Thursday, July 16 Shangri-La

It was clear blue sky and sunny today for a change!  Haven’t seen that since I was in Yellowstone!  When I opened my tent flap at around 6:10 or so there was a dog standing there…he wanted to play Frisbee.  Apparently it’s the camp dog.  I played with him and then walked to the bathroom, and he came with and we played Frisbee the whole time.  I went into my tent to change and heard laughter and a camera click.  He was laying down outside the tent waiting for me, it was very cute.

I took down my tent, etc. as I was coming to the west side today and we headed to Many Glacier for the Apgar hike.  Only 8 of us did it, and one was just going to Iceberg.  The others were hanging out at the hotel, etc. 

So Bill, Ryan, Jason, Kris, Ralph, Therese, Jade and I started up the Swiftcurrent Trail.
 Deb and Carol came with a little ways and then turned back due to Deb’s knee still being pretty bad.   There seemed to be a more defined trail through the woods this time.  I led the way  for the first part of the hike up and through the woods until we reached the river.    The water actually didn’t look as high as I expected it to and we got across easier than last time.  The sensation of flying through the air over a rushing stream is very strange but exhilarating.

Getting Ready to Climb

Then the hard part…climbing, climbing, climbing.  I had forgotten how steep it is but you gain a lot of altitude in a very short amount of time.  The cliffs are a welcome change because you’re going up quickly but HAVE to go slow. 

Jade and Bill

"The Tree"

It's hard to tell here but you're walking on a very, very narrow ledge and where the tree is there is NO ledge, and it is a LONG way down

We made it through the cliffs faster than before probably because we knew what we were doing and there were fewer people. The tree growing out of the rock was still there to hang onto on the “bad” section (Jason came back in case we needed a hand but I was proud to only need the tree!). Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of photos of this section…it’s just too hard to take the camera out over and over and you’re trying to focus on safety.

Me With My Beloved Many Glacier Valley in the Background

We got to the top, no mystery scat this time(like last year)  but some fresh bear scat in a few spots, one very large.

Mt. Henckel

Grizzly Dig

Old Mining Claim Marker

We passed the mining claim marker again and reached the lunch spot at the lake.

The Lake at Shangri-La

The mosquitos promptly descended on us so out came the bug juice. We tried to identify a few interesting birds up there…I’m not sure if we ever decided what they were.

Going Up Over the Ridge

North Face of Mt. Wilbur, My Favorite Mountain

After leaving the lake we tried to plan our route better to stay clear of bushwhacking through trees and we angled up on the open spaces along a ridge to the right of Mt. Wilbur. When we got over we were only a little higher than the trail so it worked well.

Coming Up to the Ridge - Shangri-La and Many Glacier Valley in the Background

Another Bear Dig Area

Me and Mt. Wilbur

Shortly after that – the scree fields.

Jade at the Top of the Scree Field

Going Down

Beautiful Iceberg Lake

 This is for some the scariest part, where you feel like you may as well be diving off the mountain onto a sea of steep scree. But after the first few steps it isn’t so bad.

This time I was able to walk down, just sliding into each step. Poles came in handy! But give me scree over talus any day. Unfortunately I did not take photos of the difference between the two…I need to do that.

The Scree Field We Had to Descend

It doesn't look so steep at this angle

I made it down much more quickly than last year, stopped to take pictures of Ryan doing pushups on on iceberg in the lake, and then said goodbye to the group…I wanted to hike down quickly and get my drive over GTTS Road over with!

Iceberg Lake Trail and Beargrass

Looking Across the Valley to Shangri-La

I made it down in record time…I think about an hour and 20 min or less to go 5 miles. It felt great!
I briefly greeted Kurt, Heather, Deb and Carol who were hanging out on “the porch” and I headed to the road. I sweated profusely but survived and checked into the room in Apgar that I was sharing that night with Kathy, Bruce and Jason. My plan was to head into Kalispell to REI for another badly needed pair of hiking convertible pants. But when I called for directions I discovered I had only imagined there was an REI in Kalispell. Wishful thinking maybe? That threw a wrench in my plans. I turned around and went back to West Glacier to throw a load of laundry in and then went to the West Glacier restaurant for dinner. As I sat there waiting to order I realized how little I’d eaten all day.

I called home, and spent some time having ice cream and talked to Jen C., trying to get a webcam capture of me at Apgar.  Some people had a large newfoundland and we got him in the picture too.  I sat by Lake McDonald and read my book which is always really relaxing.  Jason finally arrived around 10:30 and I went to bed pretty early.  He waited up for Kathy and Bruce.
© 2009 Tara Morrison