Yet another early morning today: I
drove over to the Glacier Gorge trail head and hiked in to Sky Pond,
passing Alberta Falls, the Loch, Timberline Falls, and Lake of Glass
on my way. Altogether more than 10 miles of hiking, plus climbing up
the falls to get to Lake of Glass and beyond. That was an endeavor.
Fun, in a sense, but a little nerve wracking when you're all alone, 5
miles from the nearest road. A little less fun for the trip back
down the falls. The rocks are slick, and with a pack on it's a
little tricky. The lakes were gorgeous today, especially the Loch.
Low morning clouds obscured the mountain tops, but were neat to watch
roiling among the peaks. The wind picked up at the Loch, but up at
Lake of Glass and Sky Pond it was downright intense. Very cold, and
extremely windy, rivaling the winds in the badlands, which is really
saying something. My hands were wind chapped by the time I left the
area. The water running down the gorge from Sky Pond is aptly named
Icy Creek.
The hike up to Sky Pond starts near
the road, and is up, up, and more up. Switchbacks, steep steps made
of rock slabs. Taylor Glacier lays at the far end of Sky Pond, and
is visible from my porch here at the cabin. It's pretty neat to look
out this afternoon and see where I was this morning. Knowing how
large that glacier is, and seeing it so small from here put a really
nice perspective on the area. I'm a geek and I just love that sort
of thing; understanding the lay of the land formations, the spatial
locations of all the features in the park. Interesting things from
today apart from the fantastic landscapes I journeyed through include
seeing elk far up near the lakes. I saw females and a calf, but I
could smell a bull somewhere nearby. I put my hand on a snow field
today. Really interesting shapes on the surface with the melt
pattern.
And that's about it for today. My
feet are more sore than they have been yet, and many muscle groups
are complaining as well. I'm going to reassess my plan for tomorrow,
and see if there are some shorter adventures to be had in order to
get a day of rest. Maybe a hike of just 5 miles or so.
|
Sunrise view |
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Alberta Falls |
|
The Loch |
|
The Loch |
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The Loch |
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Lake of Glass |
|
Lake of Glass |
|
Lake of Glass |
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The Sharkstooth over Sky Pond |
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Sky Pond and Taylor Glacier |
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Sharkstooth and others whose names I can't recall. |
|
View towards Sky Pond from Lake of Glass |
|
Lake of Glass |
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Lake of Glass |
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View of the Loch from Lake of Glass |
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Timberline Falls |
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Timberline Falls, the climb route |
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View from Timberline Falls with snow field |
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Timberline Falls from below |
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The Loch, with view of Timberline Falls and the cirque formed by Taylor Glacier |
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A little closer view for seeing the falls |
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The Loch |
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The trail along Glacier Gorge |
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Unnamed cascade |
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View from up high |
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Alberta Falls again |