DESTINATION Generic 80 Photosets
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| Granite Park Chalet to Swiftcurrent Lookout, MT | |
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| | Granite Park Chalet to Swiftcurrent Lookout, MT | | | |
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Granite Park Chalet to Swiftcurrent Lookout, MT
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| Hiking | 4.64 Miles |
1,784 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.64 Miles | 5 Hrs 1 Min | | 1.26 mph |
| 1,784 ft AEG | 1 Hour 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | After a nice evening in the Chalet, we were awoken twice by the window being blown open as I guess I didn't get it latched properly. It was kind of spooky as it's real dark up there, no lighting other than natural. I was worried when we got up that morning the wind would prevent us from going as if it was real windy here, it was going to be way windy at the top of that mountain. I had already gone through the anxiety as to how far it was and how much elevation gain yesterday afternoon and once I got that sorted out, I was excited about this hike... but now the wind.
We had a nice breakfast. The mules were coming up that day, they come up twice a week, so we watched them unload a few of them including two large propane tanks. By this time, the wind seemed to die down, almost completely. The only disadvantage is it blew in the smoke from the California fires that we've had to deal with as far as pictures to the west. It made for great sunset pictures the nite before.
So off we went with the first goal to tackle the elevation to the pass. It was a nice morning and there was some limited flora up as well. We would occasionally look back to the west where you get a pretty incredible view of the Chalet and Heavens Peak.
Once you get to the pass and the intersection for the Lookout Trail you look way up there and wonder, how hard is this going to be  . We had seen some hikers up the trail already without packs. Once we turned onto the trail we saw where they had stuffed them in the trees. There is a sign at the junction that says not to leave your packs behind but either they couldn't read English or that rule only applies to everyone else.
You start in the trees but they aren't very tall. This doesn't last long as you get into the open/baron terrain and then up into the remnants of the trees from the 2003 Trapper Creek fire (over 19,000 acres) and some even older tree remnants from a much earlier fire of 1936 which was a massive fire. If you'd like to read about it, this is a great article and includes personal narratives: http://www.glacierparkfoundation.org/Hi ... storm.html The fire up here was a culmination of a couple different fires that hit August 30, 1936. "By late afternoon, the wind intensifies to hurricane force, pushing firebrands over Swiftcurrent Pass, into the dense timbers at the head of Swiftcurrent Valley." This fire made it all the way to Many Glacier. "the Swiftcurrent Valley was absolutely denuded of all trees and practically all other vegetation."
"In a September 10, 1936 report to the NPS Director, Superintendent Scoyen says, "I have never seen as complete a burn-out as occurred in Swiftcurrent Valley. With the exception of a few swampy areas, every green living thing, from the rocks on one side of the valley to the other, has been destroyed."
In fact, in 1936 there were 64 fires.
Now where was I, oh ya, the first part of the climb the grade was awesome and of course, so were the views. It seemed every 100 feet you would see even more of the glacier and the mountains. As we got even higher we got to see the mountains to the NW of the Park where we were last year. It was hazy from the smoke but you could still make them out. You also saw the remnants of the 2003 Trapper Fire that took on West Flattop Mountain as it was pretty barren there. And on the other side of the switchbacks you got to look deep into the Swiftcurrent Valley. Once again it was hazy and we relished the fact that we got to see that valley when it wasn't so hazy back in 2011.
As we continued our climb the Chalet started getting smaller and smaller but the mountains got bigger and bolder. We hiked through a most unusual section of rockery which come to find out is made up of the Shepard Layer of GNP. Like the Grand Canyon, GNP is also made up of layers. What's great about the GNP layers though is what was at the bottom is now at the top so we are looking at some really old geology here. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_ ... 3/sec4.htm A bird also distracted me here. There don't seem to be many birds up this high. And now we had the outhouse perched on the side of the hill in sight and other than straight up, we'd be at the top in no time.
What a great summit this is  and easy as summits go. Of course, we weren't in any kind of race to get up there as it's only 1200 feet in a mile. The trail couldn't have been laid out any better. We had a great time walking around the summit and trying to decide what were the best pictures to get from here. The temperature couldn't have been better either. We sat on the steps and had a quick snack and just took it all in. Such a worthy climb. We talked to another hiker up there who hikes by herself and hikes everywhere. As we were getting ready for our descent, Sue and her family arrived. Her husband took a picture of us before we started our way down. It was starting to get crowded before they arrived so our timing was good. And just as we were starting down, Ranger Buck arrived so we said hello to him. We got to ask him about last year's fire and he said it was pretty scary as he watched the fire approach the Brown Lookout across the way. I seem to recall that he knew Max too.
The going down was pretty nice as well altho you had to hang on in a few areas but otherwise the grade was just right. We once again admired the Shephard layer (didn't know it was that at the time) because it reminded us of some of the rockery we would see at the Grand Canyon. We ran into a couple workers from the Chalet that were bringing up more supplies for Ranger Buck including some avocados. We stopped at the end of the steep section and went off trail a bit to have some lunch. We got to watch people activity and talk to some of the folks as they were going up and down. Many hikers come up from Many Glacier and go back (16 miles 3500 elev gain); one fellow was whining a bit about that.
We continued our way down admiring the views in every direction before we finally made it to tree level and at the Pass. Here again we talked with a few folks; one who inquired about whether or not he would have enough water as he had a heavy backpack and was apparently heading for Many Glacier. Another hiker with a foreign accent asked how he could turn the radio off on his phone so Wendy fixed that. We stopped and admired the meadow with all the Wild Chives and Yellow Paintbrush about 1/3 mile from the Chalet.
Once back at the Chalet, we ran into significant people traffic. We thot that maybe the reason it was so busy was because the Iceberg Trail had been closed so the Highline Trail would be a good second option. Margaret, the Chalet host, said it is there busy time anyway. They couldn't keep the fridge full of water and gatorade as it went out almost as fast as they could fill it... and not that the fridge kept it cold anyway.
We made our water run so that we would have enough for our hike tomorrow. After spending some time on our balcony, I was walking around and got a chance to speak with Ranger Mike who did a presentation about helping to save the Chalet during the 2003 Trapper Fire when we were up here in 2011. I told him I had a video up on youtube from that presentation and he thot that was very nice. His story about that time can be found here: http://www.glacierparkfoundation.org/In ... 004Win.pdf. His telling of the story in 2011 was quite riveting. July 2003 - "When the smoke became too bad we distributed particle masks to the guests while the fire burned around us as we waited for the danger to pass. We ran down our water supply by 9:00 that night, from 7000 to about 700 gallons. We could see that the crown-fire which had been coming our way had arced around and above us, burning through Swiftcurrent Pass with 200-300 foot flame lengths."
That nite's Chalet program was where the staff introduced themselves and the guests did so as well and a little bit about when they first came to Glacier Park or their first impressions. It was quite interesting. A few of them were the Ahern Drift Trail Crew that had just completed the clearing today. One of the trail workers said he was cutting ice blocks. It just so happens that the co-owner of this and the Sperry Chalet was in house so we got some updates on the rebuilding of the Sperry Chalet. And by the way, she hiked up here on The Loop trail which ain't easy. And to think Ranger Buck, the SCurrent Lookout hiked up that and to the Lookout which is 4300 feet in a little over 6 miles with a pretty heavy pack.
Video 1 [ youtube video ] heading up to the Lookout
Video 2 [ youtube video ] Part 2 of heading up to the Lookout, made the Summit
Video 3 [ youtube video ] making our way down the mountain
Video 4 [ youtube video ] down the mountain and at the Chalet |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Wild Chives, Mountain Penstemon, Yellow Paintbrush, Subalpine Paintbrush, Dryas, Subalpine Fir |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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