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Adventures of the Spirit Eagle - Glacier NP - Day 10

  by Jim & Ginny Owen

Thursday - August 6, Red Eagle Lake to Atlantic Creek (11.6 miles) -

Ginny: Lunch by Hudson Bay Stream next to three waterfalls. We passed another very nice one on the way up. We have a big climb up ahead (1600' in 1.6 miles!) and needed more water before the climb. This was such an inviting spot we couldn’t resist a break. The trail is overgrown, but rather pretty with shoulder high wildflowers. It is a sunny clear day with a cool breeze - Oh frabjous day! Perfect! We keep our eyes open for wildlife, but have seen nothing so far. We just missed a moose in the trees, according to some people heading the other way. It is so beautiful!

Later: We didn’t hike that far today, so we took our time looking at the views, taking pictures and sitting in the sun. We started late, took long breaks, drank a lot (the dryness here requires a lot more stops than we are used to) and looked above for mountain goats and below for bears. No luck today though. The climb to the pass was steep, but not quite as bad as expected. The views were spectacular of Split Mountain, Triple Divide Mountain, Norris Peak and little half frozen blue lakes below. The other side held a fantastically long waterfall into Medicine Grizzly Lake and another pretty little dark blue lake in a hanging valley above. The descent was continuous - not steep, but rocky and hard on toes and knees. Jim tripped on a rock and landed hard on the scree - at least it wasn’t in the part with the 1000' drop. More scrapes to add to the bumps and bruises we got bushwhacking. At Triple Divide Pass we looked over at the peak that we would have descended if our plans to do the Norris Traverse had worked out. Even taking the "easy" route - it has a steep nasty little scree slope down to the bench below. Maybe it is just as well that we didn’t do it. I love heights, but this loose shale is tricky. It was hot since we were slabbing the hillside above treeline, but a nice breeze made it bearable. Even Jim has a tan from all this sunshine. Our camp is above Atlantic Creek in the spruce. There are four sites - a family group is right next to us - kids about 8-10 years old. The sites are too close.

Jim: Up and over Triple Divide Pass - and we got a good look at the southern approach to Triple Divide Peak - a long traverse across a couple high benches followed by a couple hundred feet of climbing up a scree slope to the upper meadows ---- and then you get to start the climb up the southern ridge of Triple Divide. Looks a lot less inviting than we'd anticipated - doable, but not easy by any means.

All the way up to the pass we leapfrogged the two girls who work at Many Glacier and listened to them holler "Yo Bear" about every 15 seconds. They take this bear stuff seriously. As well they should - on the way up to the pass we passed several bear "diggings". One of them was 3 feet in diameter and about 3 feet deep. I had a brain cramp and didn't get a picture of that one, but I did get a picture of the next one which was about half as big. Lunch was at Hudson’s Bay Creek - so named because it really does feed the Hudson Bay drainage (Triple Divide Peak is aptly named - it feeds the Atlantic, Pacific and Hudson Bay drainages). There was a group of 4 guys there - not much conversation, but when they packed up and headed for Red Eagle Lake we almost choked at the weight of their packs. One of them must have been carrying 80 pounds - and another actually staggered under the load as he went down the trail.

Then there was the long, long downhill to Atlantic Creek and the campground. When we got to the campground there was a young couple asleep at one site and a family group at the site next to us. Never got to know the young couple - I think they were there for fun and games. The family group was from Massachusetts - mom and pop and 2 kids. They were headed for Morning Star Lake the next day and then out. Later - much later - a group came in and woke everyone up. Didn't sleep well - too much noise and I couldn't breathe right for some reason.

Day 9 - Day 11

© Copyright 1998 Jim & Ginny Owen