Haystack Butte

So here is where we went on Saturday:  the Highline Trail, Haystack Butte and the Garden Wall:

As you approach Haystack, its shape begins to change, not looking square at all.

Can you see the trail going across the green hillside? Right when the trail gets just below the peak, it turns (called a switchback) and continues up the diagonal line to a broad saddle.

Lynn and I climbed up to the base of the biggest cliff band;
we were sitting there watching bluebirds.

Looking the other direction; the "Garden Wall" is behind me.

Our bluebird perch

don't worry Mom, this is as far as we went!

Birds, Bees, and Beasts

Another fantastic day in Glacier Park!  The road up to Logan Pass closes this weekend, so this was our last time up there for the summer.  Lynn and I walked along the Highline Trail over to Haystack Butte, climbed up on the side of it and came back.  Fall is starting to show its colors up in the high country and the fireweed leaves were my favorite:

On the way up we saw lots of busy bees gathering quickly before the frost comes.

When we were on the side of Haystack, we watched bluebirds!  They were enjoying the sunshine as much as we were and were curious about our presence, I think.

In addition to birds and bees, we were also treated to Mountain Goats and Big-horn Sheep.

We saw a group of 6 rams feeding on the hillside, and then this loner was right on our trail on the way back!

A Few Extras

After I posted photos about our day in the Park, I got some photos from Dell and from Lynn that just HAD to be added to make the account complete.  Dell had one of Warren rappelling down from Mt. Wilbur--they had climbed up it without ropes, and it was just easier to rappel than to "down-climb"; and probably safer!

I neglected to mention that they had come across some bears on the hillside on their way out.  No one got very good pictures of them, but after cropping and zooming this one I think you can make it out--especially note the gorgeous color in the hillside!  I'm glad the bear was this far away!

This is the original photo and the bear is in the center, top third of the frame.  You probably can't see him/her.

This is a cropped photo and he/she is still in the upper center; its head is silver with a dark stripe on the shoulder.

Zooming even more.

So then I get photos from Lynn and I can show you what I looked like hiking the cliffs and ledges.

Anna with Apikuni Mountain in background.

Lynn and Bob stayed through the weekend and Lynn also sent her bear photos.  I don't have the whole story yet, but this one is impressive!!  On the trail and way too close!

Natahki Lake in Many Glacier

On Friday after school, Warren and I drove over to the east side of the Park where we met Lynn and Bob.  They had been camping the past week, and we just joined them in their campsite and spent the night.  The next day, Warren's friend Dell from Cut Bank drove over to join him on a climb up Mount Wilbur.  If you look in the archived blog entry Waterfall Week, you'll see another photo of Wilbur when Dell and his wife Gail joined us on a hike to Shangri-La.  John Reynolds was along too; he is the son of some other Cut Bank friends and former student when we taught there.

Warren, Dell and John on the summit of Mt. Wilbur

they had climbed up this crack in the cliff, but rappelled back down it. 

Looking back at Mt. Wilbur at the end of the day.

Lynn and I decided to try to hike to Natahki Lake, another off-trail day above Apikuni Falls (see Waterfall Hike #3).  Like Piegan, this involved some route-finding and working our way up through some cliffy areas.  In the photo below we started on the green area on the right side of the picture, and ended up above the darker green stuff on the left side of the picture.

Once we got up into the high bowl below several high peaks, we could see Natahki Lake way below us, once again more than we wanted to do for a day.  So we enjoyed our lunch up on a ridge above, enjoyed the view and soaked up the sunshine.

Natahki Lake; there is a smoky haze in the air from distant forest-fires.

The flowers are done and autumn is definitely approaching.  We saw evidence of bears, but didn't actually sight any.  Warren and Dell saw 3 grizzlies who were munching on huckleberries on their descent down Wilbur, but were able to stay away from them.  My "flower shots" consisted mostly of all the berries that are around, but they were plentiful and almost as lovely.  Another beautiful day in the mountains!

The buckwheat was starting to get this peachy color.

Buckwheat with Apikuni Mountain behind

this bright red sedum covered the rocky areas up high

Kinnikinnick

Juniper berries

Seedhead from wild clematis

Baneberry

Thimbleberry--these are good to eat.

Snowberry--these are not.

Big Adventure on Piegan

Monday was a holiday in the U.S., Labor Day, so Lynn and I headed for the Park again, this time to climb Piegan Mountain.  Now this was a first for us: attempting a summit on our own, without a trail, and knowing that we were going to have some challenging climbing spots.  We weren't totally in the dark; Warren has climbed this before and the route is described in a climbing book we have.  Still, there is a lot you have to figure out on your own. 

We started out climbing up along Lunch Creek toward Mount Pollock.  In the photo you can see a diagonal line in the hillside below and to the right of Pollock that goes up to a saddle below Piegan, which is to the right (and not in the photo).  This was our route; wait til you see it up close!  I'll call it "the cleft."

First we had to work our way up to it, climbing around waterfalls and walking through alpine meadows of the summer's last blooms.

Saxifrage

Yellow Monkeyflower

Looking back from where we've come so far:
the dark green U at the end of the gravelly rock is where we started.
 I think you can see the road where we left our car.

So after a couple of hours we get up to "the cleft" and it is a matter of working our way up huge boulders and loose rock for another couple of hours!  The outcome was that we got up to the saddle and said, "that's good enough!"  Continuing to climb up Piegan was just too daunting and once again the wind was very strong and worrisome.  We walked down the other side to Piegan Pass and hit a trail back to the road.

Looking up "the cleft."

resting at the mouth of the cleft.

Looking back down at the cleft

Our view from the saddle.

From the other side, looking back at the saddle and Piegan, the mountain we didn't climb. 

Back on the trail on the way back down.  Mt Siyeh in the background. 

Blue gentian welcomed us back down in the forest.

Fireweed leaves turning with the approaching autumn.