Highline Trail / Swiftcurrent Pass
My dad and I finally got to do our hike from Logan Pass along the Highline Trail to Granite Park Chalet to Swiftcurrent Pass (my uncles had done it before we arrived, and didn't want to do it again, so they went off to do their own thing).
People had been trying to frighten me with how scary the Highline would be -- it's up above the road, which is itself nerve-wracking. But it was full of people and was generally pretty good, especially in comparison with the Sayeh Pass in the wind.
We made it to Granite Park Chalet without incident. We took a short break there, then headed up to the pass. We didn't go on the couple mile detour up a mountain to see the fire spotting ranger in their cabin since we already had a long day. Coming down from Swiftcurrent Pass was scary in places, although there was only one small (3 foot?) section where I was really terrified, and that was mostly because it was partially washed out scree over a short and steep scree slope to a huge cliff and you would definitely die if you slipped. I didn't slip...
Once we got down that steep part, it was mostly just walking on the level with very sore feet. We did see a couple of Bighorn sheep up close when they were in the path ahead of us, as well as a moose off the trail in the bushes. There were certainly bears around that had been eating huckleberries, but we didn't see any.
My feet were very sore by the time we made it back to camp...
After dinner (complete, as usual, with Textured Vegetable Protein added), I was sitting in one of the camp chairs relaxing and saw some white dogs high on the mountain face behind the campground. We got out the binoculars, and sure enough, they were some mountain goats. Pretty nice to sit in your campsite and just watch them up there.
The ranger program was Native Voices, and was a man from the Blackfeet nation telling some stories about the landscape and animals. It was really nice and afterwards my feet didn't hurt so much. We got some more soft serve before bed.
Oh, and I finally hit 50,000 steps in a day.
People had been trying to frighten me with how scary the Highline would be -- it's up above the road, which is itself nerve-wracking. But it was full of people and was generally pretty good, especially in comparison with the Sayeh Pass in the wind.
We made it to Granite Park Chalet without incident. We took a short break there, then headed up to the pass. We didn't go on the couple mile detour up a mountain to see the fire spotting ranger in their cabin since we already had a long day. Coming down from Swiftcurrent Pass was scary in places, although there was only one small (3 foot?) section where I was really terrified, and that was mostly because it was partially washed out scree over a short and steep scree slope to a huge cliff and you would definitely die if you slipped. I didn't slip...
Once we got down that steep part, it was mostly just walking on the level with very sore feet. We did see a couple of Bighorn sheep up close when they were in the path ahead of us, as well as a moose off the trail in the bushes. There were certainly bears around that had been eating huckleberries, but we didn't see any.
My feet were very sore by the time we made it back to camp...
After dinner (complete, as usual, with Textured Vegetable Protein added), I was sitting in one of the camp chairs relaxing and saw some white dogs high on the mountain face behind the campground. We got out the binoculars, and sure enough, they were some mountain goats. Pretty nice to sit in your campsite and just watch them up there.
The ranger program was Native Voices, and was a man from the Blackfeet nation telling some stories about the landscape and animals. It was really nice and afterwards my feet didn't hurt so much. We got some more soft serve before bed.
Oh, and I finally hit 50,000 steps in a day.