September 15 2009
Lincoln to Waterton
Here it is, the last stretch, and some of the most scenic terrain on the trail. There is some exposed ridges and burnt forests near the beginning of this section. However, as soon as hikers reach a low pass and start descending to Benchmark ranch and the Bob Marshal Wilderness, the trail is more pleasant, and the terrain gets much more interesting. I picked up my box at Benchmark and hiked through another burned section. That night, I camped at the base of the Chinese Wall with a nice guy from helena who was making a short trip to said geological feature.
The morning rewarded us with clear skies and warm sun. I left early and strolled along the Chinese Wall. This feature is quite amazing. East facing cliff is hundreds of vertical feet high for over ten miles. It really does look hand made.
Half way along the wall I saw Ellie, a hiker with whom I had briefly hiked in southern New
Mexico . She was headed south.
From there I descended along an overgrown trail to a river before starting a long, fairly steep climb. The pass was intensely windy and slightly nippy. I stopped in a sheltered spot to eat dinner before continuing to a damp camp at a lake.
I want to address campsites for a moment. Thru-hikers rarely go far from the trail to camp. I for one typically go far enough that I am invisible, But I really don’t feel like walking an extra 100 feet... As I walk, I will often see a wide bit of trail and think “I could camp there” Another thing that I find interesting, at least for me and the few hikers I have hiked with, is that we don’t go for specific destinations, and very rarely camp near lakes. Lakes are damp. There is condensation... they make frequent campsites for other hikers which means frequent critter activity. If a thru hiker is not recognizable by a smaller than normal pack, early or late hiking, trail running shoes, extraordinarily dirty... They can certainly be recognized if they are camped within 20 feet of the trail.
Late the next day after dinner I saw a hiker with a small back pack across a creek. Upon getting closer I recognized him as Voyageur. For those with a short term memory, Voyageur is a hiker with whom I hiked in Washington on the PCT. He also met me in Yellowstone As he was out west meeting several people. Me, Stilts, Lucky, Lumbar, a few other west coast PCT hikers... He was about 10 days from driving home and decided to help me out a bit. We hiked a few mor
e miles and stopped to camp... 20 feet off trail. The next day we had the opportunity to take one of the alternate trails. This route runs a ridge line climbing numerous small peaks along the way. There is no trail to speak of but the route is easy to follow.
After a frighteningly steep climb, we were on track. Part way through, we needed water. Voyageur had seen the obvious signs of a creek from the last peak and we scampered down the steep hillside and filled our bottles in a pure spring, the best water in the universe. Just afternoon clouds formed almost instantly. We were not quite at the end of the high route and several miles of exposed ridge walking remained. We decided to bail off the ridge and go cross country and find the official route.
“*FLASH BANG* I lost my footing and my poles went flying as I was knocked to the ground by the sound. little lights in my head flashed and strobed as I sat, hyperventilating on the ground. I looked down the ridge at Voyageur, who's hair was standing more on end than normal. I picked up my poles like two dead fish and tiptoed down to Voyageur, like something out of D-day, head ducked, as if that would help when hit by "1.21 gigawatts!"
"Down?" "Down!" We agreed and crashed headlong through the brush, and later thick tree cover. Crashing turned to weaving, bobbing, and ducking, and squirming as the trees grew closer together. Both of my feet went straight up in front of me and I sat down hard in the brush, looking to my left, I saw something round and blue, several.. hundreds of round blue somethings. I reached out and picked a few before getting to my feet. Now in the relative safety of tree cover, and much lower than we were a mere 10 minutes earlier, We gorged ourselves on blueberries. Completely soaked and our minds set on Mexican Food in East Glacier, we pulled ourselves reluctantly from the heavily hanging wonderful wild berries and continued through the trees, eventually emerging on a trail. Soon after that there were Thimbleberries. "Will this ever end?!?" I thought, angrily at the rain, and blissfully at the berries.” ~Me, September 1, 2009
Instead of hiking the rest of the way to East Galcier, Voyageur drove me to town and we went to the hostel. It was wet and the rain persisted.
I picked up the remaining 15 miles the next day under full sun shine. However, one horrible even happened. I lost my GPS. It had accompanied me for over 2000 miles. It was my co-pilot, my friend, my alarm clock. Wait. my friend? Well there weren’t many people to talk to, so why not. Without my GPS I might have ended up in South Dakota or something!
The day after, the third, I picked up another 10 miles by slack-packing, hiking a section without all of my gear. Ind hind sight, I could have jogged it. These were my first real views of Glacier Park. Tree line is fairly low in northern Montana. And much of my hiking was done above tree line. I started at Two Medicine after getting my hiking permit and campsite itinerary. I climbed the 2300 feet to Scenic point rath
er quickly and made it to East glacier by early afternoon and took yet another shower! Heck, I could slack-pack the rest of the way!
All of the sudden I am camping with people. Morningstar Campground, my first designated site in Glacier Park, had six other campers. One of them even gave me a piece of freshly cooked chicken breast!
I was over Triple divide pass the next day. The day started off sunny but worsened quickly... very quickly. I had tho
ught of climbing the peak, but it was raining and quite foggy by the time I made it to the pass. Down into the river valleys I found lots of thimbleberries. I camped in a miserably dusty burnt area at Red Eagle Lake. I received more hot food and an offer for free steak in Babb. I politely declined as I am now on a schedule, and as I have mentioned before, not exactly a steak fan.
The next day, I had a fairly long hike to Many Glacier. The trail along Sain Mary Lake was very wet with all the rain. Knee high shrubs saturated my pant legs. After Crossing the famous Going To The Sun Highway I climbed up the trail to Piegan Pass. The wind was blowing fiercely and just after the pass the rain that was following turned into ice. it felt like shards of glass, even through my pants. I hurried down the other side, my plastic poncho flapping obnoxiously. I made it to Many Glacier before 6:00 and saw Cape Cod Mike, who I had also seen in Helena.
I ended up taking a zero due to the cold weather and complicated reasons having to do with daily mileage, campsites and math. I will spare you.
And so I departed from Many Glacier on the 8th. I climbed quickly in the gusty wind and freezing temperatures to Swiftcurrent Pass. I saw numerous day hikers on the alpine trail. I joined up with The Highline Trail on the other side of the pass and spent much of the day traversing the western slope of a long ridge. Huckleberries were plentiful and the sun fought to come out. Little by little, the clouds parted and the sun poked through. By afternoon, sun shone unobstructed onto the fresh thin layer of snow atop the peaks. Just after Fifty Mountain, I took out my final map, labeled “MT1” This was it, my final night on trail.
“After my PCT hike, one of my Uncle’s ask me what I was going to do for an encore. Well... I think this qualifies. This feels much... bigger. Already. It is just more than the PCT. I don’t want to belittle the Pacific Crest trail, so don’t get me wrong. For me, this feels like it will be more of an accomplishment, maybe it is the lower number of hikers, maybe it is because I have missed less of this trail than I did on the fire shortened PCT last year.
I must digress... Once down into the valley I walked along the river, seeing a moose, eating many Thimbleberries, and eventually making it to Kootenai Lake. There, Voyageur was already waiting, unaware that I had crunched two days into one. If it were not for Voyageur, a finish at Waterton Lake might be quite a challenge logistically. I might have ended up going up to Chief Mountain. And he brought cookies and fruit!”
Instead of trying to truncate my last entry that I wrote on paper the evening of the 9th, I’ll just write it here:
“I have walked from Mexico to Canada... not once, but twice now. What is wrong with me? Why do I do this? 95 percent of the time I am uncomfortable, tired, sore, cold, hot, wet, chapped, hungry... or some combination of those things, often just thinking what I will have for my next town meal. Profound insights as to my place in the universe are quite rare. But all this hassle and money and exhaustion are unquestionably worth it when the border monument comes into view. The sun reflected off the dull silver paint and emotions flooded in and took over. I ran the final hundred yards, grinning stupidly, tears of joy welling up.
For someone who has never done a hike like this, It is difficult to describe. The sense of achievement was overwhelming. A couple passed by and I just wanted to scream out “Hey, guess what I just did!” Voyageur did that for me. They congratulated me of course and I appreciate that, but they can’t REALLY know what it is like. And it was way bigger than last year. I was more happy, more relieved, more emotional... this is quite the thing. Maybe it is the fact that the PCT has 10 times more people finish per year, maybe it was the navigation, being alone, inclement weather...
It will take me a while to... decompress after this. Part of me wants to take some time alone and think about it. Part of me NEEDS social interaction. I just want to tell everybody “I walked here!” It is not an ego thing, I don’t need a badge or a certificate to hang on my wall. It is just when you get to the border and the journey is over, you want to tell someone! It was very nice of Voyageur to meet me at the end. We had finished the PCT together.
Waterton Lake was such a great place to finish too. It reminded me a bit of the North Cascades, hints of Lake Chelan. The peaks are quite steep and dive down below the surface of the fjord-like lake. Little patches can be seen high up on the north faces. I am much happier to be finishing here, rather than the barbwire fence at the Mexican Border.
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So I think some acknowledgements are in order. First. My parents. Thanks for getting all my food boxes together and not telling me to “Get a job, hippie!” Thanks to Tarzan And Zelda for uploading photos and support. Thanks Voyageur for driving me around! And he met me near Yellowstone after I had camped by my self for two months straight. I was just starting to develop alternate personalities! Thanks to Out of Order, who’s tracks I used on my GPS. Without those, I might still be in Colorado, or worse, maybe Nevada or something, Haha!
Though I can’t thank everyone specifically, I want to send a thank you out to people who gave me rides, water, food... Trail angels like you guys do a lot for hikers’ morale. And random acts of kindness ripple like waves through the population. I know that I will give rides and food to thru-hikers if I see them!
This thing would just about be impossible to do completely and utterly solo without some sort of help. So thank you!” ~Me, September 9, 2009
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I am now home, in that post hike haze, my mind often drifting to some sight or event that I experienced this year. My gear is dry and packed up, ready for next season.
heavy things that I eat:
pon our entry into Pearisburg this morning, the hiker with whom I have been traveling and myself, split 32 ounces of plain yogurt, two pounds of berries, and a box of mostly natural granola. In the words of another hiker I met once, "That's power food right there."
