Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Charlie and Alice at Grotto Falls

We wake up and have breakfast with Ted and Alice. They have planned to take us on a hike today in the nearby Gallatin National Forest. Alice’s friend Vicki joins us on the outing. On the way to the trailhead, a small bear scampers across the road in front of us. That was exciting. We pass Hyalite reservoir and park at the Hyalite Creek Trailhead. There are several small waterfalls along this trail. We start climbing right away on the beautifully forested trail. The weather is perfect, sunny and cool. Although we are in a fairly thick coniferous forest, we get nice views of the opposite walls of Hyalite Canyon across the valley from us. Our first stop is Grotto Falls. It is a thin ribbon of falls cascading down a narrow moss and fern lined gorge. We continue on up the Hyalite trail and come to Arch Falls. The water cascades through a small natural rock arch. Onward we go to the next waterfall, known as Silken Skein falls. We scramble around to a 20-foot waterfall that ends in a rock bowl with a pool. 

End of the Trail

We decide that this will be our turn around point and sit to have a snack nearby. The trail itself, winds further upward passing another five to six waterfalls and eventually ending at Hyalite Lake or for those who want more of a challenge, it forks to climb Hyalite Peak. After our snack break, we wind our way back down the trail to complete our roughly 5-mile hike.

We return to Ted and Alice’s house and spend the remainder of the day with an informal happy hour, dinner and good conversation. Before bed, I look at the weather report and tell Carol that there is a front coming in that predicts snow in two days. We talk about the possibility of heading home tomorrow but do not settle on the idea. It has been a nice day and we will just sleep on things.