Weasel Fire – Extreme Fire Behavior, August 4, 2022 – USFS
NOTICE: Due to the Weasel Fire, the following Glacier View Ranger District trails are closed:
See also the attached closure order map.
Monitor the Weasel Fire InciWeb site for additional information: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8290/. Also keep an eye on the NFLA website for fire-related postings.
Weasel Fire Area Closure Map
Brushing out along Hay Creek Trail #3, July 9, 2022 – W. K. Walker
We’ve started work in the Hay Creek Drainage, beginning with a short stretch of the Whitefish Divide Trail and the piece of the Hay Creek Trail west of the bridge at the foot of Hay Lake. We started at the west end because this is where most of the blow-downs hide out (we removed eight of them), posing considerable inconvenience to folks hiking this segment of the Pacific Northwest Trail.
This was posted yesterday afternoon, July 5th, by the Forest Service…
For the safety of our visitors, the Tuchuck Campground is temporarily closed due to bear activity. We will post updates when they are available or you can call the Ranger Station at (406) 387-3800.
Cyclone Lookout, June 1, 2022 – W. K. Walker
Delayed by the slow melt-out due to record cool temperatures in May, we decided to see if we could get to Cyclone Lookout on June 1. We actually got all the way to the top! The first mile is now cut out, including five or six trees blocking the road that forms the first half-mile of Trail 40 on its way to the summit. There are another 13 chainsaw-worthy blow-downs across the trail further up that we’ll go back for soon, although we did at least turn them into step-overs for now. UPDATE on June 8: All blow-downs have been cut out. The trail is completely clear.
As we were getting ready to leave the lookout, a Customs and Border Patrol helicopter circled in and dropped off a couple of folks to perform maintenance on their repeater up there.
Too busy to get my own, but here is someone else’s photo of a striped skunk…
We worked in a little trail maintenance on April 20th. Me and a friend and his dog finished clearing abut a mile of trail along the foot of Glacier View Mountain, but not without difficulty. We were nearly finished when the dog came running back to us with an angry, territorial skunk on his heels. After several extremely malodorous minutes, involving a number of bluff charges and other displays of aggression, the skunk backed off and let us continue down the trail. The dog avoided a direct hit, but did get a little stinky. I have named the skunk “Putin,” which seemed poetically appropriate.
Randy and Numa doing early season cleanup on Tr 381A, March 27, 2022 – W. K. Walker
The first trail maintenance of the year started on March 27 with some work on Glacier View Mountain Spur #381A. It’s not ready for prime time yet but, when renovations are complete, it will be a short spur trail connecting the main Glacier View Mountain Trail to an alternate trailhead on the North Fork Road, as well as to Trail #383 along the North Fork Flathead River.
We removed a bunch of slash from the trail and cut back some encroaching snowbrush. Speaking of snowbrush, it is a favorite hiding place for ticks in that area. No ticks were in evidence this time, but that will change pretty soon.