Friday, July 13, 2007
Take the High Road
“It looks like it should be on a putt-putt course.”(Tom, regarding one of the many little streams that cascade down the rocks in mini waterfalls.)
When you are next to one of the aforementioned cascading streams, there is no mistaking it bubbling and gurgling as that of water making its way over rocks and somersaulting through the air. The sound that is much more common is when there is the barrier of distance, hills, or other obstacle between you and the water. At that point, the sound it makes can best be likened to the wind that rustles the very tops of the ash and maple trees as a storm approaches from a distance. It is to this sound that we hike and fall asleep to (not at the same time, thank goodness!).
We had a chance to get up close and personal with many of these little rivulets while hiking the Highline Trail yesterday. This 12-mile trail parallels the Going to the Sun for the first bit. This is also a very steep and narrow section so they thought fitting to put a cable into the rock to hold onto (mind you, this is not a guardrail, as it’s probably better to lean close to the rock to hold onto something rather than away!). The first 8 miles or so of the trail was actually really casual with minimal grade change. There was a section where we walked along the “Garden Wall” which seemed like an old stone wall in a cottage garden, covered as it was with a great variety of plants and flowers. We were probably a week early to see the best blooms along this section. The view from this Highline Trail was breathtaking/amazing/indescribable/awe-inspiring…you get the idea. From our vantage we could look down at the pine forests and river or across the valley to cascades off the opposite mountain or off in the distance to matterhorns and arêtes. Spectacular. Oh, and we saw a bit of wildlife in the form of mountain goats. The first one I saw was in the distance around the bend and it took my brain a second to register that the light colored thing lumbering toward me on the trail wasn’t a grizzly bear. We passed where it crossed the trail and then turned around to see if we could see it again and it came up the hill, this time with a little kid in tow. Further up the trail we saw 5 more goats, this time coming right down the path. We just stood off the trail a bit and let them pass below us. There was an older goat with what could have been her yearling twins from last year and then 2 young’uns from this year. The little ones were playing as they ran up and down the trail but every time they got too close to the mom she would stop abruptly and turn around and give them “the look” and they would stop completely and just start walking again. Of course, that lasted about 2 seconds and then they were playing and getting into trouble again!
The hardest part of the trail was probably the last 4 miles (but thank goodness we went the direction we did!) as it was a continuous downhill. Now, I know what you may be thinking: 4 miles downhill doesn’t sound that bad (and it sure sounds better than 4 miles uphill!) but it really was quite a strain on the knees and gives new meaning to “toe jam”. Glacier has free shuttles than run throughout the park so we were able to hike this 12 mile trail from one point to the next and catch the shuttle back to our car, which was definitely a good thing!
Today we broke camp and set out for Seattle. Initially, we were going to try to get as far as we could and camp and then make the rest of the way tomorrow but we’ve decided to try and push through to get to Brandon’s and hopefully crash there for the night (I say hopefully because I haven’t had cell reception so he doesn’t know we’re coming yet!! Surprise!!) Before leaving the park today we did a short 3 mile hike out to Hidden Lake because we overheard someone on the bus yesterday say that he saw Bighorn Sheep out there. We made it all the way to the lake without seeing a Bighorn (though Tom swears he was looking for them). A couple there said they had seen a bunch on their way up, but maybe they had went to the trees by now so we began our trip back to the car with a bit of a dejected feeling, sad that we weren’t going to see Bighorn sheep on the trip. Then, as we were crossing a snowfield, one of the other hikers told us that there were Bighorn just around the bend and sure enough, up on the ridge we saw the elusive sheep. I’ll have to use the zoom on the pictures but even from a distance (and through the binoculars) their large curled horns were quite impressive. So one more animal is checked off the list and now we’re on to Seattle and Olympic National Park, where hopefully we’ll see some water animals.
PS-I'm posting from Brandon's in Seattle now...this place is electronics heaven!
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