The Swiftcurrent Cafe by Miller Chinle

Author:Miller, Chinle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yellow Cat Publishing
Published: 2020-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

23

Bud sat next to Wilma Jean and Millie on the rocky shore of Iceberg Lake, watching as Doc tried to hit a nearby iceberg, skimming flat rocks across the surface of the cold waters.

Bud had read that the lake got little sun, being in the shadow of Mt. Wilbur and Iceberg Peak, as well as having the 1,500-foot-tall Ptarmigan Wall towering above it. Thus, ice and snow accumulated on the water and on the surrounding cliff walls, often not melting until late summer.

Like the Garden Wall, the Ptarmigan Wall was an arête, a thin ridge of rock separating the Many Glacier Valley from the Belly River Valley, both carved by glaciers, resulting in the dramatic and raw landscape before them.

Bud was having a field day with his camera, the entire place being incredibly scenic. After a steep incline at the beginning, the trail had leveled off and was gradual the entire way, eventually crossing a beautiful alpine meadow filled with a variety of wildflowers of every color of the rainbow, most of which he didn’t recognize, though he did know the glacier lilies and beargrass.

He thought of the desert back home near Green River, what he called the Big Empty, with its myriad spring blossoms, but this was unlike anything he’d ever seen, looking almost like a cultivated field thick with richly colored blooms.

The trailhead had started behind the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn cabins, almost right out Bud and Wilma Jean’s door, and as one climbed, you were immediately surrounded with commanding views of Mount Grinnell and Swiftcurrent Mountain. About halfway up the trail, Ptarmigan Falls served as a great place to stop for a rest.

Bud was tired and happy to take a break, as the trail was listed as being almost 10 miles round trip with a 1400-foot altitude gain, though most of that was in the first section of the trail. He was glad they’d be going downhill on the way back.

He was equally glad they all carried bear spray, for a sign at the trailhead had said it was a bear paradise, with wild raspberries and huckleberries along the trail. Several hikers ahead of them had seen a sow and her cub cross the path but said the pair had quickly ducked into the lush foliage.

The gang had met a park volunteer along the trail who’d told them there weren’t nearly as many bears around recently because the hot and dry summer had decreased the number of huckleberries, though it wasn’t unusual to close the trail in late summer due to grizzly activity.

They hadn’t seen any bears as of yet, though they had seen a small flock of grouse, a cow moose and her calf feeding in the valley below, and a pair of mountain goats in the rocks above the lake, though they were so far up they looked like white specks.

They’d gotten an early start, partly to avoid the crowds, but also because Bud wanted to take photos before the overhead sun washed things out. Chet

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