Emigrant, MT to Dan Bailey's Boat Launch

We headed back to the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley to kayak with Helen, Craig & Ray. The plan was to put in at Emigrant Fishing Access & head downstream to Dan Baily's, aka as Paradise. One more bluebird day with temperatures predicted to hit 90 degrees. It was a very nice day to be on the river with a nice cool breeze. 

A very pretty float with a tricky takeout area & some slippery rocks to navigate. No injuries and no one flipped out of their kayaks...a win!

The flow rate has really dropped over the last two weeks...our last float was 7900 cfs versus today's 3700 cfs. We expected a slow float, but it actually felt pretty fast. Reached the pullout point in 2 hours with only 1 stop along the way. My Versa 4 claimed we travelled 7.12 miles in 1:52 with an average speed of 3.8 mph. 

Absaroka Mountains

Emigrant Bridge

 Helen

Bill with Craig

Mill Creek Bridge

Dan Bailey PO (old name Paradise)

Battle Ridge EMB to Fairy Lake

Bridger Range

Today we headed up to Battle Ridge for a bike ride. Last few years we've ridden up towards Sacagawea Peak for 5 miles and then got turned back when the trail got really rocky. This time we pushed passed that section and the trail got a bit less rocky. 

Goldeneyes blooming along trail

We kept going...until we hit another steeper & rockier section. Since it was fairly short we got off & walked the bikes up to the flatter section. Once back on the bikes we just kept going up the trail. At some point it was obvious that we may as well continue all the way to Fairy Lake.

Once we reached the top & honestly thought the lake would be right there...it was not. We had to descend down a really steep section of switchbacks. At that moment we thought yep we are leaving by way of Fairy Lake Road. Neither of us wanted to climb the steep section back to the Battle Ridge parking lot. About the time we thought we should check out the map there was Fairy Lake. It has been a few years since we've been to the lake. Still a beautiful spot.

My EMB taking a well-deserved break

Bill recharging

Fairy Lake with Sacagawea Peak in the background

Streamside globemallow...stage light

 

Along Fairy Lake Road

Our ride was 16 miles long in a bit over 3 hours with 2341 feet in elevation gain. We both used a bit more power going up the steeper sections...72% eco, 21 % sport & 7% turbo with 44% battery used over the 16 miles. 

Yes, we plan to do it again & hopefully will improve our time & power used for the ride.

*click pictures to enlarge

 

Hidden Lake Hike at Logan's Pass

Clements Mountain

Another early day getting up before the sunrise to get on Going-to-the-Sun-Road before the crowds. We got underway 15 minutes earlier than Monday. Right away we found ourselves 4 cars behind someone going 15-mph in a 35-mph construction zone. What?! Yeah, it was hard packed dirt with zero potholes so not sure why they felt the need to go so slow. All of the cars in front of us passed the slow poke...surprisingly so did we. We wondered how slow he'd be when he hit the uphill section that's really narrow & twisty.

We hit Logan's Pass parking lot at 6:20 AM... still a fair number of cars were parked & people fixing their breakfast. No other cars entered for more than 20 minutes due to the slow poke holding up the line. As always the lot was full by 7:00 AM. Our plan was to hike up to Hidden Lake Overlook. The hike down to Hidden Lake was closed due to bear activity at the lake. We assumed the trout were in spawning mode.

Hidden Lake from Overlook

During our very first visit the mountain goat nannies with their kids came running up the trail due to be chased by a grizzly. The rangers immediately closed the trail. It was our 1st grizzly sighting...none were seen on this trip.

About halfway up the trail a group of 8 big horn sheep rams were chewing their cuds just off the trail. The sun wasn't in the most ideal spot to get great pictures, but we shot a few and continued on up the trail. 

Mountain goat with kid

On Clements Mountain we noticed a mountain goat with her kid wandering along the cliff face. We had hoped to see a few much closer... did not happen on this trail this year. 

Big horn sheep rams

The Overlook to Hidden Lake was very crowded so I bypassed it to shoot a few thousand photos of the flowers & ground squirrels. Bill chatted up a few people at the Overlook while I was busy taking pictures.

 

Columbia ground squirrel

Once he caught up we started back down the trail and ran into the small herd of big horns just off the trail. Much better light so the photographers were very pleased with the number of great shots that we managed to get of these big guys. Once they moved up the trail we headed back towards the truck. 

Big Horn Sheep poses for his fans

We made the comment that neither of us had seen a marmot...they are always out and about on this trail. While taking some shots of the wildflowers right there in the middle of the flowers was a huge hoary marmot. It was extremely photogenic. 

Hoary Marmot

He headed straight towards us and sat under the boardwalk. Then another one popped up & headed in the same direction. 

Maybe we always need to mention what we haven't seen... say mountain lion! or grizzly bear! Then one appears...it would be awesome!

Elephant's head with honey bee

Exployer's gentian ready to bloom

Mix of Indian Paintbrush, bistort, & lousewort

Scarlet Indian Paintbrush

Snow melt waterfall at Clements Mtn

Bearhat Mountain at Hidden Lake

Least Chipmunk

Haystack Butte from Hidden Lake Trail

*click photographs to enlarge

 

Excitement on the Inside North Fork Road

Woke to another beautiful bluebird day in the park. We thought our legs were good to go for a bike ride on the Inside North Fork Road. The gravel road has a gate closure at the 6-mile point at Camas Creek, but can easily get a bike or hike around the gate. A really nice ride without worrying about vehicles. On this ride we only had 1 car pass us the entire ride & that was only with a mile or so left in the ride. 

Huckleberry bush

No critter sightings...though we did see lots of fresh bear scat. Makes one a bit nervous as you ride along spotting huckleberry bushes with ripening fruit next to a huge pile of scat. We started wondering if you can pull the bear spray while riding. Thankfully we didn't need to test the theory on this ride.

Camas Creek

About 15 miles into our ride we spotted a group of 4 bicyclists ahead of us. As I rode past the group, I thought I heard something that sounded like 'nice bike'. Of course, Bill decided to stop & chat with them. A good thing too. It turns out one of their bikes had a flat tire. According to the group the e-bike rental shop doesn't provide any type of repair kit when you rent the bike. 

We both thought that wasn't a good thing considering the lack of cell service & the remoteness of some of the rides. We actually pack a repair kit that includes a patch kit, extra bike chain, & spare tire. Our bikes are also tubeless...only worry about breaking the frame or pretzeling a wheel when we ride in the mountains.  

Bill helped get the tire patched and pumped back up so that they could ride back out. The family of three was from Wisconsin & visiting family in Kalispell, MT. The odd thing was their family member was with them & her attitude was ''no worries someone on a bike, horse or hiking will be by to help.'' She was a rider & didn't carry any tools while riding in the backcountry! Seemed unwise to us since we were 15 miles on a rode that was technically not open to traffic. Anyway, they were thankful and said that they would drop by camp with something special later in the day. 

Mountain Views

Off we headed up the trail as they made their way back to Fish Creek. We rode another 2 miles before deciding to turn back toward camp. It was going to be a 34-mile ride by the time we hit our site at Fish Creek...the longest ride to date. Ride time was 3 hours & 22 minutes with elevation gain of 2786 feet.

Our batteries had about 30% left when we got back to our campsite. The trailer's solar had charged the lithium batteries back up to 92% which was a great since the two EMB's drained the trailer batteries back down to 60%. 

Ready for another ride.

As a side note the Wisconsin couple with their daughter dropped by with 2 4 packs of Cold Smoke & a bottle of North Fork Whiskey from Glacier Distillery. Really very nice of them. They said that the text message that they had tried to send to the rental company actually got received and the owner had headed out to 'find them'. They met at the closure gate as he was unloading another e-bike.

They had also met another person on the road with an issue with their rental...the bike chain had broken so he still had to rescue someone. Always be prepared to self-rescue! You never know if someone will be passing by any time soon.

Harebell

Tall trees that survived fire

The road ahead gets narrower

Fire killed trees still standing

Highline Trail

Reynolds Mtn & Mount Oberlin

Our annual camping trip to Glacier National Park fell on one of the most beautiful weeks we've had in Glacier. Yes, the daytime temperatures were pretty hot down in the valley, but we never spend much time in camp during the heat of the day so it wasn't an issue. The nights cooled off fairly quickly. 

The only 'negative' was Fish Creek Campground was so well shaded by pines & firs our solar system never quite got fully charged after recharging our EMB's. Even with full sunny days we only managed to get up to 65% charged. We still had plenty of battery power to get through the entire trip...lithium batteries are awesome! The old lead acid batteries would not have held up without using the hated generator.

Haystack Butte

Mount Cannon & Heavens Peak

Glacier National Park's famed Going-to-the-Sun-Road heads up the mountain to Logan's Pass. It is one of the most stunning as well as 'terrifying' drives we've ever driven. On our first full day in the Park, we decided to get up before sunrise and head up towards Logan's Pass to hike the Highline.

In all of our past trips to Glacier if you were not in the parking lot at Logan's Pass by 7:00 AM the lot would be quite full. Things have changed a bit since the new reservation system was implemented a couple of years ago. 

The Park now has a system in place to drive Going-to-the-Sun-Road, but if you enter the Park before 6:00 AM or after 3:00 PM no reservation is needed. A limited number of spots were released for the month of July and those sold out in under 5 minutes this year. We were not able to snag one, but were able to get reservations to camp in the park which also counts as a ticket to drive the road.

To bypass the need for a ticket people now hit the park gates at 5:55 AM & make their way up to Logan. When we arrived at 6:45 AM the lot was pretty darn full. As luck would have it, we found someone already leaving so we parked in the 1st slot which had plenty of extra space next to the tour bus spots. Happy that it worked out so well.

Bill on the Highline

Once the sun rose high enough we got our gear and headed out to hike the Highline. This hike is one of our favorites.  The scenery is spectacular! On a clear day you can see all the way back to Lake MacDonald. 

This year the wildflowers were plentiful...except for the Beargrass. It really wasn't blooming as well as in past years & it was disappointing not to see the mountainside covered in its blooms. Lots of other flowers were in full bloom so still plenty of color to enjoy.

Beargrass

Exployer's gentian

Glacier lilies

Scouler's St. Johnswort 

Wild Chives

The Highline Trail covers 12 miles to the Loop. There is also a spur trail off of the Highline that's a short, but steep climb up to see the Grinnell Glacier. We've hiked the entire 12 miles before, but the last 4 miles is such a steep downhill that we've decided it 'not for us'. The last few years we've hiked the 4 miles out to the saddle of Haystack Butte where we turn around & head back towards Logan's Pass. The eight-mile hike is a perfect range these days.

Bill on the last turn at Haystack Butte 

Usually, we've seen a number of mountain goats on the trail. This year we found a couple of goats high up on the cliff well above the trail, but none down low until we had reached the narrow wall section of the return hike back to Logan's. 

First goat sighting on the cliff above

Getting the 'stink eye'

The first goat was on the trail grazing his way in our direction. The usual 'tourons' started getting impatient waiting for the goat to move along. 

Unfortunately, he got nervous when people started moving behind him. We decided to move off the trail & up on the mountainside out of his way in case he decided to make a run for it. 

Mountain Goat watching tourons

After a few minutes he did just that & ran right towards where we had been standing...he shot a look at us as he passed.

Nanny watching the tourons pass behind

A few minutes later we came upon a mountain goat nanny with twins grazing along the trail. Once again, the 'tourons' could not wait and started moving behind the grazing group. The nanny goat was none too thrilled about the situation and made her move away from the crazy people. Thankfully she chose to move away from us & downhill into the fir trees.

Nanny with her twins...taken with 800 mm lens

Heading downhill into the firs

Over the 8 miles of hiking we saw several ground squirrels, a least chipmunk, 6 mountain goats, a hoary marmot & a mule deer buck.

No other creatures interfered with the last mile. I got distracted by the flowers blooming & Bill headed on towards the truck. 

A pretty great first day in Glacier. Tomorrow we plan to bike on the Inner Camas Road. 

Wonder if our legs will be happy about that?

Columbian ground squirrel

Haystack Butte & saddle area

Hoary marmot

Yellow columbine with hover fly

*click picture to enlarge