2.6 Glacier National Park

After we reached Utah and did the whole RV thing, we had to make a decision about where to go next because we knew we wanted to re-create Nik’s last trip (CHAPTER 3) after dealing with a few things in southern Cali--those apointments are coming up in a few days. Since it was late September then, we figured we should head North before it was too cold. Hence--- Idaho, Wyoming, Montana etc.

North of Yellowstone lies Glacier National Park. Apparently the Glaciers are going to be completely melted in 30 years so if you can go—do it.

Every single place we’ve been going has been the low season which is great for us because---- people.

But the downside is… …it’s the low season.

So things aren’t in their full glory and tons of local attractions are closed.

We went for the last 3 days of the RV park season. I am so thankful we went because after a 15 mi-----

I just looked up at the news here in California and they broadcasted that some fair sold tons of deep fried slim fast bars. I was immediately unnerved, but they would probably taste pretty good. In a paradox awful cardiac arrest type of way.

To reach the glacier, we did a 15 mile hike. Along the way we ran into 3 mountain goats who were blocking our path, which was pretty much a ledge on the side of a mountain.

When we had arrived in St. Mary (the town outside eastern Glacier National Park) we checked into the RV park and were strongly advised to buy bear spray.

Yup. Now I am still not sure if we got suckered as tourists or not, but the girl in the shop swore she carried it. Apparently she’d only ever used it on a heinous meth-head. (she actually said crack-head but then clarified after I started asking about the prevalence of crack in the mountains of Montana.)

It’s really a shame how much Meth is out there, there are billboards all over Idaho and lots of other states but that one sticks out because aside from traditional billboards we saw a house with a “stop meth” symbol painted onto someone’s roof on the side of the road. You may have seen it on my instagram. They must have really experienced some real pain in order to do something like that. Or they’re just passionate but either way I respect that. There’s a lot of it on the news and we are just constantly hearing about it from people. Its extremely prevalent.

We had read about taking jingle bells along with the bear spray but the girl in the store suggested spoons and singing. So apparently the bear spray isn’t a joke. Its incredibly expensive though, but you just have to think of it as bear attack insurance.

The hike was amazing; I clanked my spoons and sang tons of songs for a good mile and a half of hiking until we deicded it was time for “we’re alive” (soooo good—I don’t know of any podcast that compares. Serial was great but this was 4 seasons of awesomeness.)

After the initial walk through the woods and past a lake, the rest of the hike was up the side of a mountain. We zig-zagged back and forth, met those mountain goats along the way. Luckily no bears! They happen to be grizzly in this area—the crankiest and most ferocious type. George and I have come to the conclusion that its because they’re always tired and hungry. (Apparently, I am a grizzly. -__-) I scared the goats off our walking path with my spoons and war cries (as per the instructions on the signage). What a sight! They ran down the side of the mountain and reached another tiny little ledge to stand on and chow down at like it was nothing! We continued on our trek up to the glacier. Along the way we passed several lakes of glacier water, which is a perfectly cloudy blue.

The top was magnificent—the remains of the 20,000-year-old Grinnell Glacier that had mostly melted away into those very lakes below. There was just a bit left that was like vanilla icing on the inner face of the mountain. All the rest of the landscape had been shaped by the ice. Its amazing to think that the valleys were completely full of ice that was THOUSANDS OF FEET THICK. I ate a piece. I had to.

The hike down was SO intense. And on every hike I can never decide if uphill or downhill is harder for me. But at this point I’ve totally decided downhill. Uphill is serious cardio and tough on the buns, but downhill is a completely different story. Foot placement is such a mental game and the workout on the knee area etc is really tough stuff, and of course gravity wants to pull you down faster than possible in so many instances.

We eventually got to the bottom, after 8 hours of hiking and exploring the glacier. No sitting, no downtime, just hiking. We had dinner at this notorious restaurant and bar, where we also had breakfast “Babb Bar Cattle Baron Supper Club”. Breakfast there (in the café area) was REALLY GOOD. Dinner was overpriced but the ambiance is so so so cool. Apparently it was one of the wildest bars in the country for a while, think: brawls and broads. If you’re going to GNP stop at this place for breakfast (make sure to walk through to the restaurant part) or for a post hike beer.

The day before the wild intense and insane hike, we checked out the rest of the park along “going to the sun road”. Its beautiful and wondrous and I could go on for about 3 paragraphs or more about the rest but really the hike was the highlight of Glacier National Park for us.

Amazing place to visit. If you can, add it to your list.

<3

much love.