Moths, bears, wind, & chips. One hike that has it all.

Original Post 8/10/21

Mt Siyeh is only 10,014, just enough to put it in the company of the other five peaks in the park over 10k. Of course, given the wind up there, I wouldn’t be surprised if it has eroded a a few feet below that threshold during my visit. But I get ahead of myself.

Finally! A climbing approach that is like how I remembered it from years ago. You start via the Piegan/Siyeh Pass trail which has comfortable gain, is well-maintained, great views, and like an old friend, it hasn’t changed a bit thru the years.

You must hike off-trail thru a forested bowl of what is called Preston Park to get to the base of Siyeh. It is a little hard on the nerves because of the low visibility, and there have been a few bear mailings there in the past. Which is why is it so nice to look back at Preston from on high once you’ve made it thru the bear maze. Yeah, I made lots of noise.

Now you reach the three main draining’s going through the cliffs (best one in the middle), until the long scree slope to the summit. From the top of those cliffs it’s still another 2k of gain (4200 total from the car). But those slopes are open with great views and safe (from most things). The climbing was pretty good. Matahpi rose in the background, and there was a heavily beaten boot path from the bottom of the main gully I was ascending. Looks like this peak has gotten a lot of love over the years as well.

When the summit came into view I knew I probably had a good hour and a half to go. About 600′ below the summit, the wind was really horrible and was catching my pack. From my experience earlier in the week, I decided to cache my pack down low and go directly for the summit instead of the ridgeline (where I expected to wind to be at it’s worst).

At the summit, lots of wind. The prior storm front was still clearing, with the blowing clouds were right at 9800′. I know this because those fleeting bits of water vapor would not give me a good view from the top. Funny, same thing happen in 1986.

Oh well. Cracker Lake still looked like a puddle 4500′ below. And Cracker Glacier nothing more than a dirty snowdrift. A little clearing gave me a quick peak at Piegan and Pollock, which I’ll attend to later this week (in good weather with a little luck).

Although the clouds were low, the mountains were still in your face, and there was no smoke for a change. I did a nice little video to show you how hard the wind was blowing up there.

On the summit, I ask what would Past Dave ask Future Dave (me) if he had a chance:

Time to start down. With the wind backing off some, so I take the ridge. 200′ off the summit, I see my pack at the 9400′ level where I left it. As I slide down the scree, I hear rock fall to my left. Though nothing of it, until I heard it again. I stop to look for a goat or a sheep. Nope. Something else.

Yep. A big old sow grizzly, about 500-600 pounds, foraging just 400′ below the summit I had just climbed. She was directly in the fall line I had taken for the ascent. Glad I took the ridge down or I would have dropped on top a feeding bear.

But, the griz is between me and my pack. Which has my bear spray. As I pause to take this all in, my boots clinks on something metallic. I look down as my feet. I pick up and old, beat up, dented up can of bear spray. Safety gone, fully discharged. Ahhhhhhhhh, shit.

It took about a minute to absorb all of this. I had just acknowledged a real physical threat, figured out where I needed to be, and have evidence that this threat has occurred before in this same place. Assuming the last person here most likely chose to throw his/her empty can of spray at the bear in a last ditch effort of self-defense. Yeah. Not my day.

I was upwind from the bear, so she didn’t have my scent or noise. At least not quite yet. Walking very carefully to reduce noise (staying on big rocks and out of the scree as much as I could), I cut a wide berth from the feeding bruin and circled around to my pack. When the wind backed down I paused, staying very still. As long as her head was in that hole and she kept shoveling out tons of scree looking for a mouthful of moth larva, I was just fine. It was a slow process. Mentally fatiguing.

I finally got to my pack, prepped my defense, and started moving downhill. I doubled the distance to about 400′ below her, when the wind shifted and she caught my scent. Mama bear stopped, stood up, and looked directly at me. Knowing I had more calories in my backpack than on this entire mountainside, I waited to see what she would do.

She started to move, but in a traverse and not a descent. The bear went directly to the boulder where I had formerly stashed my pack. And behind her was more movement. Now I realized she had a cub with her, 2 maybe 3 years old. A little on the older side to still be with mom. With the heat waves we have been having in the park, the foraging has been tough this summer.

So she might have been showing junior a little extended love before throwing him out of her basement this season.

I made my way for the cliffs in the drainage below while looking back ever other minute. I’m hoping there aren’t any more bears in the Preston Park area. I must get thru that piece of forest to get onto the main trail as quickly as I could.

With that behind me, I make the trail and make haste to the car. That was way too close to a bear with no place to hide. To lift my spirits, I did a little recon for Read Eagle Mtn near Rising Sun Motor Inn. Love the East side. The wonderful reds, great views of St Mary area, no bears (or so I’ve heard).

At the car I discovered I lost my favorite hiking hat and the replacement sun glasses up on the mountain. I had 15+ years of love and stories in that hat. Probably fell out when I retrieved my pack and fled in fear of my life. If I had spent a little more time on the summit of Siyeh waiting for the clouds to clear, she would have probably found my pack before I made it down and out.

I’ve got a feeling Mama Bear is sporting a very nice Seattle Sombrero, looking good in my polarized sun glasses. Probably saying “Hey junior, if only I had some chips to go with that moth larva.”