Paul, about the ranger and the bears. I don’t know what experience these rangers had with that bear or black bears in general. It does seem Glacier is having more problems than normal with bears walking into campgrounds. The one at Kintla (car campground) seems like it was coming back every night. I saw the chasing first hand, but the info about hitting with a stick was second hand. The rangers didn’t say anything about running after it.
Rich, boots…the Salomon xc boots fit me really well and I’ve been using them for over 20 years. Their fit varies a bit from year to year, but for narrow feet with high insteps, I really recommend people try their boots. My hiking boots got wet the first day because I’m a dumbass. My socks were acting as wicks pulling water from my shins into my boots. Once I put on rainpants, no problem. BTW, I had no idea what game you were playing, but with the horses on the trail…
Mon, 9/26/13
-Hike: Boulder Pass
-Distance: 5.6 miles
-Elevation: It’s uphill
The first morning “backpacking” was beautiful. I spent a few minutes shooting along the shoreline, filtered some water, and then had breakfast. The thing about photography, is that you can take pictures you think are great, and they turn out just ok; then you can take pictures you think are ok, and they turn out great. Of course it’s that last part that interests me. I didn’t think much about these photos, but they surprised me when I got home.
Them’s ducks in the bottom of that there last one.
Lance heard my woes (pissing and moaning) about the lack of coffee yesterday, so he made me a great cup of Ecuadorian coffee. His skill as a barista was clearly shown and as Potter would say,
“There’s not enough ‘O’s’ in the word smooth for this coffee.” It was a great cup of coffee and set the mood for the day. It rained again the night before, so I packed up a wet tent but this time, I put on my rain pants before setting off. The day was completely different than the day before. Yesterday I was tired.
Today there was a strut in my cut and a glide in my stride, and I was cruising along like a new Oldsmobile. (Paraphrasing Waits.) I stopped here and there along the way and took a few pictures and had dry boots and high spirits.
When I hit Boulder Pass, I dropped my pack and took a few pictures of a dead tree.
In a nod towards “The Sixth Sense,” when I go to Glacier, I see dead trees.
Anyway, a guy walked by and I asked how far to the campsite and he pointed towards some tents just to the right of my photo. Wow, yesterday dragged on and I kept wondering how much further can it possibility be, just beat me now and get this over with, and today I was already there.
Apparently housekeeping hadn’t been by yet to tidy up the campsites. At Boulder there are two nice tent sites, and one you get if you’re the last one to camp. Both the nice ones had tents but no occupants. I hung my food, took down my food, ate some food, took some pictures and still no people. Shawn came along and was also wondering about the empty tents. Maybe an hour later the WI women and some guys from Atlanta came back from climbing Boulder Peak. “Hey, you made it,” I commented to the women. Yesterday was a long day hiking for them, but when I complemented them on making the 19 miles, Ms. Pigtails pulls out the video camera and puts me on tape saying the same thing. She said it was an “in your face moment for the people that doubted us.” She didn’t direct it at my face, but I suspect she knew Lyle and I didn’t think they’d make it. I went off to filter some water and returned to a yard sale. Everything they owned was out on the ground including a handgun. “A gun eh?” Apologetically she responded, “Yeah, our parents wouldn’t let us leave home without it. We also have a .45 in the car!” She went on for a while taking about hunting and said, “We also have valium.” “Valium and a handgun, eh?”
By the time Shawn and I got our tents up, the dark clouds were rolling in. I had a camera in hand for the hike up to Boulder Peak, but I didn’t have a small backpack to haul the camera. So I had a choice of camera and no poles, with the camera in my hand, or poles and no camera. With dark clouds rolling by I left my camera. The view from Boulder Peak is definitely worth the hike, and it’s not a hard hike. Once we got to the top, I headed towards a cliff overlook, spent a few minutes scanning Hole in the Wall, turned around and Shawn was gone. I slowly walked the perimeter without finding him and wondered how far to the edge do I go looking for a body. Maybe 10 min later I spotted him heading down another ridgeline. Huh. I had no real interest in going that way but ok. Eventually we headed back to camp, ate, and then both of us inventoried our food. I had brought along just enough plus one extra meal to make it through the trip. I was actually hoping to drop some weight, so I cut things a little lean. I was still hungry, but my inventory said I couldn’t eat any more and the same thing went for Shawn. Also, my extra “meal” was scrambled eggs. Damn, that’s a breakfast, and not a very good one.
The wind had calmed down to a few puffs of air now and then, the skies cleared out, and I sat down on the rock by the “Best latrine in Glacier” to start watching the sunset. Maybe 20 minutes later Shawn comes by and politely says he needs to use the shitter. (My words, not his.) Sunset had a solid half hour to go, and I know my bowls don’t send me texts a half hour in advance, so I headed over to another rock for sunset. It was spectacular, but it was calm and relaxing and set up a good night’s sleep.
Jay