Hiking My Way Through Summer: Part 1 - The Jewel Basin

I tend have summers where I do things in clusters. Sometimes I am very focused on doing triathlons. Other times, it is bike riding and doing long group rides. Sometimes, I lose track of how many books I have read. This summer seemed to be spent backpacking and hiking (lots of day hikes).

First big backpacking trip was in July with my dad and 2 of my brothers (Nathan and Daniel). I think the idea for the trip began evolving sometime in January. I'm not exactly sure how I secured by invitation to participate in this boys' trip, but by June I was fully committed to going.

At the trail head, first day. Left to right: Craig (dad), Nathan, Travis, Daniel; front: Greg, me (Heather)

We had a couple of different destinations in mind, but settled on the Jewel Basin in western Montana. This was a perfect setting for my first major backpacking trip. First, it is only 30 minutes from Bigfork, where my grandparents live. Second, the trail up to the lakes climbs for about a mile and then levels off to follow a ridge line. So even though we hiked 3 miles into the lakes, it wasn't too bad.

Before I get too much into the hike itself, I have to share some funny stories about what happened before we even got to the trail head.

We were all meeting in Bigfork on July 4th. Daniel was responsible for bringing his bear vault to store food in since western Montana is prime bear country. Well, Daniel and Greg arrive in Bigfork about 3 in the afternoon and Nathan arrives about an hour later. We are reviewing who brought what gear and Daniel grimaces and says "I forgot the bear vault." Daniel...grrr. There isn't much in Bigfork, but there is a REI in Kalispell, 30 minutes away. And miracle of miracles, the REI is open until 6 p.m. We all pile into Daniel's truck and head to Kalispell.

While in Kalispell, Nathan realizes that he and Travis have forgotten their breakfast (oatmeal). Well, wouldn't you know, Walmart is next to REI. We spend about 30 minutes wandering REI making sure that we didn't forget anything else (really, when you walk into REI you should just say, "Here, take all my money."). Then we headed over to Walmart so Nathan could buy some oatmeal. Then it was back to Bigfork for dinner and watching fireworks around the lake.

As we are watching fireworks, the night becomes a bit chilly and everyone starts adding on layers. Greg, Daniel's 10 year old son, goes inside and grabs a blanket. When it was suggested that he put on long pants and a jacket, he responded that he didn't bring any. He had only packed shorts and short-sleeved shirts for hiking in the mountains! He said he got distracted when he was packing. Oh you can bet we gave his dad a bad time about not double checking Greg's packing.

The fireworks end and there is some discussion/disagreement on what time we should head out in the morning. Dad wants butts in seat by 7:30 a.m. Daniel thinks that is ridiculous. He's determined to slow the roll in the morning.

Morning comes and Dad is pacing and antsy starting about 7. We get out the door about 8 a.m. to head back into Kalispel, back to Walmart to find some clothes for Greg. FORTY-FIVE minutes later we are finished at Walmart and off to breakfast. After breakfast, it is finally time to drive to the trailhead.

After a bit of misdirection from the trail guide book, we made it to the trailhead around 10 a.m. We unloaded the gear, checked in with the ranger, snapped a quick picture and then we were off! Like I said, the trail climbs for about the first mile and then levels off for the next 1.5 miles. The last .5 miles into Birch Lake are pretty much down...which means pretty much up on the way out.

Taking a break at the trail junction

Birch Lake is a beautiful place to camp! But, we didn't know that we needed to examine the trails closely for goat fiber! More on that in a minute. During the hike in it was warm, sunny and nary a cloud in the sky. After dinner, there were storms clouds in the distance and over the course of the night, the clouds moved closer and closer. We all called it a night around 10 p.m. and each headed to their own sleeping arrangements. Dan and Greg were in one tent, Nathan and Travis in another. Dad in a hammock under a tarp and me in my own tent. I do not sleep well in the wild.

The rain started about 11 p.m. I tossed and turned, shivered from the cold, and tried to go to sleep. It was a futile effort. The rain stopped about 1 a.m. and then shortly after that, I heard things crash through the bushes. They were big crashes! My heart raced as I listened closely to see if I could figure out what was literally right outside of my tent. Hoof beats. That is what I heard. Relief! And as quickly as the hoof beats came, they disappeared.

I think I drifted off to sleep, only to be startled awake with my dad saying "Bugs, let me in." He got too cold in his hammock. I was happy to let him in! Note: a 2-person tent warms up about 10 degrees when you go from one person in the tent to 2 people in the tent. Dad got in, got settled, and was quickly back to dreamland. I, however, was now wide awake again.

Then the hoof beats returned. This time, there was enough disturbance to wake everyone up. I know they were awake because I heard Daniel saying "Go away bear. Go away bear. Is anyone else hearing this?" Yes, yes we are. I told him I think it is the mountain goats we had heard about from the ranger. Daniel unzips his tent and discovers we are on the goat highway! Those goats are right in our camp.

The goats hang around for an hour or so. After the goats leave, everyone but me goes back to sleep. The rain returns about 5 a.m.

The rain broke about 8 a.m. so we had a quick breakfast and got ready for our day hike to Crater Lake. The hike from Birch Lake to Crater Lake is about 5 miles. It's another fairly easy hike, especially without a 30-pound back on my back! We had a nice lunch at Crater Lake, but didn't stay very long because the mosquitoes were obnoxious!

Lunch at Crater Lake

That night the rain rolled in about 7 p.m. and stayed until about 2 a.m. I learned that my tent has some leaks and having a space blanket inside your sleeping bag is a life-saver (thanks to my brother, Nate, who happened to have a space blanket with him. Always the boy scout.) I slept better. The goats came back about 4 a.m. and stayed about an hour. Then I was up.

We decided we had enough of camping in the rain so we broke camp, snapped another picture (look at the happy faces!) and headed to Glacier National Park to do a day hike or two.

No pictures from Glacier, but we did a hike I've never done. We hiked into Avalanche Lake. It is a 5 mile hike that is totally doable, but we almost broke Greg. He was such a trooper on all of the other hikes, but being tired can get even the best of us. After a little rest, he rebounded and finished strong.

I am so glad I had this time with my dad, brothers and nephews. We laughed, we sang a lot of songs (well, my dad sang a lot of songs), we teased and enjoyed each others company. We also began planning for our next hike!