Carcajou and Wahseeja Lakes

Good Evening,

Ever since I have started this project there have been lakes or groupings of lakes that people are always intrigued by.

When I tell them about what I’m doing, they get wild eyed and come up with the most remote, ridiculously hard, off trail lakes in the park and ask “Have you done this or that”?

One of the most commented on is a group of lakes near the Canadian border called the Northern Boundary Lakes. There are five of them and the last two fell on Tuesday.

So, I raise my glass to those five, because they have put up a heck of a fight.

On Tuesday, my friends Pat and Brian and I went to Carcajou Lake and Wahseeja Lake.

But, before that we had large plates of Cincinnati Chili.

For anyone who knows about this delicacy, you understand how happy I was to have a communal chili feed in the middle of nowwhere.

The next morning with a chili bomb in our stomachs we headed north to the northern boundary trail which is about four miles north of Goat Haunt. We said hello to the obelisk that marks the border and we headed west three and a half miles till we saw an entrance to a heavily wooded side valley that no one I have ever met has gone up. I’m sure its happened, but boy oh boy... would it be few and far between.

We had to cross Boundary Creek which luckily we had a few good logs to work across. Then into the guts we go.

It started off quite nice with some lovely meadow filled stretches.

That always ends and gives way to a thick tree filled mess.

This year has been one of the wettest on record. With rain come mushrooms. They were everywhere.

Huge ones.

Weird ones.

Also, that means that it was just wet. It had not rained in days, but the whole area was just moist.

Great moss.
After many hours working up a steep wooded valley we eventually dropped down to the creek that drains Carcajou Lake. Shortly after crossing it, we finally came to the first of our objectives.

Carcajou Lake.

We frolicked in the lake for a good while to get rid of the pine needles, grit and grime.

It was quite pleasant.

We took a nice little while here; even long enough for Pat to take a cat nap on the lake shore.

But, we had to keep going. There is no stopping and we had a long way to go. We were essentially going from one main valley to the next, but over, under and through the middle of nowhere.

We headed back out with the need to climb over a ridge to the lake on the other side.

It was thick and steep.

And hot! I had to wring out my bandana....Wanna see?

Along the way Brian made a friend.

We eventually just grabbed hand fulls of vegetation and pulled ourselves up a thousand feet of steep mess.

Luckily when we got towards the top, the blessed animals of Glacier National Park started to hook us up a bit. There was a perfect game trail over the top of the ridge that went on for a good while in the exact direction that we were headed.

It was amazing on the other side.

Lots of flower choked meadows.

If nothing else, just easier going since it was much more open. With that came huge views of the surrounding mountains.

In a past endeavor with a friend Matt I looked down on Wahseeja Lake.

I have been waiting for a long time to get back to it.

(I would also like to note that Matt just informed me today his wife Allison is pregnant!! Lets all raise a glass to their lovely, healthy, very tiny baby to be!!! )

Anyway it was very rewarding to get to this absolutely amazing lake. This was easily one of the most lovely that I have been to in all my time in the park.
We enjoyed it to the fullest. Seldom is there a perfect, large rock to jump off of. Well there is in Wahseeja Lake.

As to not carry around a bunch of wet clothes we all went naked.

So, fortunatly you get to just see a picture of me in the lake instead…No jumping pics.

But, like everything else in life, this too had to end.

There was a saddle about 300 feet above the lake that we had to get to and over.

On the other side was our destiny.

A 2000 foot steep grade going straight down towards Lake Francis and Lake Janet.

There was still many miles to go, onward and upward.

Only time for one last group picture of the lake.

Man that thing is nice.

The saddle proved to be big and wide.

It also had huge views of Mount Cleveland which is the highest peak in the park.

This hike just kept getting better.

But, down we went into the abyss. Not too bad, in relative terms. I guess the schwack up the Carcajou side of the trip was so nasty that this seemed quite tame.

2000 feet of extremely steep tame, but tame none the less.

Happily we gained the valley floor and headed our five more miles of trail back towards Goat Haunt.

A lovely sunset on the peaks above escorted us back to where we started.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Pat and Brian. This was a very large endeavor and probably two of the ten hardest lakes that I have left in the park.

Without them I would not have just checked off lakes number 120 and 121.

All the best to everyone reading and to all a good night.

Ho Ho Ho

To Life,

Marc

Whitecrow Lake

Good Evening,

I am going to tell you a tale. A tale of cold, wet water. A tale of a portly bald man with a farmers tan.

A tale…..Of Whitecrow Lake!

Whitecrow Lake sits at the base of the largest mountain in the park, Mount Cleveland. It also sits at the base of one of the most charismatic mountains in Glacier, Stoney Indian Peaks.

This Whitecrow Lake I speak of could have been anywhere on Tuesday, as it was shrouded in clouds.

Allow me to digress.

There is an amazing place called the Belly River Ranger Station and my friends live there. A few of us were given the luxury of staying there for our weekend, as long as we kept an eye on it in their absence.

A deal is what that is. A deal!!

To get there we hiked in six miles and at the time the views were amazing.

As we sat there waiting on the rest of our party, the rain and clouds rolled in. By nightfall it was as if there were no mountains. Only rolling forested hills could still be seen though the white misty haze.

A perfect way to start a large day with the intent of swimming.

On Tuesday morning my friends Pat and Brian and I headed off for Whitecrow Lake. This was going to be a long day.
To even get to the point that we could start moving off trail and up towards the bowl that holds Whitecrow we had to walk seven miles.

So, bushwhack aside, we had a 14 mile day plus what ever else we would find.

It passed rather quickly and we started working our way through brambles of vegetation.

UP and UP and UP we went. It was strange because although it was not raining at the time, we eventually walked up the slope far enough to have reached the cloud cover.


If you have ever stood in a cloud, you know that while it is not exactly raining, it certainly is not dry.
There is moisture suspended in air and it coats everything around you. Hard to explain, but you get wet. That is the main point.

The lake was still lovely as is, but it would have been much more spectacular on a nice day. To have the largest mountain in the park looming large above it and assisted by the gnarly spires of the Stoney Indian Peaks.

I can only imagine.

Imagine, I must.

For, there were no mountains. Only lake. And mist..

Thanks to the "Hairy Beans" going for a swim was not a lonely endeavor.

I would like to propose a toast to those knuckleheads that go swimming with me on a 50 degree day in a frigid lake that is suspended in clouds. Yeah!!

I would like to give a shout out to "The Babb Press" for one of the greatest sandwiches that I have ever eaten on trail in my life.

Look at this thing, I can hardly force it in my mouth....Thanks guys!!


Back to the story,...Oh, and the “Hairy Beans” is our band name.

We officially lost our mind on the trip and adopted that as our band name. Our main song was a Muppets tune. Most have never heard it, but it goes……”Mahna Mahna”…..Over and over again. Luckily there is a cool whistling part in it too. But the phrase for the day was “Mahna Mahna”. Look it up, it’s a killer tune. A crazy nonlingual muppet monster sings it. Good stuff…

This is your musical act for the evening. Lets give it up for the "Hairy Beans"!!!

Anyway…


We sang over and over again as we made our way back down through the alders and crud.
Alders make for great rappelling. They don’t get out of your way easily, but they don’t rip out either.

So you can rappel down the slope one alder after another…

For a few moments it cleared up enough to see Mokawanis Lake and Margaret and Ipasha Lakes. I still need the latter two.

Someday... I’m coming for you two...

It was great to get back to the ranger station that night. We found a stash of Spam and decided that it was high time for the “Great Belly River Spam Fry”.

It in no way was high time for the spam fry. It never was and never will be a good time for a spam fry. It was as terrible as you can imagine it.

Laughter it made, calm bellies it did not.

I wanted to include this very nice picture of Brian who acted as out official "get the mouse out of the trap" guy that weekend. Everybody say, "Thanks Brian"!!

All in all, a spectacular trip. Wet as it gets. On the way out had turned to absolute muddy muck. It has been a bizarrely wet season. We have had over three times the normal amount of precipitation.

Speaking of. As I write this it is raining and snowing out. Tonight the mountains around here are getting a nice dusting. August 14th…Eeeehhhh It’s going to make for an even shorter summer.
So, get out there and enjoy it. Its fleeting, that is for sure.

I wish all well this fine evening. Safe travels to where you may be going. Like a friend of mines dad used to say. “Keep it between the ditches”.

A great rule…Stick to it…

To Life,
Marc