A Great Bear and a Fall Jewel

Bear Creek, Great Bear Wilderness, Montana

Fall color on the Big River Trail, Great Bear Wilderness

After crossing back into the United States at Chief Mountain our plan was to stay at a campground in the Flathead National Forest right on the border of Glacier National Park.  But when we arrived we found that the campground was closed for the season.  Many forest campgrounds close early in the northwest.  As our time in Canada proved this year, snows can come early!  Luckily we found a nice commercial campground only a few miles away that suited our needs perfectly.  We were relieved as we had been looking forward to hiking in the Great Bear Wilderness, our 20^th wilderness to visit so far this year.

 

Thimbleberry in fall color

Located west of the Continental Divide, the Great Bear Wilderness is south of Glacier National Park across US Hwy 2 and shares its southern border with the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  Montana’s wildest river, the designated ‘wild and scenic’ Middle Fork Flathead River, has its origination point in the Great Bear and runs 50 miles through the wilderness.  The 286,700 acres of the Great Bear are prime grizzly and black bear habitat.

 

The forest floor was full of mushrooms

Our trail was called the Big River Trail and it crossed Bear Creek, then climbed above and loosely followed the Middle Fork Flathead River deep into the wilderness for over 25 miles.  We only hiked in about 4.5 miles to a quiet spot high above the Middle Fork Flathead River where we had a nice lunch enjoying the quiet beauty, solitude and beginnings of fall color.  Although we hiked close to 9 miles, we left the wilderness refreshed and rejuvenated. (OK, so maybe not our leg muscles…)  Except for the two fishermen we saw at Bear Creek, we saw no one.  It was truly a wilderness experience.

 

Splashes of fall color on the slopes of the Jewel Basin

Rain fell during the night and the next morning we woke to overcast skies and drizzle.  Since the forecast was for rain all day, we decided to move on to Kalispell and wash all our clothes after almost 3 weeks in Canada.  Things were getting pretty rank…

 

Twin Lakes Trail

While we were cleaning up in Kalispell, we took one day off for another hike in the Jewel Basin.  We enjoyed our hike there a month ago so much that we wanted to take another one.  This time we skirted the basin on the west side taking the Twin Lakes Trail into the basin.  While the views weren’t as spectacular as they were from our first hike up Mt. Aeneas, it was still a very scenic trail. 
 

The Twin Lakes

 

North Twin Lake

 

 

The clouds and fog were heavy for most of the day but we could still see across the basin and glimpse the tops of the peaks through the fog.  The vine maples, sumac, thimbleberry and huckleberry were already a riot of color.  I am predicting an early and colorful fall here in the northwest.   I don’t know if it is the cooler weather, the excitement of fall color or the fact that the trails are mostly deserted because vacation time is over – but whatever it is, fall hiking is fantastic!

 

Sumac turning fall colors

We are heading into Idaho now.  It is a state we have really only driven through, so now we are going to take about a week on our way to the Grand Tetons and get to know Idaho a little.  There are at least a couple of wildernesses we are going to try to explore.

 

Fireweed

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked  2  
Total Miles Hiked   16.69  
Ave. Miles per Day      8.35
Total Elevation Gain     2,933
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  1,467