Day: 143
Date: Thursday, 26 September 2024
Start: East Glacier Park MT
Finish: Morning Star Lake
Daily Kilometres: 37.4
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 4126.7
Weather: Cold, with some light rain/hail in the morning then partly sunny and very windy all day, particularly in the morning.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Egg mayonnaise sandwiches
Lunch: Meat & cheese wraps
Dinner: Protein bars
Aches: Dave - very tired and the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: The spectacular mountain scenery. Almost all day we had clear views of the mountains of Glacier National Park which seem impossibly steep and jagged, towering over forested valleys and alpine lakes.
Lowlight: The wind has made the day memorable. In the morning, as we crossed over Two Medicine Pass (7411’), the wind was so strong it was literally blowing us off our feet. At times we were clinging to the ground or cliffside to prevent being blown away. When we did make progress, we looked like bizarre folk dancers, taking unplanned sideways or backwards steps in an effort to stay upright. It was tiring and slow progress.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We left our motel at 6:15am and began hiking out of town on a bleak morning. It had been raining and was still spitting a bit, and it was cold, dark and the wind was blowing hard. We knew we had a long hard day in front of us and our motel room had been warm and dry. Dave was ready for our journey to be over, but we still have five days to go.
Our mood didn't improve as we left the roads to follow overgrown and narrow wet trail by headlamp up to the boundary of Glacier National Park. Soon Julie's feet were wet and cold.
The trail quality did improve in the Park and we climbed steadily and, occasionally, steeply towards our first pass of the day, Two Medicine (7411’). The views were spectacular but the increasing strength of the wind as we gained height often made it too hard to stand still to admire the views or take photographs. This was particularly true at the high point and as we followed a ridge northwards (see above). We were very happy to start our switchbacking descent towards Two Medicine Lake though the wind still made it challenging. On the way we met some longhorn sheep that did not seem too bothered by our presence.
Down at the Lake there were lots of tourists and some primary school groups. We found a picnic table partly out of the wind and had lunch.
After lunch we hiked along nice trail following Dry Fork Creek upstream, mostly through pretty forest with the autumn foliage of some trees and undergrowth contrasting with the deep green of the evergreen pines. On either side were the sheer sides of jagged mountains.
Eventually we crossed Pitamakan Pass (7631’) with more superb views then descended to Morning Star Lake where we camped at around 7:45pm. It was getting dark and Dave was very tired (over 5500' of ascent today) so we didn't bother with a cooked dinner and had an early night. We can hear some large unidentified (so far) animals moving through the forest around where we are camped.
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