I Took The Path Less Traveled By: August 2018

August 29, 2018

Peigan Mountain and Cataract Mountain Aug 29,2018 Glacier National Park

Another hiking adventure on Wednesday. Today was a bit of a different beast, the group I hiked with wanted to do Siyeh and since I had done it last week I figured I'd try something different. So my son and I decided we'd try Peigan and Cataract instead and try and meet up on Siyeh for a triple peak day. Well the forecast was for nice weather and a light breeze, well it was not nice weather and the wind was crazy. So for the better part of our day we were reminded that it is almost fall and I actually had to wear my coat most of the day which I haven't had to do at all since probably the spring. Ironically as we were descending as a group the weather turned for the nicer and the views improved. Last week the smoke was clear in the morning and then by the end it was all smoked in. This week was the opposite, the morning was cloudy/windy/smokey and miserable. Then the afternoon was amazing. So we bagged the first two peaks pretty quick and then headed up the ridge from Siyeh and eventually ran out of gas. The rest of the group was actually on the way down when we got to a false summit (which was only about 600 feet more elevation till the summit) so we decided to just descent with them so we got 2 of the 3 objectives today. I would have probably continued but since we had just done Siyeh the week before I didn't feel to bad missing it. As a side note the west ridge of Siyeh is a little sketchy and coming from Cataract is probably not a good idea if you aren't confident and experienced. We made it okay but there were a few moments that even I was thinking we maybe shouldn't be doing this. Otherwise a good day to bag off two more summits!

This weeks pictures were not the greatest because of smoke and cloud

Morning view of Pollock as we started up Lunch Creek

Looking back at Reynolds and Heavy Runner going up Lunch Creek

Going up to the Peigan Ridge with the awesome ridge in the background

Our first views of Siyeh coming over the ridge up to Peigan

Summit block of Peigan

Nearing the Summit of Peigan Mountain

Peigan Glacier below us from the summit

Summit Photo

Heading down to Peigan Pass with our next objective Cataract Mountain on the left

Almost to Peigan Pass with a closer view of Cataract

Looking back at Polluck and Bishop's Cap

Summit Cairn on Cataract with Siyeh behind it

Summit photo on summit #2

The ridge we would take up to almost summit Siyeh

Cool rock we found

Looking back on the cliff of Cataract

Another picture of the connecting ridge

Looking back at Cataract as we head up Siyeh

As high as we would get for the day...so close but yet so far

At the end, look how clear the view is now?

Pollock at the end of the day as well, much clearer and warmer

Sentimental photo, this pack is finally getting retired. It has served me very well for many many years and I almost don't want to stop using it, but it is getting to the point that it may not hold together anymore. So I bought a new one and it came in the mail today so this one, I'll bid Adieu it was a great pack!

Track of Hike

Summit Video on Peigan

Summit Panorama on Peigan

Summit Video on Cataract

Summit Panorama on Cataract

August 24, 2018

Mount Siyeh August 22, 2018 Glacier National Park

So today didn't go as planned, but that was a good thing. We've been having a fair amount of smoke in the air from all the forest fires raging in B.C. and one in Glacier National Park. As a result I have been less that excited about hiking but since it was Wednesday and I had the day off my son and I decided to go anyways. So we had planned on going up to Waterton and hoped it would be clear up there but upon waking I checked the webcams and the Many Glacier area looked the most clear. So we drove up and on the way we stopped at Cardston and re-checked the websites and again Waterton was completely socked in, so I decided lets go to Glacier and why not try Siyeh. It was one of the 10,000's that I hadn't done yet and I was hoping to reserve this one for a nice clear day because they say the views are great from this summit. So anyways we headed up the Going to the sun road and arrived at Siyeh bend and got out and it was so clear when we started. We had thought we had won the jackpot! So we headed up to what is called Preston Park which is where you go off trail from the Siyeh pass trail. From there we took one of the drainage's up. On the way down we took on further east, they both seemed similar. We eventually got to the ridge that looked down on Many Glaciers area and noticed how clear that valley was as well from the smoke. It was incredible how there was an inversion on the other side of the continental divide. The smoke from the Howe Ridge fire was trapped in that valley across the way and the continental divide was keeping the smoke on that side. It was a very pretty sight, but like all good things the view slowly got worse as the day progressed. Eventually our clear skies were smoke filled and by the end we could barely see Siyeh from the road. It was a great day and the inversion we saw was spectacular.

Beautiful clear sky to begin Siyeh on right

Almost at Preston Park looking up at Siyeh

There was frost on the plants, must have been cold the night before

First views of Piegan Glacier

This is where we headed up

Some smoke is filling the valley below at the Siyeh bend, the smoke must be coming over the opening at Logan Pass

Our first view into Many Glacier Valley withe the inversion in the distance

Amazing the contrast from smoke on the west of the continental divide to the clearness on the east

First view of the cliff from the Summit

Summit View with the inversion

Cracker Lake

More smoke so the south in the distance but kind of cool how it is only settled in the valleys and the peaks are all clear

View of Grinnell Lake and the Salamander Glacier above it

Summit Photo

Summit Cairn with inversion behind it

Carter on the sick cliff

Looking back at he drainage we came down

This is the trail to take to go up and down the mountain (off the Siyeh pass trail)

Compare this photo at our end with all the smoke to the first one of this entry and you can the how much the smoke changed in 7 hours. You can barely see Siyeh in this picture on the right

Black bear we saw on the road on the way back

Track of Hike

Summit Video

Photo Sphere on Summit

Cliff Video on Summit

August 14, 2018

Little Beehive, Big Beehive and Devil's Thumb Banff National Park August 11, 2018

Well the peak bagging continued but so did the haze of the B.C. fires. This would have been a beautiful day minus the smoke. I think this is a very hiked area as I was never really alone this entire hike. My little crew made it to Lake Agnes but nobody wanted to go any further so I did the Big Beehive and the Devil's Thumb alone even though there was a myriad of people on the trail I didn't feel being a solo hiker was at all dangerous. I would never solo hike on other hikes but there are so many people on these trails in the Lake Louise area I didn't feel to bad being by myself. This too is a hike I'd do again in the future for the views. I wasn't sure but I think I was able to see Abbott Pass on the way up the Devil's Thumb but the haze was so thick I wasn't sure.