9/15/14
Our last day at Glacier National Park. We are ready for the High Line trail, but we need some planning and help from the universe: Our plan is to go to the loop on the Sun Road, where our trail will end in the evening and find some good-hearted park visitors to give us a ride to the Logan Pass, where the High line trail begins. Since the free park shuttle is not available in September, the rangers recommended us that this is our only option unless we would like to pay the full tour price to the red bus tour of the park. With those thoughts in mind, we stop at the last cafe that is open at West Glacier. Hearty breakfast, sac lunch packed, all is well. Just as we are paying, the young cashier asks us were we are heading to. As he hears of High Line, he smiles "So you are ready to walk in 16 inches of snow, huh?"
No, not really, where did that come from. Greg is slightly alarmed like I. He is adamant that we should be ready for ice and snow and 16 inches at that. We look at each other and agree to stop at Apgar visitor center to obtain updated information. A funny middle aged man greets us, but he doesn't know anything about 16 inches of snow on the trail. He does tell us though of a woman, who had pushed her 8-day husband off the trail on that particular route! And Greg remembers that being on the national news... I busy myself with other things as I believe Greg will make the best decision for both of us working with the ranger. Greg comes out with a smile on his face: "I did everything to get us out of High Line trail, without much success, we are going"! We both crack up and on we go up to the Loop.
It doesn't take long, I explain our goal to only two drivers parked at the Loop. The first one doesn't have room in their van since their back seat is full with their travel goods, understandably so. The second one on the other hand reaches to their back seat and starts moving everything into their trunk to open up room for us. I've never done anything like this before, but I can see this working in national park setting. Greg is clearly neither used to this, nor he can believe this is possible and we are doing this. We get on...
The friendly couple is from Sidney, Montana, he works for the fracking company that works in South Dakota and she runs a B&B for the company's workers. Sidney being on the border of the two states, they live in Montana and work in or for South Dakota. She enjoys national parks through driving around, sometimes he takes short hikes when she waits for him at the lookout points. His father was a military man and he was born in Germany. After living in other states, he came to Montana and met his wife, who had never lived anywhere beyond 2 hours diameter of Sidney. She discloses to us "he made me adventurous". I guess she refers to visits to Glacier and other places. Pleasant people, they drop us off at the Logan visitor's center and start their own exploration.
Logan Pass is freezing at 10 am. I am glad I have packed everything warm I have, all of which I have already put on. We head toward the trailhead right away thinking, the sooner we start moving, the quicker we will warm up, at least I do. In 50 yards or so, what everybody has been talking about becomes reality: We had heard that the trail that ran along a cliff for 1/4 mile or so was dangerous and scary with 4-6 feet width and a sheer sharp drop of hundreds of feet into the valley below. But, we also heard that the rope anchored to the mountain, Garden Wall at that, was of great help. Once one is done with this initial 1/4 mile all would be fine! False my friends false, here is the truth... The said very dangerous part is not 1/4 mile, more so 1/2 mile. The width of the trail in that section is more like 3-4 feet not 4-6 feet. The said rope, which is indeed of extreme help, you hang onto it with all your might since your life is at stake, is available for only one half of that very dangerous stretch.
Greg dissapearing around a bend with Garden Wall above him
Especially, if you are inching through that stretch over snow and more so packed ice following last week's snow, that rope becomes detrimental and when it comes to an end when it is still needed for another 1/4 of a mile, it is nerve wrecking. Greg and I agree that most precautions about many aspects of the park both in the park literature and privately produced literature is overly exaggerated. However, the risks about this trail, for some reason are presented in a very underestimated manner. But, hey, despite all the difficulties we will make it. And I bet, all the underestimation is for the purpose of having everybody to experience this phenomenal beauty at least once in a life time. Yet, I still would like to share with the reader what goes through my mind during the first half mile that we will cover in about 45 minutes:
When I see the narrow trail which makes a 90 degree angle toward the glacier carved valley down below... When I step into the snow on that trail followed with my first minor slip on ice that underlies the snow... When I recognize that this will be one long hike, who knows when it will end with the pace we are able to proceed over icy footing... When, at some point, I reach for the next section of the rope anchored onto the Garden Wall and find only an iron loop with no rope tied to it... When I look ahead and see that all there is is the same of the first 1/4 mile of the trail that we covered with turtle speed... When I realize who knows how long of a trail of the same quality there is ahead of us... All that comes to the tip of my tongue is the four letter "s..." word, which I swallow elegantly... I take deep breaths, remind myself of the need to be mindful of both the beauties and the dangers... I tell myself we will be fine. I hope we will...
I feel responsible for the well being of both of us, since with all the good intentions, I dragged Greg into this park, onto this trail, although, he gathered all the information he needed from the length of the trail, to the road conditions, to the difficulty of the first 1/4 of a mile of the trail, even to the fact that a woman married to her husband for only 8 days having pushed him off the ledge of the trail... I try to find humor in this nerve-wrecking uncertainty!
Garden Wall rising Majestically above the trail
Thinking of the ranger with sense of humor at Apgar visitor's center, him asking us out of the blue, how long we had been married as an overture to tell us his story line about the woman pushing her husband off the ledge, I leaving the room to allow the two men to exchange information so that Greg could make his own informed decision. I smile when I recall Greg coming out and telling me "OK, I used all my options to back out, I guess it is safe, we are doing High Line trail".
Recalling Jane, a fellow hiker from the trail yesterday telling us even her brother-in-law with Parkinson's disease having done the trail, and resolving we can do it as well. All these are fine, but now, the realities of the trail makes me second guess our decision. With all the worries flooding my mind, I check on Greg, he seems to be perfectly fine. When we share our inner feelings later on he will tell me, he thought I was perfectly fine, too!!! I guess our positive outlook helps us a great deal. We push on, one step at a time, very carefully at that. I try to step on the loose snow rather than packed ice; Garden Wall up above our heads, the sheer cliffs dropping down to the valley below, we push on that snake-like thin, unforgiving trail hundreds of yards above the Going-to-the-sun Road.
After a while, all of a sudden, as we get out of the shade of the Garden Wall with a west turn on the trail, the footing becomes surer, drier, less slippery and wider... I can't begin to tell you what a reassuring feeling it is to feel the soil have the friction you need under the sole of your shoes at such altitude. With the better footing, I feel my body becomes more erect and I more sure of my steps. I can even look around in search of the promised mountain goats and big horn sheep. We can start looking around to enjoy the peaks surrounding Logan Pass first, the weeping wall later. We witness all the structures we saw along the Sun Road from up above, looking down now. What a gratifying experience... I want to worship our legs and feet that we take for granted most of the time. Without them, how could we savor what we are witnessing right now?
The rest of the trail is indeed a feast in and of itself. I tell Greg at some point that this kind of trail is my most favorite. Walking along a mountain side, when you can observe open panorama across distances. I have had that experience in many locations including Rocky Mountains, Yosemite, Yellowstone, even in New Jersey... However, never for this long of a stretch. For 7 miles we look down into the Mc Donald Valley and savor the vistas it provides from the river bed to water falls, to mountain tops, to glaciers, to chutes, to avalanches, to forests, to lakes, you name it.
What is most impressive for me is to observe Lake McDonald reveal itself for over 2 miles from its eastern end and finally disappear as we take the turn toward the ridge, on top of which Granite Chalet at 7.5 miles is waiting for us. Are we ready to take a break and have lunch! We devour everything that we brought for lunch, and my, do they taste good! We have close to 5 more miles and all down hill. I am worried about Greg's right foot, the heel of which blistered badly after two days of hiking. He has been hanging on bravely. We start our descend, certainly with not much pleasure after having seen the best Glacier Park has to offer.
As we head down the Granite Park Peak toward the Sun Road, the Heaven's Peak emerges with all her grandeur and at this angle with the glacier capping her like a bride's veil hanging down from her peak down her side. The glacier is reflecting all the sun can impose upon it making the mountain's chest a mirror. Just as it loses its shimmer as we have descended quite a bit in an hour, Upper Mc Donald Falls falling from the middle of the mountain all the way down to the Mc Donald Creek, the longest in the park with its 28 plus miles length emerges dividing the Heaven's Peak Mountain into two halves. What a remarkable vista...
Heaven's Peak with its glacier and Upper McDonald Falls down below
By the time we come down, it is 5:30 and we are indeed content that we have done it, but more so that it is over! 7 hours on the trail is enough for us at our age. We love our rental car seats more than ever today... When all is said and done, I can't help resolving one more time "No wonder, Native Americans, who roamed every crevice of this land appreciated its beauty" and worth to the extent they did, making this park's territory their sacred land.
Bear poop with huckleberries in it!
With every hike, discovering more of the details the park holds precious and putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Glacier National Park has become a place much "bigger" than what hits the eye for both of us. I definitely would like to come back to this place at least one more time to explore its treasures a bit more especially stretching a bit north to the Canadian park territory. Who knows when and if we will be able to come back. We are very happy that we were able to visit this sacred land before the remaining glaciers salute us all farewell and recede to their eternal resting place, the atmosphere, in which we, mankind is creating the killer of many a treasures on this earth.
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Glacier made us both very happy with all its offerings.... |
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