Montana - The Glacier NP, Sun Canyon, The big thunderstorm and the dog that disappeared.

In the morning of September, 13 1997 we got up pretty early to go over the boarder to the states and then a little bit further to Glacier NP in Montana. Now we were on tribal land, Blackfeet country and I was thrilled about being back here. We came to the Chewing Blackbone campground, which is located just beside a river not too far away from the town Browning, and we were almost alone at the campground. The less people the better in my opinion. During the night a few of us slept outside but underneath the roof in a shelter we had. The fire was going and we all slept like babies especially Guy who snored the whole night through. There was a few times we were pretty close to hit him with something.

In the morning here at the Chewing Blackbone camp Peter and Joe from Holland were going to cook us breakfast, Pancakes. Unfortunately none of these guys were any good at cooking so the pancakes weren't eatable. I am not a fuzzy person when it comes to food, I eat everything but this time I just couldn't, no one could. The time we spent here we always had some company of a couple of dogs so Peter and Joe gave one of the dogs the pancake mix and he was happy and ate it all. Strange enough we never saw that dog again after that and wondered what happened to him. Maybe he got sick from the pancake mix, the poor thing.

Hm, a tourist who's having lunch! Hey You, I am hungry! Give me some will You?

After breakfast we took the van and drove in to the Glacier NP to do a couple of long hikes. Since I have been here before I hiked some of the trails I haven't been on before. I first went up to the Ptarmigan Tunnel which is as it said a tunnel through the top of a mountain and on the other side there is a beautifully valley. It was a brilliant hike and when I got out on the other side it was a bit cloudy and I couldn't see much but after a few minutes the clouds were gone but came back and forth the whole time I was there. The clouds actually went up and down the valley and it looked pretty strange. After that I went up to the Iceberg Lake (see photo on top of this page) which also are what the name says, a lake with floating ice block. Here I sat down to have my lunch and right away I had some company who wanted to share my lunch with me. It was a kind of Marmot and it sat there right by my feet begging for food.

The following night I slept in the tent again by myself, it was my tent mate Sylvia's turn to sleep outside in the shelter. That night a heavy storm came in on us. I have one word for it; WOW!!!!! Everything is bigger in America even the storms are bigger, louder, you name it. The storm was right over us, couldn't count to anywhere between blizzards and thunder. I thought for a while the tent was going to take off and I lay there thinking to myself that maybe I should go somewhere and take cover. That was great. I know it's a bit weird but I just love the power of the nature and weather.

Group photo during dinner at Sun Canyon Lodge.

The next morning we continued our drive south to Augusta and Sun Canyon but first we took a D-tour to Browning to visit the Blackfeet museum. I was going to ask Matt if we could go there but he had already planed for us to do that and that was kind of weird, he was reading my mind. That was a great museum. In Sun Canyon we where going to do some horseback riding. At this point I wasn't feeling to well, I had got a cold so I stayed back and rested in the cabins we had while the others were out riding. I was a bit disappointed about that but I knew I needed the rest. That evening we had dinner, barbecue at the lodge and a nice evening together.

Wyoming - Yellowstone, Hot Springs, The Tetons and Men at work.

The next day we continued our journey to Yellowstone NP. Just after we had entered the park boundary we stopped at some Hot Springs to have a dip in the warm water.

The swim in the Hot Springs in Yellowstone NP.

Coming up from the Hot Springs in Yellowstone NP......Freeeeeeeezing.

The water is really hot and I mean HOT but there is a place in the river where the cold and hot water mixes just perfectly. That felt really good. Going out of the water was NOT so nice, it was freezing cold when you left the spot where the hot water was coming up.

We continued the drive in to the park and stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs to have lunch and to have a look around the strange white cliff formations that had been built from years of eruptions of the Geysers. From there we drove to our campground at Madison. That night I slept outside the tent in my sleeping bag again, this time without any shelter at all and it was freezing. I believe it was around minus 5 degrees Celsius. The following morning we took off to do some hiking around the many Geysers that surrounds the mighty one, The Old Faithful Geyser.

The Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone NP.

Bored Buffalo; Oh dear, here comes another bunch of that tourists again.

Since I have been here two times before I went jogging on the hiking trails instead of walking, to have another kind of experience, together with Matt. After our jog we met up with the others and went to se a heard of Buffalos, really close to the trail.

These guys could be really dangerous so you need to be careful and not get too close. Here you see Jackie, the brave woman, getting a little bit close to the Buffalos, but still on safe distance.

The Lower Falls in Yellowstone.

After our powwow with the Buffalos we went further on to do a hike at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to se the Upper and Lower falls as well. Then we went back to our campground at Madison to pick up our swim costumes to go and have a swim in the Firehole River.

Men at work at Madison CP in Yellowstone NP.

Next morning we drove off to Jackson Hole south of Yellowstone. We stayed at the same campground as I did in 1995, The Lone Eagle. Before we came to Jackson we stopped at the Tetons to do some hikes. We went around Jenny Lake up to the Hidden Falls and then further on up on to the Cascade Canyon Trail. I hiked by myself and didn't meet any other people up there except for our group. Guy, who is a very fast hiker, even faster than I am, we called him "The RoadRunner", was ahead of me but suddenly he came back on the trail telling me that he had got some company of Black Bears that were getting a little bit to close. I was just waiting for them to show up on the trail behind him but they never did.

Me in front of the Hidden Falls!

Idaho, Oregon - Craters of the Moon, The Horse Camp and our Fisherman.

Making dinner at Craters of the Moon.

The next morning we went sightseeing in Jackson and then we drove off to Idaho and Craters of the Moon. We came to a wilderness camp again without any people and rested for the evening and night by the campfire. One of the things I really like about these Treks are the evenings by the campfire, sitting there with a few drinks talking to my new friends.

By the campfire we talk about everything but most of the time we tell each other about our countries.

Joe "The Fireman" is preparing the campfire of the evening.

In front of a good campfire at Craters of the Moon.

That is very interesting, to learn more about Singapore, Japan or what ever countries that are represented in a Trek-group.

We continued our drive next morning to Oregon where we were going to River raft the next day. We stayed the night at a campground that sort of had a wilderness camp. The part of the campground where we stayed was called The Horse Camp. The reason for that was that there were some corrals where you could put your horses in, if you had some.

The Horse Camp in Oregon.

Food Mama on top of the hike at Squaw Creek.

After we got there we went for a hike at Squaw Creek. Matt, who really likes to fish took his fishing stick with him, thinking that he would catch some fish for us for dinner. Nice gesture, but.......

.....We had the laugh of our lives when we got there to find out that the creek was dried out. Matt started to fish anyway in the little of water that was left of the creek. You can see on the photo that there was not much water left in the creek, if any!

Matt trying to catch dinner at Squaw Creek. (The Dream-Team staring at Matt: Crazy American; He really thinks that there will be some fish here!)

Washington - The RiverRafting, Mt Rainier and The Olympic NP.

Getting ready for our River rafting.

Next day we headed west towards Mt Rainier, but before that we went on our raft trip on a river in the north-east corner of Washington. I have done a few river raftings before but I think this has been the best so far. Since it was September there wasn't much water left in the river so the level of the rafts might just have been a number 3 or 4 on the scale. We had two really good guides with us, Gary (who looked just like Grizzly Adams) and his son and we got to paddle like crazy and laughed like never before when Guy fell in the river, twice.

Later that day we arrived to our campground in Mt Rainier NP, the Ocanapecosh Campground located by a river with the same name. A truly very nice place.

Mount Raineer.

Me and Scottish Ian in front of Mt Rainier.

The next day we went deeper in to the park to do some hikes. Last time I was here on my Rocky Mountaineer Trek in 1995 we had really bad weather and couldn't see much of Mt Rainier......

......This time it was the opposite, the sun was shining the air was cool so we had excellent conditions for hiking.

Me in front of Mt Rainier on the trail at Burroughs Mountain.

Lining up for the restrooms.....getting desperate.....Peter; Come on guys, hurry up....

September 23 and just a few days left of our Trek we headed further west towards The Olympic NP. We stopped a few times on the road to buy gas and grocery and naturally everyone needed to go to the restrooms. At the gas station where we stopped they didn't have any toilets except for a pit toilet on the outside. Seeing everyone standing in line, waiting for their turn, looked really funny and I just had to take a picture of it.

We later arrived to our campground La Push located on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. We spent the evening here in front of the campfire on the beach and let me tell You it was a brilliant evening. Matt had a little book where he wrote down everything that had happen during the Trek, day by day, and we had a good time and laughed a lot about specially things that had happen through out our days together. It was kind of sad though, the next day was our finally day on our Trek.

By the campfire on the beach of The Pacific Ocean at La Push. Poor Matt is exhausted.

Sunset at La Push by the Pacific Ocean in Olympic NP.

Beeing on the beach seeing the beautifully sunset, having a campfire and few good laughs; That felt sooooo good.

The next morning we changed camping spot to a place that had a very nice name; "Heart on the Hill". After we had settled in we went up to the Hurricane Ridge to do our last hikes on this Trek.

Sylvia looking out from our tent at the campground; "Heart on the Hill".

I have been here before as well and done most of the hikes here so I planned to go somewhere else this time. My plan was to hike down on the Wolf Creek Trail to the river below the Ridge. That was an 8 miles hike but I had just entered the trail when this sign came up which made me turn back right away since I was on my own. I would just love to meet a Mountain Lion but not by myself. So I hiked around in the woods up on the Ridge instead.

After our hikes up on the Hurricane Ridge we went to the Sol Duc Hot Springs to have a dip in the hot water. The water in those pools was very muddy so we all smelled very badly after that and we didn't have any showers at our campground. Jackie and myself took a dip in the river nearby, which felt really good despite the fact that the water was freezing.

Peter, Joycelyn and Joe at Hurricane Ridge.

By the campfire at the campground; "Heart on the Hill"

This was our last evening on our Trek so Matt cooked dinner for us.....

He made Navaho Tacos, which basically is fried cornbread with beans in tomato sauce and different kinds of vegetables on top. I have eaten this before and just love it, it tastes really good.

Matt making Navaho Tacos for dinner and Sylvia is curious what it is.

Sylvia, Joe, Peter and myself on the ferry.

It was September 25 and our last day on our Trek. We got up in the morning to start doing some cleaning of the van, the food boxes, the stove etc before we headed back to Seattle.

It didn't take that long so went in the van and drove towards the harbor in Port Townsend to enter the ferry for a short ride over the sound to the mainland. We were now just a short ride from Seattle so we finished our drive in downtown to have a look around.

Peter, me and Joe on the ferry on our way back to Seattle.

The front of our Mad Max "Killing Dodge Van".

Before I end this page I just have to show you a picture of the front of our van. Matt used to have his bike there but the bike had been lost or something during his trips. (Matt had lost a few bikes on his trips, but some of the times he actually had run over it with the van himself.....At least that was the gossip says :-) Anyway, he bought a new one when he got to Seattle. Later I was told by another trek leader that this bike was run over too.....) So the van looked like something from the "Mad Max" movies.

After we had settled in at our hotel and not to forget had a shower, we still smelled really bad after those Hot Springs in Olympic, we went out for dinner.

The gang at the dinner table at the "Rooster" restaurant.

Matt the "axman" with this present.

We had bought some presents for Matt to thank him for a wonderful trip. The guys gave him an ax (the one he had got broken during the Trek) and us girls gave him a box of cigars.

Jackie was the hungry one so she actually ordered "two dinners". We had a nice evening together with good food and drinks but eventually it was time to say goodbye.

Jackie having some help from Matt getting all the food into her mouth.

The next morning I was the only one left in the group again and it always feel so strange and sad too for that matter. I had a few days left in Seattle and one of those days I spent with a truly good friend so I wasn't completely alone. Then on the 29:th I climb in to the plane that would take me home to Sweden and back to work and my adventure was over for this time.

The Rocky Mountaineerīs of September 5-25, 1997 in Wells Gray, British Columbia, Canada.

Conclusion.

What can I say, I just love the Rocky Mountains and if this Trek still did exist I am sure I would do it a third time. The western parts of Canada and the US are one of the most beautifully areas in the world in my opinion, especially in September when the colors of the autumn are there. I have been in these areas of North America many times by now but I have never been over here in the wintertime and that is something I might do sometime in the future. I am sure that with these mountains covered with snow it would be something specially. I do recommend any Trek that goes through The Rocky Mountains!

My Treks with TrekAmerica.

The Indian Trail 1994. The Rocky Mountaineer 1995. The Mountie 1996. The Rocky Mountaineer 1997 - Page 1/Canada. The Rocky Mountaineer 1997 - Page 2/Usa. The Klondike 1998. The National Parks Walk 1999. The Alaskan-Yukon Adventure 1999. Back to the mainpage of The Rocky Mountaineers of 1995.

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Last Updated October 26, 2008 - 09:30 CET.