We did it! We did it! Our first 2-night backcountry camping trip is complete. Unlike our last attempt, we did not get blown off the mountain. But the journey was equally memorable. Come along and see! We left the house at 7.30 a.m., Spousal Unit driving his truck and Dear Neighbor Friend in her rig with me at shotgun. Five hours later, we departed the Red Eagle trailhead. Yes, it took 5 hours to drive to Glacier National Park, obtain our backcountry permit, traverse the Going to the Sun Road (GTSR), negotiate some road construction on the east side of the Park, leave the truck at our exit point and then go to the trailhead. As time ticked by, I was itching to get on the trail. Sometimes the getting there is the hardest part! But it was a lovely opportunity to chat with my friend, and the views along GTSR never cease to amaze.
Singleshot Mountain reflected in an unusually calm St. Mary Lake
Goldenrod - hope you're not allergic!
It was a hot day by Montana standards, and owing to the Red Eagle burn of 2006, the dead trees offered little in the way of shade. Nevertheless, I was entertained by the clack-clack-clack of the grasshoppers flying ahead of us on the trail, and the orange sulfur butterfly pairs in pirouettes above the sweeping prairie. When we reached the first crossing of Red Eagle Creek, the cool waters beckoned, and it took only moments to shuck our boots and plunge our tootsies in the current. I admired the workmanship of the suspension bridge, especially considering it is seasonal. In other words, it is installed in the spring and rolled up in the fall. That afternoon, we would encounter two more of these. How much I appreciate the trail crews that make these fords a breeze for all of us.
Recommended load? Sign says one hiker at a time!
A short while later, I paused to take the picture below. The distant mountains were alluring, particularly given the heat and dryness of the open fields.
At that moment, Spousal Unit said "Moose!" Sure enough, in the creek bed to our right, stood a young bull moose. I adore moose, and I could have gone home then! We stared at each other for several minutes, and he must have decided it was safe to dip his head for a drink. He never moved from the spot, and we reluctantly left him to enjoy his bath.
Six miles into the hike, a hulking rock sill seemed to block the trail. As it turns out, this natural feature, in damming Red Eagle Creek, creates Red Eagle Lake. Upon traversing the sill and reaching its summit, the lake comes into view. We took a short break at the foot of the lake. Nearby, a lady ensconced in a camp chair under a tree alternated between gazing at the lake and writing in a journal. At one point, she got up and turned over some socks, which were drying on a rock. She asked about our plans, and when she learned we would be camping at the head of the lake, she advised that getting water at the head can be challenging due to the silt build-up there. How kind of her to offer this advice. This is one of the aspects of hiking and camping that I enjoy - a temporary community develops when you are on a hike. Your interaction may only last 15 minutes or it may stretch to 36 hours, but there is a camaraderie that is born of shared experiences and the sense of being together in the vast wilderness.
It was a short mile to the head of the lake, and we quickly selected one of the two remaining campsites and pitched the tent. We met our fellow campers, an elderly fellow traveling alone, and a dad and daughter enjoying some one-on-one time. We had already met three young ladies along the trail, who would take the last of the four sites. We splashed a bit in the lake to cool off, but this was dramatically limited by the deep silt at this end of the lake. It also meant no fishing for Spousal Unit. No one was in the mood for a fire, given the lingering heat, so after our dinner and a look at the twilight color on the lake, we retired to our tent for a few hands of Gin Rummy. The last thing I remembered before I drifted off was the echo of a hooting owl.
Oatmeal fortifies us for Day Two
From the description above, it may seem that Day One was pretty special. As I look back on it, Day One and Day Three are necessary for Day Two, the true highlight of the trip. With 2,680 feet of elevation gain, we would ascend to Triple Divide Pass, and then descend 2,000 feet to Atlantic Creek campground, all while covering 10.7 miles. As you will see in the following pictures, we traveled through widely varying terrain, and the scenery was jaw-dropping at every turn.
Still in the burn area
Red Eagle Gorge. Blue-green rocks were stunning. Little Chief Mountain soars behind me
We caught up with the three young ladies, and took turns posing with our destination as the backdrop.
Triple Divide Pass is the lowest point to the left of the snow fields
Panorama at the same location
Top: fields of Pearly Everlasting
Bottom left: Twisted Stalk in fruit stage Bottom right: Baneberry fruit
The trail remained fairly level and finally gives way to lush fields. High on Split Mountain, I spotted a group of mountain goats - three adults and two young ones. The white coats stood out against the red rocks. A bit further on, an impressive waterfall emerges from a cleft on the same mountain. Fortunately, Spousal Unit is not easily distracted, and he was the one to see the young black bear on the hillside to our right, only 75 yards away. We stopped in our tracks and continued making soft noise. After a couple of minutes, he turned and headed up the hillside. We did not see him again.
We passed several more waterfalls of varying sizes as we progressed up the valley of Hudson Bay Creek. Below is a video of my favorite.
With all this moisture, wildflowers were abundant. I was in heaven.
At the head of the valley, the trail begins its assault of Triple Divide Pass in earnest, switching back across parklands and scree slopes to the Pass. Even on the scree slopes, Nature finds a way.
Upper left: Wild Chives Upper right: Western Pasqueflower in seed
Lower left: flowers in a stream bed Lower right: Yellow Columbine
Nearly at the top, we can see several "lakes" formed by melting snow.
The bright blue color is from the glacial "flour" in the water, which refracts light and creates the color
At the Pass, we met a party of five from Holland. While swapping stories from the day, they told us about a mama grizzly and cub they had passed in a huckleberry patch. "She was huge," they said. We thanked them for the tip as we would be passing through that area in a couple of hours. And then they left us to enjoy the solitude of Triple Divide Peak. The Peak is so named because water in this area will enter one of three watersheds and ultimately end up in the Arctic, Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. As we began our descent, Medicine Grizzly Lake dominated the landscape to the right of the trail (the left is a sheer mountain). I stopped frequently to look and take pictures - doing otherwise was to risk a tumble off the steep cliffs.
Yes, that is Man with Hat, dwarfed by the red cliffs. The narrow trail hugged the cliff almost all the way down
Can you see the ribbon of a waterfall at the head of Medicine Grizzly Lake?
Rocky nature of this south-facing slope permits abundant flowers, but it's tough on trees. We saw
marmots (lower right), golden-mantled ground squirrels and Columbian ground squirrels
Two-thirds of the way into our descent, Spousal Unit suddenly said "There's the grizzly." My heart was in my throat, and he quickly added "She's way down there." Looking through the binoculars, we could see her bulk moving easily among the bushes in the valley that ascends very gradually to Medicine Grizzly Lake. And occasionally, the cub would appear, and run to catch up with Mom. We turned this into a snack break, and for the next 30 minutes, observed the pair, giggling out loud at the antics of the cub. But the best was yet to come. When they reached the shore of the lake, they both waded in and proceeded to splash about, at times appearing to play with each other. It was a joy to watch, and all the better for being at the end of a pair of binoculars. As described by the folks from Holland, the sow loomed large; I can only imagine her size if you met her close up!
The trail finally flattens and enters the trees near the campground. It was raining ever so slightly as we arrived, so we rushed to set up the tent before it could get worse. Of course, by the time it was erected, the rain eased! We soon got to know our campmates for the evening, and enjoyed the banter around the food preparation area. From my perspective, Atlantic Creek campground is prettier than Red Eagle Head: it is nestled in trees, which offers more shelter and a little more privacy than the meadow nature of Red Eagle. The creek runs just past the food prep area, down a short hill, and this makes it easier to access fresh water. Our campsite, while treed, was in a larger opening than the night before, and we had room to play cards outside the tent following our dinner and coffee/Honey Jack. Altogether a satisfying ending to a 7.5 hour hike.
In the afterglow of the whiskey, I reflected that I enjoyed the pace of the day. More casual than our
normal rate, I felt I had the opportunity to truly absorb the environment
Day Three dawned cool and misty. Originally we planned to break camp and take a day pack to Medicine Grizzly Lake in order to see it and for Spousal Unit to fish. Given we had seen the lake from above, and more importantly, it seems inhabited by a grizzly sow and her cub, we abandoned the idea.
Upper left: Blanket flower Upper right: Bad Marriage Mountain
Lower left: Cut Bank Creek Lower right: White angelica
The four miles to the trailhead/our truck resembled a stroll compared to Days One and Two, and visions of a cheeseburger and a hot shower danced in our heads. Since we shortened our day, we would have time for an adult beverage and a meal at Glacier Park Lodge. Yum.
But part of us was already missing the backcountry, and anticipating the next adventure. Will you join us?
Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme
where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain
time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your
blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and
enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an
easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I
stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join
in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.
lessed. I am a blessed woman. My health. Good friends. Loving children. A darling spouse. To live in the spectacular state of Montana. A positive outlook. Not a new revelation, but one that struck me again as I prepared this post. I sat down to do some drawing this week, and I looked to my planner pages for inspiration. (I did this once before - see my May 12 post.) I don't often need a pep talk, but everyone has a down day now and again. If nothing else, these catch-phrases are well-suited to lettering practice!
As the weekend approached, I decided to structure this post using the phrases from May, June, July and August.
Pinterest provides a wealth of fonts and tutorials on hand-lettering and drawing. I enjoy looking at the options and choosing styles that fit the phrase. As I created "Embrace Beauty", I thought to myself "That's a no-brainer." I am surrounded by God's beauty each and every day.
One of my favorite pictures from July illustrates this better than any art I could create. Here I am standing in the hay field on the farm of my Dear Neighbor Friend. It's so tall you almost can't see me!
"Nurture" means to "care for and encourage the growth of someone or something". What is the state of your relationships?
As I mentioned in my August 1 post, #1 Son has been in the UK visiting his paternal grandparents, and he continued to send us photos from his trip. On the day he returned, he scheduled a Skype call with us to tell us how much he has missed us. Awww. Here are just a few of his photos.
On Thursday, I was thrilled to be sitting in the bleachers at the Fair with my Dear Neighbor Friend when her granddaughters won several events with their goats, including novice showmanship and the best goat at the Fair. If it weren't for our friendship, I would never have had this fascinating, first-hand experience of 4-H kids competing at the Fair.
On Friday, my Dear Neighbor Friend came by to deliver fresh, warm cinnamon rolls. We had a lovely chat on our front porch while a soft rain fell. What could be more heart-warming than that?
The August phrase is "Practice Wellness." (And how ironic, given that those cinnamon rolls have disappeared in a couple of days.) I thought it was interesting that the designer chose the word "practice" to pair with "wellness". It is a word full of action, execution, implementation. Even if you are in a state of good health (wellness), it implies putting that good health in motion. It signifies routines, habits, customs - are your habits healthy and are healthy practices also your custom?
I think I can check the box on this one as well. Healthy foods, regular exercise. I keep an eye on my mental health, too. What am I reading? What music is playing? Daily prayer is essential for me. Heck, drawing, as well as writing this blog, are forms of practicing wellness, even if I am mildly stressed at times about what to write.
As I looked back over my artwork, it occurred to me that I could rate myself an "A" or "B" on all of these admonitions. On top of that, I function pretty effectively without the reminders. Yes, I am a blessed woman. A blessed woman with some new art.
Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme
where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain
time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your
blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and
enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an
easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I
stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join
in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.
Dear reader, over several posts (May 26, June 16 and July 14), I have been stringing you along, sharing tales of our visit to Spokane. Finally, we have arrived at the pinnacle - the Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade. And what a spectacle it is. The festivities begin early in the day, when the floats are parked under a highway underpass near downtown. I was delighted to learn that the public can view them.
Float for Lilac Festival Princesses
As we walked among them, it became apparent that most of the floats represented communities that have festivals of their own, such as the Apple Blossom Festival. We marveled at the creativity and workmanship. At one float, a couple of gentlemen hovered, and I took the opportunity to ask a few questions.
Do these communities use the same float every year? Most make a new float every year, reflecting a theme that the community selects.
Float for Apple Blossom Festival Princesses (100th year of that Festival)
Isn't that a massive effort for one parade? It isn't just one parade - most of these communities have parades for their own festivals, and everyone participates. A float may appear in as many as 13 or 14 parades over the spring/summer.
Do all the floats carry princesses? Most feature princesses but some transport other royalty or other community groups. The selection of the princesses is a significant event in these communities. (And, as we would later observe during the parade, most of the princesses have a prepared dance routine that they perform on the float to the music emanating from it.) This is a big deal, folks!
I have only shown you a small selection of the floats - some were hard to
photograph due to how they were parked. You will just have to go and see
it for yourself!
Unlike most parades, this one takes place at night, hence the name "Torchlight Parade". I channeled my inner child and inhaled an ice cream while waiting for 7.45 p.m. to arrive. Spectators thronged the sidewalks, with chairs, blankets and children in tow. Vendors strolled the cordoned-off streets, hawking cotton candy, balloons and every possible item with lights. Stationed as we were at the start of the parade route, I can tell you the parade commenced right on time. The police sirens began to wail and the motorcycle police cavalcade got the party started. Over the next two and a half hours, we were charmed by countless high school marching bands, military groups, drill teams, equestrian units, antique cars and of course, floats. The participants are encouraged to use lighting, and it was fascinating to observe the same floats we had seen earlier in the day, now lit in creative ways.
Here is a short video of the Lilac Princesses, who appeared near the beginning of the parade.
I am partial to high school marching bands, since #1 Son was a member of the drum line in high school, and held a leadership position as an upperclassman. Hence, I captured numerous bands on video, and I down-selected snippets of the best for you. With hindsight, I wish we had been a little further from the start of the route. Many of the bands waited to start playing until the next block, and I regretted not hearing them perform. Band playing a military march, which seemed very appropriate for a Armed Forces parade.
This band outdid every other band with lights, from their hats to little lights on their shoes.
This band had a GIGANTIC percussion session - oh, how I miss drum line!
OK, not EVERY video was a band - the crowd LOVED the Hot Mamas, and I think this short video tells the story well.
May nights in Spokane can still be chilly, and after a couple of hours I was ready to snatch a blanket from one of the nearby kids. (Of course, I didn't!) Also, we had been standing all this time … But we stayed to the end (do not stray from the quest is a family motto), and then made our way to the food truck area to see what might still be open. A short while later we scarfed piping hot (temperature and taste) Mexican food as we walked back to our hotel. What a wonderful night!
Moon behind Looff Carousel
The next day, we said farewell to Spokane and cruised toward Idaho. What do you think of when you consider Idaho? Well, I think potato. What could be better than an Idaho potato in Idaho? Are you tired of me using the word Idaho? Our tummies were rumbling as we approached the town of Sandpoint, and Yelp surfaced a restaurant I just knew we had to try: Spuds Waterfront Grill. From the moment we entered, I knew we had chosen well - we were greeted first by the desserts.
I am highly unlikely to eat an Elvis Cake, but I sure like the chutzpah of a restaurant that would serve one!
It was too windy to sit on the deck overlooking the marina, but we had seats next to the window that were the next best thing. I was delighted with my meal - yes, a spud. Mine was the "Drag it Through the Garden" potato, with spinach, broccoli, red cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, mushrooms and a green onion dill dressing. I was in heaven. An Idaho potato in Idaho - my journey was complete.
Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme
where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain
time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your
blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and
enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an
easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I
stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join
in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.
