6:40AM time to get up, a good night's sleep helps a lot. The day before at the lodge I bought a day hiker's guide to Glacier and Waterton Lakes Park. One in particular hike that stuck out was Iceberg Lake. Well I should start out that I had narrowed the hike down to three, Grinell Lake, Iceberg Lake, and Swiftcurrent Pass. I am terrible at deciding between things, but Iceberg won out because it was the most intriguing, 1200ft elevation change, and just a walk from my camp site to the trail head. I snacked on a granola bar and added 3 more to the pack and set off.....to the general store for chocolate milk and then set off for adventure.
Iceberg Lake Trail is supposedly an 'easy' trail but they should say that it is more of intermediate difficulty. The first half mile or so is actually quite steep and literally felt like a a)Irish Mobster Little Person, b) Press Your Luck Devil, c)Overactive Child (take your pick) is beating on your kneecaps with a foam bat. I will choose the Irish Mobster Little Person (Irish Mobsters are known for crushing kneecaps).
Moving past the difficult section, you walk along the bowl of the mountain side and see many spectacular views of all the various glacier areas and peaks in the area. I would tell you what they are but I am afraid that I am the Ron Burgundy of hiking. That peak there was named after Joey Sasquatch...yeah. About every half mile or so is either another spectacular version of the view or a cool creek or waterfall babbling by.
I never saw much wildlife besides ground squirrels and locusts, but that is mostly from my head down, hurry along hiking style. I am not a good stop and smell the roses sort of guy, so I have to remind myself every once in awhile to do so. Also, I chose the 2008 Kansas University Men's Basketball Championship for the hike today, so some of that steely eyed confidence was rubbing of on my climbing skills...obviously.
Going up I never came across any other hikers except one guy carrying a mess of camera equipment including a huge tripod walking back down. He gave me that look of shame like amateur don't you know that hikes start at 5:30AM? I sheepishly walked passed keeping my mouth shut so I don't blurt out the typical tourist hiker's question, "How far until the ____?" After that incident, I am proud to say that no one passed me going up (or when I came back down for that matter), not bad for a flatlander.
I met up with a couple from Washington, who had some sort of Washington University Championship clothing on, obviously had the same idea I did this morning. I couldn't tell you their names, but they were really nice in pointing out mountain goats and letting me peer through their goggles, which I appreciated. Another insight from them was that this trail was often closed due to frequent bear travel in the area during wild berry season and we were lucky that the berries were a couple of weeks late this year. I felt pretty honored that I had picked this trail this morning. They also made sure to let me know the way they hike was slow and constantly looking for wildlife, which leads me to another point.
Dear hikers of the world, most of us don't care how you hike, why you hike, or certainly what time you got up, how hard the hike is compared to your trip to the Himalaya's, that you prefer Asolo's over Merrell's or whatever the heck else your talking about. This is something you hear in Colorado a lot more than Montana but the alpha type hiker can be found blabbering away in just about any national park. I haven't ever felt the need to tell someone those things unsolicited, just if people really wanted to know. This isn't a triathlon it is a walk in the woods.
Glacier isn't really a park worried about peak-oriented hiking either. It should be said that this park is great for all ages, athletic abilities, and outback skills. The trails all range from the very easy to moderately hard in my opinion, and the rewarding views are way more meaningful than the hikes to them.
Back to the hike, shortly after meeting the couple from Washington, I came across the Iceberg Creek and sort of a nameless lake that I am sure some would mistaken for Iceberg Lake. Looking at it, I was disappointed that I hiked all the way here to see this. To my right however I saw one other early riser climbing a little further up the path over a hill, I followed up and over to see the real lake, which was pretty stunning to say the least. It was like stepping out of Montana and into a Iceberg flow in Alaska in 100 feet. It's hard to wrap words around it and felt even harder to capture it into pictures, but I tried. The natural lake was obviously sitting in a valley between glacier scraped walls of nearly 270 degrees of mountain. It's awesome.
I jumped and scurried and relaxed around the lake as long as I could before heading back down the trail to the camp, I wanted to eat lunch and hop in the Bug Deathstar to travel the length of Going to the Sun Road for the afternoon. So hauling butt back down the mountain I realized that I wasn't the few climbing this trail today, just one of the early ones. Dozens of families, couples, and friends were encountered on my way back down the mountain. I swelled with pride due to the fact that I had actually beaten the rush up the trail and while the day was now hot, I was going down. Most of the people I passed were complementary that I had finished so early and for a guy traveling alone on a trip, it felt vainly good.
Besides the packs of hikers, I noticed too that the Press You Luck Devil had shown up to gnaw on my right Achilles tendon and pointer toe. Also the Irish Mobster Little Person somehow had crept into my backpack for a nap. At least that is what it felt like. I was getting tired and realized that I should have worn the thick socks for the hike that day. Each step heading down my right foot felt worse and worse but my stomach had taken over commands of the body. I was hungry and slowing down would only prolong my time away from food. So foot be damned, I continued to haul down the hill.
The trail dumped me out back near the Swiftcurrent Inn, which I promptly hopped into for a pizza and Dr. Pepper. The Sausage Pizza tasted great and soda quenched my thirst. The meal helped my senses return. Only other thing worth noting was another alpha hiker in the room requesting an easy hike from the waiter for the afternoon. "I want something nice and easy that will just take me a couple of hours." "Iceberg Lake," was the waiters response, to which I snorted DP. I am sure some people consider this an easy hike (it's not) but it takes at least 3 hrs at the least, I took nearly 4 hours essentially hauling tail up and down the trail. I wondered why this serious hiker, who was traveling alone, was in such a hurry for a trail since he hadn't obviously gotten himself ready to go for the day until noon or so. It must have taken awhile to get that perfect look after the shower, hair gelling, and perfect outfit I guess. Maybe his Camelback just wasn't filled with the perfect mixture of CytoPlex and water, Jetboil out of fuel, or sunblock too icky. I don't know, but I thought it was funny to hear this serious hiker want to get something easy in before the day was out.
I left, hit the showers (quick tip: in the public showers at Swiftcurrent Inn, third one down was working without tokens), and hopped into the car for the main attraction, Going to the Sun Road. To get there, I have to leave the park, drive through Babb and St. Mary's, and then back into the park. Not really knowing the history of Going to the Sun Road, I can only tell you that the clouds seem to hang low in Glacier (and most of Montana for that matter) and driving up this road sure feels as if you are driving up into the heavens. Much like Marioworld I think, except without the smiley faces, mushroom people, and massive bullets. The views are spectacular, again it's like getting your head around infinity, how do you describe it and photograph it properly.
You start roadside of St. Mary's Lake and crawl up the side of the mountains up to the clouds, peaks, and mountains near Logan's Pass and the Continental Divide. Logan's Pass was overflowing with tourists and was impossible to stop and enjoy (I tried for three days). So up and over you go and then down to the west end of the park, which is I'm sure beautiful but hard to watch as you traverse through a long construction zone down the road of the mountain. It stunk because you couldn't really stop other than where they told you, so I don't have any amazing stories of the views on the west side. Weaving along down, you eventually make it down to another very cool campsite called Sprague Creek. Sprague Creek is lakefront property for campers to hangout on Lake McDonald. The water in the shallows of the lake were actually quite warm and the view was spectacular. I told myself that my last day in Glacier I was going to be camped out here.
After my brief stop in Sprague Creek, I continued on out West Glacier and headed towards Columbia Falls and civilization. I was hoping that Columbia Falls or Kalispell were big enough towns for an Internet cafe or at least to find a camping supply store for a new camp stove. I found both. The camp store was really a hunting and fishing store, but I found the modern replica of the fireball shooting stove I had back at camp. This one I think was not meant for warfare purposes like my other. A quick few questions to the store clerk, whom I can accurately describe as a saucy broad, and I headed down the road to a *gasp* closed wifi coffee shop. Yet I noticed a bunch of people outside on tables with laptops. Parked the Deathstar and walked around to find a group of techies all happily tapping away. "Wifi up," I asked. "Yup," and for the next two hours I typed, uploaded photos, applied for jobs, and emailed friends. It was a perfect end to the day.
I drove off, grabbed a quick burger, yuck, and headed back to the other side of the park via highway 2 around the south side of the park, then 49 by Two Medicine and then 89 on back to Babb. Took me nearly 2 hours back but without many other cars to contend with. Got my phone calls in to Parisa, my parents, and my brother, and snuck back into the camp to fall asleep. Two trails to choose from for tomorrow.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Running out of the time at the hotel...
...so my write-ups didn't come as quickly as I liked so I am going to do a few photo dumps of the days so far and then will go back and edit everything. Sorry everything isn't nice and neat but I am going to run out of time.
Will make a flickr feed as well later, since there are way more pictures.
-Management
Will make a flickr feed as well later, since there are way more pictures.
-Management
Monday, August 3, 2009
A quick note...
Day 3's activity will go up, but I haven't finished writing day 4, and I don't have time or battery life to share all of the images. Look for those in a couple of days when I am in Canada. Yup instead of being just another white liberal threatening to go to Canada, I am headed there.
Day 3: Going Fast and Slowing Down.
Day 3 started early, but for my tastes not early enough. I rolled out of Sketchsville, USA at 6:40AM with only a 2 hour drive to Glacier. Problem was though that Many Glacier Campground has been filling up by 10AM or earlier the last two days. Yet again, I was hauling ass to somewhere.
I stopped in Bookings for gas, water, and nature's call. Tired and frustrated I couldn't make a decision on anything, "Should I get a big water, or 6 little waters, is this brand okay, 2 big waters, okay, okay, the 6-pack...............and a big one too. Eww, Lowfat Chocolatte Milk!"
Somewhere on that long road to Glacier National Park I became bored enough to try and see how fast Bug Deathstar could go (doesn't Bug Deathstar sound like a goth stripper's name). First attempt 97mph, so of course I had to try and break 100. I did that several miles later, only to think let's try for 105. Which is when I found out that a fully loaded 2003 Honda Element 4spd FWD can go 104mph tops, downhill. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid me.
Rolled into the Many Glacier entrance tired and irritable, ready to hear the campsite was full. The extremely friendly ranger said that she spoke with the camp directors 15 minutes prior and 2 sites were left. In some ways that felt like worse news. So I set off down to the campsite, more worried and frazzled than before. So much so that I couldn't enjoy all of the incredible views driving into the park. "Got to get a site, got to get there quick, slow down, slow down, don't hit anyone, you'll get it if you get it, okay......damn it, got to hurry, what was that speed limit again?"
Pulling in, the campsite director apparently had just finished a lap around the camp area to figure out the number of sites available. Stepping out of the car, I asked, "Please tell me there is a site left." 6 were left in fact. To use the word relief was an understatement.
Weight off my shoulders, I setup camp and went about actually enjoying my day.
Lunchtime was at Many Glacier Lodge, which is every bit as rustic and majestic as every guide and review on the place reveals. It overlooks Swiftcurrent Lake, perfect for sunrises and sunsets. Literally an idiot's guide to landscape photography out the viewing deck. As far as the meal goes, a grilled sausage with green peppers and some sort of local tapped Red brew completed my full easement into relaxation.
I think I was dehydrated because the beer was having a great effect on my eyelids. Back at camp, I took a shower and crawled into the tent for a nap. My body was rightfully tired from all that driving and a little sleep felt amazing. My vacation had finally arrived.
(Yeah there's more)
3 1/2 hours later it was 5:30PM and time to start making dinner. Seeing that I hadn't had a vegetable for 3 days that doesn't rhyme with "ryed otatoes", I thought some green beans and a little Pasta Roni was on the menu. Unfortunately my parents Coleman Stove thought otherwise. After much adjustment, refitting, and retooling the stove was only good at creating giant fireballs of death, so PB&J for me then.
Dinner was done and I noticed a guy walking by with a tripod. "Ah, sunset!" Good idea to me too. Grabbed the camera and scampered back to the lodge for some obsessive pics of sundown. (insert pics here)
The day ended with a drive into Babb to speak with my girlfriend. Good to hear Parisa's voice. As I drove back into the park, one last quick call to Mom and back for bed.
I stopped in Bookings for gas, water, and nature's call. Tired and frustrated I couldn't make a decision on anything, "Should I get a big water, or 6 little waters, is this brand okay, 2 big waters, okay, okay, the 6-pack...............and a big one too. Eww, Lowfat Chocolatte Milk!"
Somewhere on that long road to Glacier National Park I became bored enough to try and see how fast Bug Deathstar could go (doesn't Bug Deathstar sound like a goth stripper's name). First attempt 97mph, so of course I had to try and break 100. I did that several miles later, only to think let's try for 105. Which is when I found out that a fully loaded 2003 Honda Element 4spd FWD can go 104mph tops, downhill. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid me.
Rolled into the Many Glacier entrance tired and irritable, ready to hear the campsite was full. The extremely friendly ranger said that she spoke with the camp directors 15 minutes prior and 2 sites were left. In some ways that felt like worse news. So I set off down to the campsite, more worried and frazzled than before. So much so that I couldn't enjoy all of the incredible views driving into the park. "Got to get a site, got to get there quick, slow down, slow down, don't hit anyone, you'll get it if you get it, okay......damn it, got to hurry, what was that speed limit again?"
Pulling in, the campsite director apparently had just finished a lap around the camp area to figure out the number of sites available. Stepping out of the car, I asked, "Please tell me there is a site left." 6 were left in fact. To use the word relief was an understatement.
Weight off my shoulders, I setup camp and went about actually enjoying my day.
Lunchtime was at Many Glacier Lodge, which is every bit as rustic and majestic as every guide and review on the place reveals. It overlooks Swiftcurrent Lake, perfect for sunrises and sunsets. Literally an idiot's guide to landscape photography out the viewing deck. As far as the meal goes, a grilled sausage with green peppers and some sort of local tapped Red brew completed my full easement into relaxation.
I think I was dehydrated because the beer was having a great effect on my eyelids. Back at camp, I took a shower and crawled into the tent for a nap. My body was rightfully tired from all that driving and a little sleep felt amazing. My vacation had finally arrived.
(Yeah there's more)
3 1/2 hours later it was 5:30PM and time to start making dinner. Seeing that I hadn't had a vegetable for 3 days that doesn't rhyme with "ryed otatoes", I thought some green beans and a little Pasta Roni was on the menu. Unfortunately my parents Coleman Stove thought otherwise. After much adjustment, refitting, and retooling the stove was only good at creating giant fireballs of death, so PB&J for me then.
Dinner was done and I noticed a guy walking by with a tripod. "Ah, sunset!" Good idea to me too. Grabbed the camera and scampered back to the lodge for some obsessive pics of sundown. (insert pics here)
The day ended with a drive into Babb to speak with my girlfriend. Good to hear Parisa's voice. As I drove back into the park, one last quick call to Mom and back for bed.
Day 2 Redux
When you are tired, you do stupid things. Things like drive fast in the night, things like not getting enough sleep, things like getting paranoid in Great Falls, etc. Speaking of which, Great Falls is somewhat of a sketchy town in my opinion. Nothing about it made me feel safe. Every old and current convenient store has been converted into a casino. A Montana casino consists of 10 video poker machines and 4 to 8 of the scariest people you have ever seen. I was not impressed.
Lists
Things I should have brought:
- Hand lotion soap
- My own Coleman Stove
- Some sort of chairback thingie for sitting in the tent
- More Banjo related music
- Towel
- Bathing Suit
- Regular-size Leatherman
- Girlfriend (or dirty-mag, what?)
- Beer or Whiskey or Beer and Whiskey
- One fluffy pillow and one thick pillow
Good unlikely things I did bring:
- Headlamp
- Toilet Paper
- Pen & pad
- A large variety of hats
- Banjo related music
- LED wand flashlight.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Day 2: SD is even more awesome, then not so much, then so much driving...
(Note: will add pictures later)
Miles traveled today: 829.5 miles
Start location: Chamberlain, SD
End location: Great Falls, MT
Well I made it to the end destination but not without hitting a gravel road just after dark, has anyone else ever done rally racing in the dark, with no navigator, and poor lighting, and a windshield full of bug juice, and driving too fast? Anyone? Joe would call this greenlanding, I am pretty sure. Speaking of bug genocide, not as bad today. I have decided that the bugs could be considered the Rebel Forces (or X-wings if you will) and the silver Element I am driving is the Deathstar. So for the rest of this trip the car is referred to as the Bug Deathstar, and so far the deflector shields are working just fine.
That being said I got off to an early start this morning at 5:30AM because I wanted to cover a lot of ground today. First up were the Badlands which we so incredible, and views so spectacular that I got tired of taking pictures. It is just so scenic, I wasn't sure how to capture it in a photo. I took video, and series of photos, it was very tedious until I remembered that I was there to enjoy myself. Quietly I walked off one of the trails and went as far as I could until it was just me sitting on top of the mount. A moment of solitude was nice.
I had a late breakfast down at the Badlands visitor center and met a nice guy named Jeff who sold Indian jewelry that he made himself. No beads from Hobby Lobby but mostly stuff made from real buffalo horns, porcupine needles, etc that were dyed with all natural hand smashed dyes. Very nice and gentle guy that told me everything I wanted to know.
After that it was on down the road for a quick stop into WALL DRUG. It is a BIG TOURIST STORE with a restaurant. That's it, at least for me it was. Back on the road after into a multitude of bikers and tourist attractions in order to reach Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Both were novel, very interesting to see, and very interesting to hear their stories, but almost not worth it due to the lameness of the towns surrounding them. Families need something to do I guess. I couldn't leave quick enough.
I hauled booty out of the Black Hills and avoided Sturgis all together. I figured there are so many bikers that the good riders are here with the bad, and both have been drinking, and I want no part of any accidents. Just 8hrs of road to make it to Grand Falls (felt like 8 days).
Important random note is that my car turned over 100000 miles somewhere in Wyoming today and I feel like I am just breaking her in. What Bug Deathstar isn't a girl's name to you?
Skipped Devil's Tower and Little Big Horn. Custer is so overated, I don't understand how a headstong idiot has thousands of things named after him. Why?
Tomorrow's destination is Many Glacier camp grounds.
I feel like I am at the door step of Glacier now, one more early morning tomorrow and then I can settle into camp at the park and stop freaking driving and start enjoying. I can't wait, goodnight world.
Miles traveled today: 829.5 miles
Start location: Chamberlain, SD
End location: Great Falls, MT
Well I made it to the end destination but not without hitting a gravel road just after dark, has anyone else ever done rally racing in the dark, with no navigator, and poor lighting, and a windshield full of bug juice, and driving too fast? Anyone? Joe would call this greenlanding, I am pretty sure. Speaking of bug genocide, not as bad today. I have decided that the bugs could be considered the Rebel Forces (or X-wings if you will) and the silver Element I am driving is the Deathstar. So for the rest of this trip the car is referred to as the Bug Deathstar, and so far the deflector shields are working just fine.
That being said I got off to an early start this morning at 5:30AM because I wanted to cover a lot of ground today. First up were the Badlands which we so incredible, and views so spectacular that I got tired of taking pictures. It is just so scenic, I wasn't sure how to capture it in a photo. I took video, and series of photos, it was very tedious until I remembered that I was there to enjoy myself. Quietly I walked off one of the trails and went as far as I could until it was just me sitting on top of the mount. A moment of solitude was nice.
I had a late breakfast down at the Badlands visitor center and met a nice guy named Jeff who sold Indian jewelry that he made himself. No beads from Hobby Lobby but mostly stuff made from real buffalo horns, porcupine needles, etc that were dyed with all natural hand smashed dyes. Very nice and gentle guy that told me everything I wanted to know.
After that it was on down the road for a quick stop into WALL DRUG. It is a BIG TOURIST STORE with a restaurant. That's it, at least for me it was. Back on the road after into a multitude of bikers and tourist attractions in order to reach Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Both were novel, very interesting to see, and very interesting to hear their stories, but almost not worth it due to the lameness of the towns surrounding them. Families need something to do I guess. I couldn't leave quick enough.
I hauled booty out of the Black Hills and avoided Sturgis all together. I figured there are so many bikers that the good riders are here with the bad, and both have been drinking, and I want no part of any accidents. Just 8hrs of road to make it to Grand Falls (felt like 8 days).
Important random note is that my car turned over 100000 miles somewhere in Wyoming today and I feel like I am just breaking her in. What Bug Deathstar isn't a girl's name to you?
Skipped Devil's Tower and Little Big Horn. Custer is so overated, I don't understand how a headstong idiot has thousands of things named after him. Why?
Tomorrow's destination is Many Glacier camp grounds.
I feel like I am at the door step of Glacier now, one more early morning tomorrow and then I can settle into camp at the park and stop freaking driving and start enjoying. I can't wait, goodnight world.
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