In The Market For A New Backpack

I bought this Swiss Gear back pack in 2006. This bag has been to Kenya, Seattle, San Diego, Connecticut, Sicily, Italy, Greece, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Ecuador, Michigan, Montana, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Poland, Texas, Tasmania, New Mexico, North Dakota, Finland, Florida, Alabama, Amsterdam, Australia and Alaska. I didn't take it to Isle Royale. I bought a special backpack for Isle Royale and a strap on that new backpack broke on the second day of the trip.

But my back pack is wearing out.  You can see the fabric is starting to tear. That round hole at the top was the new thing in 2006 because you could thread your ear buds and listen to music playing inside your bag. I never did thread my ear buds through there but I could have.

I kept my cell phone in that tiny pocket on the strap! That was a cellphone where you had to press the 7 key four times to get the letter s.

The strap on the left partially melted when I rode my motorcycle to work. I must have hit the muffler with it before I got saddle bags. Sometimes that strap would whip my thighs in the wind and boy, howdy, that hurt. I am in the market for a  new backpack now. I hope the new one lasts 15 years like this one did. So long Swiss Gear back pack. Thanks for carrying all my stuff. You were real comfy.

 

Bennet Campground

 The day after we hiked to the Apgar Lookout we loaded up and headed east. Rain was falling in West Glacier and kept falling as we drove east across Montana. Highway 2 is a good road to travel. Many small towns are located near rivers. As we traveled through a town we would most often come up hill out of a river valley where the wind from Canada tried to shove us south and off the road. I quickly learned to keep both hands on the wheel as we left towns. Towards dusk we camp to the North Dakota border. Before we got into the town of Williston we headed south on Highway 85. We hoped to camp at the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As it turns out this national park does not allow camping. Glacier didn't allow camping either but Yellowstone did; go figure. As we drove into the park four buffalo greeted us by walking down the road with their heads held high and their hooves audibly clomping on the pavement. We were lucky to find a campsite at Bennett campgrounds just a few miles away in the Little Missouri National Grasslands.  This was a basic campground with a pit toilet and a water source but little else. We were camped right in the badlands with beautiful scenery and sagebrush all around us. We were tired after all that driving and went right to sleep after a quick PB&J sandwich.

Apgar Lookout

On our second day at Glacier we decided to hike to the Apgar lookout at the west end of the park.The eastern edge of Glacier is closed to the public. This decision was made by the tribe who live in East Glacier. Although it is not possible to take the complete "Road To The Sun" trip, you can go as far as the last ten miles or so. The Apgar lookout trailhead is in West Glacier. I read the description of the hike in a book but promptly forgot the details. I knew the hike was 3.8 miles in and 3.8 miles out. What I did not know was the first 3.8 miles is entirely uphill. The weather was cold and cloudy when we started out. The clouds hid the steep elevation ahead of us which was probably a good thing. The road doesn't seem so steep when you can't see ahead. Eventually we walked up high enough to be above the clouds. As we zig zagged up the hairpin turns to the lookout the clouds began to clear. My heart was pounding hard as we climbed.

At the top we climbed up a fire tower to eat our lunch and rest. Two mule deer frolicked about. Then we started hiking down. Hiking down is easier on the heart and lungs but not so easy on the knees.

Some very tall trees were burned years ago and the forest just grows up around them. By the time we get back to the trailhead the temperature is 30 degrees warmer than when we started. We took another drive up the "Going To The Sun" road just to enjoy the views and catch another glimpse of any wildlife. As we exited West Glacier I noticed the sign on the train station said Belden. Many years ago I took my Grandmother on an Amtrak trip to Belden, Montana. We rented a room in a hotel.  I rented a car so she could see the mountains. I looked for Belden, Montana on maps but could not find it. I was happy to see the railroad sign marking the stop as Belden which is now known as West Glacier. On that trip my Grandmother and I rode on the "Going To The Sun" road as far as we could go. A ten foot thick pile of snow stopped us from going further. We went in the early spring before the road could be plowed open. I took Offspring #2 to Glacier National Park when she was a teenager. We parked at Logan Pass and hiked up to the glacier. We hiked on the glacier for a while before a dark cloud came over the mountain and rain threatened. I remember being very frustrated by the hike down because Offspring #2 was running while slipping and sliding and having a great old time. I, on the other hand, carefully walked down the glacier like a penguin while young kids and teenagers whizzed by me. This makes my third trip to Glacier National Park. I definitely would enjoy another visit.

 

Logan Pass in Glacier

After a couple of days fishing we were excited to visit Glacier National Park. We took the long drive on "Going to the Sun" road to Logan Pass which has a visitor center. The visitor center is very busy so we took five trips around the parking lot before we found an open spot.

We wanted to go for a hike. Just as we got out of the car it started to rain. I put on my clear rain poncho. We hiked part of the Highland Trail. The entire loop is 15 miles. We hiked an hour and a half before turning back. As we descended the trail from the parking lot a woman and her companion stopped us to tell us the trail is very slippery and dangerous and that we should not continue. Another couple told us the same thing. We kept going. We both were wearing hiking shoes and the path didn't feel slippery. After a ten minute walk we got to a cliff with a narrow path skirting the rock wall. The park installed a cable to hang onto as we hiked across the steepest part. We walked along the cable for ten minutes before it ended and the path widened. Other people were hiking too. Down below we could see the traffic on the "Going to the Sun" road.

I would guess we walked two or three miles along the path before heading back. The rain and the wind made for achy joints.

Earlier that day we left the KM campground we were staying at in Hungry Horse. We splurged on a camper cabin in West Glacier. Staying in a cabin was a treat. After two nights at the KM campground it was a real pleasure for me to get dressed in a real bathroom with a sink instead of a porta-potty.

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Besides the Grizzly bear we also saw a black bear with 3 cubs.

I was on the wrong side of the van to get a picture of the black bears.

 

Fly Fishing

Eleven days ago I flew out to Bozeman, Montana for a road trip. I met my cousins at the airport. One of the cousins had to fly back home from Bozeman. After she left we drove north and west, through Helena, Montana, to Hungry Horse, Montana where we had a camping site. The next day we drove to Columbia Falls to meet our fishing guide. He took us to the boat landing on the Flat Head River in Columbia Falls. We got into his drift boat. Drift boats are flat bottomed boats with oars meant to glide over shallow water and rapids. My cousin fly fished for trout while I observed. The day started out nice. I had a fleece jacket that I tied around my waist. Later I regretted tying that jacket around my waist. After an hour or so the rain began. Soon the rain fell in earnest. Drops of water fell into the water and caused inch high splashes. Our guide lent me a rain coat and rain pants which I gladly put on. Then it started to hail. I am trying to be a good sport about this but then the hail got larger. There was not much we could do but keep drifting downstream and fly fishing. The rain accumulated in my end of boat. The rain got so deep the water reached the top of my water proof shoes and soaked my feet. Eventually the rain stopped but the wind picked up and kept pushing us upstream so our guide had to row downstream to keep up with the bait. My cousin caught a cut throat trout and two rainbow trout. Rainbow trout are not native to Montana. Unfortunately the rainbow trout is thriving in Montana and the native cut throat trout are becoming rare. Some times the water was keep and sometimes we went over rapids. I enjoyed the rapids. We floated about a mile an hour and took out 5 miles downstream of where we started. The landing there comprised of a rocky bar. Our guide felt bad about the rain and the hail. He did not want us to get our feet wet. He brought his truck and trailer down from the parking area while we waited in the drift boat. He hooked the strap from the boat trailer to our boat while our boat was downstream from the trailer. He got into his Jeep and pulled ahead. We were totally surprised when he pulled us in the boat way up onto the rocky beach. He pulled us at least 4 feet farther than he needed to for us to keep our feet dry. What a ride! It was fun. He got the boat onto the trailer and took us back to the gas station where we met him. Although I was mostly dry, my fleece jacket was wet and my feet were wet. I started shivering with cold. Even a hot dinner could not warm me up so I went to bed early and stayed there 12 hours, warm and cozy.

The next morning we had an older, more experienced and polished fishing guide. He met us in Ferndale and took us down the Swan River in this rubber raft. The Swan River is smaller and narrower than the Flathead River. A drift boat would not work on this stream. We started out in Swan Lake and he rowed us to Swan River. We had a five hour fishing trip where my cousin caught 8 rainbow trout and one whitefish. The largest rainbow was 17 inches which is a very good sized fish. The weather today was warm and sunny. The scenery was beautiful. We had some rapids which are always fun for me. A kingfisher led our way down the river, always staying a few feet ahead of us. Of the two trips we both preferred the Swan River and the second guide. 

 

Grizzley

I have been in Montana camping without Wifi until tonight. We saw a grizzley bear!

I will write more when I get home.