Home | Friends & Links | Genealogy | Sites By Me | My Family | Guestbook

DAY ONE (TUESDAY)

(Click on any of the pictures for  larger ones, between 25-50k each)

Map of the terrain and hiking trail

The first day was going to be an easy one. We had only 2.5 miles to hike and a gain of 200 ft in elevation. We drove from Many Glacier Camp Ground to the town of Waterton located on the North end of Waterton Lake in Alberta. At 1pm, we boarded a ferry which took us South on the lake to Goats Haunt Ranger Station. The trip was picturesque, the lake surrounded by mountains towering above us with blue skies. Looking back towards Waterton we could see The Prince of Wales hotel. We arrived at Goats Haunt RS after a trip of almost an hour where most people disembarked to walk around. A few were heading out on day hikes of only a few hours. Adam and I and one ranger looked like we were the only ones heading out on an extended type of hike. We were able to get our packs once everyone was off the boat as the packs  had been stored below deck, out of the way. On the ferry we had met a girl we both used to work with (Charlotte) in the Lethbridge office so we visited with her and her daughter for a bit while walking up to where the Ranger would check out our permits etc. His only advice to us as we entered the US was not to donate too much blood to the mosquitoes. I didn't realize how bad the mosquitoes would really be. As we were walking away from the Ranger I heard his say something like "So you must be the spouse" to Charlotte. I laughed and told Adam what I heard. So with our packs on our backs, and our water bottles filled to the brim we headed down the trail on my first hike ever.

Adam being the experienced hiker-n-all had been telling me about the bears, how to react to them if we should encounter one on the trail and their habits etc. One of the important things was to make noise as we hiked so we didn't come upon one and surprise it. So Adam did a great job of calling out on a regular basis "Hey Bear!" I kept thinking he was calling me, as some people on IRC used to call me "bear", short for "robear".   'Bout the only time I called out was when I had gone ahead of Adam a ways and was out of his range of hearing. Don't know why, but I felt stupid calling out if I knew someone could hear me. Both of us also had pepper spray in the event we did meet up with one. I laughed when I read about the pepper spray and someone had written it was not a repellent, do not spray on skin or clothing. I suppose someone must have tried it in the past or they wouldn't have mentioned it. Apparently bears like the taste and smell but don't like it in their eyes. "Good up to 12 ft" it said. Jeepers, 12 ft is already too close to a grizzly that is 8 ft tall when standing on its hind legs. We kept hiking along the trail and weren't able to see too much for scenery as we were hiking along a heavily treed area and they blocked our view of any mountains which would be there. I felt a bit like John Bunyan's pilgrim with the load on my back. I was carrying the food. Wonder if that's why Adam referred to me as bear bait... While I'm not that much out of shape, hiking is not something I'm used to and by the time we got to the first campsite my shoulders were bruised by the pack. It was also very hot and not long after I had begun the walk I had to remove my shirt to try to cool off a bit. The 32 ounces of water disappeared very quickly too.

We arrived at Kootenai Lake about 3:30 and found others were already camped out there included 3 moose who were eating whatever moose eat on the bottom of a lake and millions of mosquitoes. My mosquito repellent was used that day constantly. I don't think I have met a more mean, persistent group of bugs. But everyone at the site was having the same problem. Some were wearing nets down around their hats, others were burning candles.  The moose were joined by two swans who woke us the next morning with their bugle call and flapping of their huge wings on the water as they attempted to get airborne. We picked a site, Adam showed me how the tent went together which we set up fairly quickly and then prepared to make supper.  Each of the campgrounds we stayed at were very similar. The sleeping areas were separated from the main eating area which also had bear poles which basically was cables strung between the trees about 12 ft in the air to hang the food and cooking utensils. Someone's idea that it might keep the bears away. If you think about it though, if they can't eat the food in the trees, won't they then choose the food in the tents? Us? I tried not to think about it too much.

I tried to have some kind of shower/bath in a glacier fed creek near the campsite but sheesh it was cold! I would scoop the water by hand and throw it over me hoping the air would warm it up some. No chance though. Then when I got into the tent a few minutes later I found out from Adam you do not use deodorant (or perfume, but that wasn't a problem as I had left my perfume at home) as it attracts the bears, and their smelling capabilities are 200 times better than a humans.

DAY TWO (WEDNESDAY)

We woke early the next morning to cloudy skies. I figured the sun would burn them off quickly but it wasn't going to turn out that way. After a quick breakfast of a bagel and oatmeal, we packed up the tent and our gear and headed out on the trail. This day was going to be the killer. We had 11 miles to the next campsite and in the first 5 miles we would be climbing 3000 ft in elevation peeking out on Stoney Indian pass, then dropping 2400 ft in the next 6 miles to Mokowanis Junction. We were doing the hike in the opposite direction most people do it and it was tougher this way. I'd like to say it was by choice but I'd be lying. Booked campsites had dictated it this way. I had packed my backpack that morning and it was very uncomfortable and soon after leaving we stopped and Adam adjusted it. Making it a bit easier. No lighter though. I guess I had packed too bulky towards the bottom. The hike started out fine. A cool morning, nice and refreshing. Still no sun in the sky though. Every now and then we would get a glimpse of the mountains above us, rising out of the mist like jagged teeth. As we continued on, the brush was getting deeper around us until it was up around our chests. The brush was also wet and slowly our boots were filling up with water. Around noon we stopped and made some soup right on the trail on Adam's one burner stove. While we were huddled around it waiting for it to boil a ranger came walking along and we chatted with him for a bit. No bears had been seen so far.

Then the rain began. A slight drizzle at first, just to tease you so you think it'll pass. But it doesn't and by the time you realize its getting wet its almost too late to put any rain gear on. Not that I had any with me anyway. Being so wet and cold I didn't feel like drinking the water I was carrying which I felt the results of the next morning. Our boots were full of water, my backpack was soaked and weighed a lot more wet than dry and after feeling my feet slosh in the boots for a few hours we finally we broke out of the clouds and rain, sat down on some rocks, emptied our boots and wrung as much water out of our socks as we could. Even though we were drenched it was nice to take a break. The trees had been thinning out the higher we got. Every now and then we would have a glimpse of the jagged peaks around us as the clouds separated. Getting up we walked only a short distance and realized we were at the Stoney Indian Campsite located on the foot of Stoney Indian Lake which was in a sort of bowl surrounded by immense peaks and the Stoney Indian pass which I would guess was about 400-500 feet above us. The trail circled the lake to our left and then slowly wound its way up the face of the bowl. The air was still cool as we waved to a few campers at the site and didn't waste any time as we still had the descent to do on the other side. I think it was about 2 o'clock as we rounded the lake. We could see the clouds trying to force their way up over the ridge we had just climbed and block our view of the lake which we were slowly climbing away from. The pictures show the clouds as they would start to fill the area, dissipate, and then fill it again. A few times we could see nothing around us except the trail. But those times it cleared I tried to get some pictures of the view below us. It was just after 4pm when I stepped up and surprised both Adam and myself and said "We're at the summit". And with that the cold wind blew at us from the other side. It should have been a spectacular view but all we could see was clouds and more rain below us. We could only imagine what it would look like on a sunny clear day. The only marking we could find at the summit was a pile of rocks people had assembled over time.  Realizing we had been cheated out of a beautiful view we headed down the trail. I was cold, wet and as we were descending my knee started to ache. I think the muscles in the knee were rejecting the idea of being stretched the opposite way to which they had been moving for the last number of hours. I tucked my fingers inside my jacket sleeves trying to keep them a bit warmer and trudged along. As we descended lower we began to see a bit of the view. Below us was a small lake similar to the one on the other side of the summit. Our destination for today was Mokowanis Junction at the head of Glens lake which we could see and further along was Cosley Lake. Beyond which was the campsite for the third night. Our boots were full once again but going down hill was much quicker, except for my knee. We wound our way down the switchbacks and crossed these huge steps or ledges which had been carved out of the landscape and with each there were massive waterfalls as the water hurdled its way downward. It was almost like a tier effect.

As we were getting lower down the mountain side we came across a deer standing below us on the trail. I took a picture and we walked down further. The deer stayed where it was at. Each time we got closer I would take another picture until finally we were too close and it scooted off the trail above us out of our way where I took the final picture as it munched away on the shrubs.

We arrived at Mokowanis Junction dead tired. Since the summit we hadn't passed any other hikers on the trail as it was late in the day and anyone out there heading the opposite direction would end up hiking in the dark. Not a good idea I don't think. It was such a relief to get the back pack off of my back. We had been going for about 11 hrs on the trail and it was time to sleep. Everything was soaking wet or very damp except for some clothes I had in a plastic bag within my backpack. We set up the tent, turned our boots upside down to let them drain. I had a feeble hope they would be dry by the morning. There were three guys at the campsite and it turned out they were all chiropractors from Phoenix AZ but we didn't learn that till a few days later from some other hikers. Would have been nice to have gotten some adjustments from them. My knee was killing me and it was extremely difficult to walk with it. But it was a relief to put my sneakers on even though they were also wet from being hung on the outside of my backpack. We (Adam) cooked us supper while we watched the chiropractors play a game of Frisbee and each time a person threw bad that person had to take a drink. I believe it was vodka and something or other. We were too tired to stay up and see what the results would be and about 8:30 we hit the hay. I asked Adam if we could sleep in a bit in the morning as we didn't have a big day ahead of us. Only 7 miles across fairly level country side to a campsite near the Belly River Ranger Station. I fell asleep very quickly although the noise of the rain through the night woke me up numerous times. The tent we were using was a very good one and kept us dry. Plus we had self-inflatable mattresses under our sleeping bags. The longest toughest day was over.

DAY THREE (THURSDAY)

I woke very early the next morning to one unbelievable headache. Adam figured it was from being dehydrated. I had been assuming I was so wet most of the previous day that I would have absorbed the moisture through my skin but I guess it doesn't work that way. I had wanted to sleep in but my body said nope. My boots were still wet, so I wore my sneakers all morning until the last possible moment when I slipped my warm feet with clean socks into the boots and felt the material very quickly absorb the moisture still in the boots. We had our usual oatmeal with powdered milk. It was pretty good actually. We had our wet gear and tent packed up by around 11am and were back on the trail. The going wasn't too bad through the day but my knee was still bothering me. Anytime I was going down hill I would either have to swing my hip and not bend the knee or go down backwards which wasn't a great idea when carrying a backpack. I tried it a few times though.

I drank my water throughout the day even when I didn't think I needed it as I sure didn't want another "hangover" from lack of water.

Around 4pm we met up with a young couple going in the opposite direction. She looked like the avid hiker and we guessed she was putting her mate through some kind of test as he looked very red faced and worn out, while she looked like she had only just begun. They had been going since very early that morning and were heading to where we had spent last night. In fact they were hiking the same as what we would be doing over 2 days. We figured they could be hiking into the dark if they stopped at all on the trail as they had about 4 hrs of hiking ahead of them.

Parts of the trail took us across flower filled meadows.  I don't think I've never seen so many flowers in one place.

Following the two lakes we finally got to the foot of Cosley Lake and down the hillside on our right we could see the Belly River Ranger Station, with Chief Mountains familiar silhouette standing out behind. Shortly after that we were crossing the river on a suspension bridge. I enjoyed the feeling of the trail swinging under my feet as I stepped to increase the movement slightly.

Within a few minutes we were at the Gable Creek campsite and met our "camp host" Heather and her husband Sam. They were doing a similar hike as us, except the other way around, plus I believe they were going to Elizabeth lake and some other fantastic spots. We set up the tent and then spent an enjoyable evening visiting with those two, plus four young people from Germany who had a huge backpack filled with fresh fruit and vegetables. It was so heavy they had trouble pulling it up the bear pole. 

This was the first campsite where we were allowed a fire so I took advantage of that and had my boots drying near the flames. It was a nice feeling the next morning to be putting on a dry pair of boots! We also hung a lot of our clothes on tree branches trying to get them dried out to lighten our weight.

The wood was so wet we found out later the only way Heather and the others could get the fire going was to use pages out of a book she had been reading. Must have been a good book :-).

By 8:30 I was the only one at the fire and my boots were dry. So I put the fire out and made my way to the tent. Adam started talking about my snoring again but I once again told him not to start rumors as I don't snore but I did admit I do some kind of a   "PFffff" sound in my sleep. He heard it throughout the trip and the first time thought it was a bear outside the tent.

DAY FOUR (FRIDAY)

Our final day. We had six miles to the Chief Mountain Border Crossing and most of it would be fairly easy going except for the final few miles which were uphill. After I had been up and about for a bit I realized my knee wasn't bothering me at all which almost felt like a miracle. The weather was nice once again to. The skies were clearing and gave us a chance to take some pictures of the Stoney Indian area as it got further and further away from us. It looked so far away, if I had been hiking towards it and was told that was where we were going to hike to I probably would have felt overwhelmed thinking it looked out of my reach. Does that make sense? We said goodbye to our friends at the campsite and headed down the trail once more. It didn't take long and I had to remove my shirts as I was heating up again. We quickly finished off the water in our bottles and refilled with Adams pump at the next stream. It was a device that Adam used a lot. Pumping the water would force it through a filter into whatever you were filling. Something I was amazed at was how clear the water was in the lakes and streams. This was when we had the first talk about a bear being near the trail. It was supposed to be about a 1/2 mile ahead of us and I had my camera ready but we never did see the bear. So we never met up with any bears on the hike although we had seen a grizzly bear up above the road driving in to Many Glacier Camp Ground the night before we began our hike. We talked to a number of hikers on the way, hoping we could figure out some way of getting from Chief Mountain Border Crossing, back to Waterton where our vehicle was waiting for us, but nothing was working out so far. Then as we were running out of breath on the last couple of miles which were uphill and not much scenery, we were passed by 3 guys from Chicago going the same direction. They were part of an 8 man group and were going to be driving back to Waterton to get their other vehicle. We were extremely thankful when they said we could get a ride with them. But they were hiking at quite a fast pace and we didn't want to get too far from them so tried to stay with them the last part of the climb which took just about everything we had. Well everything I had. And the energy we didn't use walking, we used up swatting the deer flies which persistently would bite. I kept hitting them with the strap from my camera. Especially around my shoulders. Adams in a lot better shape than I am.

By the time we got to the end I realized the backpack had worn away my skin around my waist and it was pretty sore. My feet had a few small blisters which weren't bad at all when you think I had been hiking in wet boots for two solid days and the boots were also quite new. I think their broken in now. My whole body felt like it had been through an unbelievable workout (which it had). But knowing I had done it, and been able to see a lot of the beautiful scenery in the park I felt it was well worth the time and effort, a trip of a lifetime. Would I do it again? I sure would. Well, maybe not the same hike, but some other hike in Glacier National Park for sure.

Home | Friends & Links | Genealogy | Sites By Me | My Family | Guestbook