When the Backbone was still the Backbone.

At used book sale the other day,  I cam across a pamphlet I found extremely interesting. "Good Medicine in Glacier National Park," by Adolph Hungry Wolf. The book (long out of print) tells stories of the Blackfeet (and occasionally Kootenai) in GNP. And, while the stories are neat, the photos are what I found the most fascinating. 

 Lodges on the top of the pass. Mt. Reynold in the background. 

 "Running Wolf's saced lodge on Two Medicine Lake."

 "Two-Guns-White-Calf and companions"

Riding near the battle  of the Cut bank river. 

Escape from the Haze

I'm fully aware that I haven't published a worthwhile post, about anything besides GNP in an extended period of time. After arriving back in Butte for the fall semester I expected this to change. Too bad the 19mile fire (amongst others) decided to meddle with my plans, by clogging Silverbow County with a nasty haze. 

When my Bozemanian buddy JD told me he was fleeing the smoke for Glacier, I weaseled a spot into his car. Yes, I'd only left the Flathead for 10 days, but I was still eager to get back.

Highlight of the trip (aside from a inebriated evening at the Northern Lights Saloon in Polebridge) was our trip up Mount Henry in the Two Med. (Sidenote: the former name of Mt. Henry, Bearchief is infinately more badass, and refers to one of the more hostile Blackfeet war chiefs.) The Two Medicine has steadily  become one of my favorite sectors of the park. The ridge walk up Henry was different than most peaks I've done in the park. Instead of the lush vegetation I usually associate Glacier, this hike was almost barren, and reminded me of the Lima peaks. It also had a very spicy section that involved hight exposure in both side of a razor this ridge. ...I was too busy being scared to bust out the camera.

 JD Babe-Ruthing the summit.

 High wind on the east side. 

 Ridge walk from Medicine to Henry.

 The non-existant goat trail.

 Matching up peaks from the summit. Rising Wolf dominating the skyline at right.

 Looking out on the prairie to the Sweetgrass Hills (sacred to the Blackfeet). Even though this pic looks hazy, this is actually the clearest I have seen them. 

Rad painting on a building in East Glacier. 

Here is to hoping peak season didn't die with labor day.

Vision Quests, Choss Monsters, and Pikas.

I've been to the North East section of Glacier multiple times in the last couple of years, and each time I've wanted to come back for two separate but equally alluring reasons: Fly fishing on the Belly River, and climbing Chief Mountain. Sarah, Beau, and I took a short break from the child slavery ring we operate, and set out to do both. Our plan was to complete fish the Belly while hiking to Slide Lake, then climbing Chief the next day via the Lee Ridge trail. Turns out my eyes were bigger than my stomach.


South Fork of the Two Medicine River from our campsite.


All meat dinner on a stick.


Sarah and Beau. Gable pass on the way to slide lake.




Slide Lake.


Pika! Cool Facts: North America's smallest rabbit. Farms decomposed poisonous plants during the winter. Pees out crystals to conserve energy. The real life basis of Pikachu.


My camera ran out of batteries before we started the climb so I am just going to have to leave you with this photo taken last month. Chief a choss odyssy but the views were absurd. A Canuck took our picture and promised to email me so I might have some proof eventually... stinking canucks.