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Adventures of the Spirit Eagle - Glacier NP - Day 8

  by Jim & Ginny Owen Tuesday - August 4, Red Eagle Lake to Red Eagle basin (7.5 miles) -

Ginny: I am utterly exhausted and frustrated. Crevée, énervée, écrasée and emerdée. Our plan was simple - 3 miles on good trail, followed by six miles on old unmaintained trail, deer trail and no trail to the top of the valley, then four miles of walking the Divide followed by eight miles of good trail - a simple two day jaunt. The weather is beautiful - warm and clear and sunny. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned. We found the old trail, then lost it, then found it, then lost it - over and over again. We followed lots of elk trails up the valley, crossed the stream several times (once almost waist deep) finally stopped for lunch around 2:00 near a big waterfall on a side stream. We felt we were making progress, slowly but surely. Some frustration because every time the trail forked (at every blowdown), we seemed to take the wrong fork and lost the trail again. Anyhow, we finally reached the head of the valley (the lower valley) and found out why they probably abandoned the trail 50 years ago. Into the basin falls a beautiful big 1000' waterfall. At the bottom are beaver ponds, surrounded by willows. The willows extend across the basin and 2/3 of the way up the slope. We spent an hour trying to get through/around the beaver ponds and channels, crossing the dams, wading in mucky mud, jumping from willow to willow, then we tried to go up the hill and got caught in a wall of solid 10-15 foot high willows. We would go up and down and back and forth. Occasionally we would find clear trail, but never enough to get us up the hill. From below we could see the old trail switchbacking steeply up, but once in the bushes we could see nothing and our progress was non-existent. We were really lucky not to get seriously injured as we climbed under and over the web of branches. Finally we gave up. We were exhausted, it was a steep climb if we did ever find the real trail, and once at the top it would be two more miles across the meadows, and who knows what kind of shape they’re in! As tired as we are, it just wasn’t possible. We kept trying, this way and that, over and over, but got nowhere. Jim’s style and mine are different, and it shows with this kind of bushwhacking. I tend to just charge forward, figuring that as long as it’s in the right direction, if I try hard enough and keep moving, I’ll eventually get where I’m going. Jim is an engineer - he likes to sit back, think things through, look at the maps again, reconsider the situation, and then move. We sometimes drive each other crazy, but we each got our turn to try to get through. Sometimes my way works, sometimes his does, sometimes neither does. Lesson for the day - sometimes stubbornness isn’t enough. Anyhow, we descended to the valley above the beaver ponds near the waterfall. We found a lumpy flat spot with some trees nearby to hang our food. We left most of it at the lake, lightening our load as much as possible by leaving behind stove, pot, fuel etc. (Let’s just hope it’s still there when we get back.) As we were setting up the tent, a huge bull elk with full velvety antlers came over the rise from the stream beyond. He was some put out to see us there in his bedding area. We made so much noise bushwhacking we saw no other animals, though there were elk tracks and bear sign in plenty.

Jim: And today started so well. We got up and ate breakfast, then packed for the next couple days - no stove or pots, only part of our clothes, took only cold food and dumped a lot of other gear. Packs probably weighed in at 15 pounds. The first 3 miles were a cakewalk - some ups and downs, but all on good trail and we were fresh and had light packs. Following the directions in the climbing book we thought we found the old trail right after the second bridge, but it was just the horse ford for the creek. Finally found the old trail a half mile up the hill and it led immediately down to one of the nastiest double fords that I've seen in a while. The stream wasn't fast but it was all mud. That was a boots-off ford. We followed the old trail for a while, then lost it, then found it again and followed it past a waterfall, then lost it again when we got to a meadow. Then we found the next ford, but lost the trail on the other side. And that's the way the day went. Finally stopped for lunch at 1400 near a waterfall on the south side of the main stream. Pumped water, ate lunch, aired our feet and tried to figure out where we were. But we didn't really get confused until after we broke out of the forest about an hour later and got tangled up with the beaver dams. That was just after we passed the broken water filter in the middle of the trail. Some previous hiker had obviously given up their water filter to the grizzly so they could escape. We got into the beaver dams and then couldn't get out - those things covered most of the valley floor. When we finally did get out, we went up the north side of the valley - we could see some of the old switchbacks on the northern headwall. But trying to get there was a problem. The entire north side of the valley appeared to be covered by willows and we couldn't seem to get above them, nor could we find the old trail below them. By this time it was 1930 and the sun had set in the valley although it would still be light for another 2 hours. At that point, it was decision time - even if we found the old trail we didn't have time to make the 1000+'climb, cross the 2 or 3 miles of meadows in the upper basin and get to Red Eagle Pass before dark. So we went back down to the valley floor and lucked into a relatively flat spot between two streambeds. By this time we were both exhausted, frustrated and disappointed . We were setting up the tent when I looked up and saw this huge rack of antlers rising out of one of the streambeds - and it was followed by the rest of a really magnificent bull elk. I managed to tell Ginny to turn around and look, but I didn't manage to get to the camera in time to capture that "Kodak moment". The look on that elk's face was priceless - we were in his territory and, we think, in his bed - and he was NOT happy about that. But at least I didn't have to fight him for it. I've lost a fight with a bear (he got the food) - I wouldn't be happy about losing one with an elk too. I did get one picture of him - after he went back across the stream he turned around and watched us for a couple seconds - I guess he wanted to make sure he wasn't hallucinating - but I got a picture that probably won't show anything worth taking a picture of. The rest of the night was quiet - no elk, no deer, no bears, no people, just a big almost-full moon. We slept well even though we were at greater risk than at any other time during our 11 days in the backcountry. We knew there were bears there - we'd found at least 2 dozen of their bedding areas in our wandering through the willows. We did get some really interesting and unique pictures - of the back side of some of the mountains (Split Mountain for one) and of the waterfall that comes off Red Eagle Glacier. Not many people get to see those.

Day 7 - Day 9

© Copyright 1998 Jim & Ginny Owen