 |
| Mileage |
9.1 |
| Elevation
+/- |
200
/ 1055 |
| Fatigue |
 |
| Camp
Rating |
|
| Meals |
|
| Breakfast |
Scrambled
eggs |
| Lunch |
Beef
sticks & string cheese |
| Dinner |
Beef
Stroghanoff and pudding |
| Water sources |
No problem |
NOTES:
This turned out to be a very scenic strecth
of trail...Lake Janet is very shallow...the
waterton river is very scenic...finally
met two overnight hikers coming the opposite
direction... |
|
|
I woke up to yet another gorgeous
late-summer Montana morning at 6:30. Mike was still snoozing
away so I decided to walk down to the lake and try my luck
with the fish once again. As it was last night the views
were terriffic in the early morning light. The fish were
not cooperating but it didn't matter as I had the entire
beach to myself for 45 minutes until Mike ambled down.
 |
| Deer seemed to be everywhere
we camped. |
I could feel warm gusts of air from
time to time and the smell of smoke along with it. At first
Mike didn't smell the smoke but after another gust could
detect the unmistakable scent. I knew there were fires a
good distance west of the park but had to wonder if something
hadn't flared up a little closer to the park. Adding to
our concern were the multiple helicopter flights passing
overhead while climbing Brown Pass. We had wrongly assumed
they were a commercial tour service catering to tourons
but now had our doubts.
Today would be a downhill jaunt
to Goat Haunt and down to Kootenai Lake so we weren't in
any hurry to leave our beautiful camp, but we did so by
9:30. I was lukewarm on the idea of spending any time in
Goat Haunt as it seemed like cheating to spend any time
near civilization. But I knew the views would be excellent
looking north towards Waterton and was kind of looking forward
to conversing with the dayhikers who would undoubtedly be
in the area after getting off the ferry.
 |
| A Terminal Moraine at the foot
of Lake Janet. |
Though we hated to leave Lake Francis
we still had Lake Janet and Olson Creek to provide us with
views. Well, the trail was constructed far above the creek
and Lake Janet proved to be somewhat of a disappointment.
The water level was very low but the still waters made for
some fantastic photos with the reflecting mountains mirrored
on the surface. We decided to stop here for a snack and
take in the view of where.
The rest of the descent to Goat
Haunt was a real knee-buster for me and when we got down
to the Waterton River suspension bridge I was only too happy
to find two older couples from Mississippi taking photos
near the bridge. They had lots of questions about our hike
and we were happy to take some photos for them and tell
them about our hike, gear and a few stories from the trail.
After about 20 minutes we crossed the bridge and completed
the last half-mile to the Goat Haunt ranger/customs office,
arrivng at 1 PM.
We plopped our packs down under
the pavillion and ate our lunch right there. Once again
we were deluged with questions from the dayhikers waiting
for the ferry to take them back up to Waterton Townsite.
Mike had a good chat with a family about Mt. Ranier while
I was content to take a few pics and relax on the bench.
By 2 PM we were back on the trail for the last 2.8 miles
to Kootenai Lake.
Just like last year the short hike
proved to be uneventful with the exception of sneaking off
the trail into a beautiful meadow flanked by Mt. Cleveland
to the east. This was something Yumi and I had missed last
summer and was glad to get a goof look this time around.
The truth be told, there was much about this area I had
not remembered from Yumi and my trip the previous year.
I may have to re-think my position on trying to avoid trails
already hiked for future visits.
As was usually the case we arrived
at our campsite just after 3 PM. There were no moose feeding
which made me feel like a fool since I assured Mike that
it was a lead pipe cinch we'd see some here. Hopefully we'd
see some later. We set up camp, the same site Yumi and I
had last year, and debated about fishing. Mike knew he couldn't
fish with the wind being as strong as it was, but I decided
to give it a shot in the river. I had remembered a few deeper
pools about 125 yards downstream from camp and thought I
might bet lucky. Mike decided to update his journa .I didn't
catch a thing, but still had fun anyway and even discovered
a tree a beaver tried to fell across the river.
 |
| Looking north along the Waterton
River. |
By 5 PM the winds were really starting
to pick up and ominous clouds were blowing in from the west.
We figured we might as well eat dinner before the rain started
to fall and pretty much resigned ourselves to a rainy night.
While walking back to our site I
discovered a couple of Moose were now feeding in the mucky
lake bottom. At least I wasn't a liar. Mike grabbed his
chair and me my cushion and found an unobtrusive place to
watch the moose and the incoming weather. The rain we were
expecting to receive never came. The dark clouds seemed
to dissipate into nothing just as they crossed over to our
valley. It was getting colder, however. At one point I decided
I might as well get some use of my rain pants and put them
on to ward off the evening chill. For the first time all
trip it began to feel like autumn. We spent 4 hours watching
the moose and the weather, finally retiring to our tents
around 9:30.
I added a few notes to my own journal
and hoped it wouldn't get too cold that night.
|
