Ah, the trail. I cannot believe it has been only a week. Already it has been crazy, inspiring, brutal, and beautiful. I feel so close to our trail family but, at the same time, so small and insignificant amongst these mountains. If (min,max) of normal like was (-1,1), on the trail it is (-5,10).
During our road walk in the rain, I thought I would send a blog post that simply states "sucks balls." We faced terrifyingly close lightning storms and hail that would have put that cheap apricot scrub exfoliant out of business. However, a day of recovery , some gentle defrosting, and warm homemade pie, and the sunny days that followed have since brightened my mood. That was the -5 part, now onto the +10.
Majestic doesn't even begin to describe glacier national park. It continues to reveal mile after mile of lush green medows, ice blue lakes (think Sierras PCT readers), sheep, goats, and wildflowers. I lose my breathe each time we step into another bowl and see our next set of mountains to conquer (or skirt around =) ). One of my new favorite games is to choose the interior colors for a hypothetical future house Steiner and I will build. Currently, I am into this pale sea-foam green rock that led the way up triple divide pass paired with a bright sandy tan that has been speckled throughout the hike. Steiner is carrying samples of both along with a deep red (from Red Gap) I liked for future reference. I know, we are clearly not light-weight hikers.
The day we crossed triple divide pass was by far my favorite day on the trail and perhaps my favorite hiking day ever. We carefully planned our a small river crossing, forded as a team and bushwhacked a few miles around to avoid crossing the stronger river. We ran along a moose run and I felt like we were in the woodsy animal know. It was every child's dream of being a explorer and charting unknown territory (except for the fact that if we needed to, we had a GPS that could tell us exactly where we were). Later, we encounter what felt like Odyssey style challenges with snow fields, waterfalls, and stubborn goats. Working as a team through these obstacles in one the most beautiful playgrounds in the world was complete bliss. Thanks B/rainbow team for the great day, the encouragement, support, and laughs.
All in all, as Steiner says, I'm "happy as a clam" to be here. Tomorrow we leave Glacier Park and head for the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Time to catch some zzz's before the next 10 day stretch.
Text or email me and I'll write back when I am in town next. Love to my family and friends. xoxo
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