, two pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks, two t-shirts, 1 long
sleeved shirt, a fleece top, a set of long underwear, a hat, boots, rain gear,
and a pair of flip flops.
WAITIN’ ON THE BUS
I
was up at first light on Friday. I had a
big day ahead of me, as I had to get from Apgar, on the west side of the Park,
over to the Chief Mountain Trailhead, in the northeast corner. That would take some time, since I didn’t
have a car. From the Chief Mountain
Trailhead I would hike to the Gable Creek backcountry campsite. The shortest route would involve an easy, 6
mile hike along the Belly River.
However, I was considering an alternate route that would be 10 miles,
and much more difficult.
Getting
to Chief Mountain would be a 3 step process.
I could take a Park shuttle bus from Apgar to Logan Pass, on the
Continental Divide. There I’d switch to
another bus, which would take me down to St. Mary. I needed to reach St. Mary before noon. That is when the shuttle operated by Glacier
Park, Inc. departs for Chief Mountain and Waterton
Lakes National Park in Canada.
I
ate a bagel, had coffee, and broke camp.
I had partially packed the evening before, so all I had to do was stuff
the tent and food bags into my pack.
That last thing I did was stash my duffel bag in the bear locker. The duffel contained some odds and ends that
I didn’t want to carry on the backpacking trip.
It included a complete change of clothes, an old pair of running shoes,
an old, beat up cooler, and a little bit of extra food.
I
hiked over to the Apgar Transit Center and got in line around 7:15. The first shuttle left at 7:30, but I arrived
too late to get on it. I ended up on the
second bus, which departed at 7:45. We
made good time up the mountain, arriving at Logan Pass a little after 9. After a bit of a wait, I caught the next bus
down to St. Mary. I arrived at St. Mary
around 10:30, giving me plenty of time to relax while waiting for the next bus.
I
considered trying to hitchhike from there so that I could get on the trail
earlier. That would’ve required a fair
walk out to highway 89, and I wasn’t sure how successful I would be. Most of the traffic heading north on highway
89 would probably be bound for the Many Glacier area. Ultimately I decided to be patient and wait
for the shuttle. Two girls from Texas
arrived a bit later. They were also
trying to get to Chief Mountain. They
actually tried to hitchhike briefly with a homemade sign. They didn’t have any luck though, and
returned to the bus stop a bit before noon.
The
Glacier Park, Inc. shuttle van screeched to a halt in front of us right at
noon. The driver was full of good
news. “Sorry folks, I’m full”, she
said. From her tone of voice, it was
apparent that she didn’t really care.
The girls from Texas and I all began protesting. We had no other way to get to Chief
Mountain. Walking wasn’t practical, as
it was 27 miles just to get to the trailhead.
“I’ll check with the office and see if there is anyone that can take you,
but I doubt it”, she replied. Then she
sped off, leaving us fuming in the parking lot.
We
waited for about 20 minutes, without knowing if anyone was coming for us or
not. We were contemplating hitchhiking,
or trying to beg a ride from someone in the parking lot. I had just about given up hope when another
van pulled up. A much more personable
fellow jumped out and said, “I hear you folks are trying to get to Chief
Mountain?”
This
was the best news I’d gotten in about 25 hours!
We jumped in, and made a quick stop at the St. Mary Lodge to pay for the
shuttle ($20). Then it was full speed
ahead for Chief Mountain. This worked
out great, because the normal shuttle has a lengthy layover at the Many Glacier
Hotel on the way to Chief Mountain. We
went straight there, arriving about an hour earlier than the official
shuttle.
All
morning I had debated between the two routes to Gable Creek. The 6-mile hike on the Belly River Trail
would be easy, but not terribly exciting.
The alpine route over Lee Ridge would be much longer and harder, but
promised spectacular scenery. Based on
the shuttle schedule, I was expecting to get started a little after 2pm. I wasn’t sure if 7 hours of daylight would be
enough for a 10 mile with over 2,000’ of elevation gain and loss on a primitive
trail with a 60+ pound pack. However,
because of the early start, I saw no reason for hesitation. I was going for it!
The
Chief Mountain Trailhead is perhaps a hundred yards from the U.S. Customs
station at the Canadian border. I headed
in the other direction, following the road back south. After about 20 minutes I found the Lee Ridge
Trail, which is hard to see from the road even though it is marked with a
sign. I followed the trail into the
woods. As promised, the trail was primitive. It was somewhat overgrown, though generally
easy to follow. Still, the heavy brush
created some difficulties. At one point
I clipped a toe on a root. I stumbled,
regain my balance momentarily, and then tipped over. My pack was so heavy that I went down like a
falling tree. I managed to get my hands
in front of me to break my fall a little.
Afterwards I laid there for about a minute, cursing my clumsiness. It would be pathetic if my dream backpacking
trip ended within a mile of the road.
I
brushed myself off and resumed the hike.
The first couple of miles were pretty easy, but that didn’t last. Before long I began a steady climb through
gradually thinning forest. I reached
tree line a bit later, and views began opening up in every direction. The views continued to expand as I climbed
higher. The vista of the peaks ahead was
great, but the late afternoon sun made photography in that direction
hopeless. Back to the east, the view
extended out across most of the rest of Montana. My favorite view was to the south, towards
Chief Mountain. The Blackfoot Indians
consider the peak to be sacred.
I
ran into another group of backpackers a short distance above tree line. They were on their way out, after spending a
couple of nights at Slide Lake.
I
climbed almost all of the way to Gable Pass.
The hike was grueling, mostly because of my heavy pack. The wind was absolutely howling, too, and it
was actually pushing me around high up on the exposed ridge.
Reaching
the Gable Pass Trail was a relief. I
headed down, towards the Belly River.
The descent was steep, rocky, and tedious. In fact, a ranger I ran into later that
evening told me that it was the steepest stretch of official trail in the
entire park. I don’t doubt it. I think I was actually moving slower on the
way down than when I’d come up!
It
was after 7pm when I reached the Belly River Ranger Station. It was deserted, except for a couple of
grazing horses. I met the previously
mentioned ranger a few minutes later, and we chatted for a bit after she
checked my permit. I then hiked the
final short stretch to the Gable Creek campsite. I arrived at 7:45, more than an hour before
dark. There was a nice group of folks
there gathered around the cooking area. They
included a friendly young couple from Bozeman and Sylvie and James, from
Oregon. Sylvie and James had recently
quit their jobs to spend a year traveling the world. Talk about living the dream!
The
Park’s backcountry campsites all feature a central cooking area with dispersed
tent sites. I took the last tent site,
which was conveniently located adjacent to Gable Creek. I went to bed shortly after dinner, exhausted
after a long, taxing day. I slept great,
thanks to cool temperatures and the soft murmur of the nearby stream.
Back to Montana
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