Hike of the week

So far this is the absolutely best hike. Saturday morning, we got up at 5:15 and after a breakfast of crispy bacon and Kodiak Cakes (just add water - wheat and other grain pancakes - a little more wholesome than the family tradition of Bisquick), we headed east to Red Lodge. From there, we headed south past Wild Bill Lake (where we fished 5 years ago for the reunion) and on another 5 miles to the Timberline Lake trailhead.

I wasn't sure how hard the hike would be but I had read the description in the hiking book. It is only 4 1/2 miles from the trail head to the lake so I knew I could do the mileage. However, this hike also had an elevation gain of 2000 feet so in 4 1/2 miles that's pretty steep.

We got to the trail head and started up the hill - up up up we went. JW was totally surprised when we got to the 3 mile mark as we had only been hiking for 1 hour 37 minutes. He could not imagine we could have walked that far in such a short time. We have been averaging 1 1/2 miles an hour so we are getting faster.

After the 3 mile point, the trail switchbacked up over a hill, then we reached a point where we had to forge the stream. Now the water in this little stream was roaring down the hill. And the way to cross was over 2 logs - kind of side by side but with a 3" gap between. Brave person that I am, I sat on the log on my rear and kind of did a cheek-walk across the water. Good exercise i'm sure cause i could feel the burn.

Anyway, once across, we walked on to Gertrude Lake and talked to some guys camping there for a few minutes. Told them we were going the extra half mile on to Timberline Lake. They had heard the lake was still partially frozen and thought we may have to blaze a trail through the drifted snow to get there.

This is where the trail led to:

We knew the lake had to be just beyond that hill. However what we didn't know is how deep the snow drift was or how soft - sinking in snow up above your knees is one thing but any deeper than that and I'm not sure how we'd get out. We started climbing up the hill to the left of the snow. Believe me, it is a lot higher than it looks. When we got as far as we could on the rocks and I had made the mistake of looking down to see how far I would fall, JW started across the snow. That's when I got really nervous but also determined I was going to see this lake. So, after doing my panic thing for a while and shuffling my feet in the snow to make sure I wasn't going to do the slip and slide thing, I followed him across the snow and down a little bit to this view:

I was totally amazed. Even told JW that the reason I like national parks is because they always have the neat lakes like this one. At least that is the only place I'd ever seen them.

We decided we needed to walk over the hill to our right so we could see the rest of the lake since we could only see a portion from this view. We got to the top of the little hill and found we were going to be ploughing through snow drifts to get where we wanted to be. I told JW to go on ahead as I needed to take a picture of these tiny little blue flowers.

They were only about 3/8" across and were scattered across the area. I love these little alpine flowers - usually they are purple, yellow or white so I was totally amazed to see an actual blue flower.

We hiked on to the other part of the lake and had to stop for a couple of pictures before JW was allowed to start fishing. The kind of milky spot in the lake is ice that hasn't melted yet. It was a little cool with the wind coming across the water but I found a huge mostly flat rock (It had to be 5 feet high, 8 feet long and 6 feet wide) so after eating a lunch of kipper snacks, string cheese and an apple, I laid on the huge rock to sun myself and rest up for the hike down. It was so peaceful and we had the entire area to ourselves.

At about 2, we decided we needed to start down. When I got to the snow to go down the hill, I was a little braver this time and got down quickly. At the stream, I crossed again by sitting on the log and scooting across. At about 3:30, we stopped 3 miles from the trail head to eat a granola bar and rest a few minutes, then at about 3:48, we started the final descent.

JW made the comment that there was no way we would reach the truck by 4:30 (which we were kind of hoping for) So, being in the lead, I picked up the pace and we pulled into the parking lot at 4:32 (a little off our goal but to do 3 miles in about 45 minutes and with my old arthritic knees, I was very proud of us - I always walk slower down hill as it is a bit painful).

When we got to the truck, we headed back home - stopping in Red Lodge long enough to buy a few fireworks for when the granddaughters get here (smoke bombs, snakes, tanks, hens laying eggs - all the little non-explosive ones that you can see in the daytime since dark is too late around here in July) and we got a shake from the Red Box Car.

Wasn't sore at all. Hardly tired and for the first time this summer, I didn't take even one Advil all weekend. Sure wish all of you could come and go hiking with us. Would love to share this area. I am on call for 4th of July weekend so next hike is an overnighter to Sylvan Lake - round trip 12 miles but at least we'll get to rest all night before hiking out. At least, that's the current plan. HAPPY 4TH TO ALL OF YOU.

These boots are made for hiking!!

Finally we have gotten back into hiking mode. And we're doing great - have 3 good hikes under our belts for the summer and plans for at least 4 more.

First - up stillwater river - approximately 10 miles round trip - documented that in an earlier blog.

Second hike - Father's day. We went up East Rosebud. Stopped at signage and it said 3 1/2 miles to Elk Lake. JW said he wanted to see if I could make it the first leg of the trail and I thought, no problem, we hiked 10 miles up Stillwater, 7 will be easy. We got to Elk Lake and it was very nice and peaceful

and JW said "I forgot about this little lake" (translation: we really haven't walked as far as I was thinking we should so we're pressing on). Fortunately, JW had taken a picture of the signage

at the trail head so I knew how far the next lake was. 2 1/2 miles - wasn't tired so sounded easy. The trail got very bad - due to the "winds of November" there was blowdown everywhere. We scrambled over logs, under logs, around logs, up the rocky trail then over snow packed trail until we got almost to the 2nd lake. There right between a 50' drop off on the right and a steep rocky cliff on the left was a pile of icy snow.

Being the chicken I am when it comes to heights anyway, I insisted that I was going to somehow squeeze between the snow and the rock since the snow was a little melted on that side. There was no way I was going over the pile of snow - especially after just seeing another hiker almost slip down the slope. So i sucked in my gut and wiggled in that way and finally came out the other side although I was extremely wet. The view of the lake was definitely worth the pain:

Fortunately the trail crew had followed us up the trail so on the way back, they had cleared out most of the blowdown. 12 mile hike and I felt absolutely great the next day. No sore legs at all.

Third hike: Saturday, June 21 we decided to take a leisurely hike to Mystic Lake and do some fishing. 3 miles to the lake - 6 mile hike. Not bad. I remembered that trail - a nice walk through the woods. Jill and her two nephews and I had hiked it in 2001. Since they were little boys, it couldn't have been a bad hike. What I didn't remember that it was uphill most of the way and that there was a part where you are on switchback trail across a stretch of large boulders.

But it was a great day and we hiked on. We got to the lake and settled down to do some fishing. The lake is way down, this rocky beach should have been covered with water. Plus there was a ring of 4' high snow drifts around the side of the lake we were on so we had to meander over the drifts to get to the waters edge.

Unfortunately, when we tried fishing, the wind was blowing just enough in our direction that we'd cast out and the wind would blow the lines back into the shore. Solution to that was to hike on to the far end of the lake so the wind would be behind us. The far end of the lake is another 2 miles (seriously) and goes over the top of that hill on the left side of the above picture. I am so glad we had a leisurely day. JW caught 3 rainbow and turned them loose. I rested for the return 5 mile, 3 hour hike back down the hill. Actually, I started hiking back down 30 minutes before he did so I could take my time and take more pictures. But again the view was fantastic and it was a great day - 10+ hours of wonderful entertainment for the price of a couple gallons of gas and a can of sardines.

Next hike: Saturday - June 28th - Timberline Lake. All in preparation for the 26 mile, 4 day hike in August from Cooke City (just outside of Yellowstone park) back down to the East Rosebud drainage. HIKE ON!!!

Added note: My 60th birthday, i plan to hike from Many Glacier Lodge to Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. Get yourselves in shape and meet me there.