Friday, July 17 - Huckleberry Lookout Hike and Party at the Parker House

A Beautiful Morning at Lake McDonald

It was an EARLY morning after a LATE night!  I had finally gone to bed at about 11:30 because I was exhausted. Jason was going to wait up for Bruce and Kathy whose flight was due in around 11:30. I slept for a half hour or so and then woke up and finally went out to check on things. Jason had heard from them that they had landed but hadn't seen them. I think I finally heard them arrive around 1:15 a.m. and there was a lot of talking and laughing in the parking lot. I finally stumbled out there and was surprised to see Melody, who had gotten a campsite at Apgar and had then gone to meet Kathy and Bruce at the airport.  I stumbled back to bed trying in vain to sleep and I think they all finally came in around 2.  I think I eventually went to sleep around 3 and was awake by 5:30 trying to quietly get ready.  We were all up and out of the room around 7 or so.  We were standing in front of the room around 7 and out of the corner of my eye I saw a tall man walk up behind me and heard "hi Tara" and it was Steve (SJ)!!!  I gave him a big, very surprised hug!  It turns out he had been wandering around Apgar the night before too, and had been standing by my car when I locked it and it beeped.  He inspected it but didn't look closely at ALL the stickers and decided it couldn't be mine.  DARN!  It would have been great to hang out with him and have him join my webcam photos.
Melody came with and the 6 of us had breakfast at Eddie's.  I don't think I've ever laughed so much before 8:00 in the morning...it definitely makes a GREAT start to the day!

Me, Kathy, Jason, Bruce, SteveHere are Bruce's gifts for Kathy (long story):

We arrived at the Huckleberry Mountain Lookout trailhead around 8:30 so we were way behind the Glacier Fund group that started at 8 (accompanied by our friends Jeremy and Dave who were probably wondering where Kathy was).  I led the way up the trail and was later accused by someone who shall remain nameless but wears tiaras at mountain passes of being "speedy gonzalez".  That's a first for me...my workouts have apparently paid off!  We made great time and caught up to them within an hour.  The other group included some people from the Glacier Fund as well as a former Chief Park Naturalist.  It was fun to hike with them and hear some different things.  We spotted a boreal toad and Jeremy climbed through the brush to catch it.



They are huge!!!!!!!!!!!  I never thought I'd see a big toad like that in Glacier.



 I never actually thought about it, but HAD I thought about it, I wouldn't have expected it :).   That was the extent of our wildlife sightings for a while.

I had been very excited for this hike and had been wanting to hike this particular trail for many years.   This is because the author of one of my all-time favorite books, Grizzly Years, worked for several years at this lookout and he writes about it in the book.  The author is Doug Peacock.  This is probably a good time to talk about my evolution from "lives in extreme fear of grizzlies" to "loves to watch grizzlies!".    Marc and I first visited Glacier in the fall of 1993 on a belated honeymoon.  We arrived on September 10th to be met with the question:"You've heard about our winter storm warning right?" Ummmm...no, we had not!   We did get quite a bit of snow but anyway, I was so terrified of bears that I was convinced they were lying in wait outside my tent to eat me if I left to use the bathroom.  So, I brought a coffee can along (sorry if this is TMI) and refused to leave when it was dark.  Of course, I now realize that a tent is no barrier that is going to withstand a grizzly, but at the time, I thought that was logical thinking.  I was so scared of them.  Then, late one afternoon, we had hiked out towards Bullhead Lake somewhere along the Swiftcurrent Pass trail.  Some people were stopped with binoculars and let us take a look.  They were watching a grizzly that was minding his own business, not interested in the people on the trail...just eating and doing his thing.  He was beautiful and magnificent and it was a life-changing experience for me...I became extremely intrigued by this powerful, beautiful animal.  I saw a book in one of the park gift shops that had some interesting photos of grizzlies but didn't buy it.  But after I got back to Minnesota I couldn't stop thinking about grizzlies and that book. I called the park and eventually talked to someone in one of the stores and tried to describe the book and someone finally figured out I was talking about Peacock's Grizzly Years.   I promptly ordered it from Amazon and read it very quickly when it arrived.  I now read it again every 2 years or so.  I learned a great deal about grizzlies from this book and it was the catalyst that inspired me to search further for information and drove my desire to go back to Glacier as soon as possible.    It affected my life in other ways but I won't go into that now.

So for me, this Huckleberry Lookout hike was a pilgrimage of sorts and I was very anxious to get to the top!  Never mind the 3400 feet of altitude gain in 6 miles...I didn't care, I was motivated and hiking with fun friends.

We made it to the lookout around noon, I think. It is a beautiful, unique ridge walk along the top of the mountain to the lookout setting and it is BEAUTIFUL up there!

The View From the Lookout Down the Trail

You can see the Canadian Rockies, the mountains of NW Glacier, and mountains in every direction. 

Looking East Into the Center of Glacier

One of the men in the Glacier Fund group went up to the lookout and introduced himself to Matthew, the "keeper of the lookout" who then came out and talked to us about what he does there.  He then invited us up into the building to look around.  It is fascinating!

He explained the wheel and the process for using it and sight lines to pinpoint the location of smoke - it's pretty complicated.

Kathy Trying It Out


What  a job Matthew has!  I am very envious.

We took some group photos (I somehow did not get one with Matthew in it...someone please send me one!) and then started back down.

Hiking With Chat Page Friends and Glacier Fund Friends at Huckleberry Lookout

I hiked with SJ and Bruce much of the way down. It was HOT...not a lot of shade on that trail.  We startled a deer at one point who kept going ahead of us on the trail and at one point, she just laid down right on the trail.  She was limping a little so had some kind of leg problem but I couldn't see any obvious injury.  Matthew had warned us that  a sow black bear with cubs was hanging around the trailhead but we never saw her.

We finished the hike, headed to the KOA to take showers and then some of us accidentally met up at the Super1 in Columbia Falls getting provisions to bring to the Parker Party. I then got sidetracked by the Sportsman store in Kalispell...I'd been looking for somewhere to resupply on Cliff Bloks and Luna Bars before my backpack trip.

The Parker party was very fun just like last year.  It was great to see people like Kristin and Larry and Rebecca and others.  Chuck from the Center For Wildlife Information/Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee was there with several bear mounts including this beautiful grizzly.

 I'm not sure how she died, I need to contact him and ask.  He also gave Counter Assault (the premier "bear spray") demonstrations.  That was great, I've never used or tested mine and it helps to see how to actually use it.

Around 9:00 one of Dave's neighbors offered to take me on a 4 wheeler up to Ashleigh Lake.  I know there is a wolf pack up there somewhere so I said yes.  Another neighbor took my friend Bill and a few others followed us up as well.  The route is through forest roads/tracks and the view of the lake is very pretty.

Ashleigh Lake, West of Kalispell

Looking For Fern Fossils

We hung out there for a while talking, looking for fossils (there are some rocks with fern fossils)and we did find wild onions.  On the way back Jeff took us on another road (track) to the edge of what he calls "the dark forest".  It was indeed very dark since it was almost entirely dark outside at that point.   But at one point you come to the edge of a REALLY dark, impenetrable looking forest. 

We turned back then (thank goodness for lights on the 4 wheelers!) but I'd love to go back up there sometime in daylight.  It's bear/wolf/cougar haven around there.

We had a lot of fun but unfortunately some of the people I had wanted to talk to and say goodbye to had already left by the time we came back, because we'd been gone so long.  Everyone sat around the big campfire talking for a while and we saw the space shuttle go over!  You can just see it in this picture as a very tiny white dot but it looked much larger.


Space Shuttle - Tiny White Dot

I finally went to bed around midnight...I was pretty exhausted after only a few hours sleep the night before.
©Tara Morrison 2009