100 Summits in Glacier Park!

Warren has now climbed 100 peaks in Glacier Park!  GMS has an official list of summits that Warren has been keeping tabs on, and on Friday he climbed Rainbow Peak with a bunch of buddies who helped him celebrate.  In order to get to this mountain you have to canoe up a long, skinny lake.

Bowman Lake

At the top there was a register with the rainbow flag in it.  His friends had made him a T-shirt that says "100 by 55" and a little sketch of mountains with a rainbow.  They had all signed it on the back.  Special day!

Hike to Siyeh Pass

We were looking for that special blue columbine flower again, and though we didn't find any blooms, we know that it grows all over there along the trail--no hunting necessary.  We found lots of plants gone to seed like Warren and I had found at Dawson Pass.  This little beauty loves to live at high places, with lots of wind and rocks!  I had to go dig out my photos from 2010 when Lynn and I did find it so I could show you what a special little flower it is:

This is Lynn photographing in July 2010, to show you where we were.

Jones' Columbine, nestled in the limestone!

I won't say much about the hike other than it was a wonderful day being in mountain beauty.  It's about 5 miles up one valley and about 5 miles down another, and then we catch a Park shuttle bus back up the road to our car.  The Park just recently "opened" the trail due to some lingering snow hazards.
 I think next year we'll have to take crampons and ice axes and go early in order to catch these little flowers in bloom!

Jones' Columbine seedheads; all we got to see this time!

mountain meadow with lots of Indian Paintbrush

These are pasqueflower seedheads; another gorgeous meadow

Blue Gentian

A big burst of pink in the rocky trail of Alpine Fireweed.

Alpine Fireweed up close.

Alpine Lanterns, another rarity we've only seen at Siyeh Pass.

another Lantern

Purple Chive; looking down the valley where we'll end our hike.

Looking back up at Siyeh Pass

Another view along the trail, Sexton Glacier below Matahpi Peak;
there was a huge waterfall coming from all that snow and ice!

Waterfall coming from Sexton Glacier.

Hike to Ptarmigan Lake

Last Tuesday, July 24th, I got up early to meet Lynn on the other side of Glacier Park for a hike.  She and her partner Bob were camping on the east side of the Park.  I drove the famous, "Going-to-the-Sun Road" to get there, a narrow, winding roadway built in the 1930's that is only open for these few short summer months.  As I approached the high pass that crosses over to the east side of the mountains, I was greeted by the official mascot of the Park:

 Mountain Goat near Logan Pass

Mt. Reynolds at Logan Pass

As you can see, the drive itself is spectacular and breathtaking, and it was all I could do to not stop along the way!  I met Lynn in the campground and we started off for Ptarmigan Lake.  It was a windy, unsettled-weather kind of day, and started getting chilly as we got up higher above treeline.  As we were climbing up the steep trail, we were working hard enough to stay fairly warm; people coming down the trail were all bundled up with hats, coats, and gloves, and looked at us like we were the crazy ones.  "It's pretty cold up top!" they would exclaim.  As soon as we stopped for a break, we too were pulling the warm clothes out of our packs.  Fortunately, even though the wind was cold, the sun was shining most of the day and it never rained.

Ptarmigan Lake 

the Ptarmigan Headwall above the lake; the trail continues up to this pass
 and there is actually a tunnel blasted into the cliff face to go through, rather than over!

Of course, the wildflowers were spectacular up here, and even though the wind was not cooperating for our cameras, we managed to capture some of the floral beauty.  Once again the beargrass was gorgeous!

We climbed up to this hillside above the lake.

Lost in a forest of beargrass!

Alpine garden of color

Forget-Me-Not 

Alpine Bog Laurel

Indian Paintbrush was abundant...

...and came in many shades!

The next bunch of flowers came from the hike down the mountain where it wasn't so windy and things could grow in more shelter.

Monkeyflower

Pinesap--this is an interesting plant that grows on the forest floor, no chlorophyl,
it gets its nutrients from the roots of other plants growing around it.  It is similar to Indian Pipe.

Yellow Columbine and Purple Chive

I stayed the night with Lynn and Bob and left the next morning to enjoy another drive across the Park. This time I could stop and photograph; it was a beautiful morning and the wind wasn't blowing--the lake was as calm as glass.  I have to remember to soak up all this summer beauty and color to last us the nine months we can't get here!  Tough job!

St. Mary Lake, Fusillade Mtn, and Dusty Star Mtn.

Approaching Logan Pass from the east side, a different view of Mt. Reynolds.

Colorful garden of red Paintbrush and purple Penstemon

The wild Hollyhocks are just starting up high.

The same goat said good-bye!

Anniversary #29

Wow!  I feel like we've been celebrating our anniversary all summer with our Norway trip, but today was the official day.  It's been a year now since I broke my ankle, and all is well (I fell and broke my ankle last year on our anniversary hike), but today we played it "safe" and went huckleberry picking.  We had heard that they are beginning to get ripe up on Big Mountain, where we ski, so we headed up there for a leisurely day of walking around, looking for the little blue delicacies.

Actually, a lot of people think that picking huckleberries is hard work, but we love getting out in the sunshine, crawling around on our hands and knees, stumbling on the hillside...no, it's not that bad.  Huckleberries are a small, wild blueberry, and they have a wonderful tart flavor, good for jams, muffins, pancakes, and desserts.  They like to grow on sunny hillsides and you have to pick a lot of them for them to add up.  But it's worth it!

This is a well-trained husband!

This is what we came home with!  A little more than a gallon--4 liters!

I made huckleberry muffins right away and put the rest in the freezer!

A Week's Worth of Hiking

It's been another great week of hiking!  This will be a long entry, but I have a whole week to catch up on!  Warren belongs to a local group of hikers called Glacier Mountaineering Society and they sponsored a lot of hikes in the Park this week.  On Monday he hiked to a peak called Bearhead.  

Starting up the south summit of Bearhead.

On the south summit

GMS has a summit list for you to check off once you've climbed a peak.  Warren's goal is to reach 100 this summer; 5 years ago he got to 50, and Bearhead was #95!

On Tuesday Lynn and I did an easy flower hike in the Park to John's Lake; there are some unusual plants that grow there since it is very wet and is surrounded by dark woods.  Rather bizarre, actually...

Sundew; this is a little carnivorous beauty! It traps insects with its sticky tentacles!

Horse-hoof fungus--a very technical term. :-)

Wood-nymph; in the wintergreen family

Platanthera orbiculata; one of those amazing little wild orchids.

Platanthera; the stalk grows between 1-2 feet tall with 2 big leaves at the base, in dark cedar woods.

 There were a few "normal" flowers as well.

Blue lettuce

Yellow pond-lily and skater-bugs

Marsh cinquefoil

On Wednesday, Warren went on another GMS hike.  We turned this one into a camping weekend since it was over on the east side of the Park and a bit of a drive back and forth.  I'll explain more in a minute.  This time he climbed Lone Walker Peak.  #96

Lone Walker Peak above Upper Two Medicine Lake

Snow-melt waterfalls coming down the cliff band that they had to climb up through.

I drove up Wednesday night and met Warren in the campground.  He didn't have a hike scheduled for Thursday with GMS, so we had the day to hike together.  We went up to Dawson Pass where I had found a special blue columbine flower before.  We looked for it, but the plants had already gone to seed.

The plants that grow up at Dawson Pass have to endure very harsh conditions--it's windy all the time up there and any storms will tend to be very intense.  These little alpine plants adapt in amazing ways.  This is my "purple aster on steroids;" it is actually called townsendia condensata.  We found several of these.

Here is where we were:

trail up to Dawson Pass

Looking back to where we had come from; we started at the lake on the left-hand side of the photo.

At Dawson Pass, looking toward Flinch Peak

A curious ground squirrel hoping for a hand-out from our lunch

Peek-a-boo!

More alpine beauties:

Forget-me-not

Buttercup and White Dryas

This clump of Pink Campion was huge and totally in bloom!

On Friday my friend Lynn came over to hike with me while Warren did another GMS hike.  We were on the Scenic Point trail and Warren was climbing Red Mountain.  #97

Red Mountain is the peak farthest back; I am standing on Scenic Point.

Zooming in on Red Mtn.

Another view from Scenic Point;Two Medicine Lake at the foot of Rising Wolf Mtn, Dawson Pass is to the left.

Lynn and I saw all kinds of alpine flower gardens on our trail.  Here are some of my favorites.

Arctic Aster

Blue Flax

Rock garden with Pink Campion and Silky Phacelia

Alpine Forget-Me-Nots

Pygmy Bitterroot

False dandelion with Rising Wolf Mtn.

Alpine Bluebells

Another garden fwith Paintbrush, 

Flower photographer at work...

...this is what I got; Alpine Fireweed

Couldn't do it without my flower buddy Lynn!

Hurray for the high country!!