GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MT
I got an early start as others stayed behind. Early on the many waterfalls were really nice. As the trail went along St Mary lake I encountered very thick foliage and lots of blowdowns. It is a lot of work to maintain trails.
I was hoping the trail went down to the lake, but it never did. I had a long lunch next to a tree and made it over to the river. There was a switchback that seemed to go a very long way in the wrong direction. The not-too-detailed maps I had seemed to indicate crossing the river, but there was no trail there. I explored the switchback a few times and concluded that it couldn’t be right. It was a scramble down to a very swift flowing river, but I committed to it. That’s when Grimm showed up and joined in the crossing. It was a challenging river cross but it saved about 2 miles.
I got down to the Red Eagle Lake campground and did a very cold and brief swim with my clothes on. I didn’t see Grimm, so I figured he got in early and was doing some exploring. I hung everything to dry and setup my tent when Scout and Frodo came by and said there are 2 campsites and I was at the wrong one. I packed my tent and my dried clothes and did the short hike to the other end of the lake where our campsite was and where Grimm had been for about an hour wondering where the heck I was.
It was a very nice setting at the lake at the base of the mountains. HoJo showed us the picture of the grizzly he encountered at close range earlier in the day.