Krag Peak

Going through old photos and I put together another hiking post...

Sunday August 4, 2013 Patti, Gene and I hiked to the top of Krag Peak.  Tammy was in Minnesota attending a Tastefully Simple business convention.

Krag Peak 7510', is the highest of a trio of peaks that sit relatively close to one another in the northern Whitefish Range of NW Montana. Next to, and just to the south of Krag, lies Krinklehorn Peak 7411', next to and to the SW of Krinklehorn lies Deep Mountain 7406'.

Krag Peak is located up near Fortine and Eureka, Montana.

This is the route we followed:

From downtown Whitefish drive 43 miles north on Hwy 93. 
Turn right onto Grave Creek Road and drive 3 miles until reaching Stoken Road and turn right again. 
Proceed on Stoken Road for 1.47 miles until reaching Forest Service Road #7019 (Williams Creek Road) as it angles in from the right. 
Proceed on FS Road #7019 for 3.86 miles until reaching the parking area at the trailhead.

It was a beautiful day: not too cold, not too hot.  Mostly sunny with a few clouds, more clouds as the afternoon went on.  I would have lingered longer on top of the mountain but Gene and Patti were concerned about the clouds and whether we would be rained on as we had over 5 miles of hiking to get back to Patti's car.  We stayed dry.

To get to Krag Peak we hiked on Krinklehorn Trail.

Krinklehorn Peak

At the saddle north of Krinklehorn Peak, the Krinklehorn Trail continues down the other side.  To get to Krag Peak one must leave the trail at the saddle and bushwhack over a half mile up to Krag Peak.

The bushwhack doesn't look too bad, does it?

Yes, the bushwhack is steeper than it looks in the previous photo.

Krinklehorn Peak, from almost half way on the bushwhack to Krag Peak.

Krag Peak is in the distance.  Note the lower open area below the top of Krag Peak.  A later photo looking back to this spot was taken there.

Bushwhacking up Krag Peak.

Looking back to the open area at the top of that peak where I took the earlier photo.  Also, to the right of this small mountain is the saddle (behind the dead triple trunk tree) where we started our bushwhack.

From the top of Krag Peak.   Eureka Montana, and beyond Eureka is Lake Koocanusa (the small sliver of water just above the mountain ridge top right of center).

The next two photos are an area shown via Google Earth in the third image. 

Here are more photos from my hike:

https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6082913728233310929?authkey=COOtx9CfvZ-FtAE


More info on hiking to Krag Peak: http://www.summitpost.org/krag-peak/747508

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Firefighter Lookout

On June 8, 2013, Tammy, Patti, Joyce, Gene and I hiked up to Firefighter Lookout on a nice Saturday. The lookout is located on the east side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir.  This was the only hike Tammy did when she lived here.

From Martin City, MT on the east side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir take FS road 38 for 15.3 miles to reach the trail head.

Tammy had a GPS app on her smartphone.  Here is the route from the lookout back to the trailhead.

Here is the trip's stats one way - from the lookout back to the trailhead.

The lookout -which is staffed in the summer with volunteers - was closed so we could not go all the way to the top of the structure.  Still, the views of the mountains and Hungry Horse Reservoir were great.

Firefighter Lookout

Firefighter Lookout

Firefighter Lookout

Great Northern Mountain, Mt Grant and Mt Liebig

Great Northern Mountain, Mt Grant and Mt Liebig

Great Bear Wilderness and Great Northern Mountain

Hungry Horse Reservoir

Great Northern Mountain and Hungry Horse Reservoir

Hungry Horse Reservoir with the Swan Range beyond the reservoir

Heading back to the trail head

During the hike back to the trail head Tammy lost her balance.  I was walking ahead of her and caught her before she fell down.  But she twisted one of her ankles.  She could still walk, but with a limp.  We found a stick for her to use to take some of the pressure off her ankle as she walked a  mile or two back to the trail head.

Walking stick and smartphone back at the trail head

On the drive back to Columbia Falls we passed Lost Mare Creek and we decided Tammy should soak her ankle in the very cold water to help with the swelling.  Tammy was reluctant as the water was very cold but Patti insisted Tammy soak her ankle to reduce the swelling.  I can handle cold but I couldn't put my foot in the water for as long as Tammy did.

The color shows where Tammy's foot was in the cold water.

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Angel Wing

On Saturday, August 27, Patti, Gene, Mary, Lynda and I went to Glacier Park and hiked up to the top of Angel Wing.


Trail distance: 
   7.27 miles one way

 
Elevation:
   Minimum:  4,905 feet
   Maximum: 7,472 feet


Accumulated height:
   Uphill:    2,671 feet
   Downhill: 272 feet


Difficulty level:  Moderate



Angel Wing is located in the Many Glacier Valley.  To get to Angel Wing you follow the trail to Grinnell Glacier.  After reaching the glacier the route to the top of Angel Wing is off trail which is not difficult as it is mostly over rock.  Off trail, the top of Angel Wing is in sight at all times and a route to the top is obvious (with a little common sense).

Angel Wing is the mountain in the foreground just right of center. Mount Gould is the high mountain behind Angel Wing.  Our destination is the top of Angel Wing.  The water on the left is Lake Josephine.

Lake Josephine.  A boat dock is located at the light white area across the lake to the left of center.

Grinnell Lake below Angel Wing.  On the right side of the photo is Salamander Glacier.  Grinnell Glacier is hidden behind the right side of Angel Wing.

The trail went through some water.  I think the water flows almost all year round.  A few years ago I hiked this trail in November and this spot was ice.

Two views of Grinnell Lake.

This is the valley we hiked through.  The first lake is Grinnell Lake.  The next lake is Lake Josephine.  That far lake is Lake Sherburne.  Swiftcurrent Lake is hidden behind the mountain on the left.

As you can see, the backside of Angel Wing is not so difficult.  Pay attention to the waterfall in the lower right side.  This water comes from the glaciers and something we have to cross later.

Another view of the waterfall.

The water below Grinnell and Salamander glaciers.  The body of water against Grinnell Glacier is called Upper Grinnell Lake.  Salamander Glacier is the snow to the left of center.

More views of Angel Wing.  This first photo was taken near Upper Grinnell Lake.

Our route.

But first... stromatolites.

My photos of the stromatolites.

To get to the route shown in blue earlier, first we had to cross where the water left Upper Grinnell Lake.  This is seen on the middle right edge.

After we crossed the stream we watched a guy take a swim in the cold water.  He wasn't in the water long but he did swim from the rocks out to the ice then back - much longer than I thought anyone could stand to be in the water.

No, the ground doesn't meet up with the snow.   FYI - we later walked on the rock between the snow fields.  Below a few photos I included a photo of water seeping out of the rock.

We tried to avoid walking through water.  I checked out this snow bridge but decided it was too risky to cross.

This is someone else's photo. They crossed the water the previous year. I included the photo to show our route as I forgot to take a photo of our crossing. I was too concerned with how we were going to cross the water to remember to take a photo.

Looking back at the glaciers and Upper Grinnell Lake.

Seeping water.

The two red Xs mark where each photo of the next two photos were taken.  The following photo also marks the spot where the two photos after that were taken.

This photo was taken at the red X seen in the earlier photo.   The top of Angel Wing looks like a small hill.  While it seems like we are almost to the top, the ground is much steeper than it looks.  The background seen in the middle right is where we had started our hike.

The view from the top of Angel Wing.

The first lake is Lake Josephine.  The second lake is Swiftcurrent Lake.  The far lake is Lake Sherburne.

Grinnell and Salamander glaciers and Upper Grinnell Lake.

The blue line pretty much shows our route on the Grinnell Glacier Trail.  (It is not completely accurate due to my poor hand coordination.)

Grinnell Lake and Lake Josephine.

Grinnell Lake.

Left photo: all four lakes.

Right photo: The white spot on Lake Josephine is the cruise boat.  One can take the boat on Swiftcurrent Lake, walk the short couple tenths of a mile between the lakes, then take the second boat on Lake Josephine.  I did it once.  Never again.  The distance covered is not that much (a few miles of walking) and the price was expensive at around $14.

Time to leave. We have a long way back to Patti's car before dark. Everyone else left while I lingered to enjoy the views some more.

We saw this bighorn sheep and a herd of mountain goats on our hike down from the top.

Another view of the stream we had crossed earlier.  The snow bridge I had photographed earlier is seen in the middle right of the photo.

Patti, Gene and I went to the right (off the photo) and found another large snow bridge across the stream.  We carefully crossed there and did not have to take our shoes and socks off to cross the cold stream.

Swiftcurrent Lake.

Here is one of Jake's photos.  This shows Upper Grinnell Lake and Angel Wing from above.  Jake took this photo from the Grinnell overlook off of the Highline Trail.