camping – Improbable Lands

On Sunday we did a big driving day so we could make it most of the way to Glacier. We’d decided to come in on the east side based on the recommendation of some fellow campers we had talked to. We ended up stopping about a half hour short of Glacier in Blackfeet Nation. The country up this way with the huge mountain range just to the west in awesomely beautiful. The town we stopped in though was fairly poverty stricken and some of land we passed through was peppered with shanty like trailers. The huge majesty of the mountains set against these humble structures was a strange contrast that reminded me of some areas of Mexico and could not be more different than the affluent looking mountain cabins that you see in many other mountain regions of similar grace and beauty. We camped for the night in a spot that a camping app we use had suggested, but unfortunately learned in the morning that it was still Blackfeet Nation and we weren’t supposed to be there (a ranger in the park later told us you needed a permit to be there at all and no dispersed camping was allowed.) There had been no signage at all so we had basically just trusted the app and it did look a lot like many forest roads we had camped on before. It was actually, I think, a road to get to the cell towers. The surrounding hillside was covered with trees, but they were all dead and denuded of leaves. It didn’t appear to have been a fire, so I’m guessing it was the pine beetle. So many of the forest lands we’ve traveled through have huges areas of trees left dead and grey because the warmer climate has left more pine beetles alive than are typical and they are busy little beetles. Anyway, we left our camp spot in a hurry in the morning when a surly tribal officer told us to hit the road before he ticketed us. Zack Attack tried to aplologize for our haplessness and ask the correct protocol should ever we come this way again, but he wasn’t interested and I don’t really blame him. At any rate, it got our butts moving and we drove into the park.

We stopped at the visitor center and learned that most of the east side of what is now Glacier National Park was ceded to the U.S. pre-1900; however, the Blackfeet Nation contests this and still claims ownership, stating that it was to have been only a 99-year lease and that it was only for mineral rights. Most of the visitor center on this side of the park was devoted to the Native American heritage in the region. It was an an eye-opening way to enter the park, thinking about this beautiful place that should really belong to everyone, or rather no-one, and by making it a National Park this was achieved in some ways, but it also took the land away from its original custodians. I’m sure the fact that this land is still contested creates some special tensions in the area.

The main road that runs all the way through the park in the Going to the Sun Road. This is the road we took. It’s awesome. It’s just about all the purple mountain majesty you can handle. There are waterfalls and mountains and glaciers. There were also people. The number of people there, even fairly early in the morning was mind boggling. Most of the look out points were so full of people and cars there was nowhere to stop. We managed to stop at a couple spots, but mostly found ourselves just shoved on down the road because there was nowhere else to go. On that narrow road, with all the congestion of a million plus tourists in August, if all the pullouts are full, you just keep going. In retrospect we should have headed further north before going into the park as a different entrance takes you to the Grinnel Glacier which would have been awesome to see as it is one of the more iconic glaciers in the park and people expect, if climate trends continue, that it could disappear sometime in the next 3 years. In 1850 Grinnel measured some 710 acres, but as of 2005 was measured at only 152 acres.

I can’t be sorry about the way we went though because the drive was beautiful and we somehow magically scored a last-minute camp spot the Sprague Creek Campground which sits right along Lake McDonald. We were so hangry and tired after our weird morning and crowded and slow drive that we ate some food and hopped right in the cold, lake water. It was just what we needed. The Wonder Beast joined us of course.

We hemmed and hawed about which hike to do the next day, but after talking to folks and then pouring over maps we decided to do a combination of 2. The ranger we had consulted had assured us they all were well worth it if you were willing to get high enough to see all that this alpine wonderland has to offer. We took part of the Piegan Pass Trail to the Siyeh Pass Trail. It was a nice easy elevation gain until you hit a beautiful valley called Preston Park. On the way up Zack Attack had to stretch his back out on one of the logs that bordered the trail. Thankfully for all who made read this and posterity, I have preserved this moment in time. Don’t worry, while his face is a grimace, it is more the pleasure-pain of a good stretch.

The valley, formed by glaciers was just stunning. It had Zack Attack procclaiming it the perfect little valley to build his dream house on. The top of the valley includes not one, but 2 alpine lakes (althought I suspect they become one when the water levels are higher.) It has an impressive river like flow of glacial water. From the valley you head up some steeper switchbacks until you get to Siyeh pass. Every direction has a view of more mountains with glacial valleys in between. We saw a lonely big horn sheep at the top standing in middle of a snowfield.

From the top we headed down the Baring Creek Valley before ending up in Sunrift Gorge. The waterfalls streaming of the mountains on this side of the hike were stunning. Nearer the bottom there was a stunning cascade over red rocks. The green water, in contrast to the red rocks made my heart happy. The mountains were technicolor on this side of the mountain, with stripes of green, red, black and brown and white. Along the way we saw a big horn sheep, and although we did not see him, we suspect a bear may have seen us, as hikers further up the trail told us later they had seen a bear. When we got to the bottom we still needed to catch one of the park shuttles several miles back to where we had parked, but the first shuttle that came was full and there was a glut of us that had made it down the trail at close to the same time and we all needed to catch the shuttle. I ended up hitchhiking back to our car with a couple other hikers. It seems pretty common pratice in these bigger parks where it’s a least an hour, if not more to get to one side from the other. We headed back to camp as quick as we could as the afternoon crowds were getting crazy again and enjoyed the lake some more.

The next day we headed out to Washington and drove straight for nearly 12 hours just to get through the hottest bits. As we entered the mountains that would take us into Western Washington, we found ourselves near the Crescent Mountain fire at Twisp and the sun was an eerie red color. A couple days after we had arrived in Washingston we learned that the part of Glacier we had stayed in also was on fire. Fire were everywhere this year and the hazy air was a testament to that. We stayed overnight in the Newhalem Campground of the North Cascades National Park before heading to Bellingham and family in the morning.

Before we hit the road toward Glacier National Park we spent the morning visiting again with the owner of the rock shop. He had given us some details on Tom Miner Campground which was a Gallatin National Forest campground north of Gardiner, Montana. We got some more details from him and couldn’t resist buying a piece of petrified wood. He also showed us a really beautiful wolf pelt and I ended up buying a book called, ‘Wolfer.’ It’s the memoir of Carter Niemeyer who worked for the Department of Animal Control helping control predators for ranchers for many years, but also ended up as part of the Dept of Fish and Wildlife and was instrumental in the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone. His is a really interesting perspective. He straddles the two very different worlds of the ranchers and the animal activists and sides with the animals even when he is having to make hard decisions that neither side seems to like. His view of animals seems very like a Native American view (or at least what various books and movies have informed me that is). He doesn’t shy away from killing an animal, but he doesn’t like to see one unnecessilarily killed or wasted, and even if he ends up having to kill an animal he does it with respect and a bit of reverence. It’s a perspective that seems to be getting lost as we lose our rural roots. Very few people grow up in such a way that tracking, trapping and skinning an animal seems natural to them. Many people tend to think of people that kill animals as potential serial killers, but you can see in Niemeyer’s memoir the vestiges of an older way of life when these things were a matter of course and they were done not as acts of cruelty to the animals, but for very practical reasons that rural life demanded.

We had to drive through the park to go the direction we wanted so we got one final glance of the buffalo on the way out and one actually darted in front of the Grolar Bear as if to prevent us from leaving. He scampered off though and we headed further down the road where we caught sight of the one and only bear we have seen on this trip. He was quite a ways off the road though and we obviously didn’t try to go harass him so I didn’t get a very good picture. I’ll post one of the pictures I took, but it’s more like a where’s waldo exercise than an actual shot of a bear. After our bear encounter we headed out through the Northern entrance. This entrance had the park headquarters and had more of a village feel to it. Deer lounged on a grassy knoll along the bustling street. It was a nice way to exit the park.

Tom Miner Campground was right at the base of the hike to another petrified forest so we were pretty excited. We stopped in Gardiner at the Ranger Station to get our permit to collect petrified wood and continued on. Due to a detour because of road construction it took us longer to get the campground than we thought and once again a torrential afternoon storm beat down upon us. It was a long way back on dirt roads through ranching land and the vehicles got pretty spectacularly muddy on the way in. The sprays of mud that doused my car were comical. We’ve been driving my Acura wagon along on this leg of our travels and some of the roads Totoro (my car has a name, deal with it) has gone down are quite adventurous for a non-4 wheel drive car. I get some confused looks from some passing trucks, but also sometimes just a deferential nod. We made camp in nestled in amonst the tall trees just as the rain was starting to abate some.

The next morning we got up to lovely weather and set out on our hike to the Petrified Forest. Along the trail there are interesting rock conglomerates were volcanic ash cemented piles of rocks and debris together long ago. The smaller conglomerates look like giant boulders themselves, but are composed of smaller individual bits. Apparently the lava that flowed through this area flowed in such a way that some of bigger bits flowed on top of the smaller bits, so these volcanic rock formations are quite cool to look and they get bigger and bigger the further you head up the trail until they are less boulder and more mountain. Once you get to the end of the designated trail there are all sorts of less established trails to check out and you see a ton of petrified wood. Giant limbs and trunks of old trees are stuck within the rock conglomerates and also in the ground. Often you can see where they have been dug out by collectors over the years even though there is limit to the size you are supposed to be able to collect. We had to scramble up some rather loose rock bits to get to some of the cooler bits, but it was worth it and you get an excellent view of Tom Miner Basin with the extra elevation the scramble gave you.

The campground is right next to Tom Miner Creek and we also spent a good bit of time after we got back to camp finding bits of petrified wood that were just sitting in the creek along with all the other rocks. These bits are smaller than some of the bits you see on the hike, but quite pretty as they have been polished and tumbled naturally by the creek waters. I love rock hopping in a little creek so I probably spent much longer than you’d guess doing this and just admiring shiny rocks. It’s something I used to do quite often as a kid in Maryland and West Virginia. It’s good fun. Malachi the Wonder Beast got to wade in the creek just a bit too. Although the rocky bottom made it a bit difficult for an old man doggo, he made a valiant effort. We had a nice campfire before heading out Glacier National Park the next morning. Somehow we’d managed to run out of propane too, so we’d stop along the way to fill up as hot shower was overdue for both of at this point.

Tag: camping

DAY 88, 89, 90, and 91. August 5, 6, 7 and 8th. A Sunday-Wednesday.

DAY 86 and 87. August 3 and 4, 2018. A Friday and a Saturday.