A Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Hike

Cedar Creek in the Kootenai National Forest near the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness

After re-supplying in Kalispell and taking a fantastic hike in the ‘Jewel,’ we headed west to Libby, Montana where we had reservations to spend the Labor Day Weekend.  We have been relaxing and doing a few necessities (like laundry) but we have also taken time to enjoy this remote northwest corner of Montana.  No huge Labor Day crowds here.  

The Kootenai National Forest surrounds Libby and to the west is the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.  The Cabinet Mountains got their name from French-Canadian voyageurs who called this area the Cabinet Gorge because of the massive shelves of rocks lining a spectacular gorge on the Clark Fork River.  This relatively small range of mountains receives Pacific maritime air that drops up to 100 inches of moisture per year on the glacially sculpted terrain.  In the northern portion of the wilderness, all that moisture creates richly forested slopes with sheltered valleys of old-growth giant cedar, hemlock and grand fir forests.

Near Lower Cedar Lake in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness

 

When we were in this area two years ago we visited the beautiful Kootenai Falls and walked in the Ross Creek Cedars among 600-year old cedars.  But this time we wanted to take a hike in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.  Like several of the other wilderness areas we have hiked in this season, the Cabinet Mountains are celebrating their 50^th Anniversary.

Upper Cedar Lake

 
The hike we selected was only about 8 miles from Libby, but we had to walk 3 miles before entering the wilderness.  The Cedar Lakes Trail follows Cedar Creek for a good portion of the way before it reaches Upper Cedar Lake.  The trail was described as a “long straight steady 5 miles to the lakes.”  That doesn’t sound too arduous, does it?  Well, they left out the “climbing” part. This trail broke our 10 miles/1800 feet rule.  By the time it was all said and done, we walked 12.1 miles and climbed 3,213 feet! 

Lower Cedar Lake

 

We were all pretty whipped last night, but have felt fine today.  Not that my knees and David’s ankle aren’t a little sore, but we feel surprisingly well.  Maya has been napping a bit more than usual, but she has had enough energy to play with the Rottweiler in the campground.

It was all worth it even if the trail was steeper than we realized.  The lakes were beautiful and hiking along the winding creek in the heavy, dark forest of cedar and fir was enchanting.  There were thick patches of devil’s club, thimble berry and huckleberry along the trail.  Maya and I scored big again with the huckleberries.  Just for a little while I thought I might have overdone it with the berries, but then I starting feeling better.  I guess there can be too much of a good thing sometimes.

 

Huckleberry stained fingers

Tomorrow (Labor Day) we are headed into Canada to meet the newly-weds, Jim and Harumi.  We will be traveling and sightseeing for about 4 days before we arrive in Lake Louise.  After a week in Lake Louise, we will spend a little time in other Canadian Rockies parks before heading to Waterton International Peace Park that borders our Glacier National Park.  All in all we should be in Canada about 3 weeks.

Devil's Club

 

A 'sea' of devil's club growing along the creek

If this time is anything like our trip two years ago, we may not have much if any access to Internet.  So the blog may be ‘on vacation’ for a few weeks but I will be taking photos and writing so that I can get several posts up as soon as we return to the United States.  Happy Labor Day!

 

Pearly everlasting with sulfur butterfly

David's Stats:
Days Hiked   1 
Total Miles Hiked   12.11  
Total Elevation Gain     3,213

 

"The Bob," Huckleberries and a Jewel

Picnic Lakes from Mt. Aeneas in the Jewel Basin, Montana

We left the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and traveled back to Missoula and then headed east on Hwy 200 to Hwy 83 and on to our first destination, the town of Seely Lake.  Seely Lake is nestled in the valley between the Mission Mountains and the Swan Mountain Range in the Lolo National Forest.  This valley contains a chain of lakes with Seely Lake being the largest.  We camped among the larch trees at Placid Lake State Park which was a few miles south of Seely Lake. This was our ‘home base’ for a few days while we explored the Lolo National Forest and hiked in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, known by locals as “The Bob.”

 

Morning mist on Placid Lake

Bob Marshall was an early forester, conservationist and co-founder of The Wilderness Society.  The Bob, one of the original areas designated as wilderness by the Wilderness Act of 1964, extends for 60 miles along the Continental Divide and is the fifth largest in the lower 48 states.  It is also prime Grizzly bear habitat with an estimated population density of grizzlies higher than can be found anywhere else in the U.S. outside of Alaska.

 

Mission Mountains viewed from Bob Marshall Wilderness

With our eyes peeled for ‘Grizz,’ we started up the Pyramid Pass Trail towards Pyramid Lake, our lunch destination.  It was a steady five-plus mile climb to the lake through larch and fir forests broken up with meadows still filled with wildflowers.  At the higher elevations the huckleberries were profuse.  Maya and I have been sad that we missed the huckleberries in most of the places we have been so far, but our luck changed in The Bob.  Many of the bushes were starting to turn fall colors but they were still loaded with perfectly ripe huckleberries.  We ate as we hiked watching for bear along the way.  Alas, we had no luck with spotting grizzly but we absolutely ate our fill of huckleberries.  It is always a tricky thing with bears; we want to see them but not too close and we don’t want to surprise one.  So we did make some noise especially when we were in the huckleberries.

 

We had lunch at teal blue Pyramid Lake which is named for the nearby mountains. But the lake has a triangular shape itself, much like a pyramid.  As we ate our lunch we heard pika calls on the talus slope of the mountain next to us.  The pika, as many of you know, is a small mammal with short limbs, rounded ears and no tail.  They are in the rabbit family and are sometimes called the “whistling hare” due to the high-pitched alarm calls they make.  We didn’t see any of the pika (they are small and hard to spot in all those rocks) but we enjoyed bird watching as we ate and saw several Clark’s nutcrackers and a bald eagle.

Pyramid Lake and peaks

 

Reflections in Pyramid Lake

 

The Bob is so large and remote that many people take horses or mules into this wilderness and often stay out weeks at a time.  Hunting is allowed in wilderness areas but it is very difficult because of the great distances you have to hike or ride to get to the game.  Then if you get an elk or deer, it has to be packed out on foot or pack animal.  (I think I’ll stick to fishing.)

Our hike back down from the lake was very pleasant.  We saw two groups of horses and pack mules on the trail, one heading into the wilderness and one coming out.  We talked to the group coming out, two men on horseback with seven pack mules.  They told us they had been in the wilderness for two weeks.  We also passed a group of 5 backpackers that were going in for a short three-day trip.

View from Mt. Aeneas of Birch Lake (largest) and Aeneas Lake (left)
Jewel Basin

 

The next day our plan was to head about 70 miles north and camp near Bigfork on huge Flathead Lake.  It was only Wednesday and we usually have no problem finding campsites in the middle of the week but the campgrounds around Flathead Lake were full.  The lake is a very popular place and some people were taking a very long Labor Day Holiday!  We went on to Kalispell and found a place.  It worked out well since we are about to go into Canada.  We did some banking business and stocked up on groceries.

 

Walking on 'the spine of the world'



Come on, you can rest when you get up here...

But we still made time to hike in a very special place – the Jewel Basin.  Although not a designated wilderness area, this unique backcountry area is specifically set aside for hiking only.  No horses, bicycles or ATVs – just hikers and leashed dogs allowed.  It was a pleasure to walk on ‘clean’ trails with no horse droppings. 

 

The Bear Grass was still in bloom down in the Jewel Basin

The Jewel Basin has over 15,000 acres, 27 alpine lakes and 50 miles of hiking trails.  The trails climb the crests of the mountains that surround the basin and then down into the basin to beautiful lakes and meadows.  We started out on the trail to Mt. Aeneas, a strenuous climb of 3 miles and almost 2,000 feet of elevation gain.  From there we carefully made our way down the steep backside of the mountain (it was a little scary) and descended into the basin to Picnic Lakes where we picnicked, of course.  It was a spectacular hike with stunning views of lakes and mountains.  In places we felt like we were on top of the world.

 

Looking down on Picnic Lakes from Mt. Aeneas

Looking up from Picnic Lakes to Mt. Aeneas (middle peak)
Can you believe we were just up there?

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked  2  
Total Miles Hiked      19.06
Ave. Miles per Day      9.53
Total Elevation Gain     4,087
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  2,044

All this climbing is hard work

 

Montana on Our Minds...

Blodgett Canyon near Hamilton, MT in the Bitterroot National Forest

Although we always have a general idea of where we are headed and what we would like to see, we have become comfortable with life on the road and let whim and chance have their say.  Except for national holidays or very popular areas we seldom make reservations; that way we can change our minds and linger or leave as we please.  But we do have some deadlines when we are meeting family or friends and we have a big one coming up soon in the Canadian Rockies. 

David’s brother, Jim, moved to the Detroit area last year for love and it has worked out.  The newly-weds (August 20, 2014), Jim and Harumi, are taking a honeymoon in Lake Louise and we are going to join them for a few days in early September.  We have never met Harumi and are looking forward to getting to know our newest family member.

 

 

Butterfly on thistle in Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

 

It dawned on us that September was just around the corner and we needed to pick up the pace a little to make it to Canada on time.  So we left Washington spending one night in the Coeur d’Alene area and arriving the next day in Missoula, Montana.  Coeur d’Alene was just beautiful and unless other places beckon, we may spend some time in Idaho on our way back from Canada. 

 

Kinnikinnick, or Common Bearberry, grows on dry rocky slopes

Montana is another state we’ve always wanted to explore more so we decided to spend the next several days in Montana seeing the western part of the state – and yes, you guessed it, checking out some wilderness areas.  After a few days enjoying Missoula and getting ourselves ready and resupplied to be out in forest campgrounds for the next week, we headed south on US 93 to Lake Como about 12 miles south of Hamilton, MT.

 

Lake Como at dusk

Beautiful Lake Como was the perfect place for us to camp while making some excursions into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.  In fact, we could walk to the wilderness border from our campground via the Lake Trail as it was just 3.5 miles away.  But there was no road, so that meant we had to walk a total of 7 miles just to get to the wilderness border and back to our campground.   We have a rule that we can’t count the wilderness if we don’t walk at least a mile into it.  And who wants to walk just a mile in a wilderness? 

 

 

Cooling off after lunch in a wilderness stream

 

 

We had a lovely hike to the end of Lake Como and then walked almost 2 more miles into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.  By the end of the day we had walked 10.5 miles.  We have hiked longer distances in a day but we find that 10 - 12 miles is about our limit (or less if the elevation change is more than 1,800 feet) if we don’t want to be really whipped and sore the next day.  The 3.5 miles along Lake Como was mostly flat with many nice views of the lake.  Once we got into the wilderness that story changed and we climbed steadily through a rocky area that was recovering from a 20 year-old fire.  After about a mile, we were back into thick fir forests and a little less climbing.  We had lunch by a quiet stream while watching butterflies on a thistle plant and Maya had a nice ‘after lunch wade’ in the stream before we headed back to camp.

 

Blodgett Canyon

The next day we took a hike in Blodgett Canyon, a few miles down the road and not too far from the town of Hamilton.  Although this glacier carved canyon was not in the wilderness it had been recommended to us by several people as a hike ‘not to be missed.’  And we were glad we didn’t miss it.  The canyon had high steep peaks on both sides and reminded us of a smaller version of Yosemite Valley.  The trail closely paralleled a beautiful mountain stream and there was even a natural stone arch high on the mountain ridge.

 

 

 

Blodgett Canyon Scenes

 

 

 

We hiked two more days although one of those hikes was a short one-mile nature trail because of the heavy downpours that day.  The other hike was the Caffin Creek Trail back into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness south of Lake Como.  It had rained several inches the previous day and night so the trail was wet.  Much of the trail was overgrown on both sides by wet foliage and though it didn’t rain on us, we got very wet from the waist down.  Maya got very wet all over but didn't seem to mind much at all.

 

Solomon's-seal berries among fern

The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness is one of the original wilderness areas first designated by the U.S. Congress in the Wilderness Preservation Act of 1964.  The Act set aside an initial 9.1 million acres of wild lands for the use and benefit of the American people. 

About the size of Delaware at 1,340,502 acres, the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness is the third largest wilderness in the lower 48 states with over one million acres in Idaho and about 250,000 acres in Montana. Few places in the world have such a varied habitat from elevations over 10,000 feet on the Bitterroot crest to 1,700 feet on the Selway River.  The 1,350 miles of trails are cleared and maintained with traditional tools such as a cross cut saw and axe.  As in all wilderness areas, mechanized equipment is not allowed.  That means no chainsaws and the trail maintenance crews have to walk or ride a horse into the wilderness to do their jobs.

 

View from trail along Lake Como approaching the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Needless to say during our short stay near the Selway-Bitterrroot Wilderness, we did not even scratch the surface of this vast terrain.  But that is one of the beauties of wilderness – it will be there to explore for generations to come.  Perhaps we will visit it again on the Idaho side on our way back from Canada. 

 

 

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked   4

Rain Days     1   
Total Miles Hiked  28.41    
Ave. Miles per Day      5.68
Total Elevation Gain     2,895
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  724

 

On to the North Cascades

Mt. Shuksan in the Stephen Mather Wilderness
North Cascades National Park    

While staying at Deception Pass we explored Whidbey Island and visited the charming sea town of Anacortes on the north end of the island.  We can see why many people have moved to this San Juan Island.  It is still very close to Seattle, yet the island pace of life is much slower and the natural beauty of the coastal forests and the rugged sea shore is breathtaking.  There is a naval air station on the island so you do hear some jets flying about.

We moved on to stay a couple of nights in Bothell, a suburb of Seattle, at a very nice commercial campground with ponds, waterfowl and nature trails that made it feel more like a state park.  One night we had dinner with Camille and Jim, friends we knew in San Antonio that had moved to Kirkland, another Seattle suburb.  There was a street fair and summer celebration that night in Kirkland so we had a great time eating and visiting and then walking along the lakeshore enjoying the festival.  It was so nice to see our friends and catch up on each other’s lives.

 

Looking towards Rainy Pass from the Pacific Crest Trail
Smoke from the Carleton Complex Fire makes a hazy view

In early July we made plans to camp with Camille and Jim on their land near Brewster, Washington.  However, while we were still in Oregon much of the forest around Brewster burned in the Carleton Complex Fire.  We had to cancel the camping trip and make new plans to see them in Kirkland.  Camille and Jim’s land did burn but they felt very fortunate that they had not built a house there yet.  The Carleton Complex Fire is the largest wildfire in Washington history and has burned 256,108 acres to date. It is mostly contained now. 
 



Lake Ann from the Rainy Pass Trail just outside the park boundary 

 

Next we were off to the North Cascades National Park and Ross Lake National Recreation Area to meet some new friends.  We were in this part of Washington two years ago and met a couple, Bonnie and Dave, with their Australian Sheppard on a trail we were all hiking.  Maya and Shannon (their dog) got to be trail buddies and we all had such a nice time together that we traded e-mails and stayed in touch. We were so saddened to hear when their dog, Shannon, passed away last year (she was almost 15).

 

Lake Diablo just east of our campground
The blue-green water color is caused by the glacial 'silt' in the water



With a little planning it worked out for us to meet Bonnie and Dave in North Cascades National Park at Colonial Creek Campground on the shores of gorgeous Lake Diablo.  It is not often in our travels that we have been able to reconnect with people we have met.  We had such a fun time hanging out with them.  Bonnie and Dave have two new Australian Sheppard puppies that are now 10 months old.  What a bundle of energy those two were!  We never went through the ‘puppy stage’ with Maya since we adopted her when she was six.  Neither David nor I think we have what it takes to raise puppies anymore, but Bonnie and Dave have been having a blast with their two.

Dave and Bonnie with Eli and Emma

Cindy, Maya and David

 

 While we were in the North Cascades National Park there was one perfect day, two days with a heavy smoke haze in the air (from the Carleton Complex fire, well over 70 miles away) and two rainy days.  The rain actually cleared the smoke from the air and helped the fire-fighters so we were grateful for it. 

One of the most amazing things about this area of the Cascade Mountains is the dramatic difference in elevation between the valley floors and the mountain tops – in some places over 5,000 feet!  And did I mention glaciers?  North Cascades National Park has more glaciers than any other national park outside of Alaska.  The rain and smoke obscured some of the magnificent views that we saw the first time we were here two years ago, but we didn’t let that deter us from enjoying the park and taking some great hikes.

Trees in fog
Many of our hikes were in clouds, fog or smoke haze

 

Over 94% of this national park is designated as the Stephen Mather Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act.  Mather was the first director of the National Park Service.  As I have mentioned in previous blog postings, this being the 50^th year celebration of the Wilderness Act, we are trying to hike in as many wilderness areas as we can.

Upper Watson Lake in the Noisy Diobsud Wilderness

 

Washington has so many wilderness areas.  There were 10 within driving distance of our campground!  But because of the fire and our time constraints and also because wilderness areas by definition are not that easily accessible, we were only able to hike in three –  the Stephen Mather, Glacier Peak and Noisy Diobsud Wilderness areas.

Pink mountain heather filled the meadows on the Watson Lakes Trail

 

I guess our favorite wilderness hike was the Watson Lakes trail in the Noisy Diobsud Wilderness.  It was quite a drive to get there taking us almost 2 hours, about half of it on an unpaved forest road winding up the side of a mountain. As we neared the trailhead the clouds hung low threatening rain but we were determined to go hiking after all the trouble we went to getting there.  It was one of those times that could have been a disaster but turned out to be magical instead.  We walked in light rains and mists with fog rolling through meadows filled with blooming pink mountain heather.  The lakes shimmered in and out of view through the heavy fog and in the distance we glimpsed glacier-packed mountains through barely parting clouds.

 

Mt. Baker and glaciers barely showing through clouds

We also hiked our last section of the Pacific Crest Trail for this year.  It was a very beautiful hike near Cutthroat Pass with breathtaking views of the Cascade Mountains (although through a smoky haze).  This hike brought our total number of hikes on the PCT to thirteen.  We had hoped to take a few more hikes on this 2,663 mile trail but as we have learned in our journeys – you just can’t do everything.  (Darn it!)
 

Porcupine Creek on the Pacific Crest Trail

 

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked  4  
Total Miles Hiked   21.51  
Ave. Miles per Day      5.38
Total Elevation Gain     4,556
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   1,139

 

 

Disappointment and Deception



View of the Pacific Ocean from the North Head Lighthouse Trail
 at Cape Disappointment State Park

 

 

North Head Lighthouse

After almost 6 weeks in Oregon, we are now in Washington.  Our first ‘port of call’ was Cape Disappointment State Park across the Columbia River in the far southwestern corner of the state. This beautiful coastal park contains the junction of the Columbia River with the Pacific Ocean.  These waters are some of the most dangerous in the Pacific with breaking waves and sand bars clogging the opening to the coast.  

 

Secluded cove near North Head Lighthouse

In 1788 following his unsuccessful search for a safe passage through the mouth of the Columbia River, British fur trader John Meares called this headland Cape Disappointment.  A few years later in 1792 the American captain, Robert Gray, gave the Columbia River its name after making the first successful crossing of the bar into the river.  Since that time these treacherous waters have claimed over 2,000 vessels.  That is the reason for the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast.  And it is also the reason that the Coast Guard has a large station located here.

 

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

We stayed two days in this historic and beautiful state park hiking in the coastal forest, strolling along the beaches and visiting two lighthouses.  I have to say that we were not disappointed.  The park has good interpretive signs along its trails and is also home to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  We were able to hike on a trail that followed part of the route Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery took when they first encountered the Pacific Ocean at Cape Disappointment in 1805.  How cool is that! 

 

Deception Pass Bridge 
Whidbey Island (left) and Fidalgo Island (right) with Pass Island in the middle

Two years ago we spent a couple of weeks in southern Washington around Mount St. Helens and some of the surrounding forests.  This year we made plans to visit friends in the Seattle area and meet some other friends in the North Cascades National Park so we drove directly from Cape Disappointment to Deception Pass, a state park on Whidbey Island near Seattle.

 

Deception Pass Bridge

 

Deception Pass State Park straddles Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands – two of the largest islands dotting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Rosario Strait.  There is a soaring bridge that connects the two islands and the narrow channel of water below the bridge is the only channel for many miles both north and south.  When the tide is running, a huge volume of water funnels through this narrow opening resembling a white-water river. 

 

Looking out towards the San Juan Islands from Rosario Head Trail

For a little history, the first European explorers of the late 1700s mistakenly assumed Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands to be part of the mainland and thought the powerful currents flowing between them indicated a mighty river to the east.  Captain George Vancouver realized this mistake and coined the name “Deception Pass” in 1792 as he explored the Northwest Passage.  David and I walked along this bridge and it is very impressive looking down the 186 feet to the churning waters below.  We could well imagine how the explorers were deceived.
 

Hoypus Point Natural Area Trail through old growth cedars and firs

 

Three idyllic days went by before we knew it.  The weather was perfect; no rain, just a little morning fog and pleasantly warm afternoons with blue skies.  We did have one little crisis though.  On one of our hikes Maya got stung by a bee on her paw.  It really hurt and she did not want to walk on it.  We had a choice, we could just hang out and wait until she felt like walking or David could practice his fireman’s carry.  We did hang out for a little while but since we were only about 1 ½ miles from our car David decided to carry Maya.

 

She ain't heavy, well, not that much anyway

This is kind of fun after all...

Thanks for the lift!  I'm feeling better.

As usual, Maya was a great sport.  She was a little apprehensive at first but she relaxed and got into being a much taller dog.  I think she rather enjoyed looking down on me as we hiked back to the car.  David held up amazingly well.  I couldn’t have carried her that far without really paying for it.   After several hours the swelling in Maya's paw started to go down and by later that afternoon she was barely limping.  David, however, was not eager to carry Maya again anytime soon and was counting his blessings that she wasn’t a Saint Bernard.  By the next day both victim and rescuer were ready to go hiking again.  And so we did, very thankful that all was well.

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked   4
Total Miles Hiked   25.75  
Ave. Miles per Day      6.44
Total Elevation Gain     3,703
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   926

 

 

Wildlife

 

 

 

 

Black slug (brown color variant)

 

 

Banana slug eating a mushroom

 

 

Banana slug
(David calls these spotted ones 'over ripe bananas')