Montana is known for its big skies, but they have big ice
too. In most parts people call them glaciers, here they just refer to them as
"ice cubes", that's how big things are in Montana. Their ice cubes
are so big that in order to house them under that great big sky of theirs they
created a national park. In fact, they are so big that even after creating the
park they figured they would share them with our Canadian neighbors to the
north and thus the "International" attribute of Glacier International
Park (www.nps.gov/glac/).
So after breaking camp in
the Flathead National Forest I entered the park to have a look for myself and
drove the entire length of the "Road to the Sun" which crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and was considered
an engineering miracle when it was built in 1932. The road engineering is
impressive, if a little narrow for today's vehicles. The fact that it is an
International Peace Park shared with our Canadian neighbors is also not lost on
me, but I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed with the park in
general. Perhaps if you hike in and explore the backcountry you might get more
"wow" factor out your visit, but to my eyes it was much less
scenic than many other parks. Maybe it's the influence of those conservative
Canuks!? (just kidding) |
| St. Mary's Lake |
For one thing, there were very few glaciers visible and I
certainly expected more on that account based on the park's name. Even the
scenic overlooks were pretty lackluster to me. I might have thought that I simply took a
bad route through the park, but the "Road to the Sun" is the only
road through the park. The saving graces were the views of St. Mary's Falls and
Virginia Falls as well as Sunrift Gorge which was small, but interesting. The
park's big lake, St. Mary's, is usually the spot with the most photo potential
, but the wind was on it enough to mess up the reflections and not enough to
blow away the wildfire haze in the air. I decided to cut my losses and exit the
east end of the park rather than spend another day exploring.
I did duck back into the park a little farther south
just a bit before dark to settle in for the night. I woke up at 4:30am for some
reason so I peaked outside and saw clear skies and moonlight. Figuring I can
always sleep when I'm dead, I set up the camera and managed to recoup some of
my perceived losses by getting a good moon lit photo of mountains reflecting in
Medicine Lake under the stars.
 |
| Medicine Lake helped cure my ills |
I noticed the lack of humming coming from my refrigerator
the next morning and knew I had burned another fuse. To add insult to injury
the inside of the fridge was coated in yogurt which had exploded due to the
pressure differentials of going from low to high altitude. I stopped in Great
Falls, Montana and bought some more fuses. I didn't notice any
"Great" falls or even "So-So" falls there so I continued on
down to Helena.
After lunch I noticed that not only the fridge was dead
again, but so was everything else in the van! It was time to quit side stepping
the issue and get down to business by ripping everything apart and troubleshooting. Mr. Murphy must have been grinning as his
stupid law was once again proven correct when I eventually found the
problem. A loose ground wire, the very
last connection I tested!
Juiced up again I
visited a local bike shop to pick their brains on a good ride for the next day.
My internet research and the bike shop guy's opinion matched so the ride for
the day would be The Mount Helena Ridge. It's a ~12 mile ride and considerably
more strenuous and technical than I expected. (Ride Specifics: Gravel
road ride up Grizzly Gulch and right onto Prospector Gulch, 4.5 miles to
trailhead. Then a strenuous 1.1 mile rocky single track climb. Up down, up down
and then another extremely difficult, but short climb. Next
is 4.5 miles of mostly downhill rocky single track with a few tricky
tight switchbacks. At the 10 mile mark make
a right and drop down on McKelvie Trail to Dump Gulch which leads
straight back to parking lot.)
The last 2 miles were very fast, and you are on the brakes most of the
time. And like the rest of the ride, it is very rocky. Kicked my ass, but it
was a hoot and worth it. There are also some very nice open meadows with great
expansive views along the ridge.
Leaving Helena and arriving in Bozeman I saw a post from my friend Carl that he was up from Utah
and also in Bozeman. Small world. More on that in a moment.
In the morning I decided to keep my legs pumping and in the morning drove
down into Hyalite Canyon where there are lots of different rides to choose
from. I stopped in at the reservoir which was a center of much activity on this
beautiful clear morning with lots of people and pets frolicking in the water
and enjoying activities such as kayaking, fishing, rafting, picnicking,
etc. I ended up at the "History
Rock" trailhead for another great ride.
Two groups were doing it as an out and back. But a third
group said it was a seriously strenuous climb requiring many dismounts or
"Hike-a-Bikes", so I opted for a loop. Montana must have highly
skilled riders because again this ride was more challenging and technical than
the descriptions would lead you to believe.
(Ride Specifics: Rode the Canyon Road 2.8 miles north along
Hyalite Canyon and hung a left onto Langor Creek forest road. ~5 mile ascent,
sometimes tough. Then another left at the top onto History Rock Trail. 3 mile Bomb
down to the parking lot!)
There were really tight switches, lots o' rocks (fixed and loose), roots, some off
camber sections and really fast downhills. Your brakes will be scorching! The
second half of the downhill was equally fast, but much less rocky and more
swoopy! Another great ~11 mile ride in
all and I finished quicker than both of the out and back groups.
 |
| Climbing towards Big Sky |
On the way out I found my buddy Carl hanging from a big rock
where he was giving climbing instruction for MSU. I sat in on the class and
watched as he taught knots and hitches. After class they decided to do a little
climbing so I took pics until it was my turn. There was a 5.8 and 5.10 route.
Since there was no 5.13 to do I went for the 5.8. So what do you get for not doing
any upper body work for over 6 months? Well, if you're like me, you only get up
half way before your arms get overly pumped and start to cramp. In my defense,
it was only the second time I had ever climbed and I was assured that the route
was a solid and legitimate 5.8 (Easiest starts at 5.4).
A good day of physical activities always calls for a good
meal and usually a few cold ones. So we ended the day by riding bicycles to
Bacchus Pub where we met a few more of Carl's friends, both local and non local.
We all enjoyed an evening of lively discussions on topics such as climbing, the
fracking in North Dakota, and the critical water conditions facing the
west, all while racking up a $300+ tab!
Tomorrow I'll make way into Wyoming and Yellowstone Park. If
I'm not too hung over, that is!
For Photos and Videos please check out the following links:
Facebook (A sampling
before someday posting to my Photography website)
Twitter @DJphotopics
No comments:
Post a Comment