First hike as an employee. Is free entrance worth it?

Original Post 7/03/21

Up bright and early. My first work day. But, since I don’t start until 3:30pm, in reality I have the most of the day to make something out it it. So with a full charge on my phone I headed directly up to Logan Pass to start the season right.

It felt just right to feel the morning sun on my face and watch it wake up some old friends: Mt Reynolds, Mt Clements, and even that red headed stepchild Mt Oberlin that I only climbed when it’s in they way of something else. I was thinking of maybe evening taking off and visiting Hidden Lake, maybe catch the last of the waning wildflowers before the summer heat came on. But alas, it was not to be.

Right at the main trailhead at the back of the visitor center was a big CLOSED sign. Too much bear activity. A sow and two cubs were feeding off fish at the lake and clearing up some carrion (goat and sheep carcasses from winter falls) from the receding snows drifts. I’ll need to put ‘check for trail closures’ on my AM hiking check list before committing to a forty mile drive. Still a great drive nonetheless, but hate going to a Plan B my first day.

So the back up was the Mt Brown fire lookout, at the head of Lake McDonald along the eastern shore. Not surprisingly a moderate to low traveled trail, most likely because of the 4300’ of vertical gain over barely six miles. Kind of a big bite for the first day out, but I’ve got an eight hour shift behind a steering wheel to let the muscles heal this evening.

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been on this trail, and I quickly found out that the forest fire in 2017 took out most of the forest. Benefit: got some great views of Mt Stanton and Mt Vaught through the windowmakers, and you can now watch LMD slowing grow below your feet as you make the nearly mile high climb. Drawback: zero shade, lots of sun, cloudless day, temps in mid 90’s, no wind. The pain definitely reminded me of the last time I was on this trail, way back when I was in my 20s.

A saving grace was I had my 3rd gen (now ‘vintage’) shuffle to keep me company. This device is so old that the OS is outdated and I can’t update it. Which means I’ll be enjoying the mix Jaclyn made when she borrowed it for her trip to Kenya several years back for all eternity. Good thing I don’t mind Taylor Swift and Cage the Elephant. Even Kidd Rock is tolerable (almost enjoyable) in the right dose.

I knew with the couple hours I lost driving up and back from the pass I wouldn’t have time to summit the fire lookout. But I’ll take whatever miles and elevation I can get before turning around and getting back ‘home’ for a shower. I never thought I would call and RV park ‘home.’ I did get far enough up the trail to see hazy Mt Edwards and the peaks of the Clark range at the five mile point w/ 3600′ of gain. It would have to be good enough for today.

On the way down I met a nice Japanese solo hiker who asked for some beta on how much farther. Instead of giving the usual ‘there is more left they you got’ bit and moving on, I took time to find out her name was Toma from Osaka, Japan.

After giving her the down low on miles and elevation left, trail conditions, windage and bug situation, I found out she is almost out of water. Instead of scolding, I topped off her 1 liter from my hydration bladder and wished her a good trip.

About mile later, I wondered to myself if I had been instrumental in allowing a young adult to accomplish a great personal goal that she would cherish forever, or just made the body recover effort more difficult for the NPS rangers. Didn’t hear any rescue helicopters in the night, so I’m putting this partial hike into the win column.

No, I did not return as a tour guide Jammer this summer. With covid it is a very fluid situation and the NPS is changing its rules and protocols all of the time. The pent up tour demand is incredible this year, and drivers are limited by housing. So instead I drive the employee shuttle, which is amazingly a LOT easier than it sounds.

I’ll take an air conditioned red Glacier shuttle van from roughly Columbia Falls to the head of LMD x4 a shift (roughly 240 miles a day). My shift is 4-midnight, I’ll pick up anywhere from 0-6 people for an entire shift. Finally I can start listening to those Freakonomics podcasts.

Sucks for anyone who does not have a long list of day hikes for the AM and peaks to climb lined up for their days off.