The Weather Forecast
I waffled on whether or not to come to Glacier. I got everything ready as if I was going, but on the day before leaving, I told Julie I wasn’t going. There’s too much to do around the house. Julie went to work and I pulled up the weather forecast for Glacier on the computer. The forecast said it was going to be beautiful. Temps were going to be in the 70s or even 80s and what the hell are you going staying at home. It’s not going to rain like normal fall weather, and you’re a big wimp for chickening out. (This web site is a little opinionated.) I called Julie and said, “I’m going.”

I got out of town on Thursday a bit late (7:10 am), but after 13 hrs, made it to Harve, MT. The temps were in the upper 80s most of the day, and I ran the AC most of the way. The next morning, I drove for an hour before sunrise, and made it to Many Glacier campground by something like 10:30 am. After a sandwich, I jumped right on the trail. There were four hikes I was planning on doing this trip: Shangri La, Dragon’s Tail, Scenic Point, and the Dawson-Pitamakan loop. The first two are “off-trail” hikes meaning they’re not on a map or may be considered more scrambles than hikes.

Sep 25th, Shangri La
The Shangri La hike starts on the Swiftcurrent Trail and threads its way through some minor cliffs on the way to Iceberg Lake. Then you take the normal Iceberg Lake trail home to make it a nice scenic loop. Just a bit into the Swiftcurrent Trail, I ran into a family of moose. I quietly pulled out the camera and tripod, switched to the telephoto lens while Mr. Bull moose was sniffing and snorting in an opening to the left. I don’t think he knew I was there, but Mom and two kids (further away) seemed to sense I was there but didn’t care. Just as I’m pointing the camera at Dad, he bolts out of the opening and into the woods. Maybe he sniffed me out. Then I set up on mom and the kids who moved to the trail. I squeeze the shutter release, and BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, the self timer goes off. The last time I used the camera, I had used the self timer (to reduce camera shake) and never turned it off. If the moose didn’t know I was there, they did now.

Down the trail, I find the turn-off and head uphill. I hit some cliffs, follow an incorrect worn path across to a ravine, and spend a half hour going the wrong way before I figured out I needed to rewind. After down hiking the ravine and hiking back up through a few bands of the cliffs, I take another wrong turn, but this one still heads me mostly in the correct direction. After a couple more minor detours, I ran into a couple of older gentlemen (Steve and ?) who point out the path over the next ridge into Iceberg Lake. I ended up seeing six people on the hike, which surprised me for an unpopular hike in the end of September.

Looking down from the cliff area.

I believe the main trail goes left. (I went up.)

Clouds over Crowfeet Mt.

Looking towards Ptarmigan Trail. (You don’t go that way!)

A view into Iceberg Lake. It’s a long hike down to the water.

Looking back towards Iceberg Lake. (This is the small lake in the right of the previous photo.)

On the way down the very popular Iceberg Trail, I thought that I may make it back to camp without seeing another hiker, but near Ptarmegan Falls, I ran into two couples and then a couple families at the falls. From there on home, I didn’t see anyone else. Back at the parking lot, I wandered through the cabins and past the restaurant and store. The store had white sheets covering the display racks. After a quick pasta dinner from the camp stove, and I checked out the lake side of the Many Glacier Hotel (an area I’ve never seen). I talked with an employee (Scott) about the high number of people in the park this fall. He said that last year, the hotel was 40% occupied the last week it was open and 100% occupied the week before that. This year, it was 40% occupied the last day it was open and 100% occupied before that.

(The Des Moines) Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. When Julie and I went to Iowa, we had no idea what we were getting into. We had even less knowledge when we signed up.  Here’s how it started.

Carol said to Marsh (her husband), “I’m riding RAGBRAI; you coming, right.” Marsh emailed some friends (including me) inviting them on the trip. Julie has wanted to do a bike ride for years, so we agreed, and so did John and John (father and son), and Doug.

Fire up the Bus

I thought we had a pretty impressive looking rig. It was a Suburban with seven bikes and a luggage carrier on top.

(Photo by Julie Joy)

I soon discovered that other people have more serious rigs. 

We saw quite a few modified buses like this.  The huge rack on top holds bikes and luggage, and the interior holds people and refrigerators of beer. With all that extra weight, I’m sure the suspension and motor had to be beefed up. Then some buses have auxiliary items like beer taps on the outside of the bus.

The bike route took us across southern Iowa. After wearing winter jackets in Banff and Glacier, I was worried Iowa would serve up 95 F and high humidity. Instead, the weather was fantastic: 80s F and low humidity (for southern Iowa).

Sun, Jul 19, Council Bluffs to Red Oak
60.0 miles
3:15
18.4 mph Av

Instead of the main campgrounds, we tented in the yards of private residences, and the first night was at Wally’s tree service business. Our group, and the other groups staying at Wally’s, got 7:30 am start on the first day, which left Julie and I standing in an empty dirt parking lot with our bikes. The bike route goes west to east across Iowa, so there’s a good chance of a tail wind each day. There’s no real start or finish line, just a route to follow, and Wally’s was a few miles into the route. 

In spite of a few miles being shaved off the route, I was still a bit worried about Julie. She had a handful of rides in this year, the sun was hot, and there were quite a few hills. They weren’t huge hills, but they kept coming. After a mile or so together, she told me to take off and I got in a hard ride hammering the hills. I added a few extra miles at the end, showered, watched the Tour de France, and then road back to the finish area to find Julie. I didn’t have to wait long. Julie was a trooper and managed to pour down about 6 large water bottles of Gatoraid in the process of finishing the ride. She particularly liked the push I gave her up the last long hill to our host house. (It really was a host house since we took over the basement. Cool and thanks to Mark and Debbie for the beers.) 

Mon, Jul 20^th, Red Oak to Greenfield
86.2 miles
4:44
18.2 mph Av 

On paper, this was a tough day. We were staying about 6 miles past the finish city (Greenfield), so we’d have about 80 miles by day’s end and there were some hills. If you’re wondering how the Suburban magically makes it from town to town, one person has to drive the beast. Yesterday Marsh volunteered to drive, and Julie would drive today and about half the days of the trip. John Sr. and Doug also took a turn later on in the trip.

Some thought that passing through Johnny Carson’s birthplace (Corning) was the day’s highlight. No, the story of the day was our screwed up map. Before leaving St. Paul, I quickly printed out maps of our destination each day. Outside Greenfield, the locals paved a road, changed the name, but didn’t let the map companies know. So after riding 80 miles against a light wind, I was looking for our host (Dean’s) house on the wrong road.  

In the Suburban, Julie had found the error and the house, and returned to mark the road with instructions made out of duct tape. The problem was I had passed the turn before Julie arrived. I knew I was lost, but all I could do was ride the hills from farm to farm looking for people. With the help of some friendly folks, I finally got some proper directions and found the correct place. 

Ok, Julie says this is the real story. I got to the house and found all my clothes were with Julie in the truck. I took a shower anyway, used a hand towel to drive off, and then put on one of Julie’s skirts and shirt. About that time Marsh and Carol rolled in and I displayed my a Scottish accent. The problem was the skirt was black, not plaid. 

BTW Dean, thanks for the beer and laundry facilities.

Tue, Jul 21^st, Greenfield to Indianola 
76.5 miles
4:28
17.14 mph Av 

This was a cool, rainy day, forcing us to start with jackets. The day dried out and warmed up, and by the time we got off the bikes, it was a nice day, and a great spot to camp. (Thanks Joelle, hope your ride to Chariton went well.) Each host city seemed to have a town square with similar architecture. Since Iowa became a state in 1846, most of the buildings were from the mid to late 1800s. I believe that each town also had a festival in the town square with a live music stage, but I’m sure things didn’t really get rocking until most of us were in bed.

Our tent city worked out well, and I even got in a hot tub. We got to watch another Tour de France stage and drink beer. (Sensing a trend here?) We had good Mexican for last night’s dinner and even better Mexican tonight.

(Photo by Julie Joy)

Wed, Jul 22^nd, Indianola to Chariton
47.4 miles
2:39
17.86 mph Av

I started the day riding with Julie, and on the biggest downhill of the ride, “BLAM,” Julie had a rear tire blowout. I had to run up the shoulder of the road to get back to her. (Cyclists are taking up the entire road.) As I’m fixing it, a guy runs back up the shoulder of the road and offers me a piece of rubber to fix the tire and a floor pump to pump it up. It seems this guy’s role at RAGBRAI was to help people with flats, and as I looked at his bike, he had no seat or seat-post. “What your name.” “They call me bareback.” I guess that makes sense. “Thank you, bareback.”

Julie got rolling again, and I rode hard until the legs started cramping. Fortunately, it was a short day with a huge tail wind, so it was easy to just cruise the rest of the route. Our host this time was the Full Faith Christian Church. They talked a bit about the nearby train track (a few hundred feet from the tents), and the hundred or so trains that pass daily. You’re kidding, right? 100s of trains? There’s loud, there’s really loud, and then there’s scare the crap out of you loud. When the train whistle blew, it was more the later. Insane.

Powered by pie (photo by Julie Joy)

Unlocked bikes near the town square.

 (Photo of courthouse in middle of town square by Julie Joy)

We were close enough to the town square that it was easy to hear the music. About 10 pm, the night’s festival had some “hair band” playing songs like Guns N’ Roses, which I might be able to sleep to if I could follow the words. The problem was the downtown square echoed the music so it was just noise. The band shut down about 1:30 am, then there was someone on the mic until 2 am, then the rain, and finally the Harley’s and modified pickups leaving town. I knew the time line because I wasn’t sleeping. The next morning I was up with the crew before 6 am like normal.

Thr, Jul 23^nd, Chariton to Ottumwa
81.7 miles
4:32
18.0 mph Av 

Ottumwa? Radar O’Reilly, right? (M.A.S.H. 4077.) The story of the day was our hosts, David and Ann. They had a great place and greeted us (and the other riders staying there) with munchies and beer. When David found that some of us preferred a bit heavier beer, (Iowans seem to like light beer) he went out and bought a bunch more beer. So, what’d we have for dinner? Mexican of course. (Iowans seem to also love Mexican food.)

The backyard. (What a spot!)

Fri, Jul 24^th, Ottumwa to Mt. Pleasant
46.3 miles
2:21
19.7 mph Av

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. After we rolled in, I saw most of the others campers were in large RVs. That’s ok, but there were quite a few people for two bathrooms in the house.  

Hanging out in the downtown square after Chinese dinnner.

Julie making friends.

A large group of riders rolled in just after sunset, grilled steaks and drank beer just a few feet from our tents. I think their plan was to be as loud and obnoxious as possible for who knows why. Rain didn’t stop them, then just went into the machine shed and then came out and started up again next to our tents when the rain stopped. Julie and I pulled our bed out of the tent and slept on the floor in the house.

 (Part of the offending crowd.)

The next morning, all the folks who wanted to sleep but couldn’t were now taking their turn at being as loud and obnoxious as possible. After Julie and I left, we heard that one of the RVs blew a “ship horn” which was well received by the morning crowd. Payback is sweet. Thanks Joyce. I know you can’t control the masses.

Sat, Jul 2th, Mt Pleasant to Burlington 
46.3 miles
2:21
19.67 mph Av

There are a lot of stories about this week that I’m simply not telling because I want to keep this short. We ran into some pretty cool people out on the road and the folks from Iowa are truly nice people. To a person, they were genuinely great hosts. Riding on the roads (with 1000s of other riders), many local folks were at the end of their driveways selling refreshments and food.  I felt bad for a bunch of them, because they were in a spot, like a downhill, where it’s unlikely that cyclists will stop. Or on some days, the weather was cool and riders didn’t need to stop. At some of the towns, people would sell a burrito for $7, and at another, a church would sell ¼ of a pie for $2. I discovered late in the trip that it’s worth shopping for a good piece of pie.

Saturday was our last day and a fast one. The whole group made it to Burlington by 11am but we were waiting on John and John. I was driving back to St. Cloud, MN today for a 30^th class reunion, and when John, Sr. asked when I needed to leave; I told him I’d like to leave Burlington by noon anyway. I think he took that to mean noon was our meeting time. I meant it more like, get there sooner if you can, but I consider noon the latest we can start for home.

About 10 pm that night (or, viewed another way, a half hour past our normal bedtime) we made it to St. Cloud for the reunion. Julie found a couple of other spouses she knew, and I was bouncing around trying to talk over the music. By the time we made to the parent motel I was both really tired and wired. Julie was simple really tired.

On Sunday, we drove out to ”the cabin” near Melrose to meet my brother (and his family), my cousin (and her family) and my parents and other borther. As you can imagine, we were both mentally and physically shot.  We had wet tents and camping gear waiting to be cleaned, so we made a mid-afternoon exit.

We hate to leave, but it’s time. We ended up making to Dickinson, ND, and found that the town had been hit by a tornado a couple days earlier. As a result, the motels were filled, and (long story short), we ended up in a…..less than desireable hotel. It’s wasn’t rent by the hour, but then again, maybe some rooms were. We missed an interesting photo. The old pool was filled in dirt and grass was growing. The markings were still there such as “9 ft.”

Late Start (Sat, Jul 11th)

The next morning, we started watching the Tour de France. It was an interesting stage, and I think we finally got rolling at about 9am. After another stop in St. Cloud, we finally got home about 9 pm.

Round trip: 3 miles
Elevation: 480 ft

There was still quite a bit of snow on the hike, but that didn’t stop people from hiking in sandals. There were a couple of goats gathering a lot of attention.

And yes, there is a lake on the Hidden Lake trail.

On the way back, the goats decided to move.

Trail of the Cedars

Round trip: 0.8 miles
Elevation: 18 ft

This hardly qualifies as a hike, but I like this area and it’s been a long time since I’ve been here. As you might expect, the trail has cedars, but they’re like 500 year old cedars.

It also has a bridge over Avalanche creek, and the second photo often shows up at Art Fairs.

Finally, we hike up the trail a bit to hit a few favorite spots.

One way: 12.2 miles
Elevation: Maybe 500 ft up and 2700 ft down

We’ve been having great conversations with the neighbors, so we decided to get together for dinner. Dale would be doing most of the cooking, with some help from his wife Mary. Julie and I, and the other neighbor Jim, a retired Lt. Colonel in the army, were going to pick up a pie.

Dale is a MN photographer with a web site about Moose. (Sorry, I don’t remember his site’s name.) His main goal was to get a good moose shot. So when I told him about the moose we “stumbled” across, he just shook his head. He hadn’t seen one yet. 

Jim and I decided to hike Piegan Pass together after he had done the Swiftcurrent Pass to Logan Pass the day before.  (This is the same hike I did July 5th.) On the hike, I found out that Jim is a runner, has done the Boston Marathon, sits in on seminars on nutrition, training, etc. Basically, he’s in shape. He put on a good pace going uphill, and after a lot of miles in my legs, I didn’t really fee like pushing. “Hold up Jim, time for a photo.”

The ranger warned us that some weather was coming in, and he was right. I put on some rain pants going uphill and then pulled them off because I was getting too hot. Just after the pass, it started raining and then hailing. The lighting conditions were really great (moody).

The rain and hail didn’t last long. Further down the hike, there’s a stream feeding Morning Eagle Falls, and it has some interesting rocks.

Below the falls, an avalanche had come through and taken out a bunch of trees. I looked at the trees for a while and couldn’t figure out which slope had slid because it looked like some of the trees were under some deep snow and protected from damage.

Back at camp, Julie and I ran into a moose and her calf on the way back from the showers. They were right where you pay for camping. Dale was cooking over a fire under an umbrella. “Hey Dale, there’s a moose at the camp entrance.” He shook his head and seemed content to keep cooking. When we went back and the two moose were gone. Later that evening, Dale got a moose picture when the neighbors informed us that moose have been hanging out at their campsite. (Who knew?)

It was a fun dinner. The spaghetti and home-made sauce was great. The conversation was great, and the pie was great, too. Here’s the pie shot.

Round trip: Roughly 4 miles
Elevation: Not much

This is a hike for when I’m tired or it gets hot. After a lot of miles on consecutive days, my legs were getting tired.

First off though were some morning sunrise shots. I woke up, decided not to shoot sunrise, felt guilty, and got up just in time to drive down to the Many Glacier Hotel, pull out the camera, and shoot some shots. The color peaked with my first shot.

Baring (not Barrington, thanks Ralph) had some hot spots from the sun coming through the trees, so I shot a short video and we moved onto Deadwood Falls (Julie’s favorite). She’s simply content to sit there and read all day.

That 17mm is kind of fun. I also shot a couple videos with the 17mm. I’ll have to load those up on the TV tonight.

After that we stopped at St. Mary.

 …and then Virginia.

That’s it. We stopped at Goose Island and I hiked down to the water and back, and then waited around for some interesting light. Even though the clouds looked like they could provide something fun, it didn’t happen.

Round trip: About as far as the showers
Elevation: Not much 

After getting back late last night, you’d think we’d sleep in, but no. We’ve heard so much about moose at Fishercap Lake, we got up early and headed out there. There were no moose, but it was a nice morning.

(In the water, that’s a reflection of snow on the opposite wall.)

The first guy to arrive seemed a little bummed we were there. Then some folks arrived with chairs and soon after we left. We later found out that the moose have been hanging out with the neighbors, just a couple campsites down. (Who knew.)

Grinnell Glacier

Round trip: Roughly 5 miles
Elevation: about 1000 feet 

The upper section of Grinnell was closed due to snow, so we left the car knowing this would be a shortened hike. Julie forgot her camera (!), so about 10 minutes into the hike she turned around, grabbed her camera and caught up with me later. I continued on since it was starting to cloud over, and I wanted a little sun for the photos.

A few years ago, I shot the scene below on 4×5, but blew out the highlights a bit, so I shot it again.

Here’s a boat that will shuttle hikers across Lake Josephine. I don’t really think it makes the hike easier, but I’ll bet it’s an enjoyable cruise.

One way: About 15 miles
Elevation: Roughly 3000 feet

We didn’t make it to the fireworks last night. I was tired, but willing to go. Julie was just too tired. In fact we got a late start in the morning, or maybe I got a late start on the morning since I was busy backing up photos onto DVDs. I got out of camp about 9 am on a solo hike up Swiftcurrent pass, to Granite Park, a possible side trip to the Grinnell overlook and out to Logan Pass. The plan was to meet up with Julie who would have something to eat, and the last time I did this hike, she had a killer burrito. 

Moose on the Trail

People were backed up watching a moose in the woods. I took a shot of her rear end, but that was pretty uninteresting. After a half hour, we all gave up and moved on. I took shots of the deadwoods again on the climb to the summit, and then a shot of a goat. Buck (the Swiftcurrent lookout) actually had names for the goats, so I’m sure this is one of the named ones we saw the other day.

Granite Park

I stopped at Granite Park and headed for the balcony. I had it to myself and was able to watch some weather come in. That also made the decision about skipping the Grinnell Overlook a bit easier. My legs were a bit tired, and even with some rain, I was feeling guilty about wimping out on climbing a fairly short, but steep spur trail.

I took off trying to beat the rain, but it came in quick. It was seemingly a normal thunderstorm, but I was uneasy about being so high, basically in the clouds as the lightning struck. I ran into a guy with his young son, and they were taking it in stride.

The rain let up a bit and I was able to start grabbing a few photos here and there.

I got radio contact with Julie while she was driving up to the pass from the east side. (Surprising.) We ended up meeting on the trail, but before that, a guy on the trail asked if I was Jay. “Yeah.” Julie says you’re full of shit.

Julie wasn’t able to find anything really worth eating, so we decided to drive into Columbia Falls to eat, buy food and firewood, fill the tank, and make a few phone calls. On the way back into the park, we spotted a moose putting on a show. After 20 handheld shots, I grabbed the tripod and got 30 more shots. This guy was a real ham.

On the way back to Many Glacier, we got to see fireworks after all,  in Babb. That should let you know we pulled into camp late, about 11 pm. It was a long day.

Since I was still tired from the hike to Swiftcurrent LO, the hike back from Cracker really kicked my butt yesterday. The shower felt incredibly good.

Iceberg Lake

Round trip: 9.6 miles
Elevation: 1200 feet

This hike is a favorite of almost everyone. We had the good fortune of obnoxious quantities of bear grass (a white flower). The stuff was thick on the way up Swiftcurrent Valley and again on the Iceberg Trail.

Glacier has a lot of green and red rock, which I think is argillite and I believe the color is from iron. If you need a break, it’s easy to just sit and watch the water trickle over the bright colored rocks.

Ok, here’s the goal. Iceberg Lake is a cirque in the shadows of some pretty serious cliffs.

Here’s a look back down the valley with some bear grass getting in the way, and another plant I just call a hasta.

At the lake itself, there was some strange looking ice. It had a weird texture and was translucent.

It’s hard to get a sense of size, but a few dozen people along the right shore of the bottom picture are small enough to disappear.

A tree shot while I was waiting for Julie.

The clouds picked up and we got rain on the hike back to camp, but nothing too serious.

Again, the shower felt pretty good at the end of the hike.

Round trip: 12.2 miles
Elevation: 1400 feet

This hike was Julie’s pick. It’s a fantastic hike, but the complaint is that it starts out in horse poop and woods. Whatever.

and a little closer

So, you can see why this is one of Julie’s favorite hikes. Now if you look down…

Salting the Mine

At the opposite end of the lake is the remnants of an old mining operation. This seems to be a magnet for Julie. (Bee-line might be a better term.)

I kind of like this one.

…and the departing shot.