Hiking an old favorite. Wild flowers LOVE July rain!

Original Date: 7/17/26

I’ve written often about Piegan Pass and Cataract Mtn on my blog. If you use the search bar, you will find that every trip has been special in its own unique way. And this one might be my most memorable. I caught the wildflower bloom perfectly!

From Siyeh Bend to the summit of Cataract Mtn by way of Piegan Pass is hands down the best 2500′ gain and 10 miles round you will find in Glacier Park any day of the week.

But even more so today. The wet summer produced an incredible July beargrass bloom. Commonly called the red-head stepchild of the Lily family. At least by me.

Why? Well, they don’t look like a flower and only bloom once or twice a decade. So yeah, you could call them more of a clump of grass than a relative of that stately blossom that represents purity, passion, rebirth, and fertility.

The trail is lined like flags at a Fourth of July parade. I hold out my hand as I walk past, just gently grazing my open palm across their sponge-like crowns. One of the few times I get to pretend I’m a giant.

So if you don’t like flowers, then you may want to scroll forward. I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve seen the flowers this vibrant and the meadows this green so late in July.

These are some of my favorite alpine meadows in all of Glacier Park. They are accessible most of the season, have a perfect backdrop of both mountain scenery and forest, and, if you get the timing right with the spring rains, they are amazing. So much Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium). In tea, it treats colds, fevers, and diarrhea. In a compress, it soothes burns, bites, and earaches!

The clouds are playing cat and mouse, but I’m timing my morning sun just about right. And I’m sorry, I can’t bring myself to call those First Indigenous Peoples’ Art Instruments. They will always be Indian Paintbrush to me.

I was not alone on the trail. For example, here I had to find a spot where I would not get in the way of the couple who had their tripod set up, taking selfies for their social media platform. Yes, you can see the footsteps were then crushed flowers to get to the perfect spot.

To be honest, I don’t know why people feel they need to be standing in the middle of this. It’s just as beautiful to admire from afar. Too late for glacier lilies, but I’ll take this display any day.

The only word that comes to mind is lush. Along with Leafy Aster and Parry’s Townsendia. We are well up into the subalpine. Everything here struggles to bloom, grow, and die within a matter of weeks. Takes a very wet spring for everything to take off at once.

I seldom see beargrass and the wildflowers overlap to this degree. Kind of like cats and dogs in the flower world. However, most would argue that beargrass is a flower and needs love, too.

The sky still hasn’t decided what it wants to do today. But I’m getting more blue than I am clouds. Good day to be in the mountains.

The trail starts to break out of the tree line, and I see the scree fields that traverse what’s commonly called Sunrise Ridge, although I have yet to find it on any maps. It acts as a connector between Cataract Peak and what becomes the Siyeh Ridge Complex.

All of the lingering snowfields are long gone, leaving bare rock layers millions of years old and… what else…. more beargrass.

The weather remains iffy, but doesn’t look like anything I haven’t packed for. I’ve been a little wet on hikes before. Knowing it is a quick five miles out to the van helps.

But the contrast between the flora, rock, and sky is really quite breathtaking. Sometimes I find myself getting a little numb to it. Until I write these blogs and lay out the pictures. When the moment comes back to me in a comfy, warm chair near the fireplace.

I say it time and time again. The last mile approach to Piegan Pass does not get the love it deserves. I can count in the single digits the stretches of trail that are a must-do for anyone visiting Glacier Park. But for ease of approach, this is the prime one for the casual outdoorsy tourist.

Some sheep decided to cross my path. Although man made the trail, it’s really more theirs than ours now. I try to give them as much space as possible.  

No need to pause at the pass. I start immediately up the crumbled basalt layer known as the diorite sill. Unmistakably volcanic. It stands out dramatically against the other dozen layers of predominantly sedimentary stone in the park.

And life continues to find a way, even within this barren and windswept boulder field at high elevation. In a crevice, I find some Alpine Arnica that has made a home for the short summer season in full bloom.

Nearby we have Explorer’s Gentian (Gentiana calycosa). The root has been used medicinally for centuries to aid digestion, wound healing, and remedy “female weakness and hysteria.” Hey, that’s just science, I didn’t come up with it.

From the summit slopes of Cataract, you can see the back side of the famed Garden Wall and look deep into the Many Glacier Valley. But the wind would not leave me alone.

 

Case in point. Here is a little 360 for you all. You can hear most of it.  

The clouds just will not let go of the valley today. Not enough heat from the sun to create that thermal induction to make them rise.

But there is enough change in the barometer to keep everything churning. Nonetheless, it was still a pleasant day to take in the elevations in Glacier.

I could name all of these peaks for you. But anyone who has been following me for any length of time knows I’ve climbed most of them, and each has its own story. Henkel, Appekunny, Crowfeet, Altyn, Swiftcurrent, Allen, and beyond. 🙂

Always need one summit photo just to prove that I was actually there. And this isn’t all some AI dream trying to bait click you into some TikTok store. GoatBoy is proudly AI and ad-free.

It’s not a good day to be in a Red Bus. Nothing but clouds up to Logan Pass, at least in the morning. This should burn off by afternoon, making for glorious PM alpine tours.

 

 

Let’s have a look at the bowl known as Siyeh Bend.

The summits of Glacier’s peaks are always an amazing place. Sometimes tranquil. Other times, quite terrifying. This one falls into the former category.

All hail the black ribbon in the rock with a little white above and below. It is the same diorite sill whose crumbled remains cover the top of Cataract Peak. This boulder field to the summit is a unique ecosystem of its own (prime pika and marmot habitat).

As a man of somewhat diminutive stature, I like making long shadows every chance I get. And this summer gave me quite a few opportunities.

Too much time on top. I start my way down, giving a nod to that monster 10k footer, Siyeh, with that fresh dusting of July snow. Just to remind us how short the season is in the hills.

The Deli is waiting for me down at Siyeh Bend, beyond the forest, where you can barely see just a snippet of the Sun Road to the right of center. Occasionally, you hear the sound of traffic when the wind is just right. Ick.

The sky will definitely clear by afternoon, but I think it’s fine just the way it is. Would not change a thing about the day.

I bid farewell to the endless meadows of wildflowers. They will be burned up in no time, with the summer heat of late July and August, just around the corner.

And down at the Deli, I slide the door open, take off my boots, and relax with a view. After the 20th person asks me if I’m leaving, and my peace and serenity have been totally destroyed, I give them a begrudging “yes.”

I drive back down the mountain with a smile on my face and consider whether they have any of that Heuitterite strawberry rhubarb pie or perhaps zucchini bread left in the employee dining room.

GoatBoy out. And happy.

While Patrick still sucks. But I bet if he had been around in 1969, he would have put some of those wild flowers in his hair and found himself going to San Francisco.