In 2004 I had finally solidified a good job in Glacier National Park and was excited for it to begin.
When you start a summer seasonal job in a place like this you day dream of extending it to your friends and family back home.
Back home for me is Cincinnati, Ohio and so are some of my best friends.
My buddy Jerry decided to throw down the unfortunately large coin to get from Cincinnati to Kalispell.
He was here!
He did it.
Its so easy to say you are going to come visit, but it’s entirely different to actually pull it off.
Growing up my friends and I were really into camping and backpacking in Kentucky.
Jerry was by far the biggest player in getting us out each weekend.
He was instrumental in the fact that I am who I am and do what I do.
He was the first person to ever introduce me to the idea of actually leaving the trail.
And what would life be like, if we always stayed on the trail, you know?
We were hiking in the Red River Gorge with a couple friends when he suggested we navigate from the top of the wooded ridge to the junction at the bottom.. but why not explore?
Why not see what is down there instead of hiking that same trail we had hiked before?
This story is pertinent because in 2004 I had also recently decided to attempt to be the first person to ever jump in every named lake in Glacier.
Heard about that?
It’s kind of a big deal in my life.
So, the two worlds were about to collide.
Jerry and I got a backcountry permit to hike from the Cutbank Valley to Two Medicine.
Our permit was to stay at Morning Star and Upper Two Medicine Campgrounds.
I worked all day so we had to pound out the miles to Morning Star starting at about 6pm.
The light was already starting to get low in the sky which lit the mountains up with dark reds.
The Cutbank valley was posted for grizzly bear activity at the time.
Posting means that while Glacier National Park has lots and lots of bears, they had actually been sighted lately and often in this valley.
Jerry and I were on hyper alert but we saw nothing but prints and diggings.
I’m sure the frantic hoots and hollers helped keep the bears at bay also.
The next morning we continued our history of off trail travel.
We wandered up a beautiful little side valley to Katoya Lake.
Many years ago there was a backcountry site on the lake shore, but Grizzly activity through the years forced it to be removed.
Again there were no bears, but the pucker factor of roaming around off trail kept us vigilant.
We enjoyed a quick morning dip with Red Mountain and pristine meadows all around us.
Unfortunately we had to “keep it brief” because there were lots of miles to cover in one day.
The rocks on the lake floor must have hurt too, forcing me to make an odd airplane motion.
This was early enough in the project that I was able to hit five new lakes on this trip.
That doesn’t happen anymore these days.
After Katoya we doubled back to Morning Star to gather our things and take another swim.
The trail to Pitamakin Lake was filled with Indian Paintbrush and countless other shades of wildflowers.
The lake is tucked into the base of Pitamakin Pass.
At this moment I had achieved a whopping 20 lakes!
It felt monumental at the time.
There is a second and almost mirror image lake next door called Lake of the Seven Winds.
We climbed over the small wooded ridge that separates the two and enjoyed a nice snack and swim.
Luckily, it was a warm and pleasant day for swimming.
I was very thankful for that.
Four lakes in a day would be tough if the weather was nasty.
Finally we pushed up trail towards Pitamakin Pass and its huge views.
From high above it’s pretty wild to see two lakes separated by such a small amount of land.
Near the top we bumped into a large group of Bighorn Sheep.
They stood their ground, so we had to slowly push past them to finally get to the top.
The trail leads further uphill from Pitamakin Pass to Cutbank Pass which opens up to the western slope of the Continental Divide.
From Cutbank pass you can see how Pitamakin Pass separates the Oldman and Cutbank Valleys.
The next five miles could very possibly be the most spectacular in the park.
The trail is essentially a goat path skirting along Mt. Morgan and Mt. Flinch with gargantuan views!
We stopped countless times to take in the grand expanses of the Nyack Valley.
The trail hit a saddle on the continental divide and stared down at the Old Man Lake drainage.
It was a perfect place to take a lunch break and enjoy the afternoon.
If I only knew then how many times I would find myself in the Old Man Lake valley in the coming years.
At the time it was new terrain for two old friends from the flatland, and a nearly perfect perch to enjoy a bagel.
As we took in the whole scene we noticed a rock with ripple marks in it.
Long before the area became mountainous it was covered by an ancient inland sea.
Wild to find a rock with ripples in it thousands of feet above the valley bottom.
As we hiked along, we stopped periodically on the cliff edge to celebrate that we were given the chance to be alive on a day this great.
Before we dropped off Dawson Pass we looked back once more on the thin trail that led us there.
As we hiked downhill we looked for wildlife, but all we found was a snowfield that looked like a woman in a white dress breathing fire.
Years later I would start calling this snowfield Millie’s Wedding Day for a friend of mine’s grandma.
After dropping all the way to the valley bottom we still had to limp our way back to Upper Two Medicine Lake Campground.
Shortly after getting to the campsite, night fell.
Stars filled the sky like cheese cloth while we ate everything we had in our food bags.
We took our leisurely time in the morning and enjoyed the sights.
Over breakfast we scanned the enormous walls of Mt. Sinopah and Mt. Helen for wildlife.
I took an early morning dip before breaking down camp.
Rounding out my new lake number to 22.
That feels like forever ago now.
Not excited for the trip to end we lingered by the lake.
Taking just one more picture and soaking it up for all it was worth.
We arrived at the Two Medicine Lake boat dock with some time to kill.
While we waited for Sinopah, the Glacier Park Boat Company tour boat to come and pick us up we took one last dip.
We launched off the dock repeatedly till our chariot arrived.
We kicked back and let the boat cut out the last few miles in style.
It dropped us off at the dock near the Two Medicine Camp Store
I believe I remember there being excessive amounts of Huckleberry ice cream involved at this point.
It was spectacular having my friend visit me in one of my proudest moments; I had secured a job I was truly proud of in what might very well be the most amazing place on earth.
I had one of my best buds accompany me on my first off trail outing in this new lake jumping project I had started.
It was great to have a familiar face along as I began what would prove to be the most difficult, time consuming and bizarre endeavor of my life.
Thank you my friend for the walk.
To Life!
We had to drop off of this ridge and work our way through some cliff bands, steep grass and flower filled slopes to get to the lake. 
We made our way along a huge bench above the lake and then down broken cliff bands and grassy slopes down to the lake.
This would have been impossible if the storms moved in on us. This is one of the highest elevation lakes in the whole park.
The light softening the colors on the peaks we were surrounded by.
We were able to keep tradition going once again with an awesome day in late August.We completed a feat that I have only had success with once before. We got five lakes in one day. It takes putting a large effort in, but more so it takes a cluster of lakes to be able to pull that off.
After it we walked the outlet creek to the middle lake. 
What a lovely day for a bunch of dips. 
This would have been a brutal one if it were nasty weather. Five lakes would get terribly chilly going at it in the rain.There is a nice goat trail that connects the Upper Rowe lakes trail with the upper reaches of the Rowe valley trail. It was nice because we did not have to drop that whole way back into the valley bottom.
It did work though..
It was right above the cliffs that drain the hanging basin. They drop off into Linham Falls.
Somewhere through the evolutionary process of most animals,. they found out that “four legs good, two legs bad” is a valuable thing to keep in mind. 
We got out about 30 minutes after dark. Never great, but it is so much better when it’s dark and your on trail. Dark when your off trail is “No Bueno”!!!
This is Wahseeja Lake, I’m looking down on it during the Shaheeya trip.
This is exactly what we dealt with for three thousand straight vertical feet. We started climbing up an avalanche chute that runs directly north of Lake Janet. 
With in minutes, we were already in tree/bushes/crud that was over our head and we had really just begun. 
It got so rough at points that I literally got on my belly and crawled under some bushes because they were so tightly woven that it was the path of least resistance. 
The going kept getting steeper and steeper until we eventually hit one last thick strand of sub alpine firs and popped out right below Shaheeya Peak. Not exactly our intention, but it handed us one of the best mountain top views of my life. 
The bugs were rough, we had to keep moving which is tough to do when you are dead tired and have to switch into some swimming trunks. Funny that no matter how hard you try, there really is no where without mosquitos. NOWHERE!! 
Down we went. It was actually going quite well, we had solid rock chutes to climb on and the going was a bit easier than in the avalanche slope. Down we went……
Some of you may know this as one of the sites of the famous “Night of the Grizzly”maulings. For those that don’t know, here is a quick over view.
You can see Lake Nooney and Lake Wurdeman from a real common trail in Canada. They are amazing lakes. Huh? This picture was taken many years ago and have been excited to down there ever since. 
The trip was a good time though. My friend Clay and I headed back there one afternoon. He laughed the whole time cause all I did was lay down in them. 
I’ll spare you the pictures.They had to get done, but boy it’s moments like that were I can’t believe I opened my big mouth and said this was my goal. Cold water does not bother me, but mucky, muddy, goo does.
I decided to add the 30 named lakes in Waterton National Park in Alberta to the lakes project. We are Waterton/Glacier International Peace Park. Why not include them.
I would like to dedicate this entry to a guy named Mark. I don’t know his last name, but he was cool and from Oklahoma. He worked out here for a few summers and we hung out and played some great music. He was a good guitarist, and a great guy. He died about a week ago, driving to work in Oregon. Either he fell asleep or his car gave out or something, but he went off the road and died. This park will miss him and he will miss this park. He attacked it in large bites, which is always admirable.
The red scree slope in the center is directly above Sky Lake in a small hanging valley. During the early season there is a spectacular waterfall that jets right out of the hanging valley and runs a couple thousand feet to the main valley below.
Easy as that…huh?
The campground is to the left next to Pray Lake and then the ranger station, picnic area, camp store and boat docks are to the right on Middle Two Medicine Lake.
Thanks for the glasses Anna.
My partner in crime, Brad and I hiked five miles south before sunset.
A wild place where, Brad saw a wolf for a split second, before it dipped back into vegetation.
When I neared the end, I noticed I had lost one of my prize trekking poles. I looked for 20 minutes, but it was gone, gobbled up by the alder bushes.
and angular streches of slick vegetation, but it was also early in the day and we over came this section in about an hour.
Our camp was at the far end of this lake towards the mountains.
Gyrfalcon Lake has been on the agenda for years, to finally arrive was pretty great for me.
Why at those exact moments, does the theme to Three’s Company get stuck in your head? Anyone????
We dropped in on it which took a while. 
I love it, plenty of people have seen this lake from surrounding mountain peaks, but virtually nobody ever goes down to it. It’s an amazing lake, so much color. Great spot for a short lunch….. and a dip
Beleive it or not, there is a person in the middle of that slope in the picture above…Where in the world is Waldo,huh?
Amazing views from up there.
All the way down there at the end of the valley is where our car is parked.
Back to our view at the top..
It’s so great to get such a wild view of how small Goat Haunt is.
