Heaven's Peak Lookout

Today, September 17, 2009 Gary and I hiked up to Heaven's Peak Lookout. Yes... you heard right. Most people don't even know there is a lookout there, even though you can (kind of) see it from The Loop on the Sun Road (if you look closely).

In the photo below that I took from The Loop before we began the hike, the "X" in the photo below marks the location of the lookout. Heaven's Peak itself is the mountain on the left side. We started the hike at Packer's Roost, which can't be seen in this photo but is located near the lower left corner of the photo.

The following photo was taken on McDonald Creek.  The green, unburned area in the center of the preceding photo can be seen on the following photo.

(Click on the photos to see a larger image.)

We made it, though it was a major challenge. There used to be a trail up to the lookout but the Park let the trail go and we saw no signs of it. We had to bushwhack for about half the distance and 3000 ft up (and down!) the mountain until we got above the treeline. At times the brush was heavy.

It was a long day (11 hours and 20 minutes from start to finish) and I'm a bit tired. My legs are cut up and sore from all the bushwhacking. In hindsight long pants would have been better to wear.

It was an awesome hike. An adventure. The views from the lookout were incredible

The lookout was originally built was built in 1945 by conscientious objectors in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The lookout was in operation from its construction in 1945 through the 1953 fire season when it was abandoned in favor of aerial detection.

The lookout now is in sad shape. Hopefully the Park restores and protects this historic lookout some day.

Wildcat and Strawberry Lakes

** News Flash! ** (Dateline: Jewel Basin) Initial reports indicate Chippy Chipmunk was fatally injured today. Apparently a woman by the name of Patti was involved with Chippy's death. More on this story on the 10 o'clock news.


Good evening everyone. Our top story tonight is the tragic death of Chippy Chipmunk (aka. The Scavenger) on the trail between Wildcat Lake and Strawberry Lake in the Jewel Basin. Ms. Patti (aka. Polite Patti) apparently stepped on Chippy as he ran across the trail on which Patti was walking as she led a hiking group.

Patti claims to not have seen Chippy and did not feel him under her shoe. A fellow hiker, Gary (aka. The Dancemaster), witnessed this tragic accident and claimed Chippy ran under Patti's heel and was crushed. Gene (aka. The Quiet One) and me (aka. The One-who-forgot-his-camera), also in Patti's hiking group, did not witness the accident but saw the fatally injured Chippy rolling strangely on the trail with Patti and Gary standing suspiciously nearby. Gene procured a rock and I put Chippy out of his misery, then rolled him off the trail.

The questioning began. Patti proclaimed her innocence. But the facts remained: Chippy was dead. Then Gallant Gene spoke out and proclaimed: "It was suicide! It was a case of 'death by hiker'." The tide against Patti turned and the consensus came to be that Chippy had committed suicide, and Poor Patti was the unfortunate victim of Chippy's death desire.

Patti was absolved, the case was closed, and the hike continued. But, you dear reader, what do you think? Was it murder by Perilous Patti? Was it suicide by a despondent Chippy? Or was it merely a tragic accident?


In other news, with hike leader Leah on the injured list and out of hiking commission, on Saturday, August 2 Patti and Gene stepped up and Gene led a hike in the Jewel Basin to Wildcat and Strawberry lakes. The group - Patti, Gene, Gary, and I - met after 8 am and under cloudy skies and in cool temperatures began our hike from the Camp Misery parking lot high in the Swan Mountain Range at the end of forest service road 5392.

The parking lot was almost full when our group arrived early in the morning. When we left later that afternoon cars were parked along the forest service road a good distance from the parking lot. As we readied for our hike one of the three rangers wandered over to check out our destination. Then it was up the trail and to the left.

The climb was steady but not steep. The group passed only one other group on the hike up. On the way to Strawberry Lake only a few tents were seen around Twin Lakes. No one was at Strawberry Lake until minutes after we left. Then from the trail above the lake we could look back and see a young couple at the lake where we just were. The woman woke a white bikini and Gary and I were kicking ourselves for leaving the lake so soon. It wasn't until the group passed back by Wildcat Lake that we began to see more tents and more hikers. Lots of hikers with camping gear were coming up the trail mid afternoon when we hiked down.

By late morning the clouds thinned and it became more sunny than cloudy. Twin Lakes, Strawberry Lake, and especially Wildcat Lake, were all beautiful.

The group ate lunch by Strawberry Lake and swapped stories. Patti told of surviving (barely) her first hike with this hiking group: 20 miles over the Dawson-Pitamakin Passes. Gary told how he almost fell off a cliff when he was young. Gene talked of bicycling through New Zealand and from Montana across British Columbia to Prince Rupert on the coast. I told a humorous - though very long - story about bicycling in New Zealand and Australia with a friend who was new to bicycling touring and had the worst luck.

While at Strawberry Lake I wondered if Gene wasn't the long unseen "Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine" from the old Gong Show, Gene wouldn't "bust a move" for the group by Strawberry Lake. Gary, however, is the real dance master. On the hike back to the car he encountered one of his former dancing partners hiking up the trail.

A side loop trail passing by Blackfoot and Black Lakes was considered by the group until they realized they didn't have time to hike this extra distance. It was resolved to hike to these lakes another day. In total the hike this day was 10.6 miles and the group returned to the Camp Misery Parking lot at 3:30 pm.

Patti wondered what one of the wildflowers was along a section of the trail. Reluctant to pick a flower, it was only after the urging of the group that she did pick one flower and bring it to a forest service ranger to identify. The group's only request was that Patti give them her car keys in case the ranger hauled her to jail for picking the flower. The young woman ranger was certain she could answer Patti's question until she saw the wildflower. She had no clue as to the flower's identify.

By the end of the trip Gary killed a fly and Gene swatted a mosquito to join Patti and I in "murderers row".

A good time was had by all.

Photo 1: Flathead Valley with Flathead Lake on the left

Photo 2: Ridge

Photo 3: Twin Lakes

Photo 4: Mountains on the east side

Photo 5: The group at Strawberry Lake

Photo 6: Strawberry Lake

Photo 7: Gene and Patti

Photos 8 - 12: Wildcat Lake

Lupine Lake and Ashley Mountain

Friday June 6, Joyce, Bill, Gary and I hiked to Lupine Lake and then up to Ashley Mountain.

It was good seeing everyone. This was my first hike since I returned to Montana. And it was their first hike of the year also as they hadn't gone on any hikes without me.

A half mile or so in from the trail head is an overlook of a beautiful waterfall on Griffith Creek.

Photo 1 is looking up at rock. The right side is where I first saw the waterfall.
Photo 2 is the bridge crossing Griffith Creek.

Lupine Lake is a nice lake and we stopped and ate our lunch here. It seems as none of the sources agree to the distance to the lake, but I tend to believe the sign at the trail head: 2.5 miles.





We were all feeling good so we decided to hike to the top of Ashley Mountain. It was only another 2.5 miles. The following is a photo of Ashley Mountain taken earlier from the overlook of the waterfall.



For a while a stream that fed into the lake was near our trail.




Later, near a bend in the trail, we came upon this wooden marker.

In Memory of
Beloved husband
"Daddy"
Grandpa
Richard V. Bain
Nov 5, 1978

We stopped and studied it. We still have no idea if this is just a marker, or if it is a marker for an actual grave site. I believe Gary said it wasn't until sometime in the 1980s when it became illegal to bury bodies out in the woods.

Apparently I had not recharged my camera's battery in a while as once I took a flash photo of the grave marker my camera died and I was unable to take any more photos.

After the marker, the trail began a noticeable climb upward. Because time was passing quicker than we realized, and Gary had an appointment later, he and I continued ahead while Joyce and Bill followed. We still took time to move the small deadfall off the trail as we hiked.

The weather was a mix of sun and clouds. We crossed a gravel road/path, and while it was sunny where we were, we could see clouds and moisture to our west. A sign said we had one mile to the top.

Soon after crossing the road we came upon patches of snow on the trail. I was in the lead and tried to find areas of least snow to cross. Eventually that became impossible as everywhere was snow. Wet snow. Fortunately not deep snow.

We debated whether to continue and did so since I felt were were close to the top.

And we were. The mountain top was rounded and flat and was surrounded by thick trees. We had no view. The better view was near where we had earlier crossed the road.

At the top there was a large metal squat square structure with an antennae sticking up. The structure was weighed down by a collection of large rocks in a metal wire basket on each of the four legs. We could see anchor points in concrete on the ground that was used for the previous structure.

Then it began to snow. Heavily. For a while we took shelter under one of the large pine trees before deciding to return down the trail. Gary was interested in taking the road from the structure back down to the place where we had crossed it earlier. While I would have liked to have done so also, I reminded him that Joyce and Bill may be on the trail above the road and we would miss them.

Between the snow and the trees we couldn't find where the trail started down. Odd, we just came up it. Gary thought it was further left than I did and after failing to find it in that direction I came across it to my right.

It was a good thing we took the trail back even though that meant crossing all that snow: Bill and Joyce were a half mile from the top when we met them. Because there was no view, and snow was covering the trail, we all decided to return down the mountain. The falling snow ended by the time we crossed the road again. The tops of the trees were swaying, and we could hear the wind, but could not feel it.

There was an interesting tree stump that Gary took a fancy to on the way up the mountain. On the way back I picked it up and carried it for Gary. This was partly thanks for him carrying a good sized rock I fancied on our Elk Mountain hike when my hands were full with other rocks. And partly because I hadn't been bewitched by any rocks on this hike.

Gary and I traded carrying the stump to Lupine Lake. From Lupine Lake I carried the stump a half mile until I remembered leaving a rock when Bill and I hiked this trail last year. Sure enough I found the rock again. And being a nice rock (the photo doesn't do it justice) I couldn't resist it. That meant Gary had to carry his stump back to the car himself.

I had two miles to carry this rock. Down, then up a steep climb at the end. I began doubt the wisdom of carrying the rock. Once I got home I weighed it and found it to weigh 42 lbs. No wonder I got a workout carrying it.

Even though we were carrying items, Joyce and Bill had lagged behind. We waited for them to catch up. I went off trail to take a bathroom break. As I picked my way through the trees I put my hand on a large dead tree trunk and over it fell with a loud crash. I hardly touched the tree, I swear!

As we continued I went slower because Bill was lagging even more. He was tired. I found out he was out of food so I gave him some of mine. As we began the final climb upward I discovered Bill was out of water so I gave him half of mine. Shortly thereafter Gary returned and he helped Bill up the trail as I went on ahead.

Joyce was at the car and gave me some of the bread she had baked. I noticed an interesting large rock on the ground near the car and decided it would be a worthy addition to my rock garden. Once Gary returned with Bill he thanked me for loading the rock into Joyce's car for him. He had found it on the side of the road while waiting for Bill and I.

For the drive back home we went north through Star Meadows and near Tally Lake. We passed through some of the Brush Creek fire burn area from last Summer. Some of the dead trees were being logged and we passed a few piles on the side of the road with signs saying no firewood cutting of these logs.

Some of the roads didn't match the map I got from the Tally Lake ranger district. According to the map we should have come to the east side of Star Meadows, but we came to the west side. Okay... I'll remember that in the future.

While we started our day's activity at 9 am, and only hiked 10 miles, it was now 5 pm when we returned to our vehicles. Where did the day go?

Elk Mountain

Friday, June 22, I hiked to the top of Elk Mountain (elevation 6587 ft) with Gary and Joyce. Because the trail description listed the length at 20 miles round trip, Bill decided to skip this hike. The 20 mile length, and the early start time - 7 am - also discouraged Sue Ann from joining us.

I woke up at 5:30 am and it was light outside! The sun was close to rising. Wow! Who would have thought? Then I shouldn't have been surprised as when I went to bed after 4 am the other week I thought I could see signs of a sunrise across the mountains to the NE.

Years ago when caring for dad I had a hot air balloon land in the pasture one morning. I wondered if they still flew. Yup. They do. You just have to get up early to see them.

The other morning I saw a strange bird checking out my well as I had left the door to the shed open. The bird was tall, kind of like a pheasant, but not quite. This morning I learned it was a female turkey. On the road, before crossing the river and going up the ridge, I came around the corner to find three turkeys. A male and two females. The male was large and prettier with his feathers all puffed out. He stood in the road while the two females were near each side of the road. He slowly moved out of the way unconcerned about my car.

Gary and Joyce were already at the Costco parking lot that was our meeting area. They noticed and commented on the cut in my leg. They told me I should have had stitches put in it. I told them, "What's another scar?"

Gary drove as he had a pickup and we would be driving on back country forest service roads.

Elk Mountain is in the Salish Mountains in the Talley Lake Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest. It is at the west edge of the forest where it meets the Kootenai National Forest to the west. On the following map, Elk Mountain is right of center, below the "C K" in "ROCKY".


I brought along my map of the Talley Lake area. After Joyce looked at the map she couldn't fold it correctly. After her failed attempts to fold the map it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to fold it correctly. I never had a problem folding the map before.



While I have never been to Elk Mountain, I have been on these forest service roads back in the summer of 2002 when I had a permit to gather firewood. A beautiful remote area, and one I wanted to revisit ever since.

We drove on forest service road 539 up and over Talley Lake and through Star Meadows to the west. The gray road indicates it is paved. When the road turned to gravel it became forest service road 113.

Cattle guards were across the gravel road at the boundary between the national forest and private lands. Cattle were on the road including calves who wanted to walk in front of the pickup and not move off the road. The cattle appeared to be on the national forest property and the guards were to prevent the cattle from wandering on the paved road and on private lands.

The Elk Mountain trail starts from forest service road 113 where it crosses the Brush Creek Divide. Joyce had hiked this trail 15 years ago when her then son-in-law was in charge of the trail crew that upgraded the trail. Joyce knew of another trail access. We took forest service road 2890 to the north and then Joyce watched for the spot she caught a side trail years ago. Forest service road 2890 was my main road when I gathered firewood.

Near Dunsire Pass is trail 258. That was the trail we needed. The black ) near the red 258 on the map indicates a gate across road 9528. We parked here and hiked trail 258 to trail 252 which is the Elk Mountain trail.

Trail 258 went a half mile up the mountain to the Elk Mountain trail. The trail was fairly steep and went through a forest of tall pines. The blow-down had been cut away across the trail. Part of the trail also had signs of burnt trees from a previous fire.

When we reached the Elk Mountain trail at the top of the divide a sign indicated it was only 6 miles to Elk Mountain. This route made the distance 6 1/2 miles instead of 10 miles.

At the top of the divide we could see the snow capped Cabinet Mountains to the far SW of Libby, MT. A long valley lay far below, which from this viewpoint snaked south and SW. Train tracks were at the bottom and zig-zagged and s-curved through the valley.

The mountain sides in the valley had rectangles and ovals where logging had been performed over the years. The different areas were slightly different colors and tree heights. It was a patchwork of logged areas. Logging roads could be seen here and there.

Logged areas, a few logging roads, and the train tracks - the only signs of man. No buildings or structures.

We came across a ruffled grouse who spread his tail feathers into a large fan and puffed up his chest so that you could see the white fur amongst the black coloring. He would make a sound similar to a drum pounding. He pretty much stood there and made this sound. After a bit we continued on the trail and he moved away from the trail as we passed. Later my neighbor Bob told me the grouse was acting this way because he had a nest nearby.

Later we saw several piles of what appeared to be wolf scat. Wolves are known to be in these mountains.

The trail went along the ridge from mountain to mountain. Then up to the top of one rocky mountain. We stopped for a few minutes to eat some snacks.

Then it was down the mountain side. What's with the downhill action? We were concerned we got onto a wrong trail. Later we realized we had to go downhill to cross over to another mountain.

At the bottom between the mountains we found a trail junction. Another trail went to forest service road 9528. This trail (182?) was not on my map but the forest service road was. This trail was 1/2 mile long. It was 2 1/4 miles to the lookout on top of Elk Mountain.

Up. Through a narrow "V" area with a pile of rocks on the the west side. The rocks were like ice that had been broken and tumbled into a pile. The rocks were angular and relatively flat. I wondered if one could fit them back together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Then up through forest. Earlier we saw mountain bicycle tire tracks on the the trail. The blow-down had been cut. While the blow-down looked to have been cut with a chainsaw on the initial 1/2 mile trail, the blow-down on the Elk Mountain trail looked to have been cut with a handsaw. The cut was finer and there was no piles of sawdust. Also, not all trees were cut. Some fallen trees looked very recent, others older. Some cuts were off trail where it was easier to cut with a handsaw as the tree was narrow where the cut was made. However, past this last junction and up to the Elk Mountain lookout few trees were cut. The past winter had more blowdown that normal, and reports have been that it was taking forest service workers and volunteers longer to clear trails than normal.

I read a recent letter to the newspaper where a woman complained chainsaws had been used to clear blowdown in the "Bob" (Bob Marshall Wilderness). This woman felt chainsaws violated the wilderness. I like wilderness, but I would put up with a chainsaw temporarily to speed up the clearing of trails. I have used both chainsaw and handsaw on trees that blew down on my property, and there is a big difference in time and effort.

A person can climb over or walk around a few trees, but when it gets to be dozens and dozens, it is too much. Also, most people walk around a fallen tree when they can and this is more damaging than the sound of a chainsaw. But, you know, some people are Nazis about the wilderness.

But I digress...

The Elk Mountain trail went through a mix of tall forest, open meadows, and alpine rocky terrain. The smell was a wonderful summer pine smell that hangs in the air on a still hot summer day.

We came across a patch of snow. Joyce filled her canteen with the snow.

1/4 mile from the lookout another trail (109) dropped west down the mountain and into the Kootenai forest.

At the top we found that the old wooden lookout had tipped and collapsed into a pile. The roof lay on the side and across part of the pile of wood. Gary and I climbed onto part of the lookout pile and found an old rusty table and a broom.

The cables that held cables holding the structure in place were gone but I found the old turnbuckles embedded in the rock that once held the lookout up when the wind blew.

What a view! What a wonderful job it was to man the lookout to watch for fires. A job I would have loved.

There was almost a 360 view. One mountain to the NE was just as tall.

Mountain range after mountain range in all directions. The only sign of man were train tracks and the occasionally far off rumble of a freight train in the valley far below. Otherwise it was quiet. Not even sounds of planes or jets, and certainly not cars. Very remote.

One could sit facing any direction and have a fantastic view. We were above the tree line as there were no trees at the top of Elk Mountain.

Cabinet Range. Whitefish Range. Swan Range. Columbia Mountain. Teakettle Mountain. Glacier Park snow capped mountains. The eastern mountains were hazy as the sun needed to be more to the west. I could not see Flathead Valley.

The air coming out of the west valley was a little cool. That was a little odd as this was an 80 degree day. It was warm a feet feet from the west side.

I found a fantastic rock. It was a yard long, and two to three inches thick. It was almost 2 feet wide at the widest point, narrowing to about a foot on each end. A perfect shape. The color was a nice green on one side and green with reds and oranges on the other. I so wanted to take this rock back with me but it was too big to carry 6 1/2 miles.

Instead I took two rocks from the "V" area of rocks. They had a colorful green lichen on one side. They were smaller but I still either needed two hands to carry them, I needed to balance them on my shoulder. At the first junction I left one rock as carrying both rocks was too much.

Later near the top of the middle mountain I found two thin green rocks. They were probably less than a inch thick and a foot by two feet in diameter. In one hand I carried my original rock and in the other hand these two. Gary offered to carry the two lighter rocks and initially I refused. "They are my rocks and my responsibility.'" Eventually I relented and let him carry them.

At a rest stop beneath the top of the middle mountain I swatted a yellow jacket on my leg. It fell to the ground stunned and before it could recover several ants rushed over and attacked it. Eventually three or four ants over powered the yellow jacket and carried it away. Gary, Joyce and I were like kids mesmerized by this struggle.

For a good portion of the trail, it was narrow. One had to walk with one foot almost in front of the other foot. This is hard to constantly do and my feet ended up angling on each side of the trail. Between that and the effects of walking downhill a lot - especially carrying a large rock - by the end of the hike my feet were sore. I got a blister on one heel. I was also tired from the 13 mile distance, and from carrying a large rock 4 miles. We were also all out of water by the time we returned to Gary's truck.

On the drive back to Kalispell we saw two deer standing near a small pond. No moose though. The cattle were all off the road and resting among the trees.

He is a photo of the larger rock I carried over 4 miles. The rock looks better in person.

Firebrand Pass

Friday, June 15, I hiked to Firebrand Pass with Bill, Joyce, Gary, Sue Ann, and Wendy. Firebrand Pass is on the Continental Divide. The trail is 4.8 miles long for a total of 9.6 miles. Gary and I hiked to the top of Red Crow Mountain so we hiked over 10 miles.


We left at 8 am so it was another early start. The previous night I got 6 hours 20 minutes of sleep so I felt better than the previous hike where I only had 6 hours sleep.

It was a sunny day, though the overnight low had been 33 degrees. When starting the hike I debated on whether to bring my coat along, but the others said I should else the weather will turn bad.

"Ok, I will. Besides, it's not like the coat weighs as much as a rock."

I am glad I took the coat as I wore it early on when we hiked among the trees, then later at the pass where we were under a perpetual cloud that hung over the peak to our SW.

Here is a map I got from Ranger Rachel (more on her later). The map follows the trail description I had earlier that said there is a road across the railroad tracks. Nope. No road exists. I guess the railroad took it out. The little loop road off Hwy 2 exists, and that is where one parks their vehicle. Then you scramble over the railroad tracks to find the trail on the other side.

The rest of the map is accurate.

Even though we knew the trail began right at mile marker 203 Joyce still passed the turnoff before she could stop the car. No wonder a few hundred yards down the road there is a turnaround off the side of the road.

In the "parking lot" were three other vehicles including the white Park Service pickup I had seen Wednesday when I had stopped there.

A couple came out of the fenced area as we entered. He looked to be in his early to mid 20s and she in her mid 20s. He had a large backpack and she a lighter one. I asked about the trail to Firebrand Pass and he gave the general direction where the trail went. They had camped out overnight near a lake.

"At Ole Lake?", I asked.

"No. We did a little bushwacking and found a lake near the pass."

They wished us well on our hike and we went our separate ways. I wished I was 20 years younger as she was very attractive and had a great smile and happy personality. A woman who likes to hike and camp in the boonies, and is in a good mood early in the morning after spending a night in the middle of nowhere with no facilities near the top of a mountain. I'm in love.

Later I learned the woman had mentioned to Sue Ann and Joyce that they has seen a bear earlier. "But don't worry. It won't be there when you get there." And she is fearless too. Did I mention I am in love?

The view was of high alpine open terrain with some trees and fantastic mountain views to our north.

This photo was taken another time, but during my hike the flat top of Calf Robe Mountain was covered with snow. Firebrand Pass is behind the eastern (right) end of the flat top.

It looked mostly open but shortly we entered a forest of short pine and Aspen trees. By short, I mean mature trees that due to the elevation and short growing season were twenty to thirty feet tall and not the taller trees we see in the Flathead Valley.

This forest had an appeal as it seemed new, clean and uncluttered. Every so often the trail went through a small meadow that allowed one to see the sun and sky.

We slowly and steadily climbed. Nothing steep as this is also used as a cross country ski trail. High on the trees were orange metal markers marking the trial in the winter snow.

We climbed to near Calf Robe Mountain, then went right (east) around its shoulder. As we climbed we could see more and more of the area back to the highway and also to the Plains to the east.

As we curved around the NE side of the mountain we began to come across snow fields. The snow was still hard from last night's cool temperatures so we couldn't dig our feet in to make tracks. The snow fields weren't too long and not that steep. And there were trees below so it you did slip it wasn't like you'd go over the edge. Still Bill and Sue Ann were hesitant as they didn't want to fall, and being older, break a bone. We had to convince Bill to continue across one snow field.

On the north side of the mountain there was no snow but we did cross a rocky scree field. In the valley below we saw a coyote lope across a snow field.

Shortly after seeing the coyote we met Ranger Rachel coming down the trail. She was on her way back from the Ole Lake campsite where she had done some maintenance. She was dressed in her ranger shirt and shorts and had a full backpack with her saw and shovel and other tools.

We asked about the pass and was told it was a half hour ahead. Two snow fields were near the pass with the smaller snowfield being very steep. While she wanted people to stay on the trail, she recommended going around the smaller snow field.

The other larger snow field was along and below the pass with one open gap free of snow. There were game trails that led straight up to the pass and we could follow those trails.

Wendy earlier had noticed a trail across the north valley leading to a high valley. She asked about a trail there and was told there was none, it was an old game trail. We were wondering later if that trail was one the park is abandoning as the park has stopped maintenance on some old trails to let them go back to nature.

Rachel works out the the Walton Ranger station which is probably one of the least used stations and areas even though it is next to hwy 2. Originally from Philadelphia Rachel has lived out here for 8 years and been a ranger in the Walton station for two years. She has an intern and two trail crew members assigned to her station. I think her mentioning 8 years is part of the reason Sue Ann got the idea Rachel was around 27 years old. I commented Rachel didn't have much of a Philly accent and she said she lost most of it but occasionally slips into it when she is tired.

I asked Rachel what the elevation gain was to the pass and she thought it was 1400 feet. I earlier had guessed 1200 ft. Right now, looking at my maps, I see the elevation at the pass is 6951 ft. The elevation at the False Summit at mile marker 203 is 5084 ft. The elevation change to the pass is 1867 ft.

She said snow usually remains near the pass until early July.

Rachel mentioned she had maps of the trail heads in her district at her ranger office.

The group then said it was time to move on. I later got grief from everyone about my yakking with Rachel. "I saw you looking at her legs!"

"Um...."

The scree slope opened into a high valley. This was where a 1900 fire burnt both sides of the pass. The vegetation was small but there were lots and lots of large beautiful white weathered tree trunks, limbs, and roots. Many would make excellent landscape pieces. Did I mention "large"? That is why they are still there.

And the wildflowers are in bloom with pinks and purples and reds. No Indian Paintbrushes like I had seen in abundance on Wednesday's hike along St Mary Lake.

At the end of the high valley was the pass. Rachel was right, two snow fields were there. The trail went higher and across the snowfields.

This photo (taken another time) doesn't show the snow. One snow field was under the "V" of rock to the left of the pass, and the other snow field went across the pass to half the distance to the tip of the rock "V".

Gary took the high road and crossed the snow fields. On the first snow field he was on hands and feet to keep his balance and later said he wished he hadn't taken that route.

The rest followed my lead and took the low route down a short distance past the "hump" between where this photo was taken and the pass, then straight up game trails. Even Bill who was initially hesitant and to whom I encouraged to come along. The climb was steep. Gary and I arrived at the pass near the same time and the others followed over time.

The view was fantastic. From the pass we looked down into a deep valley and saw more mountain ranges, mountains not visible from anywhere else in the Park.

Never mind the people in the one photo. I didn't have a camera so I had to use a few photos taken by other people to illustrate the pass and scenery.

From the pass we could not see Ole Lake in the valley below. Rachel said the elevation difference from the pass to Ole Lake was greater than what we just had done east of the pass. We decided not to hike down to the lake.

Once everyone arrived we ate our lunches and marveled at the view. Everyone thanked me for finding this trail and pushing for us to hike it.

The pass is a saddle between Calf Robe Mountain to the south and Red Crow Mountain to the north. Calf Robe Mountain looked higher than Red Crow Mountain. The maps and one book lists Red Crow Mountain at 7891 ft. The maps do not have an elevation for Calf Robe Mountain, but the book lists it at 7895 ft. In person Calf Robe Mountain sure looked to be more than 4 ft higher than Red Crow Mountain.

I told Gary that I was interested in climbing one of the two mountains.

"Nice try. I'm not falling for it.", Gary said.

"I'm serious."

"I know. That's what scares me."

Gary thought it would take over an hour each to climb each mountain.

"Maybe Calf Robe Mountain, but I think we could climb Red Crow in less time."

"How long?"

I decided to be conservative in my estimate so I said, "40 minutes" when I thought 30 minutes.

Gary thought a little more and then said, "If the group doesn't mind, let's do it." None of the group was interested in climbing the mountain but they were fine with us doing it then catching up to them later or at the car.

We hiked/climbed Red Crow Mountain. I could see a (game?) trail that led at a slight angle to the NW and we followed it across the scree until we reached some trees here and there then angled back and forth across the loose rock and around hard rock outcroppings. The hike/climb was tiring and we had to stop every so often to catch our breath. We pushed on, partly to not fall too far behind the group and partly because I wanted to beat my estimate.

It took 13 minutes to reach the top. This is an elevation gain of 940 ft in a very short distance. That was way less time that I predicted.

At the top the view was even better. We could see more mountains and valleys, and could see Ole Lake ringed by trees far below in the valley. Ole Lake is small. We could see how a valley curved SW back to Essex, MT. We could see towards the Bob Marshall wilderness to the south.

We could see the entire town of East Glacier and Hwy 2 as it went east to Browning, MT and out to the Plains. In the far off distance we could see the three Sweetgrass Hills of West Butte, Gold Butte, and Mt. Brown. Looking at a Montana highway map, the distance to the Hills may be almost 100 miles.

An amazing view.

From the top of Red Crow Mountain, Calf Robe Mountain looked much steeper than the view from the Pass. Still Gary and I planned out a route for when we next hike up here.

On the mountain many rocks were colored with lichen. I wandered around and headed north a ways to get a different view. I looked for a lake near the pass where the couple claimed to have camped. I couldn't see any lake in the high valley where I thought a lake may have been. Looking at the maps I see Lena Lake is located in the high valley NE of the pass.

Hmmm... Ole and Lena lakes? Sure sounds like Indian names to me. I guess the Norwegians got here first.

The top of the mountain was rock. I found several depressions that had holes near the bottom. Dens of some sort of animal? Too small for bears I thought, and too high up. I didn't go down to check the holes out further.

The group left 24 minutes before we started our decent. It took us 9 minutes to go down what we had climbed. Going down the scree was like walking/sliding down snow.

Gary decided to take the game trails straight down from the Pass rather than go over the snow fields. A short distance from the top I remembered I had left a small rock at the pass. As I had found and carried it halfway up the pass I decided I should return to bring it with me. *sigh* Me and my rocks. It took some time to catch up with Gary.

Gary and I caught up with the group a half mile from the car. We wanted to catch them before the car so as not to make them wait,.  We also remembered Joyce baked and brought a cherry pie and we wanted to make sure we got a piece.

At the car we learned Wendy had found an unused can of bear spray on the trail. A nice thing to have out here.

We sat in the ditch and ate it our slice of cherry pie as cars passed on the highway above. Yum! It was excellent!

I found a tick crawling on my arm. It was moving pretty fast up my arm when I saw it and removed it.

We all enjoyed this hike and plan to do it again.

On the drive back to Kalispell I asked Joyce to stop at the Walton Ranger station to get the trailhead info from Rachel. "Is that the only reason you want to stop?"

The ranger station is a very small building and Rachel and her intern were inside. She was on the phone but got off so as to talk with us. She gave us the trailhead maps and asked about our hike. She was interested in the couple's bear sighting and also where the couple camped as they weren't registered for camping at the Ole Lake backcountry campground. I didn't want to get the couple in trouble (as I was sweet on the woman hiker ) so I was vague until I realized the couple were long gone, so I told Rachel it was some lake near the pass.

I talked and talked and Bill finally came to get me to say the group wanted to go. I got no end of teasing about Rachel and was asked if I also got her phone number. I hadn't.

The others were good natured about their teasing but Sue Ann pointed out Rachel was far younger than I at her guess of 27 years. Sue Ann didn't think I could keep up with a younger woman, etc. etc. ("In what way Sue Ann?" She didn't answer. ) Sue Ann gets really bothered by older men dating younger women as she feels men should date women older than them. Sue Ann appeared to be bothered by my showing a mild interest in such a younger woman.

Sue Ann said she noticed in the office that Rachel's toe nails were painted pink so she wasn't a real outdoors woman. I hadn't noticed as I was looking into Rachel's eyes as I talked with her. I told Sue Ann an outdoorsy woman can paint her toenails to show her feminine side and still be outdoorsy. It was a nice combination. Sue Ann then went on to say Rachel was 40 lbs overweight when that was absolutely not true. I don't like it when women put other women down over weight, especially when it is not true. So I gave Sue Ann grief.

Earlier Sue Ann told about how a woman she met working on her new condo gave her phone numbers of several men she knew. When the woman mentioned that she frequented the Packer's Roost Bar Sue Ann immediately thought the worst of the recommended men and never called them. So I gave her grief about these potential dates. I can take teasing, but not if you cross a line and get mean about it. Then you better be prepared to take as well as give.

To my surprise Sue Ann called the next day to say Rachel was nice (as her way of apologizing for her mean comments) and to also tell me she called one of the men. He turned out to sound interesting, was about her age, and he knew Rachel not via Packer's Roost but when they fought a forest fire several years earlier. Sue Ann was going to meet this man Sunday. I haven't heard how their "date" went. Maybe if she gets laid she'll lighten up.

We stopped at Issac Walton Inn so Sue Ann could use bathroom. She didn't want to use the pit toilets at the ranger station.

At the Issac Walton Inn a woman my age wouldn't give me the time of day. She appeared to be there with her parents, and other than another mother and young son in the dining room and the Inn's clerk, were the only people there. As Sue Ann told me, someone staying at the Inn probably had money and wasn't interested in someone without money like me. Okay...

This is the first time I had been to the Issac Walton Inn after all these years of driving past it. It was nice. It was an old railroad bunkhouse and is now a tourist hotel with a railroad theme and feel. I think it may be one of the smallest stops on the Amtrak passenger line. A sign requested no computer use in the lounge or dining room to preserve the ambiance.

For more photos of the Firebrand Pass and surrounding area, here is the web site where I got some photos. It has some nice photos and descriptions including the person's encounter with a grizzly bear near the pass.

Mt. Aeneas

Friday, June 1, I hiked on trail 717 up to Mt. Aeneas in the Swan Mountain Range's Jewel Basin outside of Bigfork, MT.

The group consisted of Gary, Joyce, and I. Bill had a project he needed to complete, and as Sue Ann just moved to a new place, we couldn't reach her as her phone wasn't connected yet.

Beside we heard through Bill's wife that Sue Ann didn't want to hike to Mt. Aeneas because of the snow up there. But Gary, Joyce, and I were game - what's a little snow?

While the hike wasn't a long hike, it was a bit of a climb as Mt. Aeneas is one of the higher mountains in the Jewel Basin.

We had an elevation gain of about 1811 ft. Camp Misery is at 5717 ft and Mt. Aeneas is now resurveyed as being 7528 ft.


The trail description lists this as a strenuous hike. So we met at 8:30 am for an early start.

It took an hour to drive to the start of the trail at Camp Misery. Or I should say almost to Camp Misery as the road was snow covered a half mile from Camp Misery.

A lot of snow covered the road to the Camp Misery parking area and beyond. It will be some weeks before the road is snow free.

Gary attempted to drive as far as he could in the snow in his pickup but quickly the truck's wheels started to spin and we were sliding sideways. When on a one lane forest service / logging road that drops off one side, sliding sideways is something you do not want to do.

So Gary backed up, and in a dry, wider (ha! ) part of the road turned around and parked the pickup against the mountainside in the off chance someone else would drive up here and want to pass by. Wouldn't you know it by the time we returned there were two other pickups and a Jeep parked nearby. The Jeep passed Gary's pickup and drove to the next snow free spot and parked having gotten no further than Gary did.

While getting our bags with food and water Gary and I heard a hissing sound. The pickup's rear tire had a leak. We found two pieces of metal in his tire, one of which was leaking air. What to do? Gary moved the pickup so the leak was against the ground and we couldn't hear it anymore. Okay, let's go hike.

Re: first photo. Sure, it doesn't look like much, but try driving past where you see the snow ends and the story is a little different.

A rushing stream popped out of the snow every so often.

We were on the NE side of the ridge line and Gary promised that once we crossed over to the SW side the trail will be free of snow. The SW side would be open and the sun would have melted the snow. Umm... it wasn't quite like that. We did have some open snow free areas, but the trail was mainly snow covered. It think overall 80 to 90 percent of the trail was under snow.

But it was a warm day with temperatures in the Valley in the upper 80s. It may well have been in the 70s where we were. The surface of the snow was soft, but seldom did we break through.

I wore a black t-shirt and black cutoff jeans as I felt it may be cool on high. I brought my flannel shirt along but never used it. Instead I eventually took off my shirt and hiked in just jeans and shoes. It was actually ideal hiking as it was a warm day but the snow kept one cool enough.

A side effect of hiking in the snow - other than soaking wet feet - was the reflection of the sun. I ended up with getting slightly sunburned.


On we hiked trusting that the trail lay under the snow among the trees.

Gary made a snowball and then rolled it down the mountainside to see if it would get larger as it rolled. Nope. It didn't grow much.

In the photo: Flathead, Echo, and Mud lakes.



When we had crossed the ridge we could not see views of Flathead Lake, Echo Lake, and Mud Lake. To the south we could see the Swan Valley and part of the Swan Lake. Further on were the Mission Mountains.

We came to fresh bear tracks. Oh, my! Later two men who worked as part of the trail crews in the Bob Marshall Wilderness told us they were black bear tracks and not grizzly tracks. After a short distance the bear tracks left the trail. *whew*

That is a quarter in the paw print.

Eventually we reached a building housing a microwave relay tower. This was on the main north/south ridge of the Swan Mountain range. We could now see into the Jewel Basin, Hungry Horse Reservoir, and beyond: the mountains of Glacier National Park. Looking down below the tower were the frozen Picnic Lakes and further to the east, Black Lake, also frozen. Several years ago others and I hiked up from the Hungry Horse Reservoir to Black Lake. (Our goal was Cliff Lake but we missed the side trail).

The first photo is of the Picnic Lakes in the foreground with Black Lake towards the back.

The second photo is towards the south and is of Crater Lake.

Gary and I wanted to reach the top of Mt. Aeneas but we were concerned about the time. It had taken us 3 hours of hiking to get to this point. This was because hiking in the snow slowed us down. Gary needed to be back in town before 5 pm. It was 12:30 pm now. Joyce stayed at the tower and Gary and I hiked to the top of Mt Aeneas.

Mt Aeneas is in the first photo and patterns in the snow in the second photo.

You can see how the snow drifts over the ridge line. Hmm... maybe I shouldn't stand where I am standing.

A long way down. You can see how other snow had fallen to the bottom.

At the top we had 360 views. Beautiful! The very top was mostly free of snow as the winds had blown most of it away over winter. What surprised us were the large number of flies buzzing about.

Photo 1: looking back to the microwave tower.

Photo 2: part of Hungry Horse Reservoir and in the upper left corner one of those many pesky flies buzzing around.

After a short time, while Gary and I ate our lunches, two 20-something men joined us. They worked over summer as part of the trail crews in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. They can be based over 20 miles from the nearest road so they don't often get out when they have their four days off work. As Blair said, that could be good as it helps them save money. Blair once spent over $600 in four days and never bought anything tangible but had a good time. The other guy said he once walked into a bar and told the bartender he was there to spend money and have a good time, and he did. As they mainly spend their summer in "The Bob", they use the Spring and Fall to explore other areas and hikes, and that was why they were at Mt. Aeneas this day.

While we were talking a mountain goat came up from the southern side, and seeing us, circled around to the northern side, where he started to munch on a small shrub growing on the mountain side.

Hiking down in the snow was far different than hiking up. We half skied with our feet, half slid down the trail. We took a few short cuts that made going down even faster. In a little over a half hour we covered what had taken us several hours to hike up. Therefore we had time to take a short side trip up a western summit that overlooked the Valley.

This summit's elevation was 6437 ft. Over half of this trail was snow free. Many trees had burnt a few years ago in a forest fire so we had more open views of the Valley and lakes. Going down a little on the western side I found a structure made of branches built against the mountain side and facing towards the north. A large blue tarp covered the branches to make a roof. Snow was all around but from where I could see I didn't see anything inside the structure.

Before we left this summit I found a rock I had to have. Even with all this snow on the trail I still found a good sized rock.   It was only 2 miles to the pickup and downhill.

At two locations Gary and I slid down the mountain side to take a short cut. Before sliding down the snow I tossed my rock down and let it do its own sliding. The rock gathered snow and quickly got cold to hold. The warmth of the sun and air quickly melted the snow off the rock.

Gary offered to carry my rock to give me a break and eventually I took him up on his offer. He may have regretting his kindness as I borrowed his camera to take some photos of the stream and the snow and Gary ended up carrying the rock the rest of the way to the pickup.

The pickup's tire still had most of its air and we were able to drive back to town.

What a great day and great hike!