Fishercap, Redrock and Bullhead Lakes

Friday, May 18, I went hiking with my hiking group. Several regular members were missing due to vacations and other commitments. So it just was Bill and I from the regular group. Joining us were Wendy and Cheryl, sisters.

Wendy attends the same church as most of the hiking group and has hiked with the group a number of times over the past few years before I joined the group. She had hiked to Snyder Lake the previous week - the hike I missed when my relatives were visiting me. Apparently that trail was still covered in snow for half of the 4 mile distance.

Today's hike was in the Many Glacier area on the east side of the Park. This is my favorite valley in the Park due to the lake and all the mountains.

From the Swiftcurrent Trailhead we hiked west up the valley, along Swiftcurrent Creek and along the lakes: Fishercap, Redrock, and Bullhead. Bullhead Lake is the long lake below the switchbacks that lead up to Swiftcurrent Pass.

The elevation gain to Redrock Falls is only 100 feet and I doubt we climbed much higher than that to Bullhead Lake.

Because we had to drive to the east side we all met at 8 am in Columbia Falls. Wendy had to be back by 3 pm because of something with her grandson. So she and Cheryl drove in their SUV while I rode with Bill.

At the Goat Lick on Hwy 2 we saw a number of goats. Then shortly after that Bill, Wendy and Cheryl all saw a black bear. I was looking elsewhere and I missed it.

At East Glacier we took the Hwy 49 shortcut over to Hwy 89 now that Hwy 49 is open (its closed over the winter). On Hwy 89 we drove to Babb then into the Many Glacier Valley.

As we drove we had beautiful views of the mountains from the east side. All were snow covered.

Here is a view of the Two Medicine valley. This was taken by Peter and Edwina the previous weekend.

While we ran into high clouds when we reached Marias Pass on Hwy 2, and had clouds much of the way to Many Glacier, once we drove up the Many Glacier Valley we left the clouds and again had a clear sky.

We noticed most places in St. Marys were still closed, including the Park Cafe. No pie this trip!

Only one other vehicle, a RV, was in the parking lot when we arrived. We later met the couple on the trail. They sounded like they were from a Scandinavian European country.

We walked down to Fishercap Lake to look for moose. No moose.

Then halfway to Redrock Lake Bill saw a moose on the mountainside across the creek to our south. We had to use his binoculars to get a good look at it.

There were two falls around Redrock Lake. I am not sure which one was Redrock Falls. Both were beautiful. The water was very clear so one could see the rock below the falls under lots of water. I wish I had a camera so I could have taken a picture of my own.

Continuing on we made it as far as the creek that flows into Bullhead Lake near its head. The swing bridge over the creek had not been put up this year, and due to the melting snow the creek level was too high to wade across.

We had been hiking on snow off and on after leaving the falls, and snow partially covered the trail beyond the creek. The snow was red in areas from the red rocks that were about. So we stopped and ate out lunches as it was around noon.

We estimated that we hiked 3.5 miles before we were stopped at the stream.

There wasn't a bad view no matter where one sat or which direction they faced. We all speculated where the trail climbed up the mountain wall to reach Swiftcurrent Pass. I watched clouds form and then dissipate as they came over the side of Swiftcurrent Mountain.

I'm not sure where Bill took this photo.

Although Wendy drove in order to get back to the Flathead Valley by 3 pm, she might have forgotten the time as it was 2 pm when we returned to our vehicles. We never got back home until after 4 pm.

I had only gotten 5 1/2 hours of sleep the night before, and after a 7 mile hike and then a warm car, I fought to stay awake to keep Bill company on the drive back. Between a Canadian radio station that played a variety of opera and easy listening music and Bill's CD of piano music (once we were farther from the border), the music didn't help me stay completely awake. I was awake enough to notice a newer band playing swing jazz music in the style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.