To the Granite Park Chalet

We’re hiking to the Granite Park Chalet, where we’ll stop for another break and then move on.  There’s a gradual climb.  I note some other trails as we progress,  one going up to the top of the Continental Divide--but it’s a steep climb (about 900 feet in half a mile), we have a destination and time isn't on our side (especially on this slow hiker's side) so we continue to the chalet.

As I try to keep up with the group, a big horn sheep steps forward just ahead of me to the side of the trail. I must take pictures.  I am so focused on this guy I don’t notice where I'm standing or how faint my friends’ voices are becoming.

Then I realize that, though I’m not exactly alone, my group is far enough ahead of me that I get a little nervous. I hope the sheep doesn’t decide to knock me over, and I  start moving as fast as I can, thinking, " I'm alone in bear territory."  (If you followed my blog for a while you know I have this thing about bears....) I’m trying to remember all  I’ve learned about "bear safety".  One was stay with your group (whoops).  

Another was make noise, so I start singing loudly, the first song that pops into my head, "Makin’ Whoopee’*.  So I’m hiking, I’m singing--more like barely tuneful shouting: “Another bride, Another groom, another sunny honeymoon, another season, another reason.....”*

Imagine the look I get when I reach the guide at the back, who’s been going slowly to enable me to catch up. The looks suggests she thinks maybe speed isn’t my biggest problem.  I stop singing. Onward to the Granite Park Chalet, trying to act normal. 

The Great Northern Railway built several accommodations in the early 20th century, but the chalet, built in 1914, is one of the last back country lodgings still in use.  The chalet, just below the tree line,  is on a ledge of rock  that formed millions of years ago, probably as an eruption from an undersea volcano.**

Whatever you think when you hear ‘chalet’... forget it.  Our guides seem to pronounce it, ‘shallee‘ which helps dispel the image of a castle. Bring your own water (or can buy water there); plan on using a pit toilet (can be better than a tree).  Do not plan on room service. Plan to cook your own dinner (you can order food ahead of your arrival but you're the chef). Do not bring stinky food that attracts predators.  Do not plan a shower.  

Do plan to enjoy the view as you hike, from the immensity of the mountains towering over you to the tiniest flowers forcing their way out of the earth.  Once again, this puts everything into perspective, 

These flowers bloom just a few short months in the long cold seasons up here... 

wildflowers (yellow alpine buttercups, purple harebells, 

red fireweed,)

fireweed

As for the Chalet....There are  dormitory-like sleeping quarters with bunk beds, and visitors can use their own sleeping bags or arrange in advance to rent linens. Definitely not what you think when you first read 'chalet'.  But no one is here for the accommodations--we are all here to enjoy this vast and amazing space, and we’re just stopping for a break.  I eat a pear saved from lunch, savor the view, and then ask, “Where do I dispose of the core?’  

A new lesson for me... ‘Pack it in, pack it out.”  

That sounds like simple, logical advice.  As I’m wrapping my leftovers up to take with me, I don’t yet know the importance of this and the tragedies that led to this policy.

#     #     #

*Published and released in 1928, lyrics by Gus Kahn, music by Walter Donaldson.     To appreciate what this song could sound like, hear Dr. John do it http://tinyurl.com/Dr-John-Making-Whoopee.  

** Much in this and the following post that led to current policies in the national park came from Night of the Grizzlies, by Jack Olsen, Homestead Publishing (Moose, Wyoming) Coyright 1969 and 1996. 

Highland Trail, Glacier National Park- continued

There are three guides accompanying us.  Erik is the company tour guide.  Since we’re in an international park we have two more guides representing their respective National Park Services: Stacey works for Glacier and Carey works for Waterton.  They share responsibility and  are interspersed among us.  I have to say, having been nervous about how I’d do on this trip, I'm impressed with their attention.  There’s no singling people out, just support, encouragement,  and reminders of the beauty that surrounds us.

The trail continues along the Garden Wall at our side, but the angle of the wall grows less formidable as we progress. We’re now climbing a switchback trail, ascending about 280 feet to Haystack Pass.  That doesn’t sound like much, but we are roughly 7000 feet above sea level.  (Notice how I love to keep pointing that out?  It’s because, even now, I cannot get over the beauty from that height.)

When we reach Haystack Pass, we stop for lunch that we’d packed in the morning.  I have to confess, I’m glad for the break.  My knee is not happy, I’m relying heavily on my hiking poles for support.  But as we pause to eat and just enjoy the view,  I forget that.  

Views from the HighLine Trail of Mt. Cannon, Oberline, and Heaven’s Peak.  (I am going to apologize here... my notes are not as clear as I’d like.... I may have mountain names right, but which is which.....)

As we’re ready to go on,  Erik lets us all know that the ‘short version’ of the hike would be to head back the way we came, get in the van with him as he drives around to the end point of the trail to rejoin the group and take us to our next hotel.  That would make this round trip a roughly seven mile hike.  

I know he expects me to go with him.  He’s been behind me, watching me labor up the inclines.  But I know there’s more to see ahead, and I have to try.  I have to.

“I didn’t come all this way to turn around,” I tell him.

Erik gets it. He runs back to the van to go to the other end of the trail where he’ll pick us up---eventually. Stacey says, with some awe in her voice,  ‘He’s like a mountain goat.’.   Watching him run, I think he makes a mountain goat look pathetic.

 I pack up the remains of my lunch and continue to the Chalet.

-----------

The HighLine Trail in Glacier National Park - part 1

I've learned we’ll be enjoying the Waterton-Glacier International Park.  After our introductory raft trip, we settle in for dinner and get to know each other.  Next morning-- ready for our first hike.

In Glacier National Park,  the temperature can vary from 30 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and most of us dress in layers so we can adjust as we hike.  When someone asks me how the weather is in the park, my answer has to be ‘ it depends...’.  In the course of my trip we had a little snow,  some 70-degree weather, and everything in between.  It was August

This day started cool, cloudy,  and dry.  Our first hike is the stunning Highline Trail, and our initial destination is the Granite Park Chalet, where we will take a break, and from there continue to the end of the Trail.  After that, we’ll leave Montana and go to the Canadian side and Waterton Park.

The trail is fairly level...in the beginning.  I take this in and think, ‘I can do this!’  

That flat start is deceptive.  First of all, we’re at an altitude of about 7,000 feet and this sea-level dweller finds it takes a little more effort to move way up here than it does down there.  At an altitude of about 7,000 feet.  I ain’t runnin’, but the hike is manageable and the views are spectacular from the start.

Highline Trail

Less than half a mile from the trailhead, we arrive at the first major challenge.  The trail becomes a narrow ledge barely four feet wide.  To my right, a steep rock wall (the Garden Wall, I think).  To my left, a 100-foot drop.  Pictures are worth a thousand words

HighLine Trail, continues

The above picture shows how steep the drop is, but  I think the cable in the rock (see below) really makes the point.  The Park Service provided this cable for people less sure-footed than mountain goats.  You will notice many of those with me are staying *very* close to that cable.

Highline trail cable 

Fortunately the narrow ledge of a trail is only about one-fourth of a mile long.  And more fortunately, I become so enthralled with the view I forget to be afraid.

#     #     #