Out of Our Rut: Glacier Part 4

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We have five days left on the east side of Glacier and plenty more to see and do. The shuttle bus ride to and from Logan Pass along with 10 miles of hiking while up there had taken some of our energy out of us so we were looking for a less strenuous option. We had seen the parking area for Apikuni Falls about a mile and a half in from the Many Glacier entrance booth each time we had come in for other hikes. It seemed like it was never full so we hoped that would be the case this time. It’s only about a 1 mile hike back to the falls but is mostly uphill. Not steep but uphill nonetheless, gaining about 600 feet along the way. There were only a few cars in the parking area so that wouldn’t be an issue. The Redgap Pass Trail also starts from the same parking area. Our trail starts out in the open with some nice views of the surrounding mountains.

Starting Up Trail to Apikuni Falls

Mountain View

Once in the wooded area, it was a mostly shaded hike. Our biggest worry was actually running across a bear. Our logic being that on a trail with very few other people, we were at greater risk. We were about 75% of the way there when we ran into another couple heading in the same direction as us. We joked with them about being glad we weren’t the only people out as bear bait! The last section of the trail is back in the open and the falls can be seen from some distance. They are definitely pretty and were still running pretty well this late in the year. One thing I read about the falls says it’s almost 300 feet tall. The main drop might be just over 100 feet and there are a couple other smaller drops so if they all get added together it might approach 300.

Apikuni Falls from Distance

I did the rocky scramble to get back closer to the falls while Chris took the safer (saner) approach of sitting near the smaller falls as I disappeared around the corner. It was definitely cooler up near the large falls. I’m not sure the views of the falls are much better from there but I always feel obligated to give it a try. I quickly discovered that the loose rocky surface that was tough to climb up was nearly impossible to come back down. Fortunately Chris couldn’t see my issues. From this vantage point, it was possible to catch a glimpse of Lake Sherburne which is along much of Many Glacier Road on the way in. We only ran into a couple other people heading up as we were returning to the car. It turned out to be our first hiking trip in Glacier where we didn’t see any big wildlife. It’s funny how we were hoping to not see a bear during the hike, but wished we had seen one after the hike. On the way back we stopped to take some pictures along one of the many pullouts next to Lake Sherburne. It seems like we were either in too much of a hurry to get into the park, or too tired after our hikes to stop. This two mile hike was just right. We also drove up to the road that goes to Waterton Park in Canada to find a geocache. It was up here that we came across some of the many range cattle that tend to use the road more than vehicles. I doubt that we can count seeing cows on the road as viewing wildlife?

Lake Sherburne in Distance

Falls Close Up

Lake Sherburne Along Many Glacier Road

Road Cattle

Apikuni Falls Hike

Having done 77 miles of hiking in the 13 days we have been here, we figured we could do something different. The North American Indian Days was taking place in Browning. It is a 4 day event but we figured one day would suffice and going on the Saturday of the event, we could see the parade as well. We had talked with the campground staff and they suggested we get there well before the scheduled start for the parade in order to get good seats. We had an idea of the parade route and found some people that already had parked perpendicular to the road so we pulled in next to them. This would let us put our chairs in front of the Jeep and still be off the route. The streets quickly got crowded. We weren’t positive which direction the parade was heading but we at least knew we were in a good spot. At one point prior to the parade start, two horses go running down the street. No saddles, no reigns, no people with them. They seemed a bit scared of all the people lining the street and there were enough people by then that they couldn’t really get off the parade route. A couple minutes later, they come running by in the opposite direction and shortly afterwards, the parade started.

Horses on the Run

Start of Parade

There were lots of people on horseback but it wasn’t limited to non-motorized transportation like the Tucson parade we saw a few years ago. Many of the parade participants must have been part of other contests being held during the 4 day event because they often had their number displayed on their horse or vehicle. It turns out the big thing for this parade was all the candy that was being tossed out by the parade participants. All the younger kids were in front of the crowds along the route and would run out after all the candy. At times it was quite chaotic but we didn’t see any fighting or kids being run over by a horse or car. The parade lasted just over 30 minutes. Near the end, the weather was definitely threatening but it didn’t do more than a sprinkle or two.

EMS Humor?

Smokey The Bear Tosses Candy

After the parade was over, we waited for the traffic to subside a bit then headed over to the powwow grounds where the rodeo and other contests are being held. It wasn’t clear where parking was versus where the camping area was. The two seemed to be intermingled. We found a parking spot and hoped we would be able to find the Jeep again. There were hundreds of tents, trailers, and teepees setup in the field. It appears that people come from far and wide and spend the whole time camped on the grounds. We saw the area where the dancing was taking place but we were in search of food. This event had a much larger selection of food trucks and booths than the powwow held at our campground a week or so ago. We found something that was quite tasty and then went in search of the rodeo grounds. We found a spot in the grandstand which didn’t seem to have assigned or reserved seating. We ended up sitting for quite some time before the events started.

Pretty Stone Church in Downtown Browning

Chris Like Her Goats

Grandstand in Shade

The initial events were horse racing. The announcer didn’t do a great job of making it clear what event was taking place, but when we see a group of riders on horses racing our way, we got an idea. The race horse and rider would be escorted by another horse and rider past the grandstand on the way to the starting gate at the far end of the field and be introduced to the crowd. One of the young rider’s horse seemed to be rather agitated as it went by and the escort was having trouble controlling it. The next thing we knew, the horse had ejected the rider and was taking off. After a minute or two, the horse was caught and brought back to the young girl rider. She got back on but was thrown from the horse a second time. At which point she wisely decided not to actually go through with the race. There must have been two different race lengths because one race finished in front of the grandstand while the other finished on the far side of the oval.

Horse Racers Fly By

The horse relay race was rather intriguing. Each team in the competition consists of one rider, three horses, two holders and a mugger. The rider starts on one horse and begins from a standing start. After one lap of the oval, the rider comes in (fast) while the mugger attempts to stop the horse. The rider jumps off one horse and onto the second being held by a holder and then bolts out of the exchange area. Another lap around the oval and a repeat horse swap. All the swaps were taking place in front of us, but with several teams competing simultaneously, it was hard for us novices to actually see the transitions. It looked more like a scrum in rugby where after a few seconds of chaos, a rider and horse would break free.

Horse Relay Racers

The next portion of the rodeo was more like what we had seen in Tucson. Barrel racing was the next event. The participants today were the young riders so the speed and turns were not the fastest. It was cute though because some of the participants were quite young (maybe 5) and one of their parents would come out and lead the child’s horse thru the course. If we come back in ten years, we might see some of these youngsters competing on their own.

Youngster Barrel Racing

A More Seasoned Barrel Racer

The bull and bronco riding was next. It wasn’t clear what level of competition we were watching but not many of them went the full time before being tossed. There was one guy that had a bull that would not do the normal bucking motion. The bull just walked around the arena while the rider tried to get it to buck. The judges decided to give the rider another chance on a different bull. The last event we stayed for was the calf wrestling (my term, possibly not the official term). Two riders on horses would keep a calf running in between them and then the participant would jump onto the calf and try to wrestle it to the ground. There were no lassoes or tying of the legs, just wrestling. It had been a fun diversion from our normal routine and there was still lots more to come, but we were rather tired and headed back home.

Hang On!

Calf Wrestling

The next day we would head back to Two Medicine for our second hike in that area. The plan is to hike up to Scenic Point - an 8 mile round trip hike. And when I say up, I mean up. We will gain almost 2900 feet in the 4 miles to get to Scenic Point. Personally, I think naming a destination “Scenic Point” a bit lame. Glacier National Park has countless scenic points all over the park. This one will have a nice view but won’t compare to many other view points. Most of the hike will be up Mt Henry Trail which actually continues all the way to the town of East Glacier Park, and doesn’t go to Mt Henry or even close to it, but don’t get me going on that either! The trail starts out mostly wooded but starts up right away. A half mile or so from the trailhead is Appistoki Falls. There is a short side trail to get to a view of the falls. It isn’t really a great falls or at least the view of them isn’t great. Let’s just say if these falls are your destination for the day, you will be disappointed.

Another Blackfeet Nation Sign

Entrance to Two Medicine

Appistoki Falls

As we continue up, the tree cover disappears but there it’s a great view of the valley below. The trail is rather rocky and has plenty of switchbacks along the way. The mountainside is covered with many dozens of these dead trees that almost appear to be bleached. They were apparently whitebark pines but are being killed by a fungal disease. Sad for the trees, but it does leave for some striking photos. From a distance, there doesn’t seem to be much plant growth on the mountainside but just stop to look closely and we discover all sorts of interesting plants and flowers in bloom.

Whitebark Pine

Getting Up the Trail

Rocky Switchback

Looking Back at Two Medicine Lake

As we get higher up and on the more northerly side of the switchbacks, we start to get great views of Two Medicine Lake which we hiked around 5 days earlier. This hike is dramatically different than that hike even though they are only a few miles apart from one another. When we eventually get to the saddle point on the trail, the wind speed has increased exponentially. The hats need to come off and get strapped to the camelbacks to avoid losing them. The next 1/2 mile is relatively flat and just as barren as the rest of the trail until you stop and look closely between the rocks to find some new flower we have never seen before. There is a sign that points us to Scenic Point and while it is uphill and the wind is whipping us, we feel obligated to actually go to the intended destination.

Looking at Scenic Point

The View from Scenic Point of Lower Two Medicine Lake

Interesting Orange Fungi

From up here, we are now able to see Lower Two Medicine Lake which happens to be exactly 1/2 mile (2640 feet) lower in elevation than where we are presently. We find a bit of a rock ledge to sit behind in order to block most of the wind so we can eat our lunch in peace. We did have a few other people make it up while we were there. After a short stop, we decided to head back down. Given the rocky trail and the strong winds, we knew it wasn’t going to be a super easy downhill hike it we managed to finally make it back. A quarter mile before we got to the car, a couple with their two young kids were heading up. They asked us if they were almost there. My initial thought was “not even close and why are you going there this late in the day” but then I realized they were heading to Appistoki Falls, not a Scenic Point. I told them they were almost there but didn’t have the heart to tell them they would be disappointed.

Barren Looking Trail

Inhospitable Terrain for Flowers

More Dead Whitebark Pine

Our Track to Scenic Point

The elevation gain from the last hike forced us into another “rest day”. So with just one full day left after our day off, we decided it was time to attempt Grinnell Glacier. We had planned to do this one two weeks ago, but delayed it because of snow cover along the trail. We hoped that the intervening 2 weeks might have taken care of that issue. We knew this would be a challenging hike in good conditions. It will come in just over 11 miles round trip and close to 2300 feet of elevation. It will start along the same route we took when we hiked to Grinnell Lake. Some of the trail guides assume hikers will take the shuttle boat rides across both Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, but that not how we roll! Even though that does make the hike 3.4 miles shorter.

Pretty Start to the Hike

It was definitely a beautiful day for a hike. Towards the southwest end of Lake Josephine is the split in the trail. We had gone left to get to Grinnell Lake, now we go right to head up to the glacier. The elevation gain gives us a much better view of the lake below and the bridge across the outlet. As we continue, we can now start to see Grinnell Lake about 1000 feet below us.

Lake Josephine

Grinnell Lake

We eventually get to the warning sign strung across the trail warning of the snow hazard but we continue on. As an aside, this sign wasn’t there a few hours later on our return trip. Apparently our timing was perfect by waiting for this hike. As we come to the point where the trail takes a bit of a turn to the south, the trail becomes more of a ledge. Sort of like it was on the Highline Trail except this one is over 1000 feet above the lake instead of a couple hundred above the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Warning Sign

Grinnell Lake Again

Waterfall

There is a large amount of water running off of Mount Grinnell which towers above us at this point. The ledge is maybe 5 to 6 feet wide and has a vertical rock face to the right with water pouring down. The water is splashing across the full width of the ledge but is more like a fire hose for the foot closest to the vertical face. The further to the left you walk, the less wet you get but the closer to a dramatic drop off. I tuck my camera into a pocket and take a middle of the ledge path. Trying to balance how wet I get with how comfortable I am with my footing in very wet, slippery rock conditions. With her fear of heights, Chris can only take the “shower” path. More or less hugging the wall and going slowly. She did not like that water crossing. We had only continued a hundred feet or so beyond that obstacle, when I realized Chris was frozen on the trail behind me clutching the inner rock wall. She had made the mistake of looking down and got freaked out. I talked her thru that stretch but it was obvious that with more of the same for at least a bit longer, she was in no condition to continue. So we agreed I would continue and she would find one of the few wider portions of the ledge where there was room for her to sit while other went by.

Waterfall at Ledge

Chris Prepares for Her Shower

About Where Chris Looked Down

As I continued up, the views kept getting better, being able to see all three of the lakes in the valley below. There was one stretch of the trail where there was still a bit of snow cover but it was only 40 feet or so long and at a fairly shallow slope so the crossing wasn’t at all questionable. It was neat to see a small patch of dirt surrounded by snow with a few small flowers trying to bloom. The last push to the glacier is another tough uphill with switchbacks and rocky conditions, but the people coming down say it’s worth the effort. Plus there was no way I could quite at this point.

The Trail Continues Up

Looking Back at Three Lakes in Valley

Short Snow Crossing

Flowers Trying to Bloom Surrounded by Snow

At the top, there are several dozen people scattered about the rocky “shore” of the lake in front of Grinnell Glacier. And wandering around all these people was a bighorn sheep finding bushes to nibble as he worked his way around backpacks and hiking sticks that had been set down. The view was just incredible. Well worth the 5.5 miles or so it took to get here.

Bighorn Sheep

Upper Grinnell Lake with Glacier above It

There happens to be a virtual geocache up here. It’s the type that doesn’t have a container but instead requires finders to email the cache owner some information you could only know by being here. It turned out to be over a quarter mile over from where almost everybody else is at, but the snow seemed to be melted enough that I could pick a route over to the cache area without crossing water or snow. There were some very interesting rock formations and these small pools of water that wasn’t the brilliant teal like glacial lakes are but instead a deep red. It almost looked like somebody had dumped barrels of red wine into the small pools. I also saw a tiny locker of sorts but it was locked and wasn’t labeled as to what is is.

Heading Towards Virtual Cache

What is Stored Here?

Unique Rock Formations

Pool with Red Wine Colored Water

Having putted around up here for quite some time, I figured I should start to head back down and see if I could find Chris. I was getting hungry and I was the one with the food in my camelback but I knew better than to eat mine first and then head back! It was slow going on some of the rocky sections heading back down but I managed. At one point I ran into a couple and the guy had the exact same look on his face that Chris had earlier when she was freaking out about the narrow ledge. I told the guy he was definitely thru the worst part (which he was, I wasn’t just trying to get him moving) and the rest of the hike is a climb but not dangerous and it is definitely worth the effort. I finally spotted Chris on her rock outcropping with a tremendous view of the lake and valley below. She had spotted both moose and a couple bears in the two hours or so I was gone. We enjoyed our lunch at this scenic spot and then got our tired bodies up to continue our long hike back.

View from Our Lunch Spot

There wasn’t a long line of people waiting at the waterfall area so I was able to get a more scenic shot of the falls with some flowers in a gap in the rock face. With Chris’ nerves calmed down, she made it thru the waterfall. She still got quite wet, but made it safely. We hadn’t gotten too far along the trail when we spotted a bull moose slowly working his way up the hill from the lake, eating all along the way. He would likely cross the trail but we didn’t want to wait that long just to see a moose up close. We’ve been there, done that! We got back to the car six and a quarter hours after starting the hike. A long but very enjoyable hike. What a way to wrap up our stay on the east side of Glacier. As we were leaving the Many Glacier exit, we discovered they had yet again been forced to close the entrance because this part of the park was full. Keep that in mind if you decide to come here. Next stop - Kalispell Montana.