Still Deep Snow on Montana Mountain --Carolan Discovers!

Early Saturday my daughter Carolan started hiking from the Holland Lake Campground with the goal of meeting some of her friends working on the eastern side of the Swan Range in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. She began on the Holland Falls Trail (Trail 416). After a couple miles she crossed  the footbridge over Holland Creek and continued on Trail 35. After 6 or so miles of hiking she skirted Upper Holland Lake and at that point had to strap on her snowshoes. She then hiked uphill in increasingly deep snow for a couple miles heading for Gordon Pass. Her goal was Shaw Cabin. As she approached the top of the Pass, which is about 7000 foot elevation, she could no longer see the trail. The snow was almost 10-feet deep in places. Carolan realized that continuing on would be dangerous, so she reluctantly turned back. She had already hiked almost  7 or 8 miles, with about as much to go to Shaw Cabin. So she hiked back 7 or 8 miles until she reached her car at the Holland Lake trailhead.  She had hiked that day 15 to 16 miles with about 4 of those miles in snowshoes. The first half of the trip was pretty steep and she was tired out and somewhat disappointed about not reaching her goal.

But who can complain about a day's hike in one of America's greatest wildernesses? Shaw Cabin will wait for another day, later in the season.

Holland Falls (image found on the internet)

Any doubts about the snow depths around Glacier National Park and The Bob can be put to rest by this image that appeared on the Glacier National Park Facebook page (below):

Logan Pass in Glacier National Park--Mid May