There is no doubt that our assistant editor Mattie and research assistant Kluane miss S-Central Alaska, where we lived up until last March. And I loved it too, and also miss the longer winters with reliable snow, and not too hot of summers, though they could often be too wet. And sometimes very stormy above only 1000m. (Hidden Lk., elev. 1200m, Chugach Mtns., 08/13).
But I missed being closer to family, and a very good job came open here in Missoula, a place I've always loved. It's not perfect, no place is, too hot for us in July/Aug, and not reliable enough snow close at hand for easily accessible nordic skiing in winter.
So, to make up for that, we consistently seek out the high country in Montana, above 1800m generally, to recreate in when we have the chance. And can already foresee when the time comes to retire, living in a place like West Yellowstone or Philipsburg MT. Or Alta, WY, Leadville, CO, etc... First choice on all our lists I think would be Banff or Jasper, AB, or Smithers, BC, but that would be much more difficult for a US citizen. I like the blend of colder winters, but slightly warmer, drier summers there, as well as that the forests also are a blend of boreal and mid-latitude species in those latitudes where the Central and Northern Rockies merge.
Our first favorite area locally where we feel completely at ease, and love spending time in, is the small Mission Mtn. range, just 80km north of Missoula.
This little range is the closest replica we have to the terrain and biomes that Glacier NP has, to our north. But which is closed to our staff, your editor excluded. I'll still pay a few visits there, but it is just not as enjoyable unless Mattie and Kluane can accompany.
The Mission Mtns. receive almost as much precipitation as Glacier NP, and much more than the 300-500m higher Pintler Mtns., 120km SE of Missoula. Which means the Missions, though they are lower, have small glaciers (albeit melting fast!) on the higher peaks, whilst the Pintlers have none. And more lush conifers, with even the cool, moisture-loving Mountain Hemlock in attendance in favoured areas above 1500m.
This diagram explains the situation, the Missions, which are oriented N-S at 47-48N latitude, are more open to receiving strong upslope precipitation from the SW-W-NW. Whilst the Pintler's further south Latitude of 45.5-46N east-west position makes them downslope of many different ranges in the Western US. And hence, are much drier. Only half as moist as the Missions, as you can see from the image below of Western US annual precipitation. As well, even at just the little bit of 2deg latitude further north position of the Missions, the jet stream and attendant weather systems are usually stronger, and more moist. This is especially the case in the warm season, May-Sept., which is why the Mountain Hemlocks are found here, as well as along the Bitterroot Divide to the west, but not in the Pintlers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuga_mertensiana
There are very few trails into the higher, glaciated portion of the Mission Mountains from the east, that aren't on the Flathead Indian Res., but the best by far for varied access takes you to a series of beautiful lakes.
This is the trail that starts at the end of Kraft Creek Rd., to Glacier/Turquoise Lakes, and Crescent/Heart Lakes.
By far our favourite of the lot is the gem called Turquoise Lake, for obvious reasons! It is only a 12K moderate hike from the trailhead at 1500m, up/over a pass at 2100m, down to the lake at 1961m. At this elevation, in the Missions, the lake is fed directly from melting snowfields and glaciers on the surrounding 2500-2950m peaks. And gets a huge volume of snow each winter. Our snowpacks were a little late in getting established here in the Central Rockies this fall, due to a very warm Oct., this image above was from the end of the month, when only above about 2500m was there more than 30cm snow depth. But by now, it is easily that at the trailhead, and probably 1.5m at the lake. due to several very moist and cool weather systems in November. In fact, avalanche danger would definitely be a factor at this time, to try and access Turquoise Lk., not to mention the fact that you'd probably have to ski in on Kraft Crk. road a fair distance before even getting to the trailhead, and then would either have to back-country (not tour) ski or snowshoe up the trail. So we probably won't be back here until next June, unfortunately. Though we are toying with the idea of at least skiing in to the trailhead sometime this winter or early spring. And perhaps to the lower, Glacier Lake, which is just 3 flat km in.
This was from one of our four outings in this area, in this case, late September. Just down from the 2100m pass, two smaller crystalline turquoise lakes are nestled off to the west of the trail. The geology is also quite interesting in this area, with purple, green, and orange rocks, which also occur in some areas of Glacier NP. There are grizzly bears and a fairly high density of black bears, but in our four outings, including two two-night pack trips, we never say any, or even any scat.
The rest of the full suite of Central Rockies wildlife can also be found here though, including these mountain goats which were on the rocks one morning behind our camp right at the east outlet of Turquoise Lake. Fall colour, as in the rest of the high country in the Central Rockies, starts early here, in mid-September, when our fairly rare Subalpine Larch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larix_lyallii begin turning first. These are found in the Missions only from 1900m, up to treeline at 2500m.
What is most striking about Turquoise Lake, are the colours, of it and the surrounding rocks. Almost making for a surrealistic feeling. The trail only goes 12km to the lake, after that, to go any further requires brush-whacking and rock-hopping, though you can get up 150-200m above the north shore on smooth rocks fairly quickly when they are dry and free of ice.
We'll be spending alot more time in here over the coming years, documenting changes (unfortunately there will be many, as we'll discuss in a future article), and exploring more. One goal next summer is to take the spur trail to Crescent and Heart Lakes, and then brushwhack up to Island Lake, then over a pass, to get to the base of 3006m McDonald Pk., the highest in the range. We didn't quite make it this past October (the first picture at the top of this post is from Heart Lake, where we stopped) due to my still-recovering left leg (from being badly broken two years ago) not favouring the brush-whacking.
One last image, just to show you that the lower portion of the trail to Turquoise Lake is very beautiful as well. The regular Larch from the trailhead at 1500m up to about 1900m elevation are in their full colour in early-mid October. And the lowest lake, Glacier Lake, which is just a flat 3km inland, is quite striking in its own right. Because it is more easily accessible, it qets quite a bit more visitation. The trail(s) to all these lakes receives moderate usage in high summer, but by mid-September, much less. Such that by late October, we only saw one other party on a weekend day. Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment