Day 11: Hiking from Cosley Lake to Chief Mountain Trailhead

We chose to hike out from Cosley Lake, at a distance of 9.1 miles, rather than use our last night's reservation at Elizabeth Lake.  Our decision was based on a desire to use each of our remaining days to the fullest. The extra day would give us more options for side trips on the way home.  Since the kids were really looking forward to the "cable river crossing" en route to Elizabeth Lake, we took a detour to the fork in the Belly River to find said crossing.  The shallow water took away part of the challenge, but it was still fun to ford the river while using a "hand over hand maneuver."

We also made a rather long stop at Gros Ventre Falls where Greg, Nick, and I went for a brief & freezing swim while Ron did some fishing.  A half-dozen hippie daredevils showed up during our swim and told Greg, "Thanks for the inspiration, Man."  They proceeded to climb up and do some cliff diving into the deep pool beneath the falls.  This provided great entertainment for us, and just as you might suspect, Greg wore a wide grin of satisfaction as he egged them on.  He felt partially responsible for the show!  Changing out of our wet under clothes proved difficult with a growing audience, but we managed.  No one seemed too concerned with modesty since bathing suits are an unheard of luxury in the back country.

Trudging forward to our final destination of Chief Mountain Trailhead, we tried to take in each scenic view.  Surrounded by snowy peaks in August, there was a prevailing feeling of "we probably won't see this again in our lifetime(s)." We rested and ate lunch at another ess in the river, where Nick-the-Designated-Purifier  pumped yet another two Nalgen bottles of water.  At one point during the meal, Ron dropped a ziploc bag into the current and shouted, "Oh, no!"  Without hesitating for a nano-second, Greg did a Super Fly Snuka Swan Dive into the rocky waters to nab the errant baggie before it disappeared down river.  He was a little bit scratched up from the leap and angry to find the ziploc empty.  He later explained that he thought Ron's cell phone was in there.  We all proclaimed him the Family Hero, loyal and fearless to the core.  But just a little bit crazy.

The last couple miles uphill were draining, to say the least, but we finally emerged at the parking lot (our starting point) in the early evening.  We found a site at Johnson's R.V. Park with full hook-ups, so we could take unrestricted showers.  A steak dinner at the Cattle Supper Ranch, run by the Blackfeet Indians, capped off a spectacular day.  After devouring the hugest t-bones and ribeye ever seen, we slept like kings and queens in our bug-free, air-conditioned camper.