Marc Ankenbauer's 10+ year quest to jump in every named lake in Glacier and Waterton National Parks for charity.
168 lakes. Only 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ZERO LAKES LEFT!!!
-- Marc jumped into Fisher Cap Lake on Sunday September 8th, 2013 to complete his goal! --
Read about Marc and how this project started...

Goat Lake – The right around the corner adventure

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Some days during the Waterton Glacier Lake Jumping Project have been really, really tough.  More difficult physically than anything I’ve ever done in my entire life.  These endeavors normally end in a mind blowing paradise, though.
Some are aweful.  Bogs filled with stagnant, stinky water with leeches swimming around.  These tend to be pretty close though.  In life you pay one way or the other.
Sometimes, like in Goldie Locks…They are just right.
An off trail trip to a destination that you know is hardly ever visited.  It’s also a pleasant adventure.  A logical route that is neither the world’s worst bushwhack nor a simple on trail hike.
Enter, Goat Lake.
Goat Lake is a spectacular spot tucked into a pocket in Goat Mountain.  It has always been intriguing to me. Its so close to the main day use areas around St. Mary and Rising Sun, but no one ever goes there.
I got the chance to enjoy this trip with two good friends.
Pat who has been on more of the top end, ridiculous, off trail endeavors than anyone else.
Chelsea who has been a huge supporter of the Waterton Glacier Lake Project through the years. I was very proud to have her along.
She was really excited too, and in the end she did spectacular.  I was glad to be able to provide such an appropriate adventure to someone that cares so much.
This was one of the only day endeavors that I had left.
It was a perfect late August day.  Sun was high in the sky but not oppressively hot.  Late enough in the season that the heavy late season snows were gone and the waterfall chute was dry enough to be safe.
We branched off of the Otakomi Lake trail and headed up an avalanche slope towards Goat Mountain.
We had to cross Rose creek to get to the avalanche slope that started the off trail portion of the hike.
We followed the open slope and pushed up towards the mountains above.
I’m in there somewhere.  It was pretty thick but nothing we have not dealt with before.
Looking into the Goat Lake hanging basin
We had to side step for a while through loose scree, chunky talus and off angle bear grass clumps.
Talus slopes filled with wildflowers
We fed into the falls that drain the lake and found a nice game trail through a few shelves.  Once we gained the hanging valley with the lake in it the views were remarkable.
It’s a mountain that I’ve looked at a thousand times, but once you are up in the bowls of the mountain you never know what things will look like.  Everything was very windswept with nothing but very low lying sub alpine firs.
Luckily there was a route around the trees though, since sub alpine firs will tear your clothes to shreds.  I guess evolution of a three foot tree that lives in 80 mph winds is to become stiff as a rock.  Avoid them as much as possible.
So, we kept to the left of the stand and pushed further into the basin.  We gained a few rises and eventually dropped into a paradise like lake bowl.
Two thousand foot cliffs on all sides but one, the only way in or out.  We all dropped pack and hopped in.  Lake 148 for me, about 40 for Pat and one great first for Chelsea.  Great day.
Lunch was enjoyed and the sun kept us warm.
Often the most unfortunate part of these lake excursions is that we tend to be there for 15 minutes.  Hours and days to get places you will never be again and in the end you spend 10 minutes calculatedly hopping in an obscure body of water.  Often in very unpleasant weather conditions.
This day was for enjoying.  Joking, laughing and simply making the most of the gift we earned.
Eventually we meandered our way back out in reverse.
We took a bit more wooded exit instead of the original avalanche slope.
Chelsea and I waded across Rose Creek to get back on trail.
Pat chose a bit more adventurous route.  He chose to cross a huge downed tree, 15 feet above the creek.
Looking back up valley it all made sense.  The lake is up in that hanging valley on the left.  If you ever go, I hope you get as amazing a day as we did.
When we got back we enjoyed burritos from Bad Frog Cantina and played some bean bag tossing game(corn hole) back in St. Mary.
Great trip.  Thanks Pat, Chelsea and great weather.  Onward to the next lake.
And if you enjoyed this, there are plenty more stories.  Also if you are interested in what I’m doing, why I’m doing it and how to help out  Camp Mak A Dream, check out my website www.glacierexplorer.com
Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Carcajou and Wahseeja Lakes- The really burly way through…

August 20, 2009 By 1 Comment

Good Evening,


Ever since I have started this project there have been lakes or groupings of lakes that people are always intrigued by.

When I tell them about what I’m doing, they get wild eyed and come up with the most remote, ridiculously hard, off trail lakes in the park and ask “Have you done this or that”?

One of the most commented on is a group of lakes near the Canadian border called the Northern Boundary Lakes. There are five of them and the last two fell on Tuesday.

So, I raise my glass to those five, because they have put up a heck of a fight.

On Tuesday, my friends Pat and Brian and I went to Carcajou Lake and Wahseeja Lake.

Jump Stats brought to you by The Jump Tracker 3000

 

  • Waseeja Lake - Jump #120

    Waseeja Lake - Jump #120

    Lake: Carcajou and Wahseeja Lakes
  • Lake Jump: #119 & #120
  • Completion Date: August 18, 2009
  • Distance: 13 miles
  • Difficulty: RIDICULOUS 
  • Off Trail Distance: 6 miles
  • Elevation Change: 4000 feet
  • Length of Trip: 1 day
  • Lake Jumpers in attendance: Brian Roys & Pat Catalino

 

But, before that we had large plates of Cincinnati Chili.

For anyone who knows about this delicacy, you understand how happy I was to have a communal chili feed in the middle of nowhere.

The next morning with a chili bomb in our stomachs we headed north to the northern boundary trail which is about four miles north of Goat Haunt. We said hello to the obelisk that marks the border and we headed west three and a half miles till we saw an entrance to a heavily wooded side valley that no one I have ever met has gone up. I’m sure its happened, but boy oh boy… would it be few and far between.

We had to cross Boundary Creek which luckily we had a few good logs to work across. Then into the guts we go.

It started off quite nice with some lovely meadow filled stretches.

That always ends and gives way to a thick tree filled mess.

This year has been one of the wettest on record. With rain come mushrooms. They were everywhere.

Huge ones.


Weird ones.

Also, that means that it was just wet. It had not rained in days, but the whole area was just moist.

Great moss.
After many hours working up a steep wooded valley we eventually dropped down to the creek that drains Carcajou Lake. Shortly after crossing it, we finally came to the first of our objectives.

Carcajou Lake.

We frolicked in the lake for a good while to get rid of the pine needles, grit and grime.

It was quite pleasant.


We took a nice little while here; even long enough for Pat to take a cat nap on the lake shore.

But, we had to keep going. There is no stopping and we had a long way to go. We were essentially going from one main valley to the next, but over, under and through the middle of nowhere.

We headed back out with the need to climb over a ridge to the lake on the other side.

It was thick and steep.

And hot! I had to wring out my bandana….Wanna see?

Along the way Brian made a friend.

We eventually just grabbed hand fulls of vegetation and pulled ourselves up a thousand feet of steep mess.

Luckily when we got towards the top, the blessed animals of Glacier National Park started to hook us up a bit. There was a perfect game trail over the top of the ridge that went on for a good while in the exact direction that we were headed.

It was amazing on the other side.

Lots of flower choked meadows.

If nothing else, just easier going since it was much more open. With that came huge views of the surrounding mountains.

In a past endeavor with a friend Matt I looked down on Wahseeja Lake.

I have been waiting for a long time to get back to it.

(I would also like to note that Matt just informed me today his wife Allison is pregnant!! Lets all raise a glass to their lovely, healthy, very tiny baby to be!!! )

Anyway it was very rewarding to get to this absolutely amazing lake. This was easily one of the most lovely that I have been to in all my time in the park.
We enjoyed it to the fullest. Seldom is there a perfect, large rock to jump off of. Well there is in Wahseeja Lake.

As to not carry around a bunch of wet clothes we all went naked.

So, fortunatly you get to just see a picture of me in the lake instead…No jumping pics.

But, like everything else in life, this too had to end.

There was a saddle about 300 feet above the lake that we had to get to and over.

On the other side was our destiny.

A 2000 foot steep grade going straight down towards Lake Francis and Lake Janet.

There was still many miles to go, onward and upward.

Only time for one last group picture of the lake.

Man that thing is nice.

The saddle proved to be big and wide.

It also had huge views of Mount Cleveland which is the highest peak in the park.

This hike just kept getting better.

But, down we went into the abyss. Not too bad, in relative terms. I guess the schwack up the Carcajou side of the trip was so nasty that this seemed quite tame.

2000 feet of extremely steep tame, but tame none the less.

Happily we gained the valley floor and headed our five more miles of trail back towards Goat Haunt.

A lovely sunset on the peaks above escorted us back to where we started.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Pat and Brian. This was a very large endeavor and probably two of the ten hardest lakes that I have left in the park.

Without them I would not have just checked off lakes number 120 and 121.

All the best to everyone reading and to all a good night.

Ho Ho Ho

To Life,

Marc

Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Deer Lake – International Lake of Mystery – CAN #118

August 7, 2009 By

The International Lake of Mystery….Duh, duh. Duh….

That last part was supposed to be pronounced like it just happened in a mystery movie and some important fact was just uncovered.

Try it again,

The International Lake of Mystery….Duh, duh, Duh…..

How’d it go?

One of the main things about humor that I have found out in my life is that it is not real great if you have to explain it. You certainly dropped the ball, if you are at that point.

Anyhoo….

In comes the saga of “Deer Lake” in Waterton National Park.

So, Saturday was a first for me. I had to access a lake and it was about a quarter mile into Alberta, but it was about two and a half miles from a road and was directly west of the customs station.

So, this meant that the path of least resistance was hiking the boundary swath.

What is that you ask?

If you knew it or not, there is delineation that visually and physically separates the U.S. from Canada. In some places it might just be markers like this one.

In the plains they may just mow a separation.

When there are forests, there is a 40 foot wide swath or clearing that runs east/west along the 49th parallel. So, since Glacier and Waterton are on the border, there is a boundary swath running east/west and separating the park the whole way.

I swear!!!

Why, I’m not entirely sure…But there is.

So on this particular day the route to the lake was an animal path that runs willy nilly up the boundary swath. I was happy to see that there was even a path, but I suppose the animals think it’s pretty cool that we keep this big clearing for them in the middle of the forest.

My friend’s cousin, Curtis and I drove through Canadian Customs. Had a really nice conversation with the nice men at the port and headed down the hill.

At the bottom of the ridge, we had to ford the Belly River. The water is low enough now that it is safe. Earlier in the summer it would have been terrifying.

The deal with this whole hike was that we had to stay in the swath. If we left it, it had to be to the north. We had entered into Canada, so we would be illegally entering into the country if we walked out of the swath to the south and back into the U.S.

All of this sound odd and a bit silly? I agree, but that is international law. I’m lucky that they extended this option to me to begin with.

After the river we found a nice mucky swamp and because of this tiny little rule, instead of walking around the swamp to the south, we had to walk straight on through. There was no end to it if you walked north…

Straight on through it was. The muck on the bottom of the swamp almost sucked my sandals off of my feet. I then lost my balance and basically fell face first into the swamp. I dunked my boots and half my stuff. I came out smelling awful. Note* This was not the swamp, it was the swamp after it that we could walk around. I have no pic of the awful boundary swamp. I am sorry.*

But we were in compliance with the law!!! I want to continue to make that very clear!

So, finally we headed back up the other ridge after the dreaded boundary swamp. It was really a pleasant walk. The animals cleared a great path the whole way until we had to deal with that “1/4 mile into Canada” part.

It is funny to be walking through a perfectly clear and very wide path with thick, impenetrable forest on both sides. Odd feeling, for sure.

So, we schwacked our way over, under and around the forest for a good while until we found a pretty pleasant lake. I was surprised because many of the small, forested lakes are really not too pleasant.

I spoke with a few guys who work for Waterton National Park and they said that they had both flown over it through the years. One said it was almost dried up at the end of a hot, fire filled season. The other said that he saw a moose swimming in it.

Now I have.

Lake #118

On our return we even found an amazing moose skull hidden in the willows.

Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kennedy Lake – Up and over the mountain, twice

July 30, 2007 By 4 Comments

Good evening, all

Yes that’s right, it’s night time again and I’m trying to make sure I get this thing updated. I have actually done much since I wrote last. So, here goes….

.

Back to the lake bids. My girlfriend and I went on a trek last week. In the Many Glacier valley there is Kennedy Lake. It’s quite remote. It is the head waters of Kennedy Creek which is really long.  Poia Lake is fed by this water down the creek a ways. 

Since its so long just heading  straight up the valley would be a horrible bushwack. So, what you do is climb over Appikuni Mountain…..twice…

It’s not the most difficult mountain in the world to climb, but it’s still 3000 feet of elevation gain to the summit. There is an interesting cliffy section near the beginning.

For the most part though, it’s just a super long slope of scree and small cliffs.

These are the moments that make me ask you this question. Now, this is providing that all random actions and systems of the body are for a reason. What, is the purpose, I ask you? In these moments when your in a zen like cloud, putting one foot in front of the other. A thousand feet of loose scree above you, a thousand below. Why at those exact moments, does the theme to Three’s Company get stuck in your head? Anyone????

Sorry for that tanget…I just always get something odd stuck in my head, but I’m sure I’m not the only one….

Well, we got to the top of a saddle that is right below the actual peak, and there was Kennedy Lake. Big, blue and 1500 feet of scree and small cliffs below us. 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

Short is the word, because now comes the disheartening part. You can’t homestead there, so it’s time to just climb right back up to the same saddle that you were standing on a couple hours ago.
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?

All good though, we decided that we would actually summit the mountain this time. Amazing views from up there.

So, we climbed back down into the same basin that we hiked up to, just luckily from a different side. Those cliffs in front there were the beginning of the climb All the way down there at the end of the valley is where our car is parked.

I love long days in this park. You tend to get a great sunset as you’re hiking out.

There is nothing like being absolutely physically tired as you go into auto pilot to get back to that car. You know you did a good long hike when you come back out to the same parking lot, that was busy 10 hours earlier…. but now your dusty car is the only thing left in the parking lot. Everyone else is done with their days task and already eating dinner. Makes you proud. Take advantage of those arms and legs while they work well. Put them to a test,huh? It makes you appreciate having a capable body. Get out there and use it while you have it folks.To Life,Marc
Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jackstraw and Swiftcurrent Ridge, Poia Lakes – Wisdom and Booby-Junk Leeches

July 20, 2007 By Leave a Comment

So, has anyone ever heard of booby-junk leeches? This is more a goofy entry sentence than legitimate question. Everyone knows that right?

Allow me to expand….

My friends Josh and Laura went a swimmin’ with me the other day. Laura who is daughter of one of my most devout readers Chris Kloeck, by the way. Hi, Chris…Thanks for the 70’s TV show insights…

We went to a far flung reach of the park. In the southeastern corner of the park there is a place called Firebrand Pass. People run around here for years before they ever go there. Not because it’s particularly hard, nor cause it’s not wonderful. I think it just gets overshadowed by some of the other, simply jaw dropping parts of the park. Which ends up making this a very peaceful and more wild portion of the park.

Quite nice, really…

So, near Firebrand Pass is Lena lake, and behind it is a saddle. It’s a nice red scree covered saddle between Redcrow Mountain and Bearhead Mountain.

On the other side of that saddle is Jackstraw Lake. And, Jackstraw Lake will be the focus of our adventure today.

This lake is dedicated to Mountain Goats and their wonderful ability to go where no one else goes and leave “a path”….So, about four miles in towards Firebrand pass, we embarked off trail towards Lena lake and the saddle. We had to fight through some thick sub-alpine firs to get there, like normal.

Once at Lena lake though, we found what would prove to be a straight shot mountain goat path up the saddle, and all the way back down to Jackstraw lake.
Ah, you gotta love these mountain goats. I envisioned this to be a well more difficult endeavor.The views from the saddle were as great as any pass in the park and we had it all to ourselves. The tiny rewards in life, right?


We ended up down at what was a wonderful beach that must be the home of thousands of butterflies. They were all over our packs and hiking poles. Pretty great!!

But in come those dreaded booby-junk leeches!!!!!… My girlfriend would say “dun,dun,dun!!!

Like you were listening to a mystery show on the radio in the 50’s and we just learned who the killer was. Very dramatic…

We were swimming in this lake and all was wonderful. Hot days ended in a moment with cold clear water.

Then we noticed one goofy thing about it…As beautiful and blue as it was, there was no outlet, and not much feeding it. So, Jackstraw Lake had already dropped maybe about 15 feet for the season. That may be a major environmental factor that booby-junk leeches thrive on. Their niche, if you will.

I’ll come clean; they were nothing even resembling leeches….Cats outta the bag. But they were tiny little red bugs they were all over the place in the water. They got their menacing name because since they were red it looked like they were filled with blood. And, because Josh found them in his swimming trunks and well “around”…and Laura found them in her sports bra and again, well…”around”…As for me, no booby junk leeches…It’s because I’m bald like a dolphin and booby-junk leeches don’t attack marine animals. Boy, did I luck out, huh? I’d say…jeez…So, we rambled on about our dreaded nemesis the booby-junk leeches as we trudged back up hill and over the saddle…Back to our view at the top..

Bound for a wonderful dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in East Glacier, Serrano’s…All ends well, despite our harrowing encounter…

As for the next day, I met up with another one of my other most avid readers, Dave. He is out here staying for a few weeks with his wife and hiking it up. He is a monster; the guy can hike over mountains in a single bound while filling you with gobs of wisdom and insight. So, I took him up on a very nice hike to one of the only areas in Many Glacier valley that was not closed for Grizzly bears. Poia Lake was our destination.

We stopped by Poia and Swiftcurrent Ridge lakes for a swim and he dropped knowledge about all the righteous things of the world. Great hike Dave. All in all, what a wonderful weekend.

I hope this finds every one well. I’m wishing you all the best and I certainly thank you for your time. I know these stories personally. So this stuff is for all of you. I would love to hear how every one is doing and what you’re all up to.

As for me, about 6’4” 240lbs…
Drum roll!!!!! Anybody? Hello….

Jeez, this is a tough crowd

Night!!!

To life,

Marc

Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Snow Moon-Lincoln and the 4th….

July 14, 2007 By 2 Comments

Well hello all,First of all, I would like to thank many of you for you comments and emails. I write this a little bit for my self but without knowing that people are reading it…its kind of tough to put the time in. So, thank you for your support…I feel like I’m running for office..Jeez..So, back to business. The last week has been…well..HOT actually..Eek!!!

It topped out at 94 the other day…That is just too hot for mountians.  They are supposed to be cold, right?

To give you some understanding of how long this endeavor is going to take.  This is the second 3 lake weekend since I started.  They are just not that easily gain and especially not any longer.  They are all labors.

On Tuesday, my girlfriend and I did an off trail route along a crazy cliff edge that wraps around a mountain and eventually pops us out at two lakes. They are called Snow Moon and Falling Leaf lakes. Amazing lakes too.. It’s been a long time coming for these two since it’s only about 1 ½ miles from the parking lot of Many Glacier Hotel, but not one step is on a maintained trail. Although through the years it has been done so many times, that there is a path. That path leads through the forest and pops out into a scree slope or a field of tiny rocks that is called the “Red Scree Strolls” in the climbing guide. We saw a first year baby grizzly bear dropping off the side of the slope. Where was momma? Dunno…We became a lot louder and kind of gave it a little time before we continued. Eventually you find this path and it follows along the top of a cliff that runs all the way around Mt. Allen.

There may be a trail but aside from it, you’re just a couple thousand feet above Lake Sherburne.
Eventually, it gives way and you drop into a bowl on the side of the mountain and two amazing blue lakes are just sitting there for the swimming. Perfect day for it.


The next day was the 4th of July and it was not a perfect day for anything but laying in water. I decided to surrender the park to the visitors and the heat. A couple dips in the St. Mary river and some fireworks and a grill out…No hiking..

But the next day. Oh, the next day. I decided that if I was serious about the lake idea, then it was time to chomp off a couple of the less enjoyable lakes that no one wants to do with me. So, I dubbed it “crappy lakes that no one wants to do with me” day. Catchy? Huh?

I woke up early and drove the Going to the Sun Road to the west side. The road just opened for the year because of large washouts in November. So, this was my first trip of the year. For those of you who do not know Glacier very well, the west side is lower elevation than the east side. This makes it warmer and covered in much heavier vegetation. This sometimes makes for long approaches to murky, marshy lakes. I ask a lot of my friends, but none of them want to jump in a marsh on a 90 degree day that they had to walk 20 miles round trip to get to. So, I do it my self. All for the love of this goofy project.

So, I digress. I woke up early and got to Johns Lake.

This lake is right off the side of the road, and the marshiest of them all. Marshy enough to have leaches swimming around in it. I DECIDED TO WAIT!!!!!!!!! I figured, I could go against last weeks statement and possibly just do it in the winter and break a hole in the ice. Or, maybe I’ll just get a wet suit or something…But, for a nasty lake that was half a mile from the trail, I figured I could only benefit from waiting.I then wondered up a steep forested ridge for 2 ½ miles till I got to Fish Lake.
This was not quite as bad as Johns. At least I could not see leaches swimming all over the place.
I then did a little plop in-between the lily pads and on to reevaluating my day.I had the option to hike 2 ½ miles back out and end the day. Or, and there is always an or.
I could continue hiking another 17 miles round trip to the king daddy of “nobody wants to do it” land.
Lincoln Lake is an 8 mile, one way hike through nondescript forest to a…..well, an alright lake.
Its home to the highest waterfall in the park. It’s somewhere up in the teens. 1300’ maybe. Something like that. But it’s still not great even with that characteristic.
So, needless to say I hiked in heinous heat up and down and up and down and though the woods to grandmas house to get to the lake. It kind of rotted.
But it’s done. Yeah!!! And it brought me to a grand total of 71 lakes jumped in. That makes me happy.


So, close your eyes and envision your friend Marc. Ok, got it?

So it was so hot as I was walking out, that I started dipping a camp towel and my hat in every steam I came to and plopping it on my head and neck. It kept me cooler and protected me from the sun. Compounding on top of that was the onslaught of classic west side mosquitoes. You feel like they are just in a cloud trying to chase you down. Honestly, at this point your closing in on just losing your mind Your only defense is to keep on walking.

So, as quickly as I could put on a mosquito shirt. For those that do not know what this is, it’s a shirt made of tight mesh so they can’t get to you. Well, I start hiking as fast as I can, bombing down hill with a mosquito shirt on, and a wet towel and floppy hat on my head and neck.

Trekking poles in hands, just trying to Zen out and get to the blasted road. I pop out into a parking lot with a poor unsuspecting couple standing there. I’m filthy, drenched with water/sweat with this ridiculous get up on. Blathering on about bugs and lakes and what not. I was a sight.

 
I beleive that someone else had the same opinion of this lake…..


Who says the life of a lake bidder is glamorous. Well, I honestly think no one says that….

Actually, what in the world is a lake bidder anyway, most would say….You now know the answer to a very seldom asked question.

I will leave you with that vision. I can do no better. I’m pretty tired and must pack for my days off. I’ll keep you informed of my endeavors this weekend.

But you must stop back to see what they are…since, really I have no idea what they will be…Yeah, no plans..

To Life,
Marc

Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Goat Haunt Lake – Beginning of a New Era

June 29, 2007 By 4 Comments

Good evening…how is everyone? I find myself writing these well into the evening. Hope all my word choices are up to par, I’m kind of tired.
In the last week, I finally swam in a new lake. Goat Haunt Lake was #67 swam in out of 168 named lakes. It hangs out on the other side of Goat Haunt Ridge which makes up much of the eastern landscape of Goat Haunt.
 
There is a trail that heads about 800’ in a mile straight up the side of the ridge to an overlook and a wood bench. The trail ends there and to get to this lake my friend and I had to hike off trail about another 1200’ further up the ridge. From there we side stepped along the ridge to a big red saddle that is visible from the head of the lake.


We figured that we could be visible through the scope that hangs out at viewing platform as long as we had something bright on our packs. So, we tied bright orange bandanas to our packs so my girlfriend/coworker could watch us climb the ridge. I’m sure that was pretty interesting to watch us plod along a few thousand feet above the lake level. Even with the scope we were just tiny orange specks.

Once we gained the saddle we had to drop about 800’ down the other side to get to the lake. I’ve certainly been through well worse bushwhacks, but the other side of the ridge was entirely forested, so it was straight through trees and brush for the entire way.


It’s funny, being in situations that most “normal” people would view as completely unacceptable…in a strange way I derive some twisted pleasure from it. No one is forcing us to do this; it’s completely voluntary to thrash through alder bushes well taller than me. It just seems like a very logical thing to do, all in the name of jumping into a 38 degree lake, then turn right back around and do it all backwards.

Some were born to build bridges, others to be kings….I suppose I was sent to spend pleasant days off work becoming entirely more tired and beat up than I was when I got off work.
All in the name of a refreshing dip.
 
And like every other endeavor in life, you tend to find your own like minded weirdo’s. Luckily this place is jam packed with them, so I’m seldom at a loss for goofy people who will assist me in my lake tasks.

The lake was quite pleasant for early season. Things are starting to thaw out pretty good around here, so more of the off trail ideas are becoming possible. I draw the line at having to break ice on a lake to jump in. So, until now most of this has been impossible.

We climbed back through the tree covered ridge to the saddle. I snapped a few photos of the view directly back down at Waterton Lake 2000’ below. It’s so great to get such a wild view of how small Goat Haunt is.

 
They are but specks amongst the behemoths of the northern portion of the park. It was great to see the tour boat in the lake.
Its multi leveled and holds a hundred people or so and it was tiny compared to its surroundings.
Boat on right side of lake about half way down.


We followed our path back down the ridge.

A great start to the lake bid season. I’m happy to have gotten one under my belt.

 
 

So, needless to say…everything is great on my side of things. I hope you are all well, finding your overlooks to be amazing in themselves. Get out there and search them out. Maybe wake up for a good sunrise. No matter where you’re at, it’s more amazing at 4:30am. Some of the most colorful sunsets I’ve ever seen have been in my hometown of Cincinnati and it’s below 1000’ elevation. So, I’ll wrap this up. Maybe go get some sleep. I wish you well. Till next I write, please email me or leave a comment. I would love to hear from you all.

To Life

Marc

 
P.S. My friend Cara’s 30th birthday was the other day. So, since I was not there to wish her well, I will do so via blog. She is actually the one that taught me how to do any of this and what the word blog was in the first place. So, Happy Birthday Cara. Welcome to the rest of your life. Enjoy a picture of Kootenai Peak in where else but Glacier National Park. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Filed Under: Lake Jumps Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,