Geoff and Jenn's 1997 Glacier NP Trip
Day
4: Menagerie of Glacier Hikes, Part 2
(continued)
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The
Mysterious Flower
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But on the way back down we stopped at
St. Mary's lake and decided to do the quick 3 miler to
St. Mary's Falls and the fately named Virginia Falls. On
the way, I sucked down more sunflowers seeds, while Jenn
did the bear moves on trailside huckleberry bushes --
eating the fruit off with just her lips. We spotted a few
cool wildflowers, including one we failed to identify
(but resembling a penstemmon) that lived next to a
creek.
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The
Horticulurist...
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...
and the Photographic Commando
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At St. Mary's falls, we climbed down below and
took some 15 second (neutral density enhanced) photos. To the
edge of the rock we sat on, the river rolled by quite quickly,
with a very very deep drop-off. From back up on top of the bridge
overlooking the falls, we spent many minutes admiring the force
at which the bottom-most of the falls churned the water. Upswells
continued downstream for quite some ways. The color of the water
was the typical, but nonetheless still amazing azure, turquoise blue color.
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The
Beautiful St. Mary Falls
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St.
Mary's Falls Again...
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and
again...
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and
again...
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and
again...
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Heading on, we passed a number of smaller falls.
Finally, we hit the beautiful Virginia Falls, well worth the wait.
The view was quite incredible, both looking at the falls, and
looking at the view the falls had outwards. We climbed up to the
bottom of the tallest part of the falls and spent quite awhile
exploring all of the peculiarities. There was a large area that
was quite slippery, being slime-enhanced.
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The
Virginia Falls
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Jenn
at the base of the falls
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| Along the edge of the falls, was a truly disgusting
looking substance, plastered across the cliffside. |
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Just
what the heck is in that stuff?
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Stone
Ripples below the Falls
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At the bottom of the falls, were several quite
interesting patterns within the stone.
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Finally, with light getting thin, we rushed back to the car,
arriving just as darkness was beginning to loose its reins. Yet
again, we were easily the last folks on the trail.
After a darkness dinner of turkey franks and chili, we did a
car wide search for the culprit of the midnight snackings in our
car. In addition to the cheese that had been chomped for the past
two nights, we noticed that all of the sunflower seeds that have
spilt throughout the car during the trip had been munched on too.
Also evident was small scat. I suspected a mouse of some sort,
the ranger making final rounds suggested one of the aggressive
ground squirrels. Anyway, Jenn and I made a late night check of
all of our belongings, clearing it of food and looking nervously
for quick moving little hungry mammals. Ironically, we could not
keep food outside of the car due to bears, but couldn't keep food
inside the car due to mice/squirrels. After the reorg, feeling to
be the young investigators, we placed small amounts of sunflower
seeds in various places to test our success. A few in the trunk,
some of the floorboard, a trail outside the driver's door and a
few on top of the car for kicks.
I then stayed up by the fire and wrote with shivering fingers
this journal entry on a laptop with barely enough battery supply.
Skip to the Next Day (Day 5), the Previous Half-Day (Day 4, part 1), or the Glacier 97 Table of Contents.
