100 Years at Lake Mcd

Voice of the Glacier Park Foundation ☐ Fall 2017 ☐ Volume XXXII, No. 2 SPERRY BURNS 100 Years at Lake McD (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.) In this issue: • Wildfire in Glacier and Waterton • Lake McDonald Evacuated • Embers Shower the Prince of Wales • Remembering the Night of the Grizzlies • Death and Survival in Glacier • The Demise of the Chalets • Giants in Glacier • Jammer Tales • A Many Glacier Reflection• Unprecedented Traffic in the Park • The Twelve Days of Waiting • Inside News of the Summer of 2017 PARADISE LOST: Traffic Congestion in Glacier The fires of August in Glacier Park beyond past experience in Glacier. entrance sometimes were backed generated national attention. Gla- The problem certainly will recur in up onto Highway 2. Parking lots cier veterans were shocked to hear future seasons. It poses a very diffi- and campgrounds were filled by that the fire had destroyed the main cult management challenge. early morning. Emergency closures building at Sperry Chalets. Lake had to be imposed on traffic in the Glacier’s charm always has rested McDonald Lodge and its majestic Swiftcurrent, Two Medicine and in part on relatively light visitation. cedar-and-hemlock forest lay exposed Bowman valleys. We’ve all thought complacently that to destruction for weeks. The Prince Glacier is a cold park, far from large Twenty years ago, the Glacier Park of Wales Hotel, across the border in population centers, with limited Foundation had a large role in devel- Canada, nearly burned. September lodging. We’ve given thanks that we oping Glacier’s General Management finally brought deliverance, with don’t have traffic jams like those in Plan. We successfully advocated for much-prayed-for rain and snow. Yosemite and Yellowstone. a “status quo” baseline for Glacier’s These dramatic events drew atten- management. That baseline made But no longer! Last July, Glacier tion away from a more mundane good sense and reflected the desires of drew more visitors than Yellowstone crisis in June and July. Overcrowd- a vast majority of the visiting public. did. There was unprecedented ing occurred on a startling scale, crowding. Cars at the West Glacier The status quo is changing now, and management policies must be Overcrowding occurred on a startling scale, adapted. There will be no easy an- beyond past experience in Glacier. The swers. The Park shouldn’t undertake radical departures and restrictions on problem certainly will recur in future seasons. public use. But careful study, reca- libration and creativity are essential, Glacier Park Foundation Officers: this winter and in the seasons ahead, P.O. Box 15641 John Hagen, President to address effectively the dramatic Minneapolis, MN 55415 Carol Dahle, Vice President increase in visitation to Glacier. www.glacierparkfoundation.org Mac Willemssen, Secretary [email protected] Tessie Bundick, Historian Board of Directors: Jim Lees, Treasurer Joe Blair Laura Chihara, Webmaster The Inside Trail takes its name Mike Buck Rolf Larson, Inside Trail Editor Tessie Bundick from the famous old trail Laura Chihara which connected Glacier Janet Eisner Cornish Park Lodge with the vanished Brian Cross The Glacier Park Foundation was Carol Repulski Dahle formed by Glacier Park employees chalets at Two Medicine, Joyce Daugaard and visitors who have a deep love for Cut Bank, and St. Mary. The Ray Djuff this special place. The Foundation is name thus emphasizes the Emily Trapp Hackethorn commited both to the importance John Hagen of wilderness preservation and to publication’s focus on the the importance of places like Glacier Einar Hanson as classrooms where people can lore and history of Glacier Paul Hoff experience wilderness in intense National Park. We invite Mark Hufstetler meaningful ways, learning not only a submission of historical, Jeff Kuhn love for the land, but also a respect Linda Young Kuhn that nurtures the skills necessary to scientific, or anecdotal ar- Rolf Larson preserve that land. The Foundation ticles, commentary, poetry, Greg Notess has a special interest in Glacier Park’s John Sauer history, traditions and visitor facilities. or artwork for publication in Rick Taylor future issues. Mac Willemssen 2 ☐ Fall 2017 ☐ The Inside Trail INSIDE NEWS OF THE SUMMER OF 2017 WILD FIRE in Glacier and Waterton A summer of crowds and broken at- terrain where firefighters could tendance records in Glacier Nation- not effectively work. Helicopters al Park ironically ended with much dropped water on the blaze, but of the Park completely deserted. were unable to put it out. Extensive evacuation was forced by the Sprague Fire east of Lake A rash of fires in the western U.S. McDonald. Sperry Chalets’ his- had spread firefighting resources toric main structure was burned by thin. For three weeks, fire manag- the fire, and Lake McDonald Lodge ers sought to contain the Sprague was menaced for several weeks. Fire with limited personnel as its perimeter steadily spread. Meanwhile, across border, the Ke- now Fire ravaged Glacier’s Cana- On August 29, Xanterra Parks dian neighbor, Waterton National and Recreation (Glacier’s con- Park. The Waterton townsite was cessioner) announced that Lake evacuated and the historic Prince McDonald Lodge would be closed of Wales Hotel was nearly burned. for the summer, a month ahead The dramatic events at Sperry and of schedule. The reason was that the Prince of Wales are described (Sperry photo courtesy of smoke from the Sprague Fire was the National Park Service.) by Ray Djuff in the feature stories settling thickly around the lodge. in this issue. Air quality monitors had registered This was the fourth “hazardous” readings. Xanterra was This was the fourth summer in four- summer in fourteen concerned for the safety of employees. teen years in which Glacier has lost prime vistas to catastrophic fires. In years in which Glacier Glacier Park, Inc. had the same 2003, the Roberts Fire burned Howe has lost prime vistas concerns, and closed its Motel Lake Ridge on the west side of Lake Mc- to catastrophic fires. McDonald. The horse and boat Donald, and the Trapper Fire burned concessions struggled on for a couple the Loop Trail area. In 2010, the of days and then shut down. it lost another 100,000 acres to the Red Eagle Fire ignited southeast of On August 31, disaster struck. High St. Mary Lake and consumed more Half Moon Fire and other confla- grations. (The early fires gave rise winds drove the Sprague Fire rapidly than 30,000 acres around Divide eastward, more than doubling its Mountain and on the Blackfeet to many place names on the south side of the Park, including Firebrand size. An “ember storm” driven by Reservation. In 2015, the Reynolds the fire ignited Sperry Chalets’ main Fire burned miles of the Going-to- Pass, Skeleton Mountain, Soldier Mountain, and Mount Despair.) building. The 103-year-old structure the-Sun Road corridor on the north burned fiercely and was destroyed, side of St. Mary Lake. The Sprague Fire leaving blackened stonework sugges- These losses recall the apocalyptic The crisis of 2017 began with a tive of London after the Blitz. lightning storm on August 10. It forest fires of Glacier’s early years. In The Sperry Chalets have been an 1910, in its very first summer, the touched off a fire in the Sprague Creek drainage below Mt. Ed- icon. Everyone familiar with Gla- Park lost 100,000 acres of forest (a cier is shocked and saddened by the tenth of its total area). In the 1920s, wards, a couple of miles from Lake McDonald. The fire was in steep main building’s loss. The chalets The Inside Trail ☐ Fall 2017 ☐ 3 are reachable only by arduous uphill Smoke settled incessantly around Many trails in the Lake McDonald trails, seven miles from Lake Mc- Lake McDonald Lodge. Firefighters Valley, the North Fork, and the Goat Donald or thirteen miles from Jack- described it as “like soup,” and had Haunt area had to be closed. son Glacier Overlook, over Gunsight difficulty breathing. The smoke’s Meanwhile, in Canada, the Kenow Pass and Lincoln Pass. Countless diminishment of oxygen, however, Fire blew eastward from British hikers recall relaxing at Sperry after dampened the fire and had a protec- Columbia and devastated Waterton weary miles on the trail, enjoying a tive effect near the lodge. National Park. Flames sometimes pitcher of Kool-Aid and a slice of the In late September, rain and snow billowed 400 feet high as it bore chalets’ famous pie. finally came to Glacier and beat the down on the Waterton townsite and Three days after the chalet was lost, fire down. The majestic 500-year- the Prince of Wales Hotel. As Ray the wind shifted to the east and drove old cedar-hemlock forest along Lake Djuff relates in subsequent pages, the Sprague Fire in the direction of McDonald and in the Avalanche area the town and the hotel were barely Lake McDonald. The Park Service was spared, as were all the structures saved. Some 30 percent of the Park ordered an evacuation from the on the lake. But thousands of acres was burned. south end of the lake to Logan Pass. of forest along the trail from the lodge Unprecedented Visitation The Mount Brown fire lookout, im- to Sperry Chalets, on Mt. Brown, on Through June, July, and early Au- minently threatened, was wrapped in Snyder Ridge, and in the Lincoln and gust, before the onset of the fire, protective materials. Other build- Walton drainages were charred. And Glacier Park had unheard-of visita- ings also were wrapped, including we all mourn the loss of the chalet. tion. Emergency measures repeat- the Lake McDonald residence of Other Fires edly had to be taken to deal with Montana’s long-ago Senator Burton While the Sprague Fire was Glacier’s traffic congestion.

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