GNP Dawson-Pitamakin Honeymoon Hike

“No, not my honeymoon*, it was that of Mountainrunner and Honeybunches---both friends of Trail Talk. Tarabull and I were thrilled to witness the ceremony on the edge of Lake McDonald in West Glacier. I was honored to stand by my friend Todd as he took the lovely Stacy to be his wife. In my opinion, the best wedding gift of all was given by the happy couple themselves: an invitation to Tarabull and me to join in the wedding celebration AND the post-ceremony honeymoon hike of the Dawson-Pitamakin Trail. To date, this hike ranks number one in my book and I want to thank both Mountainrunner and Honeybunches for allowing us to be a part of the hike as well as the wedding.

This was my first trip to Glacier and hopefully will not be my last. We flew into Kalispell last Thursday and spent the next three days as wedding attendants/participants and GNP tourists. What a place! We stayed at the Good Medicine Lodge in Whitefish and enjoyed several days of being pampered, sightseeing, and dayhiking to Avalanche Lake. I give the lodge four big stars!

After the rest of the wedding participants and friends and family departed town on Sunday, Mountainrunner, Honeybunches, Tarabull and I prepared to set out for our hike of the Dawson-Pitamakin. We were to spend Monday hiking the north shore of Two Medicine Lake to our campsite at No Name Lake. Tuesday was to be the climb to Dawson and Pitamakin passes and an overnight camp at Old Man Lake. Wednesday morning’s schedule was to hike out at dawn so Tarabull and I could race to the airport to catch our flight back to Michigan. (Wisconsin, actually. We drove from MI to WI to fly to Kalispell.) Everything went according to plan and the weather was fan-freakin-tastic!

TR to follow as well as some pics from the trip and maybe even the wedding. As much as we wanted to, Mountainrunner and I did not hike in our tuxedos.





*However, over a ham sandwich along the shore of Avalanche Lake, I received an affirmative to my request for one in the future.”

“Pretty place up there.

:)


CONGRATS!!”

“Crap---it's Pitamakan.


Thanks!
last edited: 9/25/09 10:47:20 AM”

“Great report, NC. Congratulations to you, too!”

“Congrats to you guys! Mountains induce that kind of euphoria, it seems. Cool!

I've seen some photos on the lovely wedded couple's pages. Will need to look for you guys on there now, doh! Hadn't looked that close or realized you guys were there.”

“Woooo Hoooo!!!....congratulations!!!!!”

“Congrats, no finer or more beautiful a place to get married for sure, very special indeed.

Did the same loop many years ago (1977) The winds on the pass were extreme to the point of knocking your over. Caught a bunch of small Brookies at Upper Two Medicine Lake. It was on this hike that I first was introduced to shin-splints.
Glacier NP is my favorite place, although its been soooooo long since I've been there.
Just waiting for the right TT group to post a trip and I'm there!”

“Now I found you guys. Great to have that spot on film/digital. Beautiful. And the just-married couple of course looks wonderful. Happiness all around in the best nature has to offer. :-)”

“Monday’s drive to the Two-Medicine campground and trailhead was uneventful except for a brief stop at “Goat Lick” near Essex. We didn’t get to see any goats licking minerals, each other, or anything else for that matter. We also did not see anyone licking a goat. What a rip-off. However, we did get to see a van with a bumper sticker plastered on the driver’s window that expressed the occupants’ belief that marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman only. We couldn’t resist having a little fun at their expense so Honeybunches and Tarabull held hands as they walked in front of the van. (Even without the pro hetero marriage bumper sticker in the picture, there’s something comical about two women walking hand in hand at a place called “Goat Lick.”)

We had learned earlier in the day that the north shore trail at Two Medicine Lake had been posted for grizzly activity. There had been a rash of sightings in the past week so the park service was keeping hikers and campers informed. We started down the trail on full alert with Honeybunches doing her best to notify every grizzly bear in Montana that we were out hiking and wanted no encounters. The hike to No Name Lake was short, about 5 miles, and uneventful. We were hiking the loop in a clockwise direction so the majority of our climbing was to be the following day. After every mile we hiked it seemed like the scenery just got better and better. No Name Lake sits at the base of Pumpelly Pillar, an amazing knife-like mountain of rock that towers over one side of the lake. In fact the lake looks pretty much walled in on three sides. Throughout the night the girls stayed awake while Mountainrunner and I slept. So nice of them to keep watch for us! Periodically I woke to the sound of rocks tumbling down the mountain wall and wondered what, if anything, had dislodged them. This area is supposed to be full of wildlife and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of a mountain goat or bighorn sheep sometime during the hike. I would not be disappointed.

There were no visits from any animals during the night (as far as I know) but the next morning we were visited by a cow moose. I was sitting on one of the logs in the cooking area and looked up to see Honeybunches jumping up and down flailing her arms wildly. BEAR, I immediately thought and whirled around to see a moose standing only 20 yards away. She came walking through the camping area and slowly meandered past Mountainrunner who was packing up some gear. The moose walked towards the privy and laid down. Our cameras burned up quite a bit of memory as the moose kept standing up and repositioning herself over and over. She was completely unconcerned with our presence. We finally left her alone to rest but she soon wandered off---only to return with a loud grunt (at least we think it was the moose that grunted) while Tarabull and I were fetching water. Tarabull didn’t see what grunted at her but right then we decided it was time to bug out so we quickly packed our remaining gear, shouldered our packs and started to make the long climb up Flinsch Peak to Dawson Pass.”

“If I'd known you guys were going to be in town, I would have at least offered to take you for pizza & beer here in Kalispell!

Great TR so far! :)”

“Aw LMG, I didn't know there were any TTers in the area! We were on a pretty tight schedule but I'm sure we could have had a beer or two. :(


BTW, we had the pizza from McKenzie River Pizza Co in Whitefish.........oh, baby!”

“McKenzie River is yummy! There's another local place right near us called Moose's Saloon. Basic pizza, sandwiches, beer, more beer & throw your peanut shells on the floor. Good stuff. :) http://www.moosessaloon.com/

If you guys are ever out here again, let me know. I'm not going anywhere. LOL :)”

“I can see why you live there and want to stay!

We were in Kalispell for about an hour or so on Sunday the 20th when all that wind and rain blew through. Tarabull wanted to pick up a Harley shirt for her dad. I liked Kalispell but Whitefish was more my type, lol. I expect to be there again someday so don't go anywhere. Have you hiked that trail? It really was awesome. We were surprised to learn that a lot of people make a dayhike out of it!”

“As we climbed along the edge of Flinsch Peak (I think?) we stopped fairly often to rest and take photos. The first two miles took us almost two hours but with every step we were more and more amazed with what we were seeing. First we would get even with some of the snow we’d seen above us the day before, then soon enough we were even with the peaks. What an awesome sight! Just before we reached Dawson Pass, Tarabull spotted what she thought were mountain goats down below us. They turned out to be bighorn sheep that were on the move. We all managed to catch a glimpse of them before they disappeared from sight. Neither Honeybunches nor I had ever climbed this high before so it was a new experience for both of us. I just kept shaking my head. In-feckin’-credible! We reached Dawson Pass with some slightly sore shins and dropped our packs while we took it all in. For me, it felt like I was on top of Mount Everest. I could sit and stare at Lake Superior for hours and never get tired of it but as impressive as the big lake is she faces some tough competition from the Continental Divide. We ate our lunch and played around on the pass for about an hour taking photo after photo. I hope the pictures provide a fair example of what we saw in person. The weather was phenomenal but the sun caused a lot of the photos to have a washed out appearance. (There’s only so much you can do with a point-and-shoot, lol.)
As we packed up and left the pass we noticed that the trail seemed to follow along the back side of Flinsch Peak---the back side that just seemed to go down…..down……down. Huh? I had to walk along the edge? On a narrow path? With no trees to break my fall? This was going to be……….”fun.” I do not and never did have a problem with heights, but this was a little nerve-wracking. And while I can stand on the edge myself and look out over the side, I have a very hard time watching someone else do it. The gigantic opening down below me on this particular trail made this feeling juuust a little worse. I didn’t remember reading about this on the trail description, lol!
As I lead the way along the trail I started to feel my palms sweat and I could not make myself turn around to check back on the others so I kept track by the sound of their feet and their voices. I was fine as long as I didn’t think about the gigantic hole to my immediate left and concentrated on the trail ten feet in front of me, however the trail kept disappearing around corners and over rocks leaving me to constantly wonder what was on the other side. I would occasionally stop to let the others catch up and if space allowed for it I would have a seat and snap a few quick pictures of the incredible albeit slightly freaky view. As we hiked along the mountainside we would periodically meet hikers traveling in the opposite direction. Most of the time there was just enough room for us to squeak past each other. One hiker told us that the winds were unusually mild that day (although on the passes they were quite strong) something which I was thankful to hear.

We finally reached the Pitamakan Pass which took us towards the opposite side of the rock and began our descent to Old Man (or Oldman) Lake. Coming down off the pass I noticed a bighorn lying on the trail about 100 yards ahead of us. A few seconds later we noticed three more. We walked slowly taking picture after picture until we were a scant 20 yards away. They appeared not to give a shiit that we were about to walk through their bedroom and if I hadn’t made enough noise and motions to scare them off I’m guessing that they might have let us pass right by. However, seeing as there was no place to go but 1000 feet straight down should one decide to take a run at us, I decided it was best to make them leave. They trotted down the cliff straight to the switchback where we had to chase them off again. I had hoped to see one with a nice big curl but they all appeared to be young females. No surprise since I seem to attract them wherever I go……..young females, not sheep.

As we crossed back and forth on our descent we scanned the meadows below us for bears but again saw none. The lake was beautiful and reminded us a little of the previous nights camp because it also was surrounded by walls. We set up camp and cooked up some dinner. Just as we finished up a couple of hikers joined us for the night. One guy was from PA and was on a MONTH LONG vacation and was hiking all over the west from the sound of it. We turned in under the Big Sky full of stars and had another quiet night with no visitors.

Only one more long day t go: a short hike followed by a long trip back to MI.

Pics up tonight I hope!”

“Correction on my part, on my earlier reply, No name lake was the spot we camped, and is where I caught the Brookies. Dawson Pass is Awesome, how'd you like the view from up there! I think No name lake and 50 Mtn were my Favorite BC sites. 50 Mtn isn't part of the loop you did though, its much further north on the CD.
If I ever did another GNP trip, I'd go from Logan's pass V.C on the Highline Trail to Goat haunt, or take the Boulder pass trail over to Bowmen or Kintla lake.”

“Great trip report so far NC! I haven't been on here in months, but happened to click the link tonight and saw your TR. We had a GREAT time. And glad the heights were worth it for you! It was by far the best hike I have been on... couldn't have a better honeymoon. We were both happy that you and Tarabull could be with us.

lolmountaingirl... we will look you up the next time we are in town... there will for sure be a next time! I ate at moose's the last time we were out there 2 years ago! Great pizza! Mountainrunner decided to take a day hike and I asked around for a good pizza place... so I enjoyed it by myself. We plan to move to the area in about oh say 13 years or so!

ncthiker... that is our next plan! An extended hike from Logan's out through Kintla... Mountain runner did an overnighter up to Brown's pass from Bowmen and didn't think that particular leg of the hike was anything special... so we are going to go out through Kintla. Some day... it will take a few days to tackle that one.”