The Face on Rising Wolf Mountain

This past summer, while sitting atop Pitamakan Pass, I noticed a face staring at me. It wasn't a hungry hiker eye-balling my sandwich after realizing he forgot to pack his own snacks. No, this was a face in the mountain staring at me from across the valley. If you look closely, right in the middle of Rising Wolf Mountain, you'll see a clearly outlined face:

Here's a closer look:

According to Through The Years In Glacier National Park: An Administrative History, the 9513-foot Rising Wolf Mountain "was the Indian name for Hugh Monroe, the first white man to live with the Blackfeet Indians. The name is said to have been suggested by Monroe's habit of getting out of bed in the morning on his hands and knees. "

Wikipedia sheds a little more light on the name. According to the online encyclopedia, the Blackfeet name for the peak, "Mahkuyi-opuahsin", meaning, "the way the wolf gets up", was later translated to the current name of the mountain. After Hugh Monroe's death, his close friend and author James Willard Schultz, named the peak after Monroe.

I wonder if the face inspired the Blackfeet in naming the mountain. Did they think the geological oddity resembled Monroe in anyway?

One other thing about the photo at the top. Check out those clouds - they looked like a weave that day. It reminded me of the cover of the Tommy album by The Who.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier.com