Mt Rainier NP

Majestic and awesome were my first thoughts as Mt Rainier dominated the landscape on our drive into the NP. After lots of rain during our visit to the Olympic Peninsular the weather now seemed to be improving as we enjoyed mostly sunshine with a few light showers during the day.

A picture perfect day

Here in the NP there are many trails so we called into the Visitors Center to inquire about backpacking. We walked out with a different plan for some day hikes as the weather forecast advised cold, wet and snowy conditions for the next few days. Happy with our plan we drove onto Cougar Campground and settled in for the night.

When daylight came my excitement grew as we set off early to Reflection Lakes. The wildness and beauty of the landscape was evident as we passed vast pathways of boulder strewn rocks and densely forested ridges and valleys.  We had a wonderful time taking photos of Mt Rainier’s reflection before continuing on to Paradise Valley where Mt Rainier dominated the landscape.

Reflection Lake

The day was turning out to be perfect with clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine so we took the opportunity to spend the day hiking.

It really was a wonderful experience as we took in the scene of colourful flowers carpeting the terrain, stepped over clear streams cascading down over gold coloured rocks and watched fat Hoary Marmots feasting away on the purple flowers of the Lupine plants in preparation for a cold winter ahead.

Hoary Marmot

We met an 87 year “young” gentleman out on a day’s hike and helped him across part of the trail covered in snow on our way to Pebble Creek where we touched the snow of the Muir Snowfield and spoke to hikers who had climbed a further 3,000ft to Muir Camp at 10,188ft and then skied back down.

Pebble Creek

After a long day hiking we stopped at the restaurant to enjoy a beer as we gazed up at the mountain.

The next day turned out to be cloudy but we didn’t let this put us off spending the day hiking up to Comet Falls and onto Van trump Park.

Comet Falls

Christine Falls

Then the weather came in bringing misty, rainy and cold conditions but undeterred we hiked out to Bench and Snow Lakes. Snow Lake had a wonderful campsite overlooking the Lake.

With the weather closing in and snow falling at 5,000 ft we decided the Wonderland Trail would wait for us…..it was time to continue south.

Westwards to North Cascades

Watching the scenery pass by as we drove out of Glacier NP I reflected on the beauty of this wild place. The amazing colours of the rocks from the mountain tops to the lake beds had me wanting to return. So in order to distract my thoughts of leaving we drove to Whitefish and spent a day mountain biking along the Mt Lion Whitefish Trail.

After a brief stop in Kalispell we continued south to Flathead Lake where we camped for a few days. We went swimming in the surprisingly warm crystal clear water and watched sail boats glide on by in the distance. All the while in camp squirrels were busy collecting their pine cones after harvesting them from the tree tops.

Flathead Lake

A few days later we were laughing at ourselves for being sucked into a tourist trap at the Bison Range where we spotted at most 3 Bison.

Tourist Trap

Here the evenings were still balmy but the leaves on the trees in the campgrounds were turning yellow a sure sign that winter would soon be making its presence.

There was always something interesting that caught our attention and the Hiawatha Bike Trail was one of them. We had successfully avoided the Interstates preferring the quieter back roads for exploring but on this occasion we needed to drive several miles out and back along the Interstate to purchase our tickets from a ski resort. We arrived at the trailhead shaken to pieces after experiencing the worst Interstate ever.

Hiawatha Bike Trail

But it was all worthwhile as we had a fantastic day riding the old railroad trail through 10 tunnels, one of them being nearly 2 miles long, and over 7 high trestle bridges.

The first tunnel

One of the dark and very cold tunnels

It's fun going downhill

It was so peaceful and scenic that we decided to ride the 15 miles back up to the trailhead instead of catching the bus.

Riding back up

That evening when driving out I noticed several dispersed camp sites along the way. We camped in one that had a creek running nearby. It was interesting to see each site had neatly cut firewood beside the fire grates but with a total fire ban in place all we could do was admire how well looked after campers were in Idaho.

We had crossed Idaho’s panhandle and back into Pacific Time and as the days became considerably shorter I was conscious of the fact our journey would be coming to an end in 7 weeks time. That night in the Okanogan National Forest John woke me from a deep sleep with “can you hear that"? As I cleared my sleepy head I suddenly heard the yipping cries emanating from a pack of Coyotes which were echoing loudly across the valley. I was instantly on high alert as adrenaline pumped through my body and fear of my safety took hold. After the initial shock passed I relaxed a bit and was able to take in what was an amazing wildlife moment.

The days had been nice and sunny and our evenings at camp had continued to be balmy but now as we drove up into the North Cascade mountains it was as if someone had flicked a switch. As we drove higher to Washington Pass the clouds hugged the mountain tops and obscured our view. We stopped at the lookout at Ross Lake but the wind was so cold we quickly got back into Dude and drove down to Colonial Creek campground and made camp.

Thunder Creek

It began to rain and very little light penetrated the thick canopy of trees. It was a beautiful place but a feeling of gloom crept over me.

Glacier NP

We were driving northwards through the Gallatin NF after getting up close to the Grizzlies at the Discovery Centre in West Yellowstone. It was a lovely scenic road where every now and then we’d get glimpses of trout fisherman casting their flies along the river.

Grizzly at the Discovery Centre

Then a decision was made easy for us about whether to arrive at the East or West side of Glacier when we read vehicles over 21 feet were prohibited from driving over Logan Pass.

Going to the Sun Road "Logan Pass"

Arriving in Glacier NP we got a sense that it’s beautiful, tranquil scenery belied a wild and rugged side. The impact of last winter’s epic snow fall was still being felt. Road works were under way and with such a short season it seemed impossible they would have it completed before the onset of winter.  Sperry Chalet was already closed for repairs due to avalanche damage and all available Rangers we searching for a hiker….missing for 3 days.

Tranquil beauty

A sign at the campground suddenly had my mind reeling, it read “Avalanche Campground will close after Labour Day”. Wow, I wasn’t prepared to start thinking about the end of our journey just yet. Then another sign “Shuttle buses will cease service after Labour Day”. With this in mind we began to explore the East side first.

We called into the back country office and walked out with lots to think about. Did we want to navigate our way over an avalanche to get to the campsite, the ranger commented hikers were getting lost trying to go around and some had injured themselves scrambling over. A bridge was out and the river would have to be forded around thigh deep. The pass was still covered in snow and more snow was forecast in the next few days. Trail closures limited our options due to a bear encounter and lots of bear sightings. Taking it all in, it occurred to me, this could be the makings of a survival tale. It didn’t take long to come up with a new plan.

Since we were camped at Avalanche Campground we decided to join a Ranger led walk out to Avalanche Lake. Douglas, our spritely 85 years young Ranger led us through thick Cedar and Hemlock forests out to the lake while entertaining us with interesting snippets from his 50 years of life as a park ranger.

Avalanche Lake

The next morning we arrived in time to catch the 7.15 express to Logan Pass. It was one of those perfect sunny days as we made our way up to Siyeh Pass. Along the way we could hear hikers ahead discussing treats of home made goodies which had us thinking we should join them as our trail mix and biscuits didn’t seem nearly as interesting. Upon reaching the Pass we were rewarded with expansive views of Glaciers and Lake Mary. One of the best things about the day was on the way down we came across some very pickable Huckleberries…!!

The following morning we had the same routine up to Logan Pass. This time we were going to hike the Highline trail. As we stepped off the bus we were blasted with a cold wind and grey cloud that looked like at any moment it would snow.  We set off hastily wearing our beanies and wind jackets that was only just keeping us warm. It turned out to be a short hike because an avalanche during the night had closed the trail. While deciding how to spend the rest of the day we walked out to the overlook.....it started to snow. Bear sightings had closed the trail down to Hidden Lake and so we sheltered behind some rocks sipping hot chocolate to try to warm up.



Enjoying the elements as we walked out to Hidden Lake overlook

It was time to head to warmer temperatures so we caught the bus down to Mary’s Lake where we hiked out to some very scenic waterfalls.

Ever since Colorado I had been talking about going for a horse ride and today was the day we got to saddle up. We made our way to the horse corral and in no time John was sitting on Big Red and I was sitting on Nick.



All saddled up and ready to go...

Then in a cloud of dust we set off on our 7 mile ride up to Sperry Chalet. It was a very relaxing riding up through the forests and crossing streams and with the valley below opening out before us we reached the top. It was time for lunch.......but by now our legs had stiffened up and faint cries of pain could be heard echoing through the mountains as we stumbled off our horses. We were joined by a goat as we made our way over to the cliff to eat our lunch. We quickly realised that our uninvited guest was as intent on eating our goodies as we were and only the more persistent was going to eat......!!

Don't mess with me....check out my horns...

Then making our way back down we realised 14 miles in the saddle had been a bit ambitious for our first ride and we were really......really glad to arrive back at the horse corral.

Trail leading up to Sperry Chalet

Before leaving Glacier NP John got to celebrate his Birthday. Thinking about how we would have celebrated compared to finding ourselves in this beautiful wild wilderness was poles apart but equally amazing. Birthday wishes from family and friends and the phone call from wonderful friends house sitting in Asia really made his day memorable.

Celebrating John's Birthday