YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Well, tell us how your trip went. We all want to hear about your special experience.

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YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

So far this year there have been at least two trip reports covering the Northern Traverse. Consider mine an extension of those.

I've done the Glacier National Park northern traverse route once before. That time I went from east to west, starting at Chief Mountain Customs and ending at Kintla Lake. This time I traveled eastward from Kintla to Chief Mountain.

Logistics
The northern traverse route covers going from one side of the park to the other. The starting trailhead is about 65 miles away from the ending trailhead. By road the two sides are probably about 200 miles apart. So one needs to figure out travel logistics beforehand. I was lucky this year since I knew people (Tina's group) coming from the east on the same route I was on going eastward. So I exchanged cars and keys with Jen (a former chatter and member of Tina's group). This all happened the day before the trip.
It should be noted that I was originally signed up to go with Tina's group. Many of the folks in her group were friends of mine whom I hiked with before. I did the northern traverse with Tim in fact. In the end I decided I wanted to have a little more solitude, I knew hiking with a group of nine people has benefits but it also can limit the experience in some ways.

August 1, 2018
On the previous day, Jen and Tina met me in East Glacier to exchange cars. I was very happy that Jen's car was not as crappy as my rental car. Day one started by driving Jen's car from East Glacier to the Kintla lake trailhead. I started early since I was worried about not having a parking space at the Kintla lake trailhead.
I got to Polebridge around about 9:30 am and the ranger at the station said the reports say there are 2 spots available. OK... good to go!

So I started on my way into the park toward Kintla Lake. As I got to the intersection of the Bowman Lake road with the Kintla Lake road there were 3 guys with backpacks waving at me. They were headed to Kintla lake and had been waiting over 2 hours for a ride so I offered to take them up to Kintla with me. They were very grateful and it turns out that my good deed brought good karma within the hour.

At about 2 miles from the trailhead we came around a turn in the road. I was driving slow enough that my vehicle did not scare away the wildlife (at least not this wildlife). Around the turn I could see two animals on road. It took me a second or two and then I said to the guys "Wolves!". I brought the car to a stop about 50-75 away from them. We watched them for about a minute until they wandered away up the road. I slowly drove the car forward we saw them again as they hopped into the woods. As we passed the spot in the woods, one of the wolves had stopped and was still visible looking curiously back at us.

I didn't have my camera available but one of the guys managed to snap a photo from the backseat with his iphone

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I've been hiking in the park for 20 years and I've never seen wolves. I was really happy and I thought I would consider this trip a success no matter whatever else happens. I also told the guys they were very lucky to have seen these wolves on their first trip to the park.

My first night was at Kintla lake camp, I never camped there before but I've seen it on my travels to the upper lake. I would have much preferred staying at Upper Kintla lake which is one of my favorite sites to camp. The three guys were camping at Upper Kintla that night. I would have hiked with them but I needed to get some gear in order before leaving. The hike to Kintla lake head is about 6 miles and is fairly easy hiking except for a few hills when the trail veers away from the lakeshore. Even though I was carrying seven days of food in pack the hike went very fast and I made it to camp by lunchtime.

I lucked out and found that the only good camp site at this campground was available when I arrived. Most of the 6 sites are away from the water at this camp and only 1 site is really nice and close to the shore line. So when I saw that it was open I quickly snagged it.
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After setting up my tent, I went over to the food prep area and had some lunch. The three back packers whom I drove up with were eating lunch down by the shore.

After lunch I decided to go for a swim in the lake. It was really nice and peaceful, even though there were tents setup in camp I didn't see anyone around in camp. After swimming I decided to take a walk down to the head of the lake. I was wearing my camp shoes which were wet from the swim. After getting to the head of lake I decided to continue up the trail since I had so much time on my hands I might as well go for a longer walk. I should have realized that my wet camp shoes were probably not a good thing to wear. Also I had my bear spray but it was in my pack and not easily accessible. (I usually don't do this)

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This shows an image from the trail. The river is the water coming from the upper lake to the lower lake.

I kept walking for one or two miles until I got to the clearing between the two lakes. This area is very open and you can look up the grassy slopes and shoots to the higher peaks. I always think I'm going to see a bear in the distance around here. In the center of the clearing is a stream which flows down from the mountains. (I think one of them is called Knife Edge). Anyway, I stopped at the stream and notice a couple of hikers. It was a very young couple and they came up to excited telling me about the 2 bears they just saw on the trail I was on. I guess I must have walked right by the bears without noticing them. I was making noise so maybe I scared them off.

Not long after the couple left toward our camp, I heard them yelling in the distance... Bear Bear Bear! They then came running back to show me the bear on the trail. This time I did not miss the bear!
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They were saying this was Grizzly bear, however I think it was a black bear. Any opinions based on the pictures?

After watching the bear for a bit, we decided to head back down the trail to camp. They hiked pretty fast but I decided to stay with them even though I was wearing wet camp shoes. Not a good idea!

My camp mates included a father and son who were very nice. The father was probably my age and the son was in his early thirties maybe. Both were ex-marines. The young couple were camped up on the hill. A family of three canoed in from the foot of the lake. They brought their own table and cooler! But they seemed really nice. There was also a man and a woman. It turned out the woman was a former under secretary of the Navy. Pretty cool! And the guy was some kind of army ranger. He made a fire faster than I ever saw anyone make a fire. It was pretty interesting listening to their stories.

It was pretty good first day of my trip. I saw 2 wolves, a bear and ended the evening with a nice sunset.
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In the middle of night I was woken up by a very bright light shining into my tent. It was coming straight into my tent from the direction of the mountains across the lake. The light was really low in the sky. At first, I thought is that the moon? but then I realized my tent was facing mountains across the lake. How could the moon be shining into my tent from the direction of the mountains. Then I realized in the morning it must have been the reflection of the moon from the lake that was shining into my tent. I really wish I had gotten up to take a look at it. It was have been beautiful and a great photo opportunity.
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by tibber »

so cool to see the wolves let alone have someone get pics. You did get a nice spot at Kintla Lake. I always find it interesting to meet the people at camp; looks like you have a very interesting gathering.
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

Thanks Tibber! My trip really got off to a good start this year.
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

August 2, 2018 - Destination Boulder Pass

The second night of my trip was for Boulder pass camp. It's about 11 miles and 3200 ft elevation gain from Kintla head to Boulder pass camp. Most people would call this a difficult day. However two of factors played a much more significant role in the day's outcome than the miles or elevation gain.

The weather was great, sunny but not too warm and a nice breeze. I arrived at Upper Kintla Lake camp at about 11 am and decided to have second breakfast by the lake shore. It seemed like the camp was still full with tents.

Then I started the accent to Boulder pass. The hike was going well but I did notice early on a couple of bothersome things. First, every time I stopped it seemed the biting flies would be on me quickly. At first it wasn't too bad but the farther I went up the worse the flies got. At one point I had to stop to get some water. I swear within a minute there were 50 flies on each leg.

The second thing was my feet started really bothering me. I was developing blisters really fast on both feet. I never get blisters so I didn't have anything with me to help deal with the situation. At some point, I realized that my blisters were caused by my hiking in wet camp shoes the day before. Those shoes caused the areas of skin touching the shoes to be tender and then when I hiked with bulky socks the next day, tender skin opened up.

I pushed on toward the pass and eventually made it up there. I was in near tears by the time I got into camp. Every step was very painful. When I got to camp I dropped my pack, grabbed food and headed for the food prep area to have a look at my feet. There were two guys sitting in the food prep area, again a father and son. When they saw the state of right foot they were concerned enough to provide me with their personal supplies of bandages and moleskin. They were a great help and I probably wouldn't have made it without their help and the help of other I met along the trail. I wish I had paid more attention to what I was doing on day 1.

Both feet were pretty badly blistered. I'd say the right foot was a little worse. There were blisters on every toe and on the inside section of each foot from the top to the big toe down the side to the heel. This was the only time on the trip I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the end trailhead at Chief Mountain.

Boulder pass was beautiful though and the evening sunset was classic. I didn't take many pictures... but here are the ones that I did take.

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We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

August 3, 2018 - Destination Janet Lake

I slept without socks at Boulder pass so my blisters could dry out in the open air. Since today's hike was all down hill, I figured as long as I go slowly the blisters will hopefully not get any worse. I also put on a pair of thin socks instead of thick ones. The thin socks hugged my feet closely and didn't move much. This made a huge difference and I used that one pair of thin socks for the rest of hiking.

My pace down to Janet lake was really slow, I mean usually I hike downhill sections at about 2.5 to 3 miles per hour. My pace today was at about 1 to 1.5 miles per hour. I probably could have hiked quicker but I decided to just take my time and do no damage to the my feet.

Even though I was worried about my feet, the hike down to Brown pass was very enjoyable. It was a beautiful day again and the scenery could not be better. It's funny I didn't see any hikers from Boulder pass camp to Brown pass, that also made the decent much more intimate.

Boulder pass
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Heading down from Boulder pass toward HOL camp
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Looking back at the trail from Boulder pass
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Working my way down the trail and looking back at Boulder Peak
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Some videos of the HOL camp and the mountains in the surrounding area.
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https://photos.app.goo.gl/YE9US8M2u3D9XncSA
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ku92wKgAvmwyY34u6

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You really can't take a bad picture in this area of the park.
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Another video, I got a little knocked over by the wind.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yf7UYf8Gz5wi6V4h9

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At Brown pass I met a couple of guys, they were day hiking up from Goat Haunt camp and asked me if it was worth it to hike the rest of the way to HOL camp. Without a doubt it is worth every footstep I replied. It's among the best scenery you can get in the entire park. I mentioned I was hiking a little lame today because of blisters and each of them quickly reached into their packs to donate some bandages. I didn't even ask for any help they just volunteered it. You got to love trail angels.

I got to the junction of Lake Francis and decide even though I would need to climb out from the lake on the steep trail, it was worth visiting the lake.

Lake Francis
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Video of Lake Francis
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9saEmvomzZPMQWat7

I arrived a Janet lake camp some time later. It was my first time camping at this site and I have to say it is my least favorite camp in Glacier park. I don't know why they couldn't have put the camp on or closer to the Janet lake. The camps is in the woods about a half mile or so from the lake. It's by a stream but access to the stream is difficult. I guess the only thing good about this camp is that there are only 2 camp sites and they are quite a distance for one another. So it is pretty quiet. My camp mate was also a solo hiker so I didn't see anyone else the rest of the evening except for him.

Janet lake about a half mile from camp. It's actually quite nice, just wish the came was on it or a little closer.
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Pano of Janet lake... You probably will need to stretch out your browser window to see the whole thing.
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Video of Janet Lakehttps://photos.app.goo.gl/KgJrdtD6eahue1QN8

My feet held up pretty good over the 11 mile hike from Boulder pass. I really needed a good day to help build up some skin on the blisters and this slow downhill hike did the job. :arrow:
Last edited by paul on Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by Selkie »

Wonderful and informative photos, and "episodes of humanity" add texture to the narrative!
Thanks for the "flipped trip" report, building the bigger picture on MattB's descriptions.
(The links to photos and videos all turn up 404. Hope to be able to view them as well!)

:arrow:
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by PeteE »

Hey Paul!
Good reporting.
You be one tough hombre to stick it out and finish what is arguably one of the more difficult itineraries in GNP.
Just reading about those blisters made me cringe.
Well Done.
Regarding your photos of the Boulder Pass. :) What a place!!
Darn it!! I just have to get up there one day-- and soon, before I'm too feeble. 8)

cheers
pete :wink:

Is this maybe the issue with your images and video 404 error?
Matt had a similar problem?

Actually I used your advice!.. I was orginially just using the Google "Copy", button, but when I ignored that, and used the browsers, "copy image location" it worked fine... Except that Google makes the link to the image about 10 lines long of gibberish.... But when its posted in the img tags, none of thats visible..
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

Selkie wrote:Wonderful and informative photos, and "episodes of humanity" add texture to the narrative!
Thanks for the "flipped trip" report, building the bigger picture on MattB's descriptions.
(The links to photos and videos all turn up 404. Hope to be able to view them as well!)

:arrow:
Thanks Selkie,

I found the issue with the links to videos. I needed to create shareable links in google photos. So you should be able to see them now. I might be moving the videos later since I'm not certain the location is secure. By the way, the photos should have visible. Just the links to the videos were failing. Let me know if its still not working.
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

PeteE wrote:Hey Paul!
Good reporting.
You be one tough hombre to stick it out and finish what is arguably one of the more difficult itineraries in GNP.
Just reading about those blisters made me cringe.
Well Done.
Regarding your photos of the Boulder Pass. :) What a place!!
Darn it!! I just have to get up there one day-- and soon, before I'm too feeble. 8)

cheers
pete :wink:

Is this maybe the issue with your images and video 404 error?
Matt had a similar problem?

Actually I used your advice!.. I was originally just using the Google "Copy", button, but when I ignored that, and used the browsers, "copy image location" it worked fine... Except that Google makes the link to the image about 10 lines long of gibberish.... But when its posted in the img tags, none of thats visible..
Thanks Pete, the blisters really changed my plans for the entire trip. I would have liked to get up on Boulder Peak and I had perfect weather for it. Also, I couldn't get up to the Sue Lake area this time. I'm just thankful that I had great conditions and was able to move forward and get better each day. I'm also glad to have met so many helpful people along the way.

Maybe you can try for Boulder Pass next year. Probably doing the Kintla to Bowman loop or the reverse direction would make the most sense.

As far as the links go, I think fixed the issue. Let me know if you still have issues with them.
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by Sue Z »

Boulder Pass is my favorite place. This photo of yours is spectacular. Thanks for posting, Paul.

-Susan
paul wrote: Image
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

Sue Z wrote:Boulder Pass is my favorite place. This photo of yours is spectacular. Thanks for posting, Paul.

-Susan
Thanks Susan
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by Jay w »

Ok, I started, but finally finished the report so far, and I'm enjoying it. The wolf sighting is rare, but to have them hang out is unheard of.

Blisters....when the feet ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

Jay w wrote:Ok, I started, but finally finished the report so far, and I'm enjoying it. The wolf sighting is rare, but to have them hang out is unheard of.

Blisters....when the feet ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

Jay
Thanks Jay. Those wolves didn't hang around too long. Although they did seem curious... like they never saw humans before.
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by paul »

August 4, 2018 Destination Stoney Indian Lake

What Janet Lake camp lacks in scenery and hospitality it makes up for in quietness. I woke up in the morning fully rested from a sound night of sleep. No bumps in the night, no annoying deer or pesky rodents bothering me and just one quiet camp mate about 100 yards from my tent.

My Glacier park itinerary said I was camping that night at Waterton River camp but Tina's group invited me to stay with them at Stoney Indian Lake. Even though the hike to Waterton river is much easier I decided I take the long trek to Stoney Indian Lake to meetup and camp with the gang.

Of course it's close to 12 miles of hiking and probably 2200ft up in elevation. This hike would be my first test for me blistered feet. So off I went!!!

I quite enjoyed the walk down to Goat haunt. It's nice gradual downhill in the woods. I happened to see a Tree Marten on the trail as well. Once I reached the ranger station I checked the weather forecast and had some lunch. Also I had a chance to clean up with running water and soap at the restrooms in the shelters there. The mosquitoes in the lower woods near the lake and river were pretty bad so I didn't linger there very long.

The next section of hiking to the junction of the Stoney Indian Pass trail is predominantly flat. It's again in woods but I found it quite enjoyable. At first I had quite a few people sightings. These were mostly people day hiking that came from the boat. There were also about 6 or 7 trail runners. Actually the first two trail runners I came across really startled me. I usually hear people coming and I'm very aware of the woods around me when I'm hiking solo. However these two lady runners came crashing the bushes and I pretty much jumped out of shoes.

After the trail runners came through I got back to a nice pleasant walk. It's amazing how many sounds you hear in the woods. The wind in the trees, the birds, rushing water in the streams, little critters in the bushes, it's an orchestra of nature.

The final section of this hike is the up hill section of the Stoney Indian Pass trail from the Junction to the lake. The sign said it was 2.6 miles to the lake. I've hiked this trail many times in the opposite direction and never really enjoyed it because it was always hot, over grown and steep. Now I would have to do all that and go up hill too.

Surprisingly, it wasn't really too bad. The sun was behind the clouds and hills didn't really seem as steep in the other direction. I'd have to say I thought going up to Stoney Indian is actually easier in this direction than from the east.

Right before I reached camp as came up the final rise, I heard someone say "Hey is that is you, Paul?" I turned around and saw Joyce (Chatter Joybird) sitting on a rock. She offered to take my food to the food box but I told her I wanted to finish today's hike in hero moment which to me meant finishing up the hike by carrying all my gear to the top.

Once settled I had dinner with all the other chatters in Tina's group. We had the entire camp to ourselves. How about that! all the people in camp were part of this chat page and all good friends. I met MattB for the first time in person. I also met Jen's daughter and her Niece... They are talented singers!

At dinner Jen and Tina pulled out bottles of rum. Jen had quite a few entertaining stories to tell. I told everyone about the wolf sighting and my poor feet.

It was almost time for bed but I did manage to take a few pictures before threatening clouds showed up.

Looking west
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Peaks above the lake
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The lake looking forward the pass
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Looking west again
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As we settled into our tents, little did we know that we would be visited by a menacing beast that night. To be continued ...
We are in the mountains and the mountains are in us. - John Muir
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Re: YANT - Yet Another Northern Traverse

Post by teapot57 »

Great photos, Paul! It is interesting to see things from the reverse perspective. I even noticed that the shadows fall differently in your photos, since you hit the same areas as us, but in the morning instead of late afternoon (or vice versa).

Folks, I saw those feet. I can't believe Paul hiked all those miles with his feet being as sore as they were. They were totally raw in the places he described . . . all of his toes and along the inner soles. Paul could have easily waited for us to swap keys at Waterton River or Goat Haunt, and then bailed the trail at Goat Haunt where he would have access to a shuttle in Waterton that could take him back to his vehicle at Chief Mountain. Instead he continued to hike out over Stoney Indian Pass on those very sore feet. He is one tough cookie!
It's amazing how many sounds you hear in the woods. The wind in the trees, the birds, rushing water in the streams, little critters in the bushes, it's an orchestra of nature.
I like this, Paul. Very true.
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