Idaho and Montana

So this is Melissa writing. After leaving the Teton Mountains, we decided to head back north to see Glacier National Park – a place that (according to our newly bought National Geographic Map Adventure Edition) was the place to visit. Since we were short on time at this point, we decided to spend the majority of our time here (ie 2.5 days). Hence, the trek up through Idaho began. This state is quite interesting – to say the least. We followed a highway detour to a closed road. The on-ramps have signs that illustrate which way the highway goes, but fail to say N,W,S, or E. I’m assuming they expect us to just take an educated guess. Anyways, not to overlap too much from the last blog post, we ended up in Glacier National Park. On a rainy day. And it continued to rain for the next 24 hours from the time we arrived. What’s more, is that we could not see the tops of the majestic mountains, which the park was so well known for. Everything was cloudy, cold (50 degrees tops), and closed. This put a wrench in our plans. When we visited the ranger station, she pointed out that the famous, main road (Going to the Sun) was closed in the middle section due to snow removal. It’s a 52-mile road that connects to the east side of the park to the west. If we wanted to see the east side, we would have to drive about 2-3 hours outside and around the park. Then backtrack. No thanks. Moreover, there was also a shortage of back-country camping open. Everything was still in “winter status”. No one was even at the park entrance to collect fees. Apparently the day after we had to leave was the day when everything was going to open up. Nonetheless, we made the best of it.

The park was all ours. Barely anyone else was there. The streets were empty, and it seemed like the population compromised up of us, maybe 10 other tourists, and the new employees for the season. Luckily, the weather came in patches and we were able to catch a couple glimpses of the mountain peaks and sunsets. Now our original plan was to drive the Going-to-the-Sun-Road and then backcountry camp. But, like I said before, the weather really turned things upside down. So instead we went for a hike to a hideaway lake named Avalanche Lake, which was inside a mountain amphitheater. We met a couple along the way that kinda spooked both of us out. Once we reached the lake, the couple left before us because there was fresh bear dung around the premises. (Yup, we were still in bear country). I had bear spray so we both were not worried. Besides, we hiked almost 3-4 miles to see this lake.

When we got there, the lake was crystal clear. It looked like they had transported Bermuda waters to this place. It had a turquoise tint, which was probably the result of both the cleanliness and mineral deposits of the area (my guess). There were about 3 or 4 waterfalls coming down from glacier-carved mountains. Clouds hugged the top part of the peaks so we couldn’t see the top still at some points. Off to the left a rowdy bunch of 6 or 7 hikers about our age popped out of the pines. They were jumping about and making animal noises, which we gladly returned. Unfortunately, the cold rain and hunger was getting to me at this point, and I wanted to head back.

On the way down the trail, we began singing songs and shouting about to both keep our minds occupied and to scare away wildlife (this has been consistently recommended to us by rangers). As we were singing a song that I made up in my childhood, Jarrett turns around to all of a sudden see something running at him. He screams. I hear him screaming at something coming up behind us. I turn, shriek, and unleash the bear spray. (I’ve been holding it this whole time). As soon as I pulled the trigger, I noticed that it was a person. (Now this is all happening within 3 to 5 seconds). This person pulls back and walks away slowly. He then turns and gives a thumbs up. He’s okay?!?

So he had these thick glasses on, which seemed like they took the brunt of the spray. The spray can lasts up to 7.2 seconds. I figured I had only used about 1 second of it at the time. Yet, it appeared to do some damage. His friends had caught up at this point and turned out to be the people from the lake. They were employees of the park and were out on their day off. Two of his friends said that he had deserved it. You can’t expect to sneak up on someone in the middle of bear country and not get bear sprayed. I still felt bad. On the way down the trail, we had caught the back wind of the spray and damn, the stuff is potent. Everyone started coughing and choking. This made me feel even worse. I can’t imagine what he felt like. Yet, everyone kept telling me to not feel bad. Once we got to the bottom, we took a picture with him, and I gave him a beer as an apology. His one eye was completely swollen shut at this point. He was greatly appreciative though for my generous/apologetic gift. (A couple of his friends were asking to get bear sprayed so they could get a beer too). To sum it up, bear spray is some bad-ass stuff. Don’t buy a gun, a knife, a taser, or just regular pepper spray. Get yourself some 40 to 50 dollar bear spray if you’re concerned about personal safety/defense.

And now onto the next day. We drove out of the park and camped at a Burger King the previous night. We were determined to see the famous, main road before we left. Yet, Jarrett’s “awesome” road bike had a popped tire. Consequently, we had to drive out to find him a new tire. While in town, we also stopped at an outdoors store where we got some pro tips about local climbing spots and just general information about the park. It seems like a lot of outdoorsy people lived on the east coast and moved out to the Midwest. They never want to go back. (Sounds like a plan). I went in there to buy rain pants, and we both came out with a new plan for the remainder of the day and tomorrow. So we spent the rest of the afternoon biking up the Going-to-the-Sun-Road where we got some great pictures and found a great, hiking trail. (The trail leads to a chalet – a log cabin that is only accessible to hikers. Future group trip anyone?). Our race downhill took about 20min, and made the grueling up-hill journey totally worth it. At the end of the day, we made dinner by a picnic area. To our surprise, an employee on her off-day offered us black tea and toasted bread with cheese. She was from Ukraine and was going to be working at the park for the summer. Yes, people are definitely nicer out here.

So that night we drove out to “the best climbing in MT” and camped right next to the rocks. There were bolts every 4 ft. I choose a route that looked easy (5.7), but turned out to be extremely difficult (5.9?). Either way, we couldn’t stay for long because we had an 8-9 hour drive a head of us. We were planning to pick Jarrett’s sister, Lisa, up at the Seattle airport around noon on Saturday. A whole week could have been spent at those rocks. But, like everything else that we have visited, we only have a limited time. Everything is just a sampler. It’s just a shame when you find your favorites and you have to leave so soon.