Back in the U.S. of A

Sorry for the long time lapse between any significant posts.  We've been in Canada and in the backcountry, with not much internet access.  We are now in Kalispell, Montana in a hotel for one night - our first hotel of the trip so far!  Eight weeks of camping and no bed...and it's actually not that bad!  We're taking care of business in town - oil change, laundry, etc., before moving on to the Bitterroot Mountains in Montana and Idaho.  Since it's been a while, this will be a long post.

After leaving Yellowstone, we spent a few days at Flathead Lake in Northwest Montana.

Picking fresh cherries at the orchards on the Lake.  Best cherries ever.  Only $1.00 per lb and all you can eat while picking!  We must have eaten 2 lbs!  We stumbled across the orchards on our drive and it was a pleasant diversion.

After Flathead, we went just a little further north to Whitefish, camping at Tally Lake just outside of town.  LT went on a crazy MTB ride.  K-Bo went on a little ride.  Sorry, no pics.

Then, further north to the Ten Lakes Scenic Area just along the Montana/Canada border for a short 12 mile RT backpacking.  There was still tons of snowfields we had to cross (nothing too crazy), but nearly 50% of the hike was over snow pack.

We were planning on tent camping, but to our surprise, when we got to Wolverine Lake there was a hiker maintained self-service cabin.  Primitive, but it was a welcomed roof!  (No mattresses or anything, still on our sleeping pads).

 
Leaving our mark with the rest of the previous inhabitants.

LT caught dinner at the lake.

Before heading into Canada, we decided it best to store Big Red at a self storage unit.  Didn't want to deal with customs with all our stuff and figured it was easier to travel for a bit without her. 
We headed into Canada on Monday, August 8th and went straight to Banff National Park.  We checked out the town (Canada's parks have entire towns right in the middle of them) and got our backcountry permit to head into Egypt Lake a few days later.  But first, we did a day hike around Lake Louise to Plain of the Six Glaciers.

Lake Louise.

Banff has tons of massive glaciers.  We even got to see a huge chuck of ice and snow fall off the glacier above Lake Louise.

There was a teahouse at the top of the hike that is maintained by the employees who hike in most of the supplies and hike out the garbage...they serve light sandwiches and snacks.  We stopped in for a piece of bread and jam.  Since we only had day packs, LT offered to hike out some of the garbage and we were rewarded with free rice krispie treats and a tip for a local secret trail.  Shhh.

View into "The Death Trap" below Abbot Pass from our "secret" lookout.

Then, it was time to head into Egypt Lake for our first backpacking trip in the park (16 miles roundtrip).  Hiking over Healy Pass into Egypt Lake.  The most amazing wildflowers either of us has ever seen.  Still no bear sightings.

View from Egypt Lake.  We got rained out from any day hiking around the area, but made do.

Hiking out was a beautiful day.

After a few days in Banff, we headed further north into Canada to Jasper National Park.  On the drive, we saw our first black bear munching on shrubs on the side of the road.  The Icefields Parkway which connects Banff and Jasper is one of the most scenic drives ever.  We took our time and camped and hiked along the way.

Mistaya Canyon along the Icefields Parkway.  Canyons formed in the limestone over time.

Day hike to Glacier Lake (still in Banff National Park).

Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park.

Hiking Cavell Meadows/Cavell Glacier/Angel Glacier, which included a lake with icebergs (albeit small).

Black bear and cubs along the drive.

Maligne Lake - our most northern point this summer.

Day hiking to Bald Hills near Maligne Lake.

Maligne Canyon.

After Maligne Lake area, we headed back down the Icefields Parkway for some glacier viewing and hikes that we missed on the way up due to rain.

Athabasca Glacier.   Biggest glacier we saw on the trip.  You could walk up pretty close, but it was roped off and tons of warning signs about people falling into the crevasses.  It's amazing to see how much it has receded over the last 100 years.  They had posts walking up to it where the glacier was at certain years.  It was pretty darn chilly.

Day hiking Parker Ridge to the Saskatchewan Glacier.  To us, the most beautiful glacier in the park.

Back in Banff for one more night and some canoeing around Vermillion Lakes, despite the train that runs right through the middle of the park which is one of the biggest killers of wildlife, especially bears, in the park.

Next stop, Waterton National Park, Canada, passing through Calgary along the way.  Waterton was great.  It's a pretty small, low key park, which is right up our alley, especially after spending time in the busier parks.  Our goal was to canoe across Waterton Lake to the Crypt Lake trailhead, but the wind prevented us from doing it every morning.  The wind was creating pretty big white caps and K-Bo isn't quite up for that kind of canoeing...yet (sure, we could have paid the $19.00 each to take the shuttle, but this is a shoe string budget of a trip!).  We decided on other hikes instead.  Plus, there was plenty of nice beach time here and the weather usually calmed down in the afternoon for some short canoe trips.  One of our hikes was hiking along the shore of Waterton Lake to Boundary Bay - the border between Canada and the U.S. 

View of Waterton from the Prince of Wales Hotel.

Right before heading out on the canoe.

LT jumping off the dock at Boundary Bay along the border.  The hatch line in the mountain on the left side of the picture is the actual boundary.  Officially swimming in US waters again!

Red Rock Canyon and Blakiston Falls.

Canoeing at Maskinonge Lakes along the edge of the park.  There were leaches in this water!

After Waterton, we headed to the Many Glacier area inside of Glacier National Park...officially back in the U.S. of A.  Within 5 minutes of being in the park, we saw four GRIZZLY bears on the mountain feasting on huckleberries.  They were pretty far away, so we were safe.

Right inside the park.

Grizzlies!!

Fishing at Lake Josephine in Many Glacier.

The next day, we day hiked to Iceberg Lake.  One of our favorite hikes of the entire trip so far.  Within 10 minutes, we saw a HUGE bull moose trying to hide behind a tree.

AND THEN, within 30 minutes on the trail, a few people in front of us were walking around a corner and turned around motioning us to back up.  A few seconds later, a sow grizzly and three cubs came around the corner within 40 feet from us.  We slowly backed up and had our hands on our bear spray.  The bears pretty much ignored us and walked down the hill toward more huckleberries.  Still, pretty crazy.  A little too close for comfort!

Iceberg Lake.

LT taking a dip in the Lake.

Along the trail, we had our first real taste of wild huckleberries.  They weren't quite ripe (the season has been delayed several weeks due to the high snowpack), but still yummy!

We did a 20 mile backpack trip through part of the park.  Gunsight Lake, over Gunsight Pass, to Lake Ellen Wilson, over Lincoln Pass, and through cedar forests to Lake McDonald.  It was an amazing trip.  The trail was thick at times and we had to cross a pretty crazy avalanche field from earlier this year.  There were some snowfield crossing too.  At the campground we met two cool dudes from Seattle, Jere and Tim, who gave us great tips for hiking in the Pac Northwest.  Thanks, guys!

Trail to Gunsight Lake.

There's a trail in there!

Moose eating along the river bottom.

Avalanche Field across the trail.  20" diameter trees snapped off and piled up.

Gunsight Lake.  There were literally dozens of waterfalls in the mountain side.  All the lakes up here are extremely clear...and cold!

Sunset at camp.

Hiking up the pass.

View from the top of Gunsight Pass.

Mountain goats at the top of the pass.  We later learned from the Ranger that they've been habituated to eating human urine for the salts and they started blocking people from passing over the trail until they peed!  Luckily, they let us go unscathed.

Us with Tim and Jere at the top of the pass.

Waterfall crossing on our way to Lake Ellen Wilson.

Lake Ellen Wilson.

Hiking from Lake Ellen over Lincoln Pass.

Hiking down and out through the cedar forests.

We took a day off after our trip to spend some time at the beach around Lake McDonald at the Sprague Creek Campground.  The weather was calm and great. 

LT goofing off on the canoe.

Fishing and soaking up the sun on the canoe.

One day off and we were back out for a 12 mile hike...the Garden Wall from The Loop to Logan Pass.
 

Another lazy day at the Lake and then we headed to the Two Medicine area of the park to do another 18 mile backpack trip over Dawson and Pitamaken passes.  It was colder on the eastern side of the park.  It rained all night at the trailhead and we woke up to snow on the mountain and passes.  Unfortunately, it was too cold and the weather was too poor for us to head into the trip.  This was really the first time that weather has changed our plans, so we've been pretty lucky so far.
 

Instead of backpacking in Two Medicine, we headed out of the park and picked up Big Red.  And here we are, in Kalispell, Montana.

Total Stats So Far:

Backpacking - 76 miles.
Hiking - 94 miles.
Mountain Biking - 42 miles.
Canoeing - 10 miles.
Miles Driven - 3,000+

It's time for us to head into Montana and Idaho for more backpacking and mountain biking!  Stay tuned....