Two popular day-hikes framed our six-day backpacking trip in and near the Belly River valley of Glacier National Park. The first was a five-mile trek to Iceberg Lake. In the photo you can see ice floating in the lake. This lake, as well as Cracker and Helen Lakes where we later camped, is surrounded by bare-faced mountains on three sides with a green open area, either a meadow or forest, as its fourth side. We learned that snow, gathering and compacting into glaciers, carved out pockets, or cirques, from the mountain as they moved downward into valleys during the Great Ice Age. Today, water melts from newer glaciers, which give birth to waterfalls that feed these aqua colored lakes. Pretty as it is, this photo can't convey the hum of water as it slips down Mt. Wilbur or tumbles along rocky stream and creek beds throughout the park. Click here to enlarge this photo.
On our first day out Steve goes against rangers' advice on filtering all drinking water, fills a jug and takes a swig. He's of the view that this water is likely less contaminated than what we drink in Tampa. Our habit becomes to drink from streams and creeks in the high rocky mountains and to filter water in valley lakes, which have greater possibility of exposure to animal and human waste that might carry bacteria. Later, near Red Gap Pass a seasoned trail surveyor said, as she dipped her jug in a creek, "I just can't bring myself to filter this water." I found her remark convincing, although Steve was already following his own wisdom.

I should mention that the mountains of Glacier National Park also extend into Canada and are the northern part of the Rocky Mountains. The Continental Divide also twists through this area. Of the places I'll mention in these notes, Ahern Peak, Mt. Wilbur and Grinnell Glacier fall immediately east of that thin line.
The day hike to Iceberg Lake provided our first and only - no complaints - exposure to a bear, this one a black bear. Luckily, the bear was more interested with foraging in the grassy areas than on the few gawkers on the trail below.
From time to time in the backcountry we did see bear scat. Depending on its freshness, it sometimes fueled our commitment to yelling "hey, yo" near bends thick with vegetation to let any bears know we were coming.
The first day of our six-day backcountry adventure was a damp and often muddy six-mile hike to Cracker Lake, another cirque, similar to the Iceberg Lake area. We arrived at the campsite near dinnertime. I pitched the tent while Steve cooked. An Asian couple in the orange tent joined us in the food prep area, where this shot was taken. The couple spoke little English, yet communication was clear as we watched with anticipation as a herd of 24 mountain goats, obscured by a large rock formation, emerge in the grassy area above us. The young goats skipped along the boulders like children playing hop-scotch.
The weather was chilly at Iceberg Lake, although the rain had stopped. The park ranger who issued our backcountry permit said we might encounter strong winds at night. I secured the tent stakes with heavy rocks and that night, as predicted, sudden, howling gusts of wind dipped into the cirque and pressed into our tent. The next morning we broke camp at 7 o'clock, hiked through the Canyon Creek area and along the eastern side of Apikuni Mountain to Poia Lake on its north where we camped 12.5 miles later.
During our third day in the backcountry, we hiked from Poia Lake through the Kennedy Creek valley and then in the span of about two miles ascended 2,000 feet over Red Gap Pass (elevation 7,610 feet) to view another range of mountains. Here, we've just begun the ascent. You can see fireweed, a wildflower popular in meadows whose color highlights the reddish argillite rock in the photo. This color also reminds me of Florida sunsets.
Just on the other side of the gap we lunched on a grassy patch fed by a small creek. Because of their beauty and their accessible water, creeks made excellent sites for our meals of freeze dried veggies and rice. The blue patch below is the northern part of Elizabeth Lake. In two nights we'll camp at its south end (not shown here). This afternoon we hiked around (over) Lake Elizabeth and a few miles south to camp at Helen Lake. Click here to enlarge this photo.

After taking notes, I snapped this shot of one of the locals paying a personal visit to Steve. A moment earlier the little guy was licking Steve's ankle. We believe its visit was motivated more from the need for salt than our good company.

A while later, these bighorn sheep slowly grazed upward, alongside the creek. Before them, however, three other adult males, less shy and with full horns, like the center one here, grazed within 30 feet of us. This patch of green was rich in wildflowers, and we watched as they attracted other wildlife like butterflies, a bumblebee, and a hummingbird. Click here for the hike to Helen Lake.