The Hike I won't forget
(August 2, 2007)
(August 2, 2007)
Lou says....
I had been invited to go on a photography hike with some of the other photographers, that is, if the rain ever stopped. It didn't look like that would happen but a day before we planned to leave the weather cleared and the the hike was on.
We drove up to the 2700 foot level on Salmon Glacier Road, parked our vehicles on the road side, and proceeded to climb down the steep embankment to an old abandoned road below. From there we would hike about a mile before continuing further down the mountain. This is not an official trail and the old road was completely overgrown with Hemlock. Most of the time we could weasel our way through the thick overgrowth but at times had to crawl on our hand and knees. It was obvious that this was also a bear trail as there were piles of bear scat all along the way.
After making our way through the tangled Hemlocks and crossing a couple of streams we arrived at a clearing where we left the road and continued the descent down the steep rocky mountainside. As we continued down we encountered snow filled valleys along our route and as we looked ahead the panoramic view of the glacier, far below, was ever present. The steepness of the mountain side gave a feeling of standing on the edge of a high cliff with a great panoramic view. (It definitely put a tickle in my stomach)
After more snow fields and steep rocky descents we finally arrived at the glacier 500 feet below our starting point. But this was not at our final destination. Our destination was an ice cave in the glacier still 15-20 feet below us. The final descent was down a near vertical rock wall with just enough small ledges to make the descent possible.
Normally the ice cave entrance is accessible but with the record snow fall there was now an additional snow cave that we had to go through in order to get to the glacier cave. Although it was a little eerie, all of us made it into the cave and came back with some great memories, great photos and a great sense of accomplishment. Very, very few visitors to Salmon Glacier ever get the opportunity to experience what we did!
The climb back up was much more strenuous but we all made it back along with our photos and memories.
I had been invited to go on a photography hike with some of the other photographers, that is, if the rain ever stopped. It didn't look like that would happen but a day before we planned to leave the weather cleared and the the hike was on.
We drove up to the 2700 foot level on Salmon Glacier Road, parked our vehicles on the road side, and proceeded to climb down the steep embankment to an old abandoned road below. From there we would hike about a mile before continuing further down the mountain. This is not an official trail and the old road was completely overgrown with Hemlock. Most of the time we could weasel our way through the thick overgrowth but at times had to crawl on our hand and knees. It was obvious that this was also a bear trail as there were piles of bear scat all along the way.
After making our way through the tangled Hemlocks and crossing a couple of streams we arrived at a clearing where we left the road and continued the descent down the steep rocky mountainside. As we continued down we encountered snow filled valleys along our route and as we looked ahead the panoramic view of the glacier, far below, was ever present. The steepness of the mountain side gave a feeling of standing on the edge of a high cliff with a great panoramic view. (It definitely put a tickle in my stomach)
After more snow fields and steep rocky descents we finally arrived at the glacier 500 feet below our starting point. But this was not at our final destination. Our destination was an ice cave in the glacier still 15-20 feet below us. The final descent was down a near vertical rock wall with just enough small ledges to make the descent possible.
Normally the ice cave entrance is accessible but with the record snow fall there was now an additional snow cave that we had to go through in order to get to the glacier cave. Although it was a little eerie, all of us made it into the cave and came back with some great memories, great photos and a great sense of accomplishment. Very, very few visitors to Salmon Glacier ever get the opportunity to experience what we did!
The climb back up was much more strenuous but we all made it back along with our photos and memories.
Page 4 of 4
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Issue #6
July 27th 2007
July 27th 2007
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