T-minus 3

The saying that the trail provides is such an underrated statement. I’m not even on trail yet and the trail has already provided opportunity, a trail community, and helpful knowledge for the first week on trail.

It was rather naive of me to think I’d really be out here doing the trail alone or that I’d be the first person breaking through the snow. I should be so lucky. Thankfully, a few other hikers have gotten through Glacier already, two starting as early as the 8th – Tree and Backed Up, who is rocking a colorful JanSport backpack. Another hiker from Germany, Auto Pilot, provided the trail beta and reported that though he wore his micro spikes across a few snow fields, they were unnecessary. Funny enough, their reports were rather contradictory to what the park ranger’s provided. I’m sure they are obligated to put the fear of God into us so we don’t have to use the SOS function on our tracking beacons, but by the third time I talked to the ranger at Two Medicine, (more on this later), I left out of there with the task of providing a trail report to him when I returned back to the campground on my last night in the park. Needless to say, I feel more confident about my chances of making it through Glacier.

Goodbye

My mom left today. We grabbed some coffee and donuts from the Two Medicine camp store and enjoyed each other’s company for the final few minutes before she’d have to leave in order to make it to her flight on time. When we wrapped up with breakfast and walked out to the car, there were no tears. There was a quick parting prayer. And then there was a 10 minute frenzy of us ripping apart our bags and tearing through the rental car to find my missing parks pass. We did not find it.

I expected the same fear to bubble up inside of me similar to what I experienced on the AT. But it did not. I felt sadness that my mother couldn’t join me along the official start of my journey, but gratitude for the time we spent laughing, playing “I’m going on a picnic,” and making up songs to keep the bears away won out. As she drove away, I etched those moments into my memory because I already know I’ll need to call on her for strength at some point along this long trek.

Mom and I soaking our feet in Two Medicine lake after the 16 mile journey around Dawson’s Pass

What I did feel very strongly when she drove away was out of place. My fully packed backpack stuck out quite sorely against the sea of day tourist’s small packs. But I had a plan and opinions be danged, I wanted to explore before heading to the Looking Glass Hostel.

I got a ticket for the boat ride on the Sinopah across Two Medicine lake. Across the lake, I headed out towards Upper Two Medicine lake, ahead of the small group of people who also hopped off the boat. I walked cautiously, smacking my poles against each other and the ground until I finally crossed paths with other people going the opposite direction. With each passing couplet, I felt better and better about not seeing any bears and allowed myself to move more quickly and quietly up the trail.

The temptation to stop every 100 yards or so was strong. After 3 days of exploring, the views still weren’t old. The clear and cloudless sky was just incredible to me and the amount of space the mountains took up with still more space left for the sky to occupy, was simply incomprehensible to my little brain. When I did finally reach the lake, the turquoise waters took my breath away. I stared at the glistening waves long enough that my eyes burned from the reflected light and found myself perched on a small bench at the waters edge to try and soak it all in with every sensation.

The cold wind contrasted against the hot sun beating down on my skin. Just as little goosebumps would arise on my arms, the sun would vanquish them. The sound of the wind ripping through the trees was offset by the gentle chirps of birds and buzz of mosquitos and flies. And just when the little critters would get too intense buzzing around my face, the wind would tear through again and take them away in one big gust. The air smelt crisp and sappy and when I filtered the lake water through my bottle, it too was crisp and tasteless in the most wonderful way possible.

Others soon arrived at the lake shore and prompted me to move back so others could take it all in. I struck up conversation with an older couple who were native to the area. We chatted about topical subjects like local weather and wildlife, but I pushed a bit deeper to stretch my social muscles. I wanted to know this couple more deeply, and for that, I was rewarded greatly.

By the time I returned to the dock and the couple caught back up to me, the woman approached me with a blue bead and a penny. By this point I knew the names of her children and grandchildren, saw pictures of each and pictures of edible plants in the area. So when she provided these small charms of good fortune, it felt intimate. I had made good friends. Whether I’d see them again or not didn’t matter. They’d left an impression on me and I on them and I promised to carry the bead and lucky penny all the way to the end.

At the dock I met yet another two older ladies who were enthralled by what I was doing. With them I shared my excitement not only for the trail, but to return home at the end and reintegrate into the life I had so meticulously built over the last several years. I shared with them about landing my dream job and my plans to combine my passions of running and physical therapy in the future and to see their excitement in response made my heart swell. This sharing of future hopes and dreams was also intimate.

Even on the boat ride back across the lake, I sat with a gal, a teacher, and swapped travel stories. Over the course of the 15 minute boat ride, I knew more about her hobbies and students. She asked to follow my blog and Instagram and it felt like an honor to have the opportunity to share my journey with someone I’d only just met and to hopefully follow her future journeys as well.

The remainder of the day was a series of fortunate events. I walked to the ranger station to use the pay phone to call a shuttle, realizing as I picked up the phone that it was ripped in two and out of order. Thankfully I bumped into Jim “Costanza” who, I found out soon thereafter, was hanging out at Looking Glass to help hikers get around town and to Chief Mountain. He asked if I needed a ride, I said yes (my first hitch, woohoo), and he jokingly remarked, “the ride comes with a small fee, adding him to your permit” (cue Costanza pointing at a gentleman in his front seat). Without hesitation, I said, “sure.” I had 2 other spots on my permit after all.

The guy Costanza had pointed to was known as Samurai. Costanza filled me in a little on his background since he spoke Japanese. Apparently they had been communicating via translation apps and pointing and Costanza explained that he felt it was important to help Samurai out due to this language barrier. Alternate forms of communication worked well as I introduced myself to Samurai and both Costanza and I explained what we were doing with my permit. I even learned that Samurai was a park ranger in Japan. He handed me a sticker with what I assume to be his title inscribed on it. Samurai was overly thankful for my generosity along with Costanza, who repeatedly thanked me for helping out saying that what I was doing was what thru-hiking is really about. I replied with gratitude for our paths crossing and a promise that I’d continue to pay it forward.

And soon after, I had my next chance. At the hostel, a few short hours later, I met two other hikers in need of permits – Zoe and Rocket. With no need for haste, we decided we’d head back to the Two Medicine ranger station in the morning and try to add both of them to my permit, hoping the ranger would be ultra-nice and allow for a 5th hiker.

When I got my permit originally, it was for 2, myself and an old friend Hamburglar who I first met on the AT. He planned to fly in Sunday afternoon and hike through Glacier with me. Hence why there’d end up being 5 on my permit.

We communed over pizza that evening and I reluctantly took a shower after 4 days of relearning how to live with the grunge. I forgot how hard it was to enjoy feeling clean knowing that the sweat and dirt would return soon after. Although, washing my hair did feel pretty nice and I was thankful not too many organisms fell out.

Luna’s

I decided to do a bit of laundry while I had the opportunity. I spent an hour in my tent fighting with myself about the necessity of doing laundry already, but when I performed the sniff test on my socks, they provided the final answer I needed.

I walked down the street to grab coffee from Brownies Hostel while I waited for my things to clean and dry and even had some time to hike into town and grab a resupply for the next section through the BOB so I wouldn’t have to do it after a week of hiking through Glacier. I think future me will be happy I did that.

By the time I returned from camp chores, it was a little after 8:30 and Rocket had found a group with extra room on their permit. A group of ladies who all met on the PCT were doing a reunion tour of the CDT together and graciously allowed Rocket to join them.

I was sad to see Rocket going on ahead with them, but I believe it was for the best to avoid further permitting issues. Not too soon after, Zoe’s dad showed up to drive us back to Two Medicine to round out my permit. When I walked into the ranger station, I jokingly said something along the lines of “I’m back, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you this soon again, you’re probably going to get tired of seeing me.”

I had already met this ranger Thursday when I went in to ask about trail conditions, Twice on Saturday to get permits and then to add Samurai to my permit, and now again on Sunday. And I’ll have one more opportunity to stop in on our last evening in Glacier since Two Medicine is our last stop.

The remainder of the day was spent making questionable, but delicious chili Mac n cheese with Zoe, meeting up for a short hike to Scenic Point with a friend from my run group back home who was surprisingly in the area, and then reading a book on the front lawn in the warm glow of the sun.

A few other hikers joined the hostel, 2 younger ladies recently graduated and 2 older men. There were a great many activities happening around the hostel – frisbee, hackie-sack – but I was happy to save some physical energy and just watch and read in the sun. As I watched their youthful energy, I felt nostalgic for that same energy I had on the AT. Now I’m not saying I’m old or losing energy. But I’m not the same person I was 4 years ago. I AM older. I AM more settled in life. And I do NOT want all the same experiences I had on the AT. My youthful energy may not present itself in the form of extracurriculars on trail like it did on the AT and I think that’s a good thing. I’ll let my youthful manifest however it pleases along this trail and at the moment, that’s reading a book.

Leaving Tomorrow

I thought it would be hard to meet people when I arrived here on Wednesday evening. But now my permit is full and suddenly I’m saddened by the thought that I may have to say goodbye to these kind people. I’ll cross that bridge when it gets here, however I’m already so thankful for all that has occurred in the past few days.

I’m encouraged to see what’s to come in the following days and weeks. And I’m beginning an open-ended and cumulative prayer now that He continue to provide good people, good weather, good opportunities, and growing love for the experiences and community of hikers I’ll find myself part of along the way.