August 13: Lake Ellen Wilson

Seeing as though we only had 5 miles to hike, I slept in until the ungodly hour of 7:40. Most of the other groups were already at the food prep area enjoying relatively smoke-free views of the lake and Mt. Jackson to the south. I set about filtering all the water we'd need for the climb up for breakfast and the climb up Gunsight Pass before running back up to the tent to wake up Yumi.

Gunsight Lake

The Kalispell boys quickly became heros to the bikers when they concocted a breakfast of SPAM and cheddar cheese ground together and gave them a sample. I was under the impression that New Yorker's were a worldly bunch, but the bikers had no clue SPAM was also a high quality staple food and not just unwanted e-mail. After tasting the mush they were all gung-ho and had to get some for themselves when they got back to civilization. Meanwhile, Yumi and I made do with some oatmeal and dehydrated strawberries.

Yumi climbing to Gunsight Pass.

While Yumi stayed behind at the food prep area I quickly broke camp and brought our gear back down. The Madison group was going to get a later start then even we would, the Kalispell boys were probably already halfway back to the Jackson Glacier Overlook and the fisherman was down at the lake trying his luck.

The bikers, however, had big plans of scrambling up to Jackson Peak and asked what I thought would be the best route up. Hell, I didn't know, but told them I thought they should probably bushwhack up from just across the suspension bridge over the lake's outlet and pick their way up the ridge which didn't look too difficult. They didn't take my advice and later found out the route they took cliffed out on them, but they had a great day hike anyway.

By 10:15 Yumi and I were on the trail, beginning our climb up to Gunsight Pass which I had told her was "pretty easy" by Glacier standards. What I hadn't told her was that the pass was a 3.5 mile hike even though it was probably less than a mile from camp as the crow flies. Even though the pass never seemed to get closer due to the switchbacks Yumi was in fairly good spirits as we climbed. Going up was not a problem for her knees, going up and not seeing a lot of progress was. Still the views of Gunsight Lake and points east were worth it in the end.

Just before reaching the pass we could see the Madison group down on the switchbacks below and a mother goat and her kid above. Yumi, being deathly afraid of wild and domesticated animals alike, didn't know what we should do about the goats so I did what any studly guy would do and walked up to them, talking in a quiet voice. The goats slowly moved out of the way, eying us up as they did. The little one climbed to the safety of higher ground while mother continued to look at us as we passed.

Up at the pass we busted out the GORP, chips, and ibuprofin for lunch and waited for the Madison group to catch up. The hikers shelter that had been only stone walls in 2005 was now complete with a roof and a few benches inside---the perfect spot for Yumi to take a rest while I stalked a few more mountain goats in hopes of getting some good photos.

The trail above Gunsight Lake nearing the pass.

After an unsuccessful attempt to sleep, Yumi emerged from the shelter and we began to push on down to our camp at Lake Ellen Wilson. I'd been dreading this part of the trip for my wife since the descent was rather steep and would undoubtedly cause more pain her. The views of the lake were somewhat marred by the smoke blowing in from the east but still as spectacular as I'd remembered it.

Hiking at a snails pace, Yumi finally told me to go ahead and move at my own pace down to the campsite. I reluctantly took her advice and soon left her far behind, but never that far away as she was always visible on the switch backs above. Soon, a female hiker appeared, closing in fast on Yumi, jogging a bit, then speed walking, jogging... Whoever this person was, she was a beast, so I decided to speed up my pace even more just for fun.

Our little race ended when I got to the falls crossing the trail above the lake. It didn't look like Yumi would be able to keep her feet dry hopping across without assistance so I sat down and waited. The day hiker blew by with barely a hello and attempted a dry crossing but slipped near the end, soaking her feet in the process while uttering what I thought was a curse in a baltic language. Fairly humorous.

With Yumi at least 20 minutes behind, I began amusing myself by tossing rocks into the stream, then by engineering a dry crossing past the waterfall for my wife. Something about boys, rocks and water I guess.

The Lake Ellen Wilson inlet falls.

Once we made is across the stream without soaking our boots the trail began a totally worthless climb above the north end of the lake. In my humble opinion it would have been a lot easier to run the trail into the camp site from the low point just past the falls rather than unnecessarily climbing then running the spur trail back down. Yumi had these same thoughts and verbalized them repeatedly over the next two days.

We eventually made it up to the spur trail at 3:30 then began giving up the altitude we'd gained only minutes before. I again moved out ahead of my wife so that I could get camp set up before she arrived and noted just how crappy the trail really was. Switchbacks where none were needed, none where they were. I was sure to hear about that too. After what felt like a half mile I finally passed the outhouse (I'd later find out there was no outhouse, only a "throne" with a reported decent view of the lake) and let my guard down, not knowing it would still take another 5 minutes to get to the actual camp sites.

A closer look at the falls.

I found a great site located near the unique food prep area and easy access to the lake and it's very nice beach. It was a sunny day and knew we'd be laying out on the beach and maybe rinsing out some clothes down there. if there's one thing Yumi likes in the back country, it's a beach and sunshine. The only problem with the site was that the ground was very rocky to the point of not being able to get a tent stake into the ground, so I opted to utilize several large rocks in its place.

I got camp set up, hung our food, checked out the beach then started back tracking so that I could escort Yumi to our site. I didn't have to go far as she'd stopped at the food prep area and was rubbing her knees. I got her back to camp and we started sorting our laundry. Everything was covered with dust, including ourselves, as we went to the lake.

The solo hiker from Washington was already camped and making his way out of the frigid waters of Lake Ellen Wilson, shivering, when we got to the beach. He'd had a long day as he'd already set up camp and had hiked up to the Sperry Chalet three miles down the trail. Oh to be young with good knees again.

While Yumi started the wash cycle I busied myself pumping water for the night and next morning, wondering if I should-shit can the filter and go with chemicals in the future? After filling every bladder and bottle we had I decided it was time for me to wash off the two days of trail dust and had every intention of submerging myself but chickened out when the wind started to blow a little stronger. I guess I'd rather be dirty than cold and settled for a sponge bath and partial dunking of my head.

Once Yumi had the freshly laundered clothes strung up to dry over a few downed trees she began to fill in some of her tan lines and fighting off a few troublesome flies while lying on her thermarest. Her bliss didn't last for long, however, as the wind picked up, sending more dust our way. After a few minutes of this we decided we should go make some dinner.

Laundry day at Lake Ellen Wilson

The food prep area at Lake Ellen Wilson is probably the most unique in the park. A large, RV-sized boulder , easily visible on Google Earth as I would find out, formed an admirable wind break which would be needed later on.
Everyone at the camp had stayed at Gunsight Lake the night before except for a father and his two sons, Derek and Trey. The boys had something in common with Graham as they were all active in boy scouting.

After an hour of conversation the wind began to really howl and the temperature dropped to the point that I had to run back to camp to put on my rain pants for extra warmth. By the time I got back, Yumi had had enough and decided to go back to the tent and the warmth of her sleeping bag. I chatted at the cooking area for another half hour then went back to our site.

Yumi enjoying some down time at the Lake Ellen Wilson beach.

By now the temps were very cool and the wind was blowing pretty hard but unlike my Winds trip, I had confidence that my Tarptent Cloudburst would be able to handle it. Naturally, I was too warm inside my sleeping bag and Yumi too cold so I unzipped and covered her with half of my bag and all was soon well again.

We talked about the next day's activities. I wanted to get off to an early start so that I'd have time to climb up to Comeau Pass, one of the few new areas of the park I'd be able to see on this trip. Yumi assured me that it would be OK if I went without her knowing that the Sperry Chalet had some books she'd be able to read during my absence. I also sweetened the pot when I told her we could get lunch at the Chalet consisting of a sandwich, coffee and perhaps some soup and pie. It was a no-brainer for her and the deal was struck.