Piegan Pass and Cataract Peak Redux.  Nice not to hike alone.

Alright alright alright. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done a post on Piegan Pass. I love this place.  I’ve said that 1000 times.  And I’ll say it 1000 more.  But finally, yes FINALLY, I get to share this fantastic place with some old friends. Nancy and the Buckeyes are in town. But she developed a blister the size of Rhode Island on her foot, so only the Buckeyes could partake in an Adventure with GoatBoy.  Could I have better company?  Probably.

As always, I love the approach to Piegan when you’re coming up out of Siyeh Bend. Those fantastic little subalpine firs have been battered and beaten but just don’t give up. Those beautiful layers of banded sedimentary rock that have been carved open and exposed by glaciation over thousands of thousands of years.  And I always give a little nod to the Piegan glacier, so carefully tucked away up in that bowl.  Its only goal in life is to accumulate just a little bit more snow than it loses every year.  What a simple and perfect way to govern one’s existence.  Love this place 🙂

The views looking back are always great as well, seeing massive Mt Jackson, then over to equally massive Blackfoot. The glaciers on both of them clearly visible. Even the Citadel to the far left looks wonderfully impressive this morning.

When you near the destination, the trail just breaks out of the subalpine forest and you are suddenly above the timberline.  Always one of my favorite walks in the whole park.  A mile plus of just exposure and mountain views as far as the eye can see.  This is so quintessential Glacier NP that it just makes me smile so much harder every time I think of it.

Now I was able to talk a couple of the Buckeyes into doing the last 700 feet up to the top of Cataract Peak.  That’s right.  A real named peak on a map, not just some bump with an elevation number.   I did advise there was a boulder field.   I also may have lied and said there were marmots and pikas everywhere to guide them along the way, but it’s not my fault they couldn’t see thru that one. In my defense, I kind of thought there were a lot of critters up on this God-forsaken rock pile, but I’m old and my memory is not that good. 🙂  Ask anyone who knows me. On second thought, better not.  Especially a lawyer and a doctor.

This arm of the garden wall is just massive and beautiful and rugged. And dwarfs my little Buckeyes.  As they curse every breath I take (because they didn’t have any of their own), they solemnly swear to never EVER follow me again anywhere.  Neither up a trail nor an escalator at the mall.  Yeah, right.  I know they’ll be jonesing for another dose of Dave before they hit the bottom of that first glass of wine back at the motel.

The top of Cataract Peak has become a special place for me.  The view is 360 degrees and outstanding.  I’m looking into the valleys and environs and wonders of nature that always make me happy.  So many special places where I had equally special memories long ago.   The same places where I’m making new memories every time that I return (almost forty years later).  It’s hard to ask for a better life.  So why ask?  Maybe just time to take it.  

It’s so comforting that the mountains never change.  Only I do. Or do I? After all,  I’ve kept the same haircut since the early 1980s.  And I still love the free cheese from the Reagan Administration.

This is such a cool side view of the profile of Mt Gould. But I love the diorite band of igneous rock with the white quartzite from the heat that metamorphosized the sediments above it and below.  At least that’s what I tell all the people on the Red Bus tour.

But why not do my Minute in the Sky? Nothing like spinning around with a selfie stick on a mountain making a fool of yourself just to make the world laugh a little.

Or better yet, let’s do a video of a couple of negative Nellies who love to proclaim how foolish they were for following me up to this fantastic view in the sky.  Trust me, if I didn’t want their bodies found, they would NOT be found.   And if their families want to know the details, I’ll tell the to just read my f****** blog.   Sorry for the profanity. Just read my farming blog.

But I know behind the angry eyes there flashes the briefest of sincere smiles.  With just a touch of guarded gratitude.  They would gladly (and begrudgingly) follow me again.  If not for people like this, I would have nothing to write about.

I would have to say probably the most rewarding thing about this particular hike which I’ve done over and over again,  is twofold. One, it was really nice having company to share this beautiful place with. And two, the wildflowers were incredible.

Photos cannot capture the colorful display and the extensive meadows along the trail leading up to Piegan Pass. First of all, you have to understand this is very very rare to have flowers in August. They are normally all burned up by mid-July. So to have so much beauty and so much color and so much texture in these wonderful little meadows this late in the summer is a real treat.

The best part was that it made me slow down on the trail, and be aware of my incredible surroundings.  To relax, see what was in front of me, and remember it.  I have to constantly tell myself to not just pass quickly through, but to absorb and understand and appreciate the small things.  Like the bloom of a single flower in a field of wonderous beauty.

And here is a picture of a random bear on a hillside. I think I took this one around Rising Sun off Upper St Mary Lake. It’s hard to tell. There have been so many bears I’ve seen this summer. The berries have been coming in late because of the cruelly cool and wet June and July. They have been looking everywhere looking for food, including the roadsides. The bears don’t have much time this year to put on all of the weight they need to get through hibernation. Next spring there may be some really hungry Ursa Major coming out early. We’ll see.