Seasons

Similar shots of the same place in two different seasons. I took the first shot from below the fire station on the summit of Mount Washburn in August of 2010. The second shot was from the National Park webcam from that tower two days ago. I don't think I'd be hiking that trail along the spine of the ridge without snowshoes or cross-country skis.

The photo I took in August of 2010.

Scene from the fire tower webcam yesterday.

Possible Peaks

I've been going over my Glacier National Park map and comparing notes with folk I know who hike there. What I've been searching for are really impressive summits that are not technically difficult and which can be done as day-hikes. I won't be in a position to do any overnight backpacking trips, so the peaks I want to reach have to be something I can do within the span of a day.

Initially I was curious about a peak called Grizzly Mountain. Seemed to have all the criteria I was searching for. High, but not a mountain that requires technical climbing to reach. But the more I looked at it the more I realized that it's at the absolute limits of reaching as a day-hike. I got differing mileages from people who had done it, but all of them seemed to say that the hike was somewhere between 20 and 22 miles. That's just more than I want to plow into a peak. If I had two days to use I'd arrange to make it an overnight hike. But Carole and I and our friends are going to be trying to pack so much into our time in Glacier that I have to stay close at hand. So Grizzly had to be ruled out.

And finally I think I found the two peaks I can bag while I'm in the park:

Mount Helen in the Two Medicine area (where we'll be camping), and Mount Oberlin near Many Glacier. Helen is a longer hike, but well within the constraints I've set. And Oberlin is often termed as the most climbable of Glacier's major summits.

So. That's the deal, as I now see it. Things could change, but the more I look at the maps and read about the hikes, those are the two that are currently foremost in my plans.

I've never hiked peaks exactly like the ones in Glacier, so I'll be comparing them to terrain out west where I have hiked. Features such as:

On Mount Washburn, Yellowstone National Park.

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park.

From Avalanche Peak, Yellowstone National Park.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Slowdown

I've had to curtail my activity lately. All around. Even had to put a near-halt to my writing projects.

But I have revived my companion blog about horror fiction: ZOMBIE HORRORS. Go check out the newest post.

Trail on Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park. Why? Because I wish I was hiking there now.

Second 10K-foot Peak

The second mountain that was over 10,000 feet in elevation that I climbed was Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park. Following is a simple photo essay of my hike to the summit via one trail and down the other side by a different trail.

It was a very nice hike and I was pretty sure by this time that I was not one of those people who is strongly affected by altitude. I know that 10,000 feet isn't much by mountaineering standards, but I've met people who get sick climbing peaks at around that elevation. I definitely am not one of them.

And, of course, I didn't see the warning signs about not hiking alone due to grizzly bear activity until I got to the end of the hike. This was because they didn't have the warnings posted where I started the hike. Only where I ended up!

This is just past the paved parking lot where Carole dropped me off for my hike.

The two main trails to the top were originally created for wheeled traffic. This one was made for automobiles and is still used for that purpose by the Park Service and other official folk.

Looking around at the real mountains. I was really stunned at the damage to the forests by the pine beetle that has reached nasty levels due to global warming.

That was my goal. The ranger station on the summit of Mount Washburn. A long way to go.

Vast wilderness.

As you can see, this "trail" is mainly for official vehicles. One maintenance truck passed me at one point. That was a buzz kill.

This was my first view of the trail that I would be taking for the way down. It was originally intended as a wagon road for visitors to access the summit.

Another view of the old wagon road.

Bob at the summit sign.

10,243 feet. To date, the second highest mountain I've ever hiked.

Looking off toward the other side of the park, toward Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Not sure why they put this pile of stones here. Stored for later stonework? Or to block the trail?

Washburn has topography unlike any eastern peak.

I could have soaked up the scenery and not moved an inch.

Looking back toward the ranger station where I had been.

Obligatory self-portrait.

Trail road back toward the parking area where Carole would pick me up.

Another view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone off in the distance.

Bighorn sheep. Ewes and calf.

Looking back toward the massif.

Almost down to the main road! (I really wanted to climb that peak just beyond, but we had other plans.)

I think this one is called Dunraven Peak. I want to hike up to the summit next time I'm there.

Read the Fine Print

One relatively easy hike that I took in Yellowstone in 2010 was the climb to the top of Mount Washburn and down the other side to the main loop road. I started on the Dunraven Pass Trail, climbed up to the summit ranger/weather station, and then used the Chittendon Road Trail to descend.

I was hoping to see Bighorn sheep along the way, for I'd been told this was a good place to spot them. And I finally did see a small herd on the way down, but it was all ewes and lambs. None of the big males with the formidable horns.

The big excitement for me was climbing another peak over 10K feet in elevation. This was all new stuff for me. Before this trip, the highest mountain I had ever hiked was Mount Mitchell here in North Carolina, which is a shade under 6,700 feet above sea level. I had wondered if I'd have problems with altitude, but I hiked as easily at 10,000 feet as I do at 3,000. So there were no worries for me there. I have known people who get sick at relatively low altitudes, so it was a relief to know I wasn't among that unfortunate group. Part of it was probably that I had plenty of time to acclimate by sleeping for a few days in the lodges which are all around 7,000 to 8,000 feet high.

I did this hike alone. I did encounter a few people who arrived on the summit from the opposite direction, and I bumped into a group when I was almost at the end of the hike. But most of the time I was alone. And it was only later--after Andy and Carole had arrived to pick me up that I noticed the signs mentioning heavy grizzly bear activity and not to hike alone.

Oh, well.

From the Dunraven Pass side. I was surprised to see so many dead pine trees. In some places in the Park all of the forests were dead as far as you could see. Apparently they've been the victims of some type of insect infestation.

When you're in the big western mountains, the high country of the East almost fade from memory. It's only after you return and begin hiking in the Appalachians again that you recall their own allure and grandeur.

In the sheltered rest area below the ranger/weather station I was visited by a little ground squirrel expecting handouts. I ignored his pleas for food and just took his photo.

On the way down, via the Chittendon Road Trail. The fire tower/ranger station/weather station behind me on the 10,000-foot summit of Mount Washburn.

These mountains are rugged, for damned sure.

I stopped to look down this steep draw.

Looking back up the Chittendon Road Trail as I got close to the end and my ride.

"Heavy grizzly bear activity?!" Now they tell me.

More Yellowstone Memories.

Yellowstone's wildlife is amazing. It's everywhere. The only place I've visited where there is more wildlife on display acre-for-acre is Florida. Everywhere we drove and everywhere I hiked I encountered all sorts of animals. They call in "America's Serengeti", and I suppose that's true. And with the return of the wolf to the Park, we have our chief top predator back in the mix.

Wolves were about the only thing we never saw when we were in the Park. We did visit Lamar Valley, where sightings of wolves is most common, but we never did see one. The closest we came to seeing a wolf was a coyote--and that was a young, shy one who hid behind a big evergreen tree and wouldn't come out where I could take a good photo.

My main goal was to see a grizzly bear while we were in Yellowstone. And I saw two of them. Both were from a distance, and one was fast asleep. He was taking a nap along the collapsed banks of the Lamar River. I took his photo from a very great distance, which is the way I always want to see a grizzly bear.

If you look in the center of this photo, you can see the griz asleep in the dirt.

Here's the cropped version of the photo with the sleeping bear.

The true emblem of the faded Pleistocene: the American bison.

I expected to see a lot of pronghorn, but we saw very few of them in Yellowstone. This one, like the griz above, was in the Lamar Valley.

When I go back to Yellowstone, I hope to spend most of the time in the Lamar Valley. It was, to me, the prettiest part of the Park. It was also the least crowded with humans.

There was a trail leading to the top of this peak. I plan to hike it when I return.

To illustrate how fragile the thermal features are in the Park, here is a geyser that was active in the early history of the Park, but which is now cold and dormant.


It took this panorama from the high ridges of a 10K-foot peak (Mount Washburn). It's the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone seen from thousands of feet above the rim of the canyon. The air was hazy in that part of the Park that day because of some forest fires (that quickly faded out by the next day).

Furry Panhandler

Still too tired and too busy to post much on the blog.

Here's a photo I took inside the lookout tower on Mount Washburn in Yellowston National Park last year. This little ground squirrel was panhandling, but I resisted and did not give him anything to eat. He was very cute and very friendly.

Go away, cutie!

On the way back down I stopped to take this self-portrait.