Wind, Waterfalls, and Weeds
We needed to rise early in order to make it 30 miles without having to run. Waking up early wouldn’t have been a problem if the wind hadn’t blown the walls of my tent inward against me all night. With every big gust, I awoke worried that my stakes would pop out of the ground causing my tent to wrap itself around me and whisk me away in the breeze.
The sounds of tarp tents banging in the wind was not the white noise I was used to and made the early morning hours slightly less bearable. I grumbled a bit as I packed up camp trying and failing to quietly fold and put away my tent and tyvek ground sheet. (Sorry to all the other campers). When Hamburglar, Zoe, and I left Many Glacier after breakfast, the mood was a bit drab.
We wanted to stay close to ensure everyone was feeling okay with the 30 mile plan. We had check in points at Reynolds Creek camp and then again 5 miles later where you could bail out into St. Mary. On the trail, we opted to stay along a low route trail around Josephine lake up to Grinnell lake before shooting up to the red line (the actual CDT route) because we heard it saved .5 miles and condensed the climb up to Piegan pass a little bit.
To pass the early morning hours, I joked that we should play the picnic game. “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing an arette.” Then the next person repeats that and adds an object that starts with a B and so on and so forth. But Zoe jumped in with me and so Hamburglar reluctantly joined in. We played the word game while traversing around the lakes, but I occasionally got left behind when I stopped to take pictures of the sun lighting up the tips of the mountain tops.
After the picnic game, Zoe suggested we give each other 3 characters and an object to make a fictional story from. I played one round and realized how uncreative I was compared to Burgs and Zoe. Zoe connected the characters of the story together flawlessly and with ease. Burgs did as well but he added so much intricate detail and many side plots as well as character descriptions and back stories that I repeatedly got lost. However, he always somehow brought the storyline back around at the end.
I think the best part about hiking around the lakes before shooting up the mountain side was that there was a privy along the trail. And not just one, but two. I ran into one of them and savored the opportunity to have an enclosed bathroom break and a seat to sit on. When I exited, I turned to Zoe and said, “that was the best part of the AT. There was always a privy nearby.” Then Burgs and I got into an argument about the convenience of a privy vs the mechanical advantage of a cat hole. I fanned my arms out around me gesturing to the thick undergrowth of the forest as reasoning for why privies were superior. There’s no way I was sticking my butt into a thicket of buggy weeds.
Once we began the ascent to Piegan pass, I stopped regularly to admire the scenery. The tall mountain walls grew around us and waterfalls billowed from the tops of the mountains and flailed in the wind until the water was thrown into the rocks and trickled down the cliff face.
The climb up Piegan pass was beautiful. We had our first stream crossing. There were not many places to walk up or down the river to look for shallow spots so the place where the trail seemed to pass through is where we chose to cross. The water was frigid and up to my mid shin. It didn’t look as though the current was strong, but with each step I took towards the middle, the water tried harder and harder to pull my feet out from under me. Thankfully I made it over and then tossed my trekking poles to Burgs – yet another piece of gear that was now sitting at Looking Glass Hostel. My feet were on the verge of cold, but as soon as we began hiking again, my injinji sock liners did their job and pulled the moisture away from my feet and into the Darn Toughs I wore over them.
The ascent continued up and up with more big waterfalls and narrower creeks rushing beneath fields of ice and snow. I was admiring the wild flowers and the depth of the valley behind us while trying to keep pace. Though we slowed to a crawl for a mile or so to trudge through long and steep snow fields. I had my microspikes , but opted not to use them. Instead, I chipped away at the snow with my feet to make flat steps for my feet. Past the snow fields, I moved ahead and cruised up to the pass. The view at the top was incredible. Behind us was a grey wall of rock with a knife’s edge top. Ahead of us was a wide bowl with a small line around the edge marking the trail we’d head down on.
We stopped for a quick snack and to rest our cold feet. I found the perfect spot to lay out my pad and prop my feet up and I closed my eyes for a bit to soak in the suns warmth. But the rest was short lived. We still had many miles to cover. So we headed down, which felt endless. At first, I was distracted by the views of distant snow-capped mountains. Then I was distracted by tall needly trees and lush green grasses.
Then I realized how hot, tired, and hungry I was. We still had a few miles before Reynolds Creek where we’d stop for lunch and those miles dragged on forever. It was too late when I felt the urge to pee. We had entered a section of the trail overrun by weeds that were up to my chest. I whacked my way through them hoping for a clearing, my packs hip belt digging into my full bladder. But there was no reprieve. I made a mad dash to the campground hoping to cover miles fast and get to the privy before peeing my pants all the while pushing pollen spraying flowers out of my face.
I was so happy to see the turn off for the campground and bolted over the swinging bridge, which threw my balance side to side, and into the privy. Zoe and Burgs were not too far behind and we enjoyed a much needed lunch break, removing our shoes and propping up our legs. We were only about half way through our miles for the day. Before we set off again towards our final meeting spot at the bail out point, I ran to the edge of Reynolds creek and dunked my head into the cold water. I laid on my back on a rock and let my hair flow down stream. When I sat up, the cold water trickled down my back and felt relieving on my sore shoulders. I combed through my hair, feeling less greasy and sweaty, and we began the second half of our day.
Almost immediately, we separated and walked through a burn area that quickly filled with day hikers. There was a critical turn for the CDT amidst the many other trails and I spotted Zoe’s purple shirt down one path and headed that way. This section of trail was beautiful. You could see the lake through the barren and charred trees and the trail passed many more waterfalls. I had read FarOut comments at St. Mary falls detailing hikers jumping off the bridge, and I was tempted to do so. But at the risk of wasting time, I chose not to and I think I regret that decision. The trail continued to snake along a cascade of short falls until reaching the last waterfall.
The trail plunged back into thick overgrown weeds and stayed that way for miles and miles and miles. The weeds were so thick I couldn’t see my feet. Several times, I got tripped up on long blades of vegetation and realized a little too soon there was a hole or rock in the trail. I was thankful I didn’t twist an ankle, but it definitely forced my pace to slow to decrease the risk of falling.
The last miles to camp were slow going. I was so hungry with still 3 miles to go and I felt delusion grasping at the edges of my mind. I wanted so badly to throw off my pack and lay down with an endless stream of nerds gummy clusters dropping into my mouth. But I had to remain focused on my footing and on getting to the campground.
Seeing Red Eagle lake made my heart skip a beat. We did it. We had hiked 30 miles. But we still had to set up camp. Burgs filtered water while I put up the tent and changed into warmer clothes. I stumbled over to the food prep area and forced a semi-descent look onto my face for the 3 men sitting in small camp chairs there. A father and his two sons were on a weekend trip together and chatted with me about their being locals and the sons moving away and coming back for this trip they hoped to make an annual event. I listened to their stories but also couldn’t help but drool a little at the steaks they were frying in a pan over a small fire.
I sat eating my cold mashed potatoes and then a cold packet of oatmeal for additional calories while breathing in as much of the buttery steak smell as I could. By the time Zoe and Burgs joined, they were wrapping up dinner. Just before I decided to get up and leave so as to not torture myself with the delicious scent any longer, the dad pulled out one last wrapped steak and said they weren’t sure they could eat it and would we like to share it. I thought I was having delusions again, so I was glad when Burgs said yes and spewed thanks of all kinds in their direction. I joined in as he slapped the meat into the pan and threw on a sprig of rosemary. Steak trail magic was a good way to end a very very long day.
In and Out of Clouds
The whole of today was wet. We arose at 4:30, our trio strung together to slog through the miles as a unit. The sunrise was a deep purple as we climbed towards the cloud covered mountains and it was the last we saw of the sun for the day. Climbing up to Triple Divide pass was slow going. Zoe was enduring foot pain and the thick and cold fog wasn’t helping any of our spirits. We chit chatted about this and that to keep our minds occupied on something other than the sucks. But long bouts of silence left my mind stuck on the slow torture.
At the top of the pass, the views of the clouds were immaculate. *Sarcasm* There was white in all directions. We sat to snack for a few moments when I heard another hiker approaching. It was Marmot who we’d met at the hostel before starting through Glacier. He sat with us to snack on peanut butter-covered bread slices. He made a statement that changed my attitude on the day saying something along the lines of, “even though it’s cloudy and misty, isn’t it just so beautiful?”
It was beautiful actually. Seeing mist-covered wild flowers and dewy tree tips was pretty if you paid close enough attention. And when we descended down the other side of the pass, the views got even better. Despite being so high up, there was a point where the clouds broke, revealing the deep valley below. I scouted the valley floor for animals, but couldn’t make anything out with my poor vision. Though a Marmot scared me when I noticed movement on a rock a few feet ahead and realized it was an animal. I stopped in my tracks and talked to it as I slowly inched my way in a wide berth around it.
I whistled and sang to myself while heading towards Morning Star campground my voice catching in my throat when I rounded a corner to meet a small group of trail maintainers. I was in the middle of an opera version of a made up song about love when I ran into them and if I could blush, I would have turned bright red. I waved hello as I passed and stuck to whistling the rest of the way.
I strolled into the campground and was quickly joined by Marmot, Burgs, Thorbjørn and Katherine then Zoe. Zoe’s feet were hurting pretty badly and so made the decision to take a side trail to a road where her dad could pick her up. It was the best decision and truthfully I was jealous. My cold and tired feet were ready to call it a day but we had one more pass to climb up and over. It was goodbye for now.
Burgs and I set out for Pitamakan pass together. The ascent was long and steep and just below tree line were many miles of snow covered trail. It was slushy and slowed progress but I pushed on as hard as I could. My cold hands and wet body were reaching their breaking point and I just wanted to get over to the other side. I left Burgs behind and pushed my legs to their limits. I tried to take in the scenery, but I was over the snow and back inside of a cloud.
I was so happy to make it to the top of the pass. I knew it would be easy sailing down to Two Medicine. What I didn’t know what just how long those last few miles could feel. I crept along the trail too tired to make noise. But every now and then I’d remember the dangers that lay just out of sight in the tree and begin singing or whistling. My songs turned into different tunes using the same lyrics I’d made up earlier in the day. I was delirious.
I began playing the Picnic game with myself once back in the tree line. I spoke aloud to make noise enough to keep the bears away. It took me two hours to get through the whole alphabet and remember everything I’d made up indicating to me that my focus was quickly waning. Just get to the campground, I kept repeating to myself.
Finally when the lake came into view, I could’ve cried with joy. I’d lost all feeling in my body and felt as though I was stomping down trail. I ran to the nearest bathroom and threw on the hand driers. What would I do now? I didn’t want Burgs to pass me by while hiding out in the bathroom so I headed for the ranger station to bother my ranger buddy. When I entered, he seemed surprised to see me. I had no jokes left to make about seeing him again and I asked if I could wait inside with him until the other hikers caught up. He kindly obliged and motioned to where the heater was. Oh I could’ve kissed him. I positioned myself right in front of the heater until my hands turned pink once more and I could actively make a full fist.
I messaged Zoe who said her dad could give us a ride up to the hostel then sent Burgs a message through his inReach. He messaged back that he was a mile away and so I waited until both he and our ride arrived. Jim arrived soon after Burgs and we pulled into the car along with Marmot to head for the hostel. Once there, Burgs retrieved his gear, I retrieved my resupply, and Zoe’s dad offered to drive us into town to have dinner together. The hostel was so crowded and I was so overwhelmed from exhaustion and being cold and wet that I had no desire to stay there. So I called the motel in town, booked a room and hopped back in the car with Jim, Zoe, Burgs, and a new friend, Tree Beard.
Tree Beard had so much positive energy, I felt bad for having limited energy to even react to all he was saying. Despite my facade, I was happy to meet him. He seemed like such a genuinely sweet and compassionate individual from what he shared with us about his career change and service to many different organizations. He was so polite and I could tell a good listener. I did my best to just make it through dinner awake, hoping to have a second chance to talk to Tree Beard once I had gotten rest and warmed up.
I was grateful to have made it through the day, but evermore grateful to find myself warm in a soft bed that night.
Impromptu Zero Day
After a breakfast at the Two Medicine Grill, Burgs and I headed for the hostel, unsure what the days plans were. Upon entering the front door, the hostel was still a madhouse. Tents filled the grassy area behind the hostel and nearly every inch of floor space was accounted for by a hikers sleeping pad and gear. There were even hikers set up in a cleared out freezer in the kitchen. The itch to hike was strong, but the rain off in the distance was intimidating. So we claimed what were probably the last two spots on the floor and made ourselves busy with town chores.
Laundry, resupply, and gear cleaning were all finished long before noon and still, the rain had not yet reached East Glacier. I was frustrated to not be making forward progress. A zero was not in the cards so early on. But here we were. Stuck amidst the fear of the socked in mountains in the distance.
I attempted to convince myself that a zero was the best decision and as the day rolled on, I believed it more and more. I met so many hikers – Lemon, Wrong way, Gone, Raspberry, Pyro, Super noodz, Matcha, Beaker, Droobie, I’ll be, and so many more. I made waterproof mitten covers from a trash bag I found in the hiker box. I even gave Zoe a plantar fascia massage to help reduce foot pain. A few hikers started a drum circle and I tried to join in for a bit before spending time catching up on journals.
Although I wasn’t super happy about taking a zero, it was much needed and we’d made plans to slack pack from Mariah’s pass tomorrow to help us move forward even though the forecast was not much better.
Mariah’s Slack
I was up early and had time to kill before a hiker – Tripod – took us to Mariah’s pass for our slack. I dawdled over to Brownies just as they were opening and got myself a coffee and breakfast sandwich. I enjoyed both on the front porch and relished in the quiet time I had to myself.
The hostel was noisy all night with light snoring, crinkling pads, and other packed house noises.
Eventually, my coffee cooled and no longer provided warmth to my fingers. But at that same time, Droobie, Gone, and Beaker joined me for breakfast and I was truly happy to have the company. They were good company and also good influences because after we all finished our meals, we decided to go back in for a giant pastries.
As I headed back to the hostel, I saw hikers quickly walking back and forth from the hostel to a truck. I guessed that was our ride and quickly gathered my things to claim a spot in the truck. Tripod had 4 of us across the back seat, one in the passengers seat, and 4 or 5 other hikers in the covered bed of his truck with the packs. It was a dull house, ‘er, truck.
I had put on my rain pants and rain jacket over my sun hoodie plus gloves at the ready. As we approached the pass, rain turned to little poufs of snow against the windshield. It wasn’t cold inside the truck but I shivered anyway. When we got out of the truck, we all quickly huddled around the sign for the pass to usher in I’ll Be’s first day on trail. This was their triple crown hike and was starting off in an unconventional way in both location and direction. So we tried to make their start special by creating a tunnel from trekking poles.
Then I took off. Now I was shivering for real and the only way I knew how to warm up was to hike and to hike fast. I even had the foresight to leave my trekking poles at the hostel because I knew my hands wouldn’t stay warm enough to hold them and I didn’t want the hassle of putting them into my backpack anyway. I heard everyone’s voices behind me fading as I pushed through the wet overgrown brush soaking my feet. I knew if I stopped, I’d quickly go numb and I was afraid of that. Even so, I started to sweat. I paused long enough to strip the layers from under my rain jacket and took off once more. But I’d made one fatal mistake. I let my hands get wet from my rain jacket while stripping and spent the next hour blowing hot air into my trash bag gloves. Eventually my fingers warmed up enough so that I could feel them again, but then I was hungry and needed a snack.
Again, my fingers were wet and cold and almost instantly numb. I used my teeth and the butts of my hands to open a granola bar then shoved the whole thing in my mouth with my palm. My fingers were no longer functional. I tried my best to eat and drink throughout the day, but the numbness in my fingers never abetted and for the last several miles, I focused on just getting to the hostel as fast as I could.
In just over 4 hours, I was stomping back into the hostel and on the hunt for a hot shower. Unfortunately, other hikers were occupying the shower and then upon 4th attempt, Luna was cleaning the bathroom. While I waited, Zoe roped me into rolling out dough for Swedish pastries she was making to share with the hostel. The smelled deliciously of cinnamon. But I could tell I was not rolling them out well by the look on Zoe’s face, so I handed the rolling pin back over and attempted once again to steal a shower. Finally, I was successful!
The remainder of the day was spent snacking on said pastries, eating cookies another hostel tenant baked, swapping PT advice for carrots, and then doing a guided meditation with Zoe’s dad and 3 other hikers.
Luna had graciously offered for Jim to park his trailer on the property while Zoe hiked through Glacier and was turning out to be quite the trail angel.
For dinner, Burgs, Tree Beard, and I made about 20 grilled cheeses, tomato soup, and baked sweet potatoes to share amongst our trail friends. It was a sweet way to say thank you to everyone we’d met and would soon be leaving. Since Burgs did most of the cooking, I offered to clean. While rinsing pots and pans of butter and tomato sauce, I began chatting with Michael. He was not a hiker but rather traveling through town on his way west and staying in the hostel along the way. Earlier in the day I had overheard him talking about God with another hiker and I’d perked up at the conversation. He had noticed and brought up the topic here again. Eventually, the conversation rounded on the topic of why I enjoy hiking to which I replied, “It’s the best way for me to commune with others, myself, and God.” And I hope this continues to hold true for the remainder of my thru-hike.
