Waterfall Week #3

We woke up to a cold, rainy morning.  Oh well, you know the show must go on!  We dressed for it (you know, no bad weather, just bad clothing), and all headed for Apikuni Falls, a steep 1 mile hike up to a waterfall in a rocky headwall.  Apikuni is a Blackfeet Indian word for the surname Spotted Robe, which was given to one of the early explorer/developers of the Park. 

We got Bob set up to paint the waterfall along the trail; Warren headed on up to climb Apikuni Peak, and Lynn and I took our time doing our flower thing.  We climbed above the falls, and actually found another climbers' trail that took us up into the alpine bowl above.

Can you find Bob? Look for the dead tree and the trail.  You can see
Lake Sherbourne and Apikuni Flats below us where the truck is.

Warren has a red shirt on and is climbing on above the falls.

The first stretch above the falls on the Apikuny side was very windswept and barren--no flowers.  After crossing a gully and turning west toward Mt. Henkel, the vegetation returned and flower gardens abounded.

Mt. Henkel is on the left, Apikuni is along the long ridge up to the right.

Warren radioed us from the peak and said it was snowing!  We were wearing fleece, down jackets, and raingear, gloves and hats! Cold!!  Wait, this is August!

Warren coming down--look for red jacket.

The waterfall behind us is coming down from Natahki Lake, below Mt. Henkel--we want to take a trip there sometime. 

Lynn and Bob heading back to the road.
Bob's easel and paints all fit into a backpack that he takes with him. 

On the way back to Camp, Lynn asked Warren to "go find us a bear." What do you know, but just down the road, there were lots of vehicles stopped along the road, watching bears up on the hillside!  We were able to see and photograph (on a big zoom) a sow grizzly and her blond cub.