[at-l] FW: Eating in East Glacier

[Jim and/or Ginny Owen]

>
>There are a few people who might be disappointed, but, to paraphrase Mark 
>Twain - reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.
>
>Our last update was from Ennis, MT - from there we went north through the 
>Tobacco Root mountains.  Someone on cdt-l once said that the Tobacco Roots 
>would be easy to bushwhack.  That could only be said by someone who 
>roadwalked that section.  The maps lie - there's a 10,000' ridge if you 
>actually hike the trails and jeep tracks through there - and the mileages 
>on the maps need to be multipied by at least 50%.  But it was really 
>beautiful country for those who have the incliination to explore them.
>
>Our next stop was Whitehall, MT - a VERY small town with a good grocery and 
>a really good cafe - where we celebrated Jim's birthday.  An 8-mile paved 
>roadwalk led us back to the Forest and we eventually connected with the CDT 
>again at Homestake Pass.  From there we hitched into Butte, rented a car 
>and drove north to East Glacier Park.  We flipped north because of the 
>early closings in Glacier National Park.  We got here just in time.  Among 
>other things, fall has fell, with a vengeance.  Or maybe it was winter 
>showing us what to expect over the next month or so.  We had snow, rain and 
>cold weather all week - and even so we lucked out since the forecast was 
>for around 18 inches total accumulation of snow, and it never got that bad, 
>except in a few drifts.  We also saw that the Park really does close down 
>mid-September.  We were a day ahead or a day behind a couple of the 
>closings, including the Backcountry office at St. Mary's.  Two Medicine 
>Ranger Station closed a week ago.
>
>We took a shuttle to Chief Mountain, hiked south through the Belly River, 
>through the Ptarmigan Tunnel into Swiftcurrent, then over Piegan Pass to 
>Reynolds Creek.  Then came a long roadwalk into St Mary's because of the 
>Red Eagle Lake fire which closed the Red Eagle trail and campsites.  The 
>fire is still smoldering despite several days of rain and snow.  From St 
>Mary's it's a 14 mile road walk on the highway to the Cut Bank road and 
>another very muddy 6 miles to the Cut Bank campground where we were the 
>sole guests that night.  Then it was over Pitamakin Pass, where we saw a 
>lot of interesting tracks on the snowy trail - Mt sheep, mountain goats, 
>elk, deer, wolf -- even some human tracks.  At one point on the approach to 
>the pass, we saw a herd of mountain goats, and listened to at least 5 elk 
>bugling - then one of the elk lost his nerve and ran across the trail in 
>front of us - beautiful --- and BIG, with a trophy sized rack.  We saw a 
>big male grizzly about a mile from Many Glacier - totally uninterested in 
>us, as he was busy feeding about 100 yards above the trail.  We saw bighorn 
>sheep and mountain goats near Piegan Pass as well, and a first for us - a 
>mink that played hide and seek with us and the camera.  There were also 
>moose and deer sightings, and lots of chipmunks, squirrels and hawks to 
>enliven things.  The clouds and rain/snow did not entirely cover the beauty 
>of Glacier's mountains - we got glimpses of beautiful peaks, deep valleys, 
>turquoise lakes, and multitudes of waterfalls - it really is an incredible 
>place.
>
>We managed to meet a lot of the northbound hikers who finished up this week 
>- Spur and Ready, Simply Seeking, Blister Sister, Packrat and Matt and 
>Kalyn.  The only ones we didn't get to meet were Brewmaster and Adam, who 
>were southbound ahead of us.  There were 11 of us in this section on the 
>same day, and two others who finished two days before (Thermo and Five 
>Galllon).  Of course, we still have 350 miles to go, but even so, that was 
>a pretty concentrated bunch this year.
>
>We'll take tomorrow off to rest, eat and reorganize, then we'll be heading 
>south into the Bob Marshall.  That will be the most intense wilderness 
>stretch since the San Juans - 11 days to Lincoln, MT without a break.  
>Hopefully the weather will improve.  We haven't had a chance to check the 
>forecast yet.  We're well stocked with orange garb, since hunting season 
>has started there.  This time we won't have the wilderness to ourselves.  
>We nearly had Glacier to ourselves since almost all the casual campers 
>bailed with the first snowstorm.  We only saw two groups of backpackers in 
>seven days.
>
>We'll let you know how it goes when we get to Lincoln, if we can.
>
>Walk softly,
>
>Jim and Ginny
>
>http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/
>
>