After 5.7 miles we made it to Grinnell Glacier. The giant steep rock wall enclosing the area is called the Garden Wall, it is part of the continental divide.
If you look at the top of the wall in the 4th picture there is a notch in the Garden Wall above and to the right of Salamander Glacier. You can hike to that point from the Highline Trail. Pictures from that spot from September 2008 are here and from September 2007 here.
On Sunday we camped in Many Glacier and did a hike to Grinnell Glacier. I had attempted this hike with my parents in early June a few years ago. We had to turn back a few miles from the end because there was too much snow in the higher elevation areas. This time there wasn’t any snow blocking the way.
The hike is a little under 12 miles round trip, and offers some spectacular scenery the whole way.
The next day we drove up to Glacier National Park. We got there in the afternoon and being the middle of summer most of the campsites were already full so we drove out on the Inner North Fork Road to Logging Creek Campground.
There was a really excellent thunderstorm that night with a lot of thunder but not much rain. Thunder always reminds me of North Carolina.
Hilary’s brother Justin and his friend Charlie visited us from Atlanta over the weekend. On Friday we drove a little outside of town to go tubing on the Blackfoot. The weather was hot and the water was cold.
Click on the picture for a gallery from an Ultimate tournament last weekend in Coeur d’Alene Idaho.
Jeff and Liz came up to Missoula for the weekend and on Friday we drove to Coeur d’Alene. Saturday was spent riding part of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.
Opening in 2004,
the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is a rail trail which follows the former Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way from Mullan, a mountain mining town near the Montana border, to Plummer, a town on the prairie near the Washington border.
From the Friend of Coeur d’Alene Trails website.
The trail is 72 miles of asphalt, closed to all motorized vehicles, and usually following the Coeur d’Alene River. We did an 80 mile out and back ride from Enaville to the bridge over Coeur d’Alene Lake near the western edge of the trail.
Over the weekend I was able to go climbing with Dylan and Jason, a couple of Missoulians. We went to Blodgett Canyon, a 40 mile drive south on Highway 93. The route we did was the South Face of Shoshone Spire, listed in the Falcon Rock Climbing Montana guidebook as a 7-pitch 5.8+, described as
Probably the first multi-pitch route climbed in the canyon and still a mandatory classic.
The climb is all traditional style, with no bolts anywhere. It was definitely the tallest climb I had ever done. A bit scary in places but still a lot of fun.
The final pictures of the hike and some miscellaneous pictures of our last day in Glacier.
Three mountain goats joined us for a little while as we were enjoying the view. Mountain goats are seen quite a bit in Glacier, but it was interesting to see them in their natural environs rather than right beside the road.
I also added a “Wildlife” category if you want to scope out other pictures of ferocious beasts.
The Iceberg Lake is a 10 mile out and back hike. About 3 miles from the start there is a turnoff for Ptarmigan Lake. Coming back we decided to check it out.
Hilary and I went to Glacier National Park over the weekend. Saturday was spent doing a pretty amazing hike to Iceberg Lake and then to the Ptarmigan Tunnel. Here are some pictures of the Going to the Sun Road from Friday evening and the start of our hike on Saturday.
These pictures cover parts of the last 3 days of our trip. After Orofino we camped by the Clearwater River 2 miles out of Lowell, Idaho. The next day had 60 some miles of biking by the Lochsa River on the surprisingly empty Highway 12.
The last day we spent the morning climbing up to Lolo Pass, and then the afternoon was almost completely downhill into Missoula. I was a little worried about Highway 12, but once we passed Kamiah it was some of my favorite riding of the whole trip. For over 100 miles we were right beside either the Lochsa or the Clearwater Rivers with almost no traffic.
