|
I had been looking forward to
this day since we had received confirmation of our itinerary.
Only 4.5 miles of flat, level, easy hiking along Glenn and
Cosleylakes. What could be better than that after the hellish
day we had yesterday?
Breakfast consisted of oatmeal and water
for me, while Yumi enjoyed hers with a cup of coffee. The
skeeters and flies were still out in force but I didn’t
care because today and tomorrow were going to be a breeze.
It took about 15 minutes on the trail
for the first really disappointing moment of the trip to
occur. That’s how long it took for us to get from Mokowanis
Junction to Glenns Lake Head. The difference was staggering.
Bright, airy with a view of the lake on one hand, dark,
full of flying terrorists and no handy access to water in
the other. Next time I’ll know better. Looking back,
I wonder if we would have made it---we were that tired.
At one of the few stream crossings
we encountered that day we caught up to a group I surmised
were from Texas judging by the T-shirts they were wearing---cotton
T-shirts I noticed soaked with sweat. They were filtering
water from a creek when I asked one of the younger members
of the group if he’d ever had a better time than backpacking
in Glacier. His dry response led me to believe that he wasn’t
having that good a time. We would later find out that this
group of four was carrying canned food, were not wearing
hiking boots and were carrying 3, 3-person tents between
them. I hope they got out OK because we also heard their
feet were blistered pretty severely.
Shortly after passing the “Donner
Party” as I took to calling them we met the first and
only ranger we would see on the trip. It looked like she
was off to do some trail maintenance work and had a strapping
young man with her carrying the heavy tools. She asked to
see our permit, told us about the bear activity from the
previous day and wished us well.
The four miles
passed quickly and soon we were at the spur trail that took
us to the Cosley Lake campground. Since it wasn’t even
noon yet, we figured to have our choice of campsites. We
were correct and took the site closest to the water. The
only problem was we couldn’t find the bear pole, but
just hung our stuff in a tree until someone else came to
the camp and found it for us. In the meantime I had some
serious issues to take care of down at the lake: namely
cleaning myself and my stinky clothing!
 |
| Cosley Lake was Yumi's favorite. |
Never had laundry
been such a pleasure to do. The stone beach was just about
perfect and the weather was: 78 degrees, mostly sunny with
a light breeze to keep the bugs away. Yumi and I gathered
our dirty socks,shorts T-shirts and unmentionables and waded
in. To say the water was refreshing would be an understatement.
The laundry was done in just a few minutes. Now it was time
to take care of some serious body odor. Yumi summoned up
the courage to rinse her hair in the frigid water while
I dunked my entire head and was rewarded with an instant
case of brain freeze. Clothes hanging from every available
bush and a length of cord, we went back to the food area
for some lunch.
Whoever invented
the Therm-a-rest deserves a really big kiss. Nothing has
ever felt finer than laying on our mattresses in the hot
Montana sun on the shores of Cosley Lake with Cosley Ridge
providing an awesome backdrop. The strata of the rock across
the lake got my attention for a few minutes. The lower layers
were pitched at about 30 degrees while the strata higher
up was at 45 degrees. What kind of forces were at work here?
I then noticed that a group of three hikers had moved into
one of the sites further down the shore and were also in
the process of cleaning themselves off. At least two of
the three had totally submerged themselves into the lake.
Crazy people.
While pondering how life could get any
better, a very large mule deer showed herself on the beach
not more than 30 feet from us. She walked to the water,
turned toward us and slowly walked past us, eying us intently.
Strange animal, that one. We would see her again and again
as the day wore on and eventually learned that her claim
to fame was that of a “nuisance animal” as logged
on the backcountry boards. This might be the very creature
that tried to steal a T-shirt belonging to Squillax of Glacier
Gang fame.
After spending close to two hours on
the beach, Yumi and I decided to make the short hike over
to see Gros Ventre Falls. We figured it would only be about
a 3 mile round trip, and since Yumi said she now felt at
home walking...why not? We grabbed a water bottle, camera
and our bear spray and took off down the trail towards the
Belly River ranger station. We took note of the cable crossing
the river. We'’d have to cross tomorrow morning. The
water didn’t look that deep despite Annie's warnings
from a few days ago that it was deep.
It wasn’t more than twenty yards
that the trail split off heading east towards the ranger
station. Not having a 40 pound pack on my back was allowing
me to concentrate more on the scenery and less on where
I was putting my feet. No more than 30 yards away on my
right was Mr. Grizzly Bear, looking very tall standing on
his hind legs trying to figure out what the two of us were
doing on his trail.
 |
| Laundry day at Cosley Lake camp |
I immediately stopped, put my arm out
to stop Yumi and said very quietly “bear.” Yumi’s
first reaction was to pull her bear spray from the holster.
Mine was to pull the camera from the camera case and get
it on Mr. Griz as quickly and quietly as possible. I accomplished
neither. by the time I got the camera out the bear had slipped
back into the woods, but I had a memory to last a lifetime.
We wisely, I suppose, decided to head back to camp and check
out the cable crossing more closely. Just to make sure we
weren’t being stalked by the massive beast, we took
a few looks behind us. A short time later Yumi spied a less
threatening animal: a bald eagle soaring through the air.
When we got back to camp we decided to
walk down the shore of Cosley Lake for a bit. On the way
back we were formally introduced to our neighbors for the
night: Rob, Steve and Keely. They were from New Hampshire
and would be leaving the trail tomorrow via the Chief Mountain
trailhead. We spent an hour chatting with them on the beach..
Our friend the mule deer decided to pop her head into the
conversation but backed away when she saw Steve’s Therm-a-rest
resting against a bush. Like I said, strange animal.
Tonight’s dinner was probably the
best of the entire trip. Yumi and I ate well every night
and were the envy of most of the other hiker’s we met.
Tonight was no different as we feasted on chicken teriyaki
with noodles and rice, topped with our now-famous instant
pudding. Since we didn’t eat any pudding last night
at Mokowanis Junction, we gave ours to our new friends who
gobbled it up happily.
Though not a difficult day by any means,
we were ready for bed by 2100. We said good night and retired
to the tent. Sleep came easy until the loudest thunder I’d
ever heard echoed down the valley waking us up around 2
AM. Yumi reminded me to attach the fly and we readied ourselves
for the incoming storm.
|
