I went with Joyce and Sue Ann. We had planned an early start where Joyce would get me at 8 am. At 6:45 am Joyce called me inquiring if I wanted to go as the weather didn't look the best at her place. I thought it was cloudy but seemed doable.
I was in the shower when Sue Ann called me to tell me it was sprinkling rain at her end of the Valley. As she lived closer to Glacier this was significant. She really didn't want to go. Okay, we'll postpone it.
Then a little later (at least I was out of the shower now) Sue Ann called again to say we'll wait an hour then decide. In the meantime I got on my computer and checked the weather forecast. It said a chance of rain in the morning. I checked the Apgar Lookout web cam and also the Lake MacDonald web cam from the Apgar town site. They both showed gray dreary hazy skies. The views would not be great especially for the effort involved. When Sue Ann called back in an hour I decided not to go.
Then I sat down a minute to rest as I have gotten less than eight hours sleep and I was tired and sore from yesterday's work. A few hours later I woke to sunshine. It wasn't much later Joyce called to say the sun was shining and maybe we should go snowshoeing. All right then.
Joyce picked me up a little before noon. Therefore we didn't get to the parking area near Apgar until after 12:30pm. A late start, but the sky was mostly clear and beautiful and the temperature warm.
Another vehicle was in the parking lot but we didn't see fresh tracks on the road. I say "road" as the road to the trail head was not plowed of snow. We had to walk on snowshoes 1.9 miles to the trail head.
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| "Road" to the trail head. |
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| Apgar Mountain |
Once we got onto the trail itself we either had 2.8 or 3.5 miles. The sign said 2.8 but someone scratched 3.5 into the sign.
On the trail we started to encounter fallen trees. Much of this area was burnt in the Robert fire in 2003 and there were still many burned and dead trees standing.
We knew which way the trail turned and after a while we decided to go around the deadfall and cut through the forest. The way was shorter but we found that the snow was softer and at times we would sink deep into the snow even wearing our snowshoes. Joyce and Sue Ann are much shorter than I, and Sue Ann commented about falling on her boobs in the snow.
Eventually we reconnected with the trail and were glad to do so. Then again we encountered more deadfall until we got higher and the trees thinner. Sue Ann slipped while stepping over a downed tree and slid down the tree trunk. She laughed and said this was the closest she had gotten to sex in years.
On one section the trail was partially melted and we took off our snowshoes. That didn't last too long.
While putting on our snowshoes again we met a young couple coming down the trail. They said the trail ended and they had come back without reaching the top. They had never been on this trail before and didn't know which way to go. We talked them into coming back up with us. However when we came to a split in the trail and took the way they had just been, they decided to go back down as they weren't confident this was the way to go.
It certainly seemed like the trail was under the snow and we continued on. As we continued on Joyce had doubts this was the correct route and told me she would give me $100 if this was the correct route. I was certain the route was correct until I discovered the snowshoe tracks ended. By now I had doubts this was the way to go. I've been on this trail in the summer a couple times, the last time being a few years prior and I was distracted by the woman I was dating at the time. So, no, I didn't know exactly the exact location of the trail to the lookout.
Joyce and Sue Ann decided to turn around and go back down the mountain. I saw some old tracks head off in the direction I thought the lookout may be and I decided to head up that way. The tracks faded away but I kept going. I had to angle up the mountainside as it was steep. There were lots of fallen trees sticking out of the snow so I had to work around those.
I worked my way slowly until I spotted a large area of grass. I took off my snowshoes, and carrying them, climbed straight up until I came to snow again.
I scanned the mountainside upwards. How close am I to the top and the lookout? It looked so close, but the effort it had taken me to get up this far was wearing me out.
Reluctantly - very reluctantly - I turned around and hiked down to the lower part of the grassy area where the snow began again.
The mountainside was so steep that I was half skiing and half walking down. At times I got going faster than I wanted to and had to dig my shoes into the snow. When that didn't work I sat down. A number of times I maneuvered into trees to use them to slow me down or stop me before I got going too fast.
Not the best way to get down the mountainside.
Finally I came to the trail and with a plop landed on it. Going down the mountain on the trail was far easier now.
At one point, as I was stepping over a fallen tree, my snowshoe sunk deep into the snow next to the tree and I fell forward hard against the tree. I may have bruised my ribs on one side as they hurt for a week after.
I never caught up to Joyce and Sue Ann until I was off the trail and back on the road. Note: Joyce was around 73 years old when we did this.
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