[Day 115] Dawson & Triple Divide Pass

I packed up my belongings, sorted an extra box of unnecessary items to leave at East Glacier, hit Brownies for breakfast, and made it to the East Glacier Lodge for the 8:15am shuttle to Two Medicine. My shuttle driver from yesterday, Pat, kindly did the service of reserving me a spot on the packed morning shuttle into the park.

I was dropped off at the Two Medicine General Store by 8:45am. On my way to the trailhead, a ranger intentionally pulled off the road to address me. They advised against solo hiking up to Pitamakan Pass — concerning bear behaviors shut the campsite at Oldman Lake and they were working to gather the personnel to close the trail. She (the ranger) might have been projecting her fears on me. While I was getting my permit yesterday, she was assigned to close the trail to Pitamakan Pass, but hesitated and refused to do it alone. I took her word — it wouldn’t have been a great look walking down the trail the ranger told me not to take.

Alternatively, I decided to take Dawson Pass, traverse around Mount Morgan above Oldman Lake, and connect with the top of Pitamakan Pass, continuing along the official CDT from there. This certainly added miles. The views, however, were stunning, and the trail was excellent and great hiking.

I reconnected at Pitamakan Pass and dropped down along North Fork Cut Bank Creek to Atlantic Creek. Following high above Atlantic Creek, I made the couple thousand foot climb to Triple Divide Pass. Triple Divide Pass skirts Triple Divide Peak. At this peak, three separate watersheds are split — the Atlantic Ocean drainage, the Pacific Ocean drainage, and the Arctic Ocean drainage to Hudson Bay. From the Mexican border, I have only dealt with division between Pacific and Atlantic. From here north into Canada, the divide line splits the Pacific and the Arctic drainages. Now that is neat!

On the other side of Triple Divide Pass, I sensed approaching rain. It wasn’t the clouds — I noticed a drop in air pressure. I suited up in a full smock of FroggToggs. It poured for a solid three hours and rained in spirts through the end of the day as I walked myself to Red Eagle Lake.

Along the way, I came up my first bull moose. Moose might be the most dangerous animal I encounter. They the largest animals in North America and have a propensity to charge if they feel threatened. They tend to be oblivious to and unperturbed by people, so encounters tend to last minutes in awkward standoffs.

It was a long descent to Red Eagle Lake. I was assigned to the campsite at the foot of the lake, and I was a bit disappointed when I made it to the head of the lake thinking I was done for the day. As I hiked lakeside to the foot, the rain came in. I ate dinner quite miserably in the pouring rain at the designated cooking, consumption, and food storage areas. Powdery dirt of the burn area caked onto all my possessions as I assembly a slippery dinner. After hanging my food, cook kit, and other smelly items, I used the backcountry privy and pitched my tent. The long wet end of the day won out, leaving my clothes wet under my FroggToggs. May the weather be more favorable tomorrow.

Signing off,

Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)