/*The Stupendous Birthday Present, part 2

*/The pool below Matahpi.  The trail will take us completely around the mountain. /*

*/The ponds below Siyeh drain into this creek.  Every other time I've hiked this, it was a bit tricky selecting a route across it, trying to choose rocks that allow passage without falling in.  But the trail crews must have been through and put a series of large stones in place. Gorgeous clear blue sky and pleasant weather. /*

*/After the creek the trail goes uphill before entering the scree switchbacks.  This is the view looking back where we had come from.  Down below is Preston Park.  On the upper right is Piegan Glacier.  The pointy peak at the left is Mt. Reynolds at Logan Pass.  It's impossible to capture in photos the immense peripheral view from the trail from all directions.  It was near this point the stranger on the trail gave us the day's adjective of stupendous. /*

*/It was around this area that Kiersten pointed out the black pine cones on the trees. In all my years in the park I had never really noticed them, and on our return I asked Sandy if she had ever noticed them.  Nope! They were almost exclusively just at the top of the trees.  I won't let out the "secret" about what type of tree it is, but simply point out how much I appreciate seeing the park through someone else's eye. /*

*/One of the hazards of letting a first timer lead is that they can go the wrong way, especially if their guide is too busy babbling telling dad jokes (or even worse jokes!).  And so it was that suddenly the trail went in to a snowfield right at the pass.  The park information page said the pass was open, so maybe we just needed to scramble along the snow, which we did try before giving up.  Perhaps we could circumvent it going up the scree on the right -- there were footprints that looked like others had gone that way.  No, the rocks were way too loose.  So backtrack down the trail a bit where we discovered where the switchbacks start that we had missed.

I should also mention as we started up the switchbacks, it got windy.  Really windy!!!  We put on raincoats to act as windbreakers. /*

*/The switchbacks in the scree are a grind to climb up, but we make it to the top. That's me at Siyeh Pass.  My phone shows 8080 feet elevation. /*

*/Kiersten just starting across the pass. /*

*/You made it!!  Like middle age, it's all downhill going forward. /*

*/