Voice of the Glacier Park Foundation ■ Summer 2002 ■ Volume XV, No. 2

Hiking in Glacier: An Anthology

Also Inside: The Return of Glacier’s Red Buses, and a Many Glacier Hotel Renovation Update (Photo by Rolf Larson) The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 1 Glacier Bulletin Board “The Inside Trail” welcomes not Later, I was delighted to recon- Identifying The Jammers of only articles, but also brief letters, nect with Mary, when she came ‘41 anecdotes, and photos. Here are back to work at McD and met Here are the names of gearjam- some that were sent to us recently. Jerry Anderson, whom she later married. I have many photos of mers and Prince of Wales employ- Remembering The Sorkness Mary as a child and later dur- ees shown in the photograph ac- Family ing that dating period of her life. companying “The 1941 Gearjam- Can’t tell you how surprised and Congratulations to Johanna Sork- mers’ Song” in the Spring 2002 pleased I was to see the article ness for recognizing the impor- issue. From left to right: John in the Spring ‘02 issue telling of tance of this piece of history that Little, Terry Lee, two identified “The Sorkness Era”. As a child, I I thought had been lost! women, Charlie Fisher, Cecile was a playmate of Mary Sorkness Swanson, Herman Rusch, Dick at Lake McDonald and I spent Mary Grace Galvin (Lake McDon- Smiley, Bill Bartram, Cecile’s sis- many happy hours with her and a ald resident and Lake McDonald ter, Stan Getz, Mr. McLeod. neighbor, Nancy Johnson Linsay, Lodge chambermaid 1956) Charlie Fisher (Gearjammer 1940- rambling about the lakeshore in 41) that innocent time before WWII. I remember her kindly parents, so hard working, and her brother as well.

Glacier Park Foundation Einar Hanson, First Vice President P.O. Box 15641 Carol Dahle, Vice President - Membership Minneapolis, MN 55415 Mac Willemssen, Secretary The Inside Trail takes its name www.spacestar.net/users/skyward/gpf97 Tessie Bundick, Historian from the famous old trail Jim Lees, Treasurer which connected Glacier Board of Directors: Rolf Larson, Inside Trail Editor Tessie Bundick Park Lodge with the vanished Laura Chihara The Glacier Park Foundation was chalets at Two Medicine, Janet Eisner Cornish formed by Glacier Park employ- Cut Bank, and St. Mary. The ees and visitors who have a deep Carol Repulski Dahle name thus emphasizes the Joyce Daugaard love for this special place. The Foundation is commited both David Gilbertson publication’s focus on the to the importance of wilderness lore and history of Glacier John Hagen preservation and to the impor- Einar Hanson tance of places like Glacier as National Park. We invite Paul Hoff classrooms where people can submission of historical, sci- Mark Hufstetler experience wilderness in intense entific, or anecdotal articles, Jeff Kuhn meaningful ways, learning not Linda Young Kuhn only a love for the land, but also commentary, poetry, or art- Rolf Larson a respect that nurtures the skills work for publication in future Greg Notess necessary to preserve that land. issues. Mac Willemssen The Foundation has a special interest in Glacier Park’s history, traditions and visitor facilities.

2 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail Red Bus Fleet Recommissioned in Lodge-Clearing Blizzard

(by John Hagen, Many Glacier Hotel, 1970-80) (Photo by Jeff Kuhn) Glacier Park’s historic red bus fleet was welcomed back into service with celebrations at East Glacier from June 7 to June 9. The festivities, however, were curtailed by a blizzard and a power outage that forced the evacuation of Glacier Park Lodge.

The famous red “jammer buses,” by Leroy Lott, who had driven in Sightseers strolled from bus to built in the 1930s, had been taken 1949-50. bus, climbing into the new bucket off the road in 1999 because of seats and discussing subtle chang- Some 72 former gearjammers chassis failure. The Ford Motor es in tires and fenders. gathered at the lodge for the Company generously undertook reunion. They were accompanied During the night of Friday, June to renovate the fleet. Meanwhile, by scores of spouses and children, 7, a wintry storm developed, pro- for the past two summers, visitors Park Service officers, Ford Motor gressing from cold rain to swirling had been transported around the Company personnel, and other snow. The official recommission- park by means of white Dodge interested citizens. ing ceremonies, therefore, were vans. conducted in the lobby of Glacier The reunion attendees found 15 As the renovation work pro- Park Lodge. The lobby balconies of the buses parked in a sprawling ceeded, plans were made to hold a and buffalo heads were festooned arc on the entrance road to the reunion of former “gearjammers” with balloons and banners. Dig- lodge. The glossy mountain-ash of all eras to welcome the buses nitaries spoke from a temporary red of the freshly-painted buses back to the park. The reunion platform near the lobby’s western gleamed against the spring green was organized with great energy end. of the lodge’s trees and lawns.

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 3 The program began with a Black- of the lodge, and cut the ribbon tions along the mountain front. feet Indian blessing conducted amid driving snow. A gearjammer slideshow in the by Clyde Heavy Runner, attired dining room abruptly came to an Now a party unfolded in the lob- in full headdress and a Hudson’s end. Diners were asked to sign by. Music was played by the wild- Bay blanket coat. He tapped hand-written room charge tickets, ly whimsical Tropical Montana each dignitary on the head with since all the computers had been Marimba Ensemble — nine musi- an eagle feather, and prayed in knocked out and the cash drawers cians attired in jungle-patterned English and then in Blackfeet for could not be opened. sarongs, vests, fezzes, and bicycle safety for hikers, campers, and for shorts, good-naturedly beating As dusk faded into total darkness, the passengers and drivers of the on bongo drums and enormous dozens of people gathered in front buses. xylophones. This eclectic scene of the huge fireplace in the lobby. The National Park Service pre- seemed appropriate to Glacier Flashlights were broken out, and sented its “Shoulder to Shoul- Park Lodge, where Louis Hill security personnel escorted visi- der” award (a primitive pottery once combined Chinese lanterns, tors through the dusky halls to statue of friends with arms linked totem poles, Navajo rugs, heads their rooms. All through the around a campfire) to Ford, to the of game, and railroad emblems in night, sleepers were awakened by National Park Foundation (NPF), a fantastic cultural mishmash. the periodic rumble of avalanches and to Glacier Park, Inc. (GPI), from the roof. During the afternoon, Blackfeet the park concessioner. GPI had dancers and drummers enter- By Sunday morning, a foot and a donated the buses to NPF in tained in the lobby. Blackfeet bal- half of snow was densely packed order to make Ford’s expenditures ladeer Jack Gladstone sang songs on the ground. Squads of Glacier on them tax-deductible. NPF about Napi, Charlie Russell, and Park Lodge employees were slosh- then had leased the buses back to the Lewis and Clark expedition. ing about with shovels, digging GPI for operation. An art show was held in the hotel out cars. The lodge had no hot Brief speeches were given by Jan breezeway. The generations of water or heat. A cold breakfast Ek (General Manager of GPI), gearjammers fraternized. And the buffet was set out for the guests. Sue Cischke (a Ford Vice Presi- blizzard continued to fall. Nothing daunted, the gearjam- dent), Mike Bento (an NPF Vice Large snowdrifts began to grow mers continued their scheduled President), and Mike Snider all around the hotel, with red and reunion. A series of talks that (Deputy Regional Director for yellow tulips poking forlornly up would have been given down- the Park Service). Pete Hart, the here and there. The buses were stairs in a meeting room were Acting Superintendent of Gla- whisked off to the bus garage, transferred to the lobby, in order cier Park, acted as the master of their canvas tops heavy with snow. to maximize natural light. Speak- ceremonies Avalanches began to rumble down ers shouted a bit to make them- After the speakers, the audience off the roofs of the lodge with selves heard above the rumble of thronged out onto the porch of startling force — very heavy wet bellmen’s carts and the hubbub the hotel for a brief ribbon-cut- masses of snow like sandbags, of departing guests. Leroy Lott ting ceremony. One of the buses which could knock a person conducted these proceedings with was parked in front of the porch down. unflagging buoyancy and good with a foot-wide ribbon tied humor. At 7:00 P.M., the electrical power in a bow across its hood. The failed all over East Glacier. Snow The reunion program was ab- dignitaries, armed with scissors, and ice were bringing down breviated when GPI decided to dodged through icy waterfalls power lines in about 250 loca- evacuate the lodge. The lack of pouring out of the rain gutters power, heat, and hot water made 4 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail it impossible to entertain guests. ing down additional masses of generations, and the striking sight A number of gearjammers trav- snow for another day and a half. of the fleet of glossy red buses eled to Lake McDonald Lodge to parked amid the spreading ever- Despite (and to some extent be- socialize informally for another greens mantled with snow. cause of) this colorful ending, the night. The rest drove gingerly jammer reunion was a memorable away through the slush on U.S. success. Everyone who attended Highway 2. Behind them, the will long recall the sense of frater- winter storm intensified, dump- nity among the drivers of many Unsung Heroes of the Renovation (by John Hagen, Many Glacier Hotel, 1970-80) he renovation of Glacier It should be remembered, how- White Motor Co. tour coaches), Park’s historic red bus ever, that this achievement was set Dennis Schwecke (a Ford en- fleet occurred through in motion by numerous devoted gineer), and Larry Hegg (GPI’s Tpublic-spirited action by large private citizens who wanted the chief mechanic). Others involved corporations. Ford Motor Com- buses preserved. When the “reds” were Jeff Kuhn (a director of the pany made an extraordinary broke down in 1999, both the Glacier Park Foundation), Pat- donation of some $6.5 million Park Service and the concessioner rick Scott (of the Denver Transit Authority), and several National Park Service officers (Amy Van- The public . . . emphatically called for renovation of derbilt, Jan Knox, Bernadette the “reds.” Lovato, and Karene Manus). to fund the project. The buses’ were inclined to retire them The inspection team examined owner, Glacier Park, Inc. (GPI) permanently and purchase a new a sample of eight buses from donated the buses to the National fleet. Their initial impression the fleet. Although the chassis Park Foundation (NPF) to make was that the buses might be too needed replacement, and numer- Ford’s contribution tax-deduct- decrepit to restore. ous other problems were found, ible. GPI’s parent corporation, The public, however, emphati- the team was impressed by the Viad, authorized the donation. cally called for renovation of the generally sturdy condition of the NPF itself devoted major resourc- “reds.” Phone calls and letters bodies. es to the project. poured into Park Headquarters Following the team’s optimistic These corporations all were suit- in support of preserving the fleet. report, GPI and the Park Service ably thanked and honored at In response, the Park Service and gave closer consideration to reno- the ceremonies to recommission GPI agreed to hold a systematic vation. Here Dennis Schwecke’s the red bus fleet at Glacier Park inspection of the buses after the persistent personal efforts had a Lodge in June. All friends of 1999 season. crucial effect. Schwecke, a Great Glacier Park should join in thank- The inspection team included Falls native, had known for years ing Ford, Viad, GPI, and NPF for Bruce Austin (an authority on that the red buses needed atten- preserving the fleet. The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 5 tion. He had been looking for that Ford would renovate one of dation. The project necessarily ways to get his company, Ford, the red buses as a prototype. Ford came to seem more corporate and involved in the project. At one and GPI would share the cost. less personal for those who had set point, Schwecke e-mailed the it in motion. Thanks have prop- In February 2000, bus no. 98 was company’s chairman about the erly been focused on the sponsor- driven over snowy roads from reds, and was given authorization ing corporations. Yet honor is Montana to Michigan. Number to pursue the project. due to the individuals whose en- 98 was chosen as an especially ergetic commitment brought the With Schwecke as catalyst, GPI roadworthy bus, but like the oth- renovation about — Schwecke, and the Park Service started con- ers it had no heater. The chilly, Austin, Hegg, Kuhn, Lott, Wirth, versing with Ford. Bruce Austin 2000-mile drive was completed and dozens of letter-writers who and other citizens actively encour- successfully by Hegg and Steve helped reverse the momentum on aged these conversations. Among Ansotegui (aPark Service heavy the issue. the most active were Leroy Lott equipment supervisor). (a Texas businessman and former From this point onward, the red gearjammer) and Harry Wirth bus project passed into the hands (a Minnesota businessman and of higher management at Ford, philanthropist). Through these GPI, and the National Park Foun- conversations, the parties agreed

“Unsung heroes” Dennis Schwecke, Larry Hegg, and Bruce Austin. (Jeff Kuhn photo)

6 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail Renovation of the REDS lacier Park’s restored red new padding and with fire-re- jammer buses are qui tardent upholstery. All the door eter, cleaner, safer, latches were replaced. Gsmoother-riding, and more pow- The historic bodies were remount- erful than before. They are glossy ed on new Ford chassis, with and freshly-painted, and one can new brake systems, new exhaust scarcely believe that the bodies systems, and new power trains. have traveled more than 600,000 The new engines are capable of miles over rugged mountain running either on gasoline or pro- roads. The buses retain almost all of the The traditional bus numbers colorful details that have endeared (from 80 to 112) are them to six decades of Gla- emblazoned prominently on cier Park visitors. The running each individual bus. boards, grills, convertible canvas roofs, and mountain-goat insignia pane. Propane fueling stations at remain almost exactly as before. West Glacier and East Glacier will The traditional bus numbers serve the buses and other vehicles (from 80 to 112) are emblazoned as well. The propane will burn prominently on each individual 93% cleaner than the buses’ old bus. engines did. Banner displayed at the Sharp eyes, however, will iden- Red Bus recommissioning ceremony at Glacier Park tify subtle changes in the “reds.” Lodge. (Jeff Kuhn photo) The tires are smaller — the old 21” tires have been replaced by 16” tires to meet current safety codes. The back axles now have dual tires. The fenders (which now are made of fiberglass) are slightly wider in order to accom- modate the new frames. In fact, almost every part of the buses, except for the bodies and roofs, was replaced. The ply- wood floors were replaced with aluminum composite. All the windows were replaced with safety glass. The seats were refurbished with One of The renovated “reds,” with slightly wider fenders, slightly smaller tires, and dual tires on the back axle. (Jeff Kuhn photo)

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 7 Reunion Reminiscences by Leroy Lott (Gearjammer 1949- gear jammers will be held much view of our beloved bus along 50) later in June or as late as July or with 3 gears that almost meshed August when we can be virtually reading, “Once a Gear Jammer ven before the master of certain Logan Pass will be open. Always a Gear Jammer.” ceremonies could say, In spite of, or because of, Mother “Welcome to the only part We gear jammers couldn’t have Nature’s uninvited attendance, Eof the United States (contiguous, stated it better! We all wore these all of us had another Glacier Park that is) located in the sub-artic on Saturday when the National experience to tell our families and temperature zone,” GPI’s Chris Park Service, Glacier National friends about. We had a wonder- McCoy spoke to the partially Park, the National Park Foun- ful Red (buses) and White Christ- assembled former gear jammers dation and Glacier Park, Inc. mas in June. One quote, “.the and advised us GPI was closing dedicated these six decades old trip turned out to be one of our Glacier Park Lodge due to power ‘new’ 2002 motor vehicles for a most memorable vacations.” failures. Rooms had to be vacated return to tourist tour duty. Ford shortly after lunch. Ford Motor Company requested received well-deserved credit! The an opportunity to express their ceremony was scheduled to be This news combined with the appreciation to all former gear held outdoors. A grand entry of rain and 20 inches of snow was jammers who attended by holding all 19 of these polished-to-perfec- an auspicious start for the 133 a reception in their honor. The tion Reds filled with Montana souls gathered to celebrate the Moccasin Room barely held the Hope children had to be can- Return of the Reds and reminisce large numbers who enjoyed hors celled. Instead, these outstanding about their driving years. 72 of douvers and refreshments between vehicles were effectively stranded this number were former bus 5 & 6 PM on Friday - our first at the Glacier Park Lodge all day drivers. The Reunion dates were day. The front of the long-sleeved Saturday due to the 20 inches of tied to the rededication of 19 of white “Tee” shirts, below Ford’s snow. the fleet of 33 open-top touring logo stated, “The Red Bus Rides buses Ford Motor Company has Before the ribbon cutting cer- Again.” The back side had a side refurbished. Future reunions of emony, the Chief of the Blackfeet Tribe spoke as did the Chairman of the Flathead Indians. While the writer was in the lobby audi- ence listening to the speakers, my wife, Billie, went outside and discovered the bus I drove in 1950, #105, was the one wrapped in a huge blue ribbon with the bow on the grille. She sent word for me to get out front immedi- ately so she could get my picture with this snow-covered icon before the ribbon cutting cer- emony. She succeeded, but so did Reunion organizer Leroy Lott with Jan Metzmaker, executive director a goodly number of others that of the Glacier Fund. (Jeff Kuhn photo) asked for “one more.” It was not

8 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail me they wanted, it was because Loma Linda, California. Margo Ford to undertake this huge and I was standing in the snow wear- Coleman played her guitar and expensive project. He had Larry ing Ford’s white “Tee” shirt with sang the song she wrote while a Hegg, former Chief Mechanic an exposed baldhead collecting gear jammer. In addition, Margo for GPI and Dennis Schwecke, huge amounts of the wet stuff. A explained to us her Bear DNA Ford Customer Relations stand Texan with snow on his head on program she handles in Glacier. with Bruce, the Red Bus Expert June 8th - not a pretty picture. and asked Bruce to relate the roles After Rich Williams provided us these two played. Without these Saturday night was a getting-ac- a keen insight as to how the old three, in the writer’s opinion, our quainted dining evening with an Reds were dismantled and re- historic buses would not have LED slide show of Glacier Park stored, the writer on behalf of the been restored. The other major from the ‘old days’ being shown former gear jammers asked Rich players had received their acco- by Margo Coleman (1984) on to convey to Ford’s CEO, Wm. lades on Saturday morning. white table cloths hung on the Ford our appreciation of Ford’s window drapes. Margo did a investment in restoring the fleet The best was yet to come. After great job of assembling and edit- of 33 Reds. We were hereby re- eating lunch in the unlighted din- ing color slides from several time naming these ‘new’ 2002 beauties, ing room and checking out of the periods. “Ford Red Buses” or alternately, Lodge, current gear jammers were “Red Ford Buses.” To reinforce enlisted by GPI to dig our cars Sunday was Gear Jammer Re- this new name, it was noted that a out of the snow and loaded our union Day! Mother Nature and 1948 gear jammer who became a luggage for the trip roughly 25 of power failure intervened. Instead judge, at a reunion in 1998 stated us made over to Lake McDonald of the dark Moccasin Room, we gear jamming was the best job of Lodge - the favorite of many who settled on the much lighter (sky his entire career. All gear jammers made the journey. Dinner was lights) lobby. The weather had present agreed with the writer it arranged for several tables of us to diminished our numbers before was also the best job they ever eat together in the dining room. we could even assemble. Noth- had. Ford has made it possible Otto Clifton, Location Manager, ing, however, was going to stop arranged for us to hold our ‘circu- lar’ sharing session in the employ- Stories were told, experiences were shared and those of ees’ dining room. (The power you who could not attend missed out on a glorious Glacier failure had impacted only the east Park experience. side of the continental divide). Stories were told, experiences our fun time together. Except for for our grand children and their were shared and those of you who Dr. Dan Hays, who couldn’t get grand children to hold a reunion could not attend missed out on in from his East Glacier ranch, 6 decades from now and say, a glorious Glacier Park experi- all scheduled speakers addressed “Gear Jamming was the best job ence. Most conveyed their desire the crowd of gear jammers, their they ever had. to hold future reunions. This one families and other lodge guests. The writer donned his “Gear was made possible by Melinda Included were Rich Williams of Jammer 2002” jacket, interrupted and Jim Wyatt, who were made Ford, Fred Babb of the NPS, Jan Bruce Austin, PhD’s History of honorary Gear Jammers with a Metzmaker, Executive Director the Red Buses, long enough to standing ovationto end the 2002 of the Glacier Fund, John Hagen, introduce two major players in Gear Jammer Reunion. President of GPF and Dr. Bruce determining that the old Reds Austin, the Red Bus expert from could be restored and then getting

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 9 • From Bowman to Kintla ... and Beyond • The Gunsight Grizzly • Traversing Glacier’s Rooftop • A Death March From Goat Haunt • 75 Miles on the Trail • Moose Fish- ing at Kootenai Lakes •

Hiking in Glacier: An Anthology

(Photo by Rolf Larson)

10 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail The Gunsight Grizzly

(Illustration by John Hagen.) by Jack Butt (Many Glacier 1968-70) y first Glacier Bear Encounter, while I was just a barely eighteen, wet-behind-the-ears Many Glacier room clerk, was chronicled in last spring’s issue of the Inside Trail. For those faithful readers who indulged my memories and persisted through it, you may remember that while Mthe Lake Elizabeth experience taught me much of bears, life, and myself, it involved no bear - just a stupid Canadian horse (and a stupider Many Glacier room clerk). You may also recall the prologue of that tale, that it mer I made it home, after a fairly thrifty summer, was merely the first of several bear encounters dur- with something less than $100 to provide the social ing my Glacier years. So in response to the editor’s budget for my entire first year of college! unguarded solicitation to submit my ‘own favorite But if money was scarce, time off was truly a pre- backcountry tale for the hiking anthology,’ here is cious commodity. It was a five and half day work- another ‘tale’, truthful to the best of my memory. week, with overtime regularly incurred to finish Money, for a Glacier ‘emp,’ was scarce; for those tasks that simply couldn’t be wrapped within the who didn’t work for tips, by the time withholdings allotted shift. I wonder now how GPI got around and meal charges took their toll, a summer’s pay the wage and hour overtime laws!? So at best, a might only afford the travel to and from the Park for day and a half, and one night a week to hitchhike summer employment, a couple of special dinners at to Canada, or over to Lake McDonald, or to spend Johnson’s in Saint Mary, maybe a birthday celebra- the night on the trail. And how we cherished and tion having ‘real dinner’ with friends in the dining planned for those single days off! And most of us, room, a little cheap beer, a few fishing lures, and to my recollection, maybe once during the entire perhaps something really nice from the gift shop summer, engaged in significant shift swapping to for parents, girlfriend or boyfriend. My first sum- accumulate a true three day weekend (after three

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 11 weeks without any day off) to robbed. Various of us climbed attention and approval the heavy, make the grand hitchhiking trek Mt. Jackson, explored the upper steel outside door and its interior all the way to Banff, Lake Louise, St.Mary River, Blackfoot Glacier, dead bolt - a door I guessed and or even Jasper, or to spend a won- and the moonscape-like environs hoped would withstand a persis- derful two nights on the trail. of the Glacier. The fishing was tent bear. good, too, in Gunsight Lake. But During my last year, as a bellman, The trail ran right past the trail all of that had little to do with the I engineered a true sabbatical: shelter, shortly thereafter splitting, Gunsight Grizzly. four full days, four nights, off! the right fork heading some 100 I don’t remember the extent to I began the trip hitchhiking from yards to the lake itself, the left as- which I hocked my lederhosen, Many Glacier to the trail head on cending along the northern flank first born or soul to accumulate Going-to-the-Sun Road. Unen- of Mt. Jackson as it proceeded that wealth, but I recall the an- cumbered by worries or slower to cross the continental divide

But if money was scarce, time off was truly a precious commodity. ticipation of such a vacation! The companions, I covered the six at Gunsight Pass, on its way to places I could go! The things I miles with a heavy pack in quick Sperry Chalet and Lake McDon- could do! However, having ac- time. Gunsight Lake had two, ald. cumulated such wealth of leisure man-made structures there. The trail shelter sat on the edge of time, I found I had placed myself One first encountered the trail deep woods, a small alpine mead- beyond the available companion- crew shack some several hundred ow lying between it and the lake. ship of my fellow employees - no yards from the lake, out of which The trail cut a useful path from one else had or could gather the a crew based its operations for the shelter to the lake, through time to match such an extrava- some part of the summer. It was the knee- to waist-high bear grass, gance. locked and deserted when I came huckleberry bushes and alders So it resolved itself that I would by it that first afternoon. Word that grew in the meadow, inter- hike into Gunsight Lake, six earlier that summer was that a spersed by a few, short pine trees. relatively easy miles off of Go- bear had pestered them, but that Halfway to the lake it crossed the ing-to-the Sun road, and along was old news, and it was obvi- outlet stream, a not too scary, ten the Sperry Chalet route to Lake ous the trail crew had not been yard wide, knee-deep wade in the McDonald, and establish a base around for days, perhaps weeks. fast flowing, icy water. camp, to and through which vari- Closer to the Lake was a trail I’d arrived mid afternoon. My ous friends could come and go shelter; a simple, tin roofed, fully first guests wouldn’t arrive until in the following half week, with enclosed building, painted Park the morrow, so I took the luxury their more limited time off. Service green and divided into of calling the vacant trail shelter two, dirt-floored, small rooms, It was a magnificent camp. Eric home for the first night, avoiding not connected to each other by Norby, Bill Ledain, Randy Pugh, the time and bother of pitching a an interior door, but each having Herschel Augsperger, and Ne- tent. Setting up camp consisted an outside door, one very small dra Smith (now Matteucci) each of merely setting my pack in the window, and a small fire place spent at least one night there corner. With camp established, - a duplex if you will of utmost along, probably, with others, I booted into my chest waders, simplicity and no interior con- memory of whom the years have unpacked my rod and small tackle nections. I did note with special

12 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail kit, and headed, absolutely care- bered in my heavy chest waders in dozens of books since then, I free, to the inviting, completely out of the lake, rod in one hand, have resolved that it was sheer, deserted lake: I had this lovely three trout hanging from the oth- blind, dumb luck and God’s won- wilderness to myself! er, heading for the feast I have so derful grace that left me for some often celebrated in both anticipa- reason, still unfathomed, here It was late in the summer, late tion and memory: Trout steamed alive on earth. enough that the biting gnats, in lemon and butter on the open no-see-ums and mosquitoes were These thoughts all raced through fire, potatoes baked in the coals abated, or at least abated enough my mind, in no particular order, to be slathered with butter, and a that the toxic Rum River Crook in about 5 seconds that seemed cold beer to wash it all down. that I smoked as repellant seemed like 5 years: There is no one to work. It was a glorious day; Anticipating the comfort of get- within six miles or twelve hours the breeze danced along the water ting out of the bulky waders, the to help or even hear me scream; turning it to a million diamonds relaxed cocktail hour and ultimate I’m holding three fresh fish in my in the bright August afternoon feast, I focused absent mindedly right hand; that bear is at least a sun, and the sky was so blue as on the darkening trail until it foot taller than I am; he’s look- to drown you in its intensity. encountered the outlet stream. A ing right at me but they have The fishing was slow, and I ex- tump here would not be a pleas- bad eyesight (don’t they?!?); he’s perimented with my combination ant end to the day, so I carefully sniffing very diligently - the wind fly/spinning rod, switching reels concentrated on crossing dry, is in my face so maybe he can’t and lures, unperturbed in this gingerly stepping out onto the smell me - but I can’t smell him Disneyland of wilderness with the mere lack of fishing luck. It was a glorious day; the breeze danced along the As the sun settled directly ahead water turning it to a million diamonds in the bright of me to the west, into the notch August afternoon sun, and the sky was so blue as to of the Continental Divide that drown you in its intensity. gives Gunsight Pass and the lake at its base their names, the breeze stilled and the water calmed into slick, damp bank on the other, either...does a bear have a smell? a mirror, on which the trout trail shelter side. I looked up as Grizzlies have a dished out face, rising to an early evening hatch I headed the last thirty yards to compared to black bears - what reflected their hunger. Within the shelter, and there, squarely the devil does ‘dished out face’ minutes, I’d caught three nice between me and the shelter and mean!!? This bear is light brown brookies, and hooked and lost standing at full height, was a bear - it’s hard to tell in this light, but or released several more. I didn’t staring straight at me. the tips are lighter than the coat - but don’t all kinds of bears have want to stop - this was the essence Now, I suppose I could pretend all kinds of colors of hair? God, I of what the employee fishermen to brag that I fearlessly did ev- hope this is a black bear and not a talked, and planned, and dreamed erything that I had learned, and Grizzly! What am I going to do if about all summer - hat perfect thought about, and prepared for, it charges me right now? hatch of the perfect evening of the over the prior three years of hik- perfect day. ing among Glacier’s bears, just I found that I was not answering But the sun was gone, dusk was right, and that’s why I’m here to very many of my own questions on me, supper was in hand, I had tell the story. Knowing what I very definitively or satisfactorily, no light, and it was a ways back to know now, having read with great but resolved that I ought to treat the shelter. Reluctantly, I clam- interest hundreds of bear stories

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 13 this bear as a Grizzly, regardless prayed that the wind, capricious the stream, sprang to the tree, of what it was - so what in the all afternoon would not shift and supercharged with adrena- heck does that mean? No sud- - best I could figure, the bear line, somehow overcame its thick, den moves - yeah, that’s it - no wasn’t sure who or what I was, sharp branches to scramble to sudden moves. Talk to it quietly and apparently was not going to its very small, tippy top, where I - yeah, quietly! Get rid of these act decisively until he (she?) got a perched, shaking and gasping, in darn fish!!! Where the heck am I whiff. my hip waders, feeling and look- going to go?!! The bear is directly ing like a flag pole sitter, in the I began backing away, towards between me and the cabin, and all decidedly swaying top of the tree, the lake and outlet stream, slowly, the trees to climb are behind the looking out to see if the bear had slowly, step by step. Quietly, cabin - will it swim out in the lake followed. soothingly, “Please, Mr. Bear, to get me? Will I drown or die of don’t eat Jack Butt Mr. Bear. You There stood the bear, staring and hypothermia if I go into the lake can have these fish if you want sniffing, where I’d first seen him in these waders!? them, Mr. Bear; I’m not going to two minutes (or was it twenty Very quietly, very steadily, I began hurt you.” minutes?) before. cooing to the bear in the smooth- At the edge of the outlet stream, I took a quick account. It was est voice my subconscious could I’d put twenty more yards of almost dark; details on the bear, conjecture would sound com- smooth talking, slow backing now some fifty yards away, were pletely unthreatening, unprovok- between the bear and me. I blurring in the bad light. I had ing to a bear: ‘Easy, bear. Easy slowly began twirling the trout on nowhere to go, no expectation of bear. Don’t eat Jack Butt, Mr. the end of the cord stringer and help for at least the next twelve Bear. I’m not going hurt you, Mr. loosed them as hard as I could hours. The bear was between Bear; you can have these fish if , out to the side perpendicular me and the only safety. The bear you want to eat them, Mr. Bear’ from the line between Mr. Bear could probably climb this tree or Now, as I write this story some and me. The bear stood - and shake me out of it. I was alive third of a century later, I distinct- stared - and sniffed. and perhaps a little safer than I’d ly remember addressing the bear been sixty seconds ago. All things Fearing to take my eyes off the as ‘Mr.’, but haven’t wondered considered, things could be much worse. What do I do next? Now, as I write this story some third of a century The bear dropped slowly to all later, I distinctly remember addressing the bear as fours, nuzzled around, and made ‘Mr.’, but haven’t wondered over all those years a move that looked like it was until this moment, why I did that. urinating. Was this an act of disdain?! The over all those years until this mo- bear, I glanced down at the bear’s whole demeanor made it ment, why I did that. Maybe it stream, and saw, just the other seem that way: “You weak, scared, was the respect in my address that side, a small pine tree, maybe foolish looking, stupid, little hu- bought me my life - or the grovel- twenty feet in height. I was much man, perched in that tree where I ing tone of voice; and why in the closer to the tree than to the bear, could kill and eat you in moment. heck didn’t I call it Miss or Mrs. but the bear could run more than You’re not worth my time!” Bear? twice as fast as I could - I cooed Succumbing to the overwhelming The bear just kept on standing once more, softly to the bear, and stress of the situation, I laughed - and staring - and sniffing. I heart in mouth, plunged across out loud at how I must have

14 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail looked, and how this bear’s reac- music of the outlet brook. I ceeded to prepare and consume, tion seemed to fit perfectly with began taking one deliberate step in the greatest psychological the comments I attributed to its after another towards the cabin security and coziness, my lemon body language. for no plan more complex than I and butter steamed trout, accom- simply wanted to be inside it. panied by coals-roasted, butter- Then the bear ambled away, back slathered potato, and beer. And past and behind the trail shelter. I And then, without thinking, I reflected without relent during could hear, I think, the crunch of turned, marched into the bushes that meal, as I have many times its feet on the ground twigs and where the fish had been thrown, in the years since then; how many duff - or could I? Or had I, but by some act of grace or fate different ways could that have had it stopped? reached down where I though turned out worse? Why didn’t This was one of the many times in my life when I realized the really This was one of the many times in my life when hard decisions don’t come with I realized the really hard decisions don’t come a little instruction book; a red with a little instruction book and green light; a clear and cer- tain direction from the Bible, or something your parents, or coach, or best friend or scoutmaster once they’d landed and there they were. it? Am I good, or lucky, or both? told you. No matter what I do, Having further tempted fate by And having never resolved any of I might die a horrible death. Do this detour and enhancement of these questions, I have resolved I get down? Can I stay here all myself as a food source, I returned simply that I am glad and thank- night? How long can I, should I, my direction and pace towards ful for having been inexplicably stay here? Do I run to the shelter? the shelter. The door did not delivered that day, for whatever Do I sneak quietly to the shelter? face me; it was on the side where reason and by whatever power, How long do I stay perched like I would have to pass the front from maiming or death. Some- an oversized buzzard in tree the of the shelter and expose myself times your number just isn’t up. bear can probably tear down? I to view of anything lurking in didn’t answer any of the ques- the woods behind it, to get in it. tions. It was dark, I wanted to be I continued my stealthy, steady inside, I couldn’t see or hear the stalk towards the shelter, until bear. I scrambled down, looked finally within ten feet, heart in my and listened into the increasing throat that the bear was immedi- darkness, saw and heard nothing. ately behind it and would charge the moment I moved, I made a I eased across the outlet creek, desperate dash to the door, was scared that the roaring noise through it, SLAM! And bolted it. of the current around my legs would alert the bear, or cover the If I weren’t safe, I wasn’t going to sound of its re-approach, or both; admit otherwise. I was as safe as I I cleared the stream and looked could get, and until the bear laid and listened again, realizing that into the door, I was just going to for most practical purposes I was pretend that this was the ultimate blinded by the almost full dark- bear proof habitat. Indeed, I pro- ness of the arrived nightfall, and deafened by the otherwise merry

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 15 A Hike with Gordon and Alice Edwards . . .

By J. Gordon Edwards, Author of “A Climber’s ‘It Snowed and Blowed’ Guide to Glacier National Park” notes state that “it snowed and quicker if we went down the n 12 September 1947 blowed” all the way from Brown Kintla Valley. (That made sense we camped at the outlet Pass to Boulder Pass, about 6 only because I had no idea that of Bowman Lake, and frigid miles, but was very scenic. it was over 20 miles down that Oat 9:00 AM started up the trail We paused beneath an overhang- valley to the road, and we did not toward Brown Pass, a pleasant ing cliff near Boulder Pass and have a map). The first 10 miles 16 mile walk. I had never been ate all of the food we had car- was not bad, but then it began to in that part of the Park that ried... which consisted of only six get dark, and we had no flashlight summer, (which was my first in marshmallows in a small package. (we had not intended to be hiking Glacier National Park), and had We decided against going back after dark). After passing Upper often wished I could see that pass to Bowman Lake, thinking we Kintla Lake the next 10 miles and Hole-in-the-Wall Basin. My would get out of the snowstorm were a real grind, with the trail

16 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail going up and down constantly, presumably to provide interest- ing views for people on horses!. My notes state that “it snowed and blowed” all the We stayed on the trail by simply way from Brown Pass to Boulder Pass, about 6 frigid feeling it beneath our feet, and we miles, but was very scenic. really saw no views at all ... not even ten feet away! Several small that time). I knew it was a long decided I should just head south streams crossed the trail, and we distance down to the spur road and keep going until reaching a would simply strike a match to that leads 6 miles in to Bowman road, then walk the road in to get a glimpse of the crossing, then Lake, and my feet were getting Bowman Lake. About 20 minutes jump for it. I kept thinking we tender. I could see Rainbow Peak later I discovered a man-made must be getting close .... but we from there, and I thought my shack, which had obviously been were not. I thought that when car was directly between me and deserted for many years. A nar- we reached the campground we that peak, so I decided to take a row lane, badly overgrown, led might get a ride back to our car, shortcut through the woods. That downhill from the shack, and very at Bowman Lake, or perhaps the proved to be a mistake, but an soon I did reach a road ... it was ranger would have a cup of coffee interesting one. A pack of coyotes the same road I had left hours for us. Unfortunately, when we followed me rather closely and earlier, and not much further finally reached the campground kept yowling. I had seen pictures south than when I left it! I gave at 1030 P.M. there was nobody of deer that were disembowled by up, at that point, and decided there, and there was nobody at coyotes, and I wondered if they to just walk down the truck trail the ranger station either. knew the difference between deer until I reached the spur road and We built a fire in front of the and human meat. I kept looking then walk the six miles of gravel, ranger station, and sat by it, at nearby trees and wondering to reach my car. That was a good roasting our front and freezing how fast I could climb. Later I choice! I drove back to the main our backsides for hours. (Later came to some beaver ponds road and headed north. Soon I saw a human figure in the road a second fire helped warm our and waded across them, after and was relieved to see that it posteriors.) We passed the night which I no longer heard the coy- was Alice. She had seen nobody commenting on the coyote howls otes. I could not see any moun- all day, and became concerned and the barred owl hoots. tains, because of all the trees, and about me, so she walked about 10 The sky lightened about 5:30 AM my direction was probably far miles down the road, thinking she and I decided to try a short-cut to off, because of all the little ridges would go to the car and honk the Bowman Lake via a narrow trail I was crossing, and because the horn, in hopes I would hear it and leading in that direction from the position of the sun kept chang- be guided to it! After we rejoiced ranger station. There was no sign ing. Suddenly I saw a cute little by the road, we heated up a can of there, and I never did learn where bear cub ahead, and then a sec- soup and drank some warm cokes! that trail went. About a mile up ond one, and then a huge grizzly I have always remembered that the trail a huge bull elk threat- leaning against a tree trunk near as the pleasant end to one of the ened me and circled around me the cubs. Even though nobody most memorable hikes I ever took as I hid between two large logs. had been attacked by grizzlies in in Glacier National Park, however After the elk left I found a smaller the park, to that time, I had heard I really have no great desire to trail heading downhill, and it warnings about them elsewhere, repeat it right now! led me to the main road (called so I quietly backed away, with- the North Fork Truck Trail, at out being seen or heard. I finally

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 17 bit walking-party!). Yet, despite our carelessness and nonchalance, Miles on the Trail we all were seasoned hikers. Two 75 years earlier, I had walked the 65-mile North Circle trail. Dave East Glacier to Many Glacier, July 14, 1973 Paulus had done a 50-mile day. Ron Zahn, our companion, was by John Hagen (Many Glacier Ho- We stuck some candy bars in our new to Glacier that summer, but tel 1970-80) pockets, and carried a few odds was a sturdy hiker. and ends (beef jerky, athletic tape, n 1974, with eight faithful Our plan was to start at Glacier and salt to counteract dehydra- friends assisting me, I walked Park Lodge at midnight on July tion) in a leather shaving kit. No nonstop from the Prince 13. We would walk north along one carried a water bottle — giar- Iof Wales Hotel to Glacier Park the Inside Trail — the famous dia was unheard-of in those days, Lodge. That adventure (105 old trail which in Glacier’s early and we drank from any fast- miles, with backtracks) took two flowing stream. We each had nights and most of two days. My a windbreaker, a flashlight, success in completing it grew and a bear bell or two (bear out of lessons learned in a failed spray was a couple of decades attempt to walk across Glacier in the future). None of us the previous summer. That first thought to bring a hat to ward unsuccessful attempt — the off the hot midsummer sun. most miles I ever have walked in a single day — is the tale that I The perspective of middle would like to share here. age and of decades of hiking in Glacier makes me want Looking back on my photo- to shout at the callow youth graphs, I’m amazed at the breezy in the photos like Gandalf nonchalance with which we set in The Lord of the Rings about this expedition. None of (‘You fool of a Took! This is us carried so much as a knapsack! a serious journey, not a hob-

John Hagen, Ron Zahn, and Dave Paulus at Scenic Point, about 2:00 A.M.

18 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail planning to start in dark- the campground all were dark and ness, we made inquiries profoundly still. We gave our ear- for a guide. nest thanks to Tom, who set off down the road for East Glacier. Tom Doering, a gear- jammer, kindly agreed Now Ron, Dave, and I strode off to guide us over the first on familiar ground — the long miles of trail. He ex- forested trail up the Dry Fork. pertly led us through the We yelled and waved our flash- confusing aspen groves lights and jingled our bear bells at the start of the hike, to warn off wandering bears. In and then up into rug- two hours, we arrived at Old Man ged foothills. Tom was a Lake and started up the long steep genial companion and an switchbacks leading to Pitamakan excellent astronomer. He Pass. pointed out constellations Dawn was spreading over Gla- and planets (including cier’s mountaintops as we arrived Saturn, which impressed on the pass. Below us, the Cut me because it is faint and Bank Valley, Pitamakan Lake and hard to distinguish from John Hagen on Triple Divide Pass the Lake of the Seven Winds still a star). Ever since that night, (all photos from the author’s lay enveloped in inky shadow. collection) thanks to Tom, I have kept track We loped down the trail into the of the planets in the sky. years had conveyed horse parties valley, having covered about 18 from the lodge to Two Medicine We strode along at a brisk pace, miles in about five hours. Chalets, Cut Bank Chalets, Red forging uphill at nearly 4 mph. Unexpectedly, trouble arose. As Eagle Tent Camp, and finally St. We came to Scenic Point, a fine we descended the rough, rocky Mary Chalets. Near St. Mary, we vantage point overlooking the trail, Dave developed a cramped planned to turn west on the trail high plains. There we saw an foot. He gamely tried to shake along the south shore of St. Mary awesome sight. On the black off the pain and to loosen the Lake. Then we planned to climb prairie lay the golden lights of muscle, to no avail. After plod- Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Browning (about ten miles to ding for six more miles down Pass, walk up the Highline Trail the east) and of Cut Bank (forty the valley, he felt compelled to to Goat Haunt, and push on to miles away). They looked like the abandon the hike. Dave left Ron Waterton — 95 miles in all. campfires of great armies. This and I at the trail junction to Cut stirring scene seemed to embody The only navigational problem we Bank Campground, walked to the the words of The Battle Hymn of anticipated was at the start of the campground and hitchhiked back the Republic: “I have seen him hike. None of us ever had taken to Many Glacier. the first leg of the Inside Trail in the watchfires of a hundred from East Glacier over Scenic circling camps.” Ron and I turned westward up the steep climb to Triple Divide Point to Two Medicine. We were We followed the trail along the Pass. We stopped there to admire told that the trail was somewhat stony open shoulders of Mt. an array of stark, stony peaks hard to follow from its starting Henry under the vivid starry sky. — Split Mountain, Mt. Norris, point along the East Glacier golf Then we descended to Two Medi- Razoredge Mountain, Medicine course through the first mile of cine, arriving before 3 A.M. The Grizzly Peak, Mt. James, and Tri- brushy forest. Since we were chalet, the launch Sinopah, and

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 19 ple Divide Peak (from the summit I took the long trail of which water courses away to leading westward along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans the south shore of and to Hudson’s Bay). We would St. Mary Lake. The have appreciated a drink of that noonday sun was water on the arid pass. At mid- now intense, and the morning, the day was already hot, streams were few and and from now on we would be far between. 1973 was exposed almost constantly to the a very dry summer, and blazing sun. I began to see the folly of taking such a trip We descended long rocky slopes without a water bottle and then long wooded switch- or a hat. backs to Red Eagle Lake. We continued northeastward along I passed under the spires Red Eagle Creek, as the heat of Red Eagle, Mahto- grew more oppressive. At length topa, Little Chief, and we came to the fork in the trail Citadel Mountains, in between St. Mary townsite and their stately file along St. Mary Lake. Here Ron decided the shoreline of St. to end his hike. He walked out Mary Lake. At the lake’s west Hagen and Zahn at Red Eagle Lake to the townsite and hitchhiked end, I passed the great waterfalls, Pass. The road ran relentlessly home, having covered about 47 Virginia and St. Mary, and made uphill. My quadriceps and ham- miles. my way along spur trails to the strings ached, and I was breathing pavement of Going-to-the-Sun in panting gasps. Road. I knew that I was too spent to The following portion complete the hike to Canada. of the hike was the The question now was whether most daunting physi- I had the will power to push on cal challenge that I ever to Logan Pass. The steep pitch have faced in my life. in the road above Siyeh Bend The temperature was seemed almost impossible to in the high 90s — an climb. I was near the point of extremely hot day for giving up and hitchhiking back Glacier — and as I down the road. Then a deadhead- walked up the roadside ing jammer bus taking a group of I was completely ex- off-duty Many Glacier employees posed to the withering homeward suddenly passed by. sun. I was weary and The employees, standing up in the parched with thirst, and open bus, gave me a cheer, which there were only a couple steeled my will. I pushed up the of water sources (Si- steep slope and painfully plodded yeh Creek and Lunch the last two miles to Logan Pass. Creek) along the last The visitor center there, nestled Crossing Red Eagle Creek, around noon few miles to Logan under snowy Mt. Clements amid

20 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail fields of gorgeous multicolored heat had subsided, and the eve- sky of deep blue in which stars flowers, seemed like a vision of ning was very beautiful as the were just beginning to show. It paradise — gradually, gradually sun sank toward the peaks of the was a benevolent, peaceful im- drawing closer, through enormous Livingston Range. age, and it gave me a profound effort and pain. sense of the providence of God. I started down the switchbacks of Swiftcurrent Pass, unexpectedly I was near the point of giving up . . . . Then a renewed in strength. I smiled to deadheading jammer bus taking a group of off-duty find a trail of orange peels along Many Glacier employees homeward suddenly passed the side of the path — they had by. The employees, standing up in the open bus, gave been left by Manzer, eating the me a cheer, which steeled my will. food cache as he trotted home; the ground squirrels hadn’t yet had time to discover them and At Logan Pass, I threw myself on Around sundown, I reached clear them away. the ground and rested for awhile. Granite Park Chalet. The em- The panting gradually subsided, ployees there told me that David I reached the floor of the Swift- and my heartbeat gradually had faithfully waited for us until current Valley about 9:00, as full slowed. I drank and drank from early evening. He finally had left darkness was falling. I switched the water fountain, took salt to to return to Many only about an my flashlight on, and shouted pe- electrolyze the fluid, and managed hour before. I drank a pitcher of riodically for bears. But I contin- to eat a little food. Meanwhile, I Granite Park kool-aid, bought a ued to feel a sense of benevolent pondered what to do next. slice of apple pie, and then started providence surrounding me, and uphill toward Swiftcurrent Pass as hiked on unafraid. Completing the full hike was twilight fell across the park. out of the question, but if I had I reached the lobby of Many Gla- strength enough, I thought I I remember the golden lights of cier Hotel at the stroke of 11 P.M. should hike on to Granite Park the Swiftcurrent Fire Lookout I had completed a hike of 75 Chalet. We had arranged for Da- shining out above me against a miles in 23 hours. Ian Tippet, the vid Manzer, another Many Gla- cier employee, to rendezvous with us there with a food cache. The plan had been for David to join us on the last 33 miles to Water- ton. The rendezvous was to have taken place around 3 P.M., and it was now nearly 6 P.M. I thought that David probably would have given up on us and returned to Many Glacier before I could reach the chalet, but I thought that I should try to go. I started out along the Highline. I was sore and tired, but I found that I could walk at a normal In the withering sun at Logan Pass hiker’s pace of about 3 mph. The

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 21 manager, was in the lobby. He one had a hat and that we took I never will forget the earlier graciously led me to the cafeteria a number of water bottles along. trek, and the exhausting climb and gorged me on milk and cake. We took the hike from north to up Logan Pass in the withering Then I shuffled off to the dormi- south, so that the exposed midday midsummer heat. tory, showered, and tumbled into walk on the road would be going bed. My notebook shows that I downhill instead of uphill. And rose to work my shift as a bellman we carried knapsacks containing the next day “sore in the ankles,” more food, space blankets, and but otherwise reasonably sound. other emergency gear. I learned from the lessons of this The 1974 adventure brought its hike. In planning another length- own challenges, and the satis- of-the-park attempt the next faction of finally completing a summer, I made sure that every- nonstop hike across Glacier. But

Death March from Goat Haunt to Many by Dick Schwab (Many Glacier, hike from Goat Haunt at the end long, slow voyage to Goat Haunt. 1947-1952) of Waterton Lake over Stoney By the time the boatman let us Indian and Ptarmigan Passes off (we may have had to wade lthough Granite was the back to Many, some thirty-four in because he could not legally favorite destination of miles of extraordinary wilder- dock) some of our group were several of us during the ness and mountain country.* We deathly ill. I remember seeing one Afirst years we worked in the Park, got started a bit late, packed in or two of the party laid out on we somehow found time and the JOF Trio’s Jeep for the rough the beach looking very pale and energy to range over a good share ride to Waterton. By the time we green and not able to move for of the trails in the northern half arrived, the International launch, awhile. Eventually fresh air and of Glacier where most of the best which we had intended to take natural resilience took care of the ones are. I have always thought to Goat Haunt on the south end effects of the poisonous fumes, the pickings off Highway 2 were of the great lake, had already left. and we set out purposefully on pretty slim, and besides, it was Nothing daunted, we hired a ride our thirty-four miles. We knew perilous to depend on hitch-hike in a small boat with a man who it was not the best idea to start rides that far away. promised to drop us off (techni- that expedition around noon, but By the end of the first year we had cally illegally because he did not there was little alternative. At least taken a majority of hikes around have an international license) at we were assured that if we kept at Many and toward Logan Pass, the end of the lake. This turned it we would get back to Many in and some of us got involved in out to be the first major misad- time for work the next day. ambitious expeditions. Sometime venture of several in that long, By the time we had hiked up the in late August or early September eventful day. Unfortunately, the Waterton Valley and the many of 1947 one or another of the small boat had its motor situated switchbacks to the crest of Stoney members of the JOF Trio, prob- in the middle, and we passen- Indian Pass it was dusk, and we ably Steve Farbotnik, got the gers sat in the stern inhaling its were beginning to fade. It was idea of taking the stupendous noxious fumes throughout the Indian Summer, late August or

22 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail early September, and the weather the moon disappeared. In pitch possible. The occupants of the was calm and quiet. Suddenly darkness we somehow found the cabin had gone to bed, and we we all froze in our tracks at the way over toward Elizabeth Lake, saw swirling before our famished sound of a terrifying scream not which, as I recall, involved ford- eyes a tabletop literally covered far down the trail. It kept going ing an icy stream. The endless with the most sumptuous imag- on, turning into something like climb up the trail from there to inable array of hors d’oeuvres a Tarzan yell accompanied by Ptarmigan Tunnel is terrible un- the waitresses had salvaged from violent coughing sounds. “What der good conditions, and we soon a banquet at the Many Glacier the Hell is that?” someone gasped. got to the point where we could dining hall. BUT WE DID NOT We looked at one another with barely put one foot in front of TOUCH IT! We could not see tense, drawn faces. It flashed the other. Suddenly, part way up whether the party-goers had left a through my mind that it might be the many switchbacks, we spot- note for us to help ourselves, and an insane woodsman wielding an ted a dark form in the middle of we were afraid it was all for some ax or a grizzly gone beserk. And the trail. Our blood froze again, kind of festivity they had planned there we were, helpless out in the for we thought it was a bear. But for the next day. That is how middle of nowhere with night fast when the shadowy figure moved honorable we were in those days. approaching. Then the scream and sat up, we saw it was one of We were near dying of hunger was repeated across the great val- our party who had gone a ways and yet we would not touch a ley, and we realized it must be the ahead and fallen asleep. The shot morsel. Noble youths. Instead, we mating call of a bull elk. From of adrenaline from that scare directed our leaden feet silently that point on we heard unearthly probably revitalized us enough out the door so that we would not trumpetings the whole night long, so that we were able to drag on wake anyone up, and staggered all echoing back and forth from all to Ptarmigan Tunnel. From there the way over to the dormitory at the mountainsides that border the on a combination of gravity and Many, where we collapsed on our wide valleys of Glenns and Cross- robotic reflexes in our legs took us ley Lakes and the Belly River. Night fell, and a bright moon When we got together with our friends the next day, came out. The scene had an eerie they were appalled. The waitresses had left all that and nebulous quality, as on and food out specifically for us! on we trudged to the haunting sounds of bull elks continually challenging one another from the the five or six miles down to the bunks for a couple hours of sleep shoulder of one mountain to the Swiftcurrent cabins. We arrived before returning to work in the next. The more exhausted we got, somewhere between 3:00 and morning. When we got together the more dream-like the experi- 4:00 A. M. with our friends the next day, ence seemed. By the time we saw they were appalled. The waitresses Some of our visiting friends had the ethereal view from the bottom had left all that food out specifi- rented a cabin there, and they had of Crossley Lake of the mountains cally for us! to the south bathed in the moon- told us to join them for a party light, we were nearly comatose. when we got back. We saw a light And that was only about half the in the cabin, but heard no sounds. way back. From then on it was Then came the biggest test of the simply an endurance contest. Not whole journey. We quietly stag- long after we left Crossley Lake gered in, whispering as softly as

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 23 Traversing Glacier’s Rooftop - Cathedral to Merritt to Cleveland to Goat Haunt on the south end Indian Pass it was dusk, and we by Dick Schwab (Many Glacier, of the great lake, had already left. were beginning to fade. It was 1948-1952) Nothing daunted, we hired a ride Indian Summer, late August or lthough Granite was the in a small boat with a man who early September, and the weather favorite destination of promised to drop us off (techni- was calm and quiet. Suddenly several of us during the cally illegally because he did not we all froze in our tracks at the Afirst years we worked in the Park, have an international license) at sound of a terrifying scream not we somehow found time and the end of the lake. This turned far down the trail. It kept going energy to range over a good share out to be the first major misad- on, turning into something like of the trails in the northern half venture of several in that long, a Tarzan yell accompanied by of Glacier where most of the best eventful day. Unfortunately, the violent coughing sounds. “What ones are. I have always thought small boat had its motor situated the Hell is that?” someone gasped. the pickings off Highway 2 were in the middle, and we passen- We looked at one another with pretty slim, and besides, it was gers sat in the stern inhaling its tense, drawn faces. It flashed perilous to depend on hitch-hike noxious fumes throughout the through my mind that it might be rides that far away. long, slow voyage to Goat Haunt. an insane woodsman wielding an By the time the boatman let us ax or a grizzly gone beserk. And By the end of the first year we had off (we may have had to wade there we were, helpless out in the taken a majority of hikes around in because he could not legally middle of nowhere with night fast Many and toward Logan Pass, dock) some of our group were approaching. Then the scream and some of us got involved in deathly ill. I remember seeing one was repeated across the great val- ambitious expeditions. Sometime or two of the party laid out on ley, and we realized it must be the in late August or early September the beach looking very pale and mating call of a bull elk. From of 1947 one or another of the green and not able to move for that point on we heard unearthly members of the JOF Trio, prob- awhile. Eventually fresh air and trumpetings the whole night long, ably Steve Farbotnik, got the natural resilience took care of the echoing back and forth from all idea of taking the stupendous effects of the poisonous fumes, the mountainsides that border the hike from Goat Haunt at the end and we set out purposefully on wide valleys of Glenns and Cross- of Waterton Lake over Stoney our thirty-four miles. We knew ley Lakes and the Belly River. Indian and Ptarmigan Passes it was not the best idea to start Night fell, and a bright moon back to Many, some thirty-four that expedition around noon, but came out. The scene had an eerie miles of extraordinary wilder- there was little alternative. At least and nebulous quality, as on and ness and mountain country.* We we were assured that if we kept at on we trudged to the haunting got started a bit late, packed in it we would get back to Many in sounds of bull elks continually the JOF Trio’s Jeep for the rough time for work the next day. challenging one another from the ride to Waterton. By the time we shoulder of one mountain to the By the time we had hiked up the arrived, the International launch, next. The more exhausted we got, Waterton Valley and the many which we had intended to take the more dream-like the experi- switchbacks to the crest of Stoney ence seemed. By the time we saw

24 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail the ethereal view from the bottom on a combination of gravity and possible. The occupants of the of Crossley Lake of the mountains robotic reflexes in our legs took us cabin had gone to bed, and we to the south bathed in the moon- the five or six miles down to the saw swirling before our famished light, we were nearly comatose. Swiftcurrent cabins. We arrived eyes a tabletop literally covered And that was only about half the somewhere between 3:00 and with the most sumptuous imag- way back. From then on it was 4:00 A. M. inable array of hors d’oeuvres simply an endurance contest. Not the waitresses had salvaged from Some of our visiting friends had long after we left Crossley Lake a banquet at the Many Glacier rented a cabin there, and they had the moon disappeared. In pitch dining hall. BUT WE DID NOT told us to join them for a party darkness we somehow found the TOUCH IT’ We could not see when we got back. We saw a light way over toward Elizabeth Lake, whether the party-goers had left a in the cabin, but heard no sounds. which, as I recall, involved ford- note for us to help ourselves, and Then came the biggest test of the ing an icy stream. The endless we were afraid it was all for some whole journey. We quietly stag- climb up the trail from there to kind of festivity they had planned gered in, whispering as softly as Ptarmigan Tunnel for the next day. That is is terrible under how honorable we were good conditions, in those days. We were and we soon got to near dying of hunger and the point where we yet we would not touch could barely put one a morsel. Noble youths. foot in front of the Instead, we directed other. Suddenly, part our leaden feet silently way up the many out the door so that we switchbacks, we would not wake anyone spotted a dark form up, and staggered all the in the middle of way over to the dormi- the trail. Our blood tory at Many, where we froze again, for collapsed on our bunks we thought it was for a couple hours of a bear. But when sleep before returning the shadowy figure to work in the morning. moved and sat up, When we got together we saw it was one of with our friends the next our party who had day, they were appalled. gone a ways ahead The waitresses had left all and fallen asleep. that food out specifically The shot of adrena- for us! line from that scare probably revitalized us enough so that we were able to drag on to Ptarmigan Tunnel. From there Stoney Indian Pass and the route to Mt. Cleveland (in the distance) as seen from Cathedral Ridge; Kyle Roybal in foreground (Nathan Taylor photo)

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 25 Moose Fishing at Kootenai Lakes by Chet Bowers (Gearjammer with fishing gear, beverages, and of a young Bull Moose got our 1941, 1946) repellent. Our navigation didn’t immediate attention. It was close include a time/distance study. to rutting season, and I could ick Fossum, the Glacier After a couple of hours putting count the veins in his fiery red Park Hotel Company’s down the western shore we real- eyeballs. Foss and I tried to walk Auditor and General ized that, at 3 to 4 knots per hour, on water, but were soon up to our DCashier (1946), and I were in Wa- it was going to be a long day! chins as we bounced our way to terton about 1950 when we heard the opposite bank — swimming of the sizable Brook Trout to be We beached the dinghy at about was not an option, as our boots found in Kootenai Lakes, about 11:00 A.M. and packed our gear were full of water. one mile south of Waterton Lake’s into the Lakes, which are really southern tip. a bunch of meandering sloughs. We arrived back at the Waterton We had caught a couple of nice docks about dusk. Slim was glad We rented an inboard (“2 Brookies and were wading along to get his boat back, and we had banger”) 12-foot dinghy from a bank thickly covered by 4 to 5- again proven that old adage, “Any Slim, who operated the Waterton foot brush when a loud crashing day is a good day at Waterton.” navy, and took off at 6:00 A.M. sound followed by the appearance the following morning, equipped Many Glacier Hotel Renovation Report by John Hagen, Many Glacier, west that had been especially vis- complex network of plumbing 1970-1980 ible in the main wing’s basement and sprinkler pipes and electrical hallway, “Stagger Alley.” conduits moved with virtually no any Glacier Hotel damage at all. Stagger Alley was could have crumbled Last fall a new foundation wall straightened to within two inches and collapsed like a was built adjacent to the old one. of plumb. The building’s main Mdeck of cards when it was jacked The main wing was raised with wing now is structurally stable. up and moved sideways late last hydraulic jacks. Then, amid great year. This possibility deterred suspense, the wing was gradually Extensive additional work has contractors from bidding on boosted sideways by means of been done at the hotel. Stagger the project. The National Park pushing with the jacks and pull- Alley’s guest rooms all were gutted Service approached some 70 firms ing on cables. After a day of this, and rebuilt. Many of the exterior about the renovation project, but the building came to rest on the balconies were renovated on the was given only two bids. new wall. east side of the main wing and on the south end of the Annex. The Water draining beneath the hotel The results of this work were hotel’s siding was removed, and for many decades had caused the remarkably good. Many Gla- steel supports were tied to the main wing’s foundations to drop. cier’s wooden frame was flexible side walls. Steel balcony sup- This produced a sag toward the enough to absorb the shift. The ports were then constructed and

26 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail The total cost of the renovation Many Glacier Hotel could have crumbled is presently estimated at $25 to and collapsed like a deck of cards when it $27 million. Most of this money was jacked up and moved sideways late last is expected to come from federal year. This possibility deterred contractors from appropriations. Some of the in- bidding on the project. terior work will be funded by the concessioner, GPI. sheathed with wood. The siding When the exterior is completed Every federal dollar invested at then was replaced on the walls, and the building effectively Many Glacier will reduce GPI’s preserving many original boards. “sealed,” work will proceed in possessory interest by the same the interior. Guest rooms will be amount. The possessory inter- Next fall, and continuing into rebuit and wiring and plumbing est is the sum which a competi- 2003, additional work will be systems repaired. At some point, tor would have to pay GPI if the done on the exterior of the hotel. the Park Service hopes to restore competitor were awarded conces- The rest of the balconies will be the famous Circular Staircase that sion rights. GPI’s present 25-year rebuilt, and the siding behind once connected the lobby and the concession contract expires in them repaired. The roof will be basement, but was torn out in the 2005. The National Park Service replaced and restored to its origi- 1950s. will call for competitive bids for a nal grey shade. new long-term concession con- tract at that time.

Renovations in progress at Many Glacier Hotel during Fall, 2001. Balconies and siding stripped from the main wing of the hotel have since been replaced. (Park Service photo)

The Inside Trail ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ 27 A Memorial to Bill and Terry Treacy by Dick Fossum (Lake Mc- In 1947, Bill met another St. Paul by Jim Kelly, Jr. (Glacier Park Donald Lodge and Glacier Park native working at GPH, Terry Lodge, 1946, 48) Lodge,1946-49) Culligan. Terry worked there ill Treacy and I got to the for three summers in 1947-8-9, he Glacier Park Hotel Park in June ‘46 to work as a dining room waitress. Bill Company ‘Alumni Asso on the golf course. Bill’s and Terry met that summer of ciation’ lost two of their Bbrother Steve, just back from ‘47, and Bill fell for her, T World War II as a P51 fighter and she reciprocated by pilot, was the ‘pro’ in 1946. Bill returning for the follow- had just gotten out of the Coast ing seasons. Probably Guard and I was waiting to be not coincidentally, Terry drafted, so when Steve sent word showed promise of talent of the need for two golf course for golf, and Bill eagerly workers, we were on our way. nourished that, leading to We had a great summer cutting their being golfing part- the greens and doing other re- ners for the rest of their pair work. We reported to Herk lives. They had ten chil- (short for Hercules) Thompson, dren, all surviving, many who was the head handyman in the Twin Cities area. and drove a spotless ‘39 Packard In those years, when Coupe. the G.P.H. Co. was owned by the Great Northern Railway, most — perhaps 90% — of the summer staff were Minnesotans or students at Minnesota colleges. The staff Dick Fossum, Bill Treacy, and friend remained close between sum- on the Glacier Park golf course, 1948 or 49 (photo courtesy of Jim mers. Reunion social events Kelly) were frequent and popular, best recently, with the deaths of and parties at the Treacys’ Bill Treacy in February and of Summit Avenue home were Terry Culligan Treacy, his wife of among the best remembered. over 50 years, in April. Bill was It’s been 56 years since Bill the golf pro on the Glacier Park and Terry and their fellow Hotel course in the 1947-8-9 sea- mug-wumpers began those sons, and worked on the course in memorable seasons in Glacier, 1946 prior to being named pro. and they counted those sum- Bill Treacy and Jim Kelly (‘Don’t be These were the seasons following mers as the best in their lives. But alarmed — that’s not my hat’) at the World War II, when the hotels then, don’t we all? end of a tough match in July 1948 reopened to the public. (photo courtesy of Jim Kelly)

28 ◆ Summer 2002 ◆ The Inside Trail