2021 Fall Trip - Day 7 - 8/30/2021

Monday, August 30, 2021 - Drove 68 miles to get up to Kintla Lake in northern Glacier National Park:

I was on North Fork Road (also known as "Outside North Fork Road", to differentiate it from "Inside North Fork Road", which runs inside The Park) back in 2013, when Wendy was doing the Camino and I was doing my first roadtrip. Good to be back:

After an hour on dirt road, you cross the North Fork Flathead River:

and enter The Park at the Polebridge Ranger Station:

From there it is another "hour on a dirt road":

to get up to Kintla Lake:

I dropped my backpack, and drove 0.4 miles back to the "Backcountry Parking" area:

And that's where I started today's hike:

11.97 miles in 5 hours 49 minutes.

The trail starts out nice enough:

At 2 PM I'm going around the northern side of Kintla Lake:

This spot-on-the-trail, by the way, is 2-and-1/2 hours from my car. It is a nice "day-hike", and you do not have to "backpack" to get here. Just sayin'

Looking back from the upper end of Kintla Lake, which is still just 3 hours from my car:

You then go through some fields-and-forests:

until you reach Upper Kintla Lake:

The Trail is not a very good trail. It is often just a foot wide (no room for hiking poles), and has tons of side-growth, so you are literally "wading through" this stuff - it needs a WEEDWACKER!!

I reached the camp site at the upper end of Upper Kintla Lake a little after 5 PM:

Set up my tent:

Refilled my water bottles, filtering water while sitting on the log:

Had dinner with a guy (Dan, a school principal) and 2 girls (?Rachel and ?Kathryn, who work at Glacier Guides), then said goodnight to Upper Kintla Lake:

Life is an Adventure - for me that means just putting one foot in front of the other. Often that means just clicking "Reply" on an email, or walking on Singing Beach (which is NOT A BAD PLACE to put "one foot in front of the other"). Other times it takes me to places like Upper Kintla Lake. Thank You GOD for all these wonderful adventures!

Music for today:

Driving:

David Wilcox - East Asheville Hardware, 1996


Jimmy Cliff/various - The Harder They Come, 1972 soundtrack album


Jerry Jeff Walker - Jerry Jeff Walker, 1972 (no artwork)

hiking - 2 "albums" by the Grateful Dead:

New Year's Eves At Winterland, recorded 1970-1977, released 2003 - 9 songs



Dozin' at the Knick, recorded 1990, released 1996 - 28 songs