Montana

So... I arrived in Kalispell, MT last Tuesday afternoon and drove through Glacier National Park to the little town of St. Mary's. In the 5 days I spent there, I worked two shifts in the dish pit, hiked for two days, and relaxed for one of 'em. I arrived at the tail end of season of the Park Cafe. I was instantly surrounded by a group of people who had been exploring the Park, working in the cafe, and hanging out in the small town bars together for most of them what has been the past several summers. I enjoyed a family dinner my first night, then was invited along on a 19.7 mile hike through Gunsight Pass and another pass my next day. The Park Cafe is known for their pies, and I had to get in as much as I could only being their for 5 days. After a dish shift on Thursday night, Friday morning came and I went hiking again with a new group of people. Three peaks and most of the day spent on unkept goat trails along the edge of ridges left me to do nothing but relax on Saturday. The end of the year festivities were great to be around, and everyone was so warm and advetnurous that I'll definitely be returning one summer soon.

We spent the night last night at some Hot Springs, and now I'm in the University of Montana library in Missoula, MT. I'll be here a few days then take off west for Portland. There's no plan once I'm there, only a bunch of ideas and people to meet up with. No pictures yet but they'll come soon.

This Past Week

Every day is postworthy. Therefore, here's a concise summary of the past week, my last week up here in Denali. Today I'll be packing my bags, then making the drive up to Fairbanks tomorrow morning, and flying to Kalispell, Montana Tuesday morning where the next adventure awaits.


After seeing my first grizzly on our trails in two summers, I finished up with the tour and went to watch it some more, where my a few of the younger locals I work with were gearing up to take it down. I had to go set up for another tour, but two minutes into the ride our first unscheduled stop was the grizzly lying on the side of the road.



This is from my last trip up the extended trail on Wednesday morning. Warm people and warm colors have filled this week that has been full of lasts, at least for now.



I took a free two hour shuttle ride into the park on Wednesday also. It's Moose rutting season, and we watched this bull pursue to young cows. The bus was rooting him on, but after getting up on his hinds and going for it, she ran out from under him, she was having none of it with a full audience on the road.



Thursday I got to go on a helicopter ride around the park. First time in a helicopter. It's strange how able we are now to see wilderness from such extreme and unnatural angles. I think there's an art to still enjoying it the old-fashioned way, on foot and with a pack on the back, but it takes a little more patient effort.

A little rough draft of sorts for the next few months: Spend a week in Glacier National Park doing dishes in exchange for a bed and meals, driving west to Portland through Mizzoula, Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, and whatever else is on the way. Spend time there, then up to Bellingham, WA and the Seattle area, then see if I can land a job somewhere in the Northwest for a few months. We'll see how it goes.

Sensory Overload

It was a Saturday, now almost two weeks ago, when I woke up early for no reason, looked out my window, and saw that the storm had finally passed, leaving low lying clouds in the valley and blue skies up above. I didn't have work for hours, and no plans of anything that morning, but couldn't stay in bed any longer and feel okay about it. I got up, with not a clue of what to do, and texted my friend over breakfast.

Me: I hate/love the hopelss/anxious feeling of an overwhelmingly beautiful day and the inability to do anything worthwhile enough to capture it.

Friend: I know! It holds so much potential and no matter what you do you're not taking full advantage of it or doing it justice as it slips through your fingers.

Me: Yeah I hate it.

Friend: But you love it too. Isn't that part of what makes it so beautiful - that it's fleeting? Thank God for time or we might not appreciate anything.

I worked outside for a few hours then spent the full evening giving tours. I took my camera along and tried to capture at least a portion of what surrounded me.

The view of the Healy Range from Dry Creek, one of the stops on our Otto Lake Tour

The Healy Valley from atop an overlook on our tour, Autumn in August


That would be Otto Lake in the bottom right, and those would be pretty clouds everywhere else.


Enjoying the sunset on the final tour of the day from atop another one of our overlooks

That it's fleeting is what amplifies the feelings of beauty and the need to seize it. The bright fall colors that threaten to leave just as quick as they came. The looming end to the season that scatters friends and relationships to different parts of the world. The final few days of a well paying job and a warm bed and the comfort that comes after residing in a place for a few months. Denali is sure doing a good job at talking me into coming back next summer. We'll see. By the way, everyone's invited.

Our Attempt at the Bus

Here are a few photos from an overnight attempt at making it to the bus that Chris McCandless lived in as documented in the book and movie Into the Wild. It's 19 miles from the end of the maintained road, and we were hoping to go there and back in two days, spending the night at the bus in between.


We didn't actually start hiking til about 1:30, which pretty much sealed our fate right there, but we set out anyway hoping to make up time on the trail and still hoping to make it all the way. The trail crosses two big rivers, the first and smaller one being the Savage River, which the four of us crossed one closely behind the other. Next is the Teklanika River, the big one. We crossed the first and usually more difficult strand fine, but once on the island we were unable to find a safe place to cross the rest of the river. It was already about 8 o'clock by this time, and with another ten miles to go after the river until the bus, we didn't press the issue. We turned back, and along with an Irish couple we were now hiking with, found a campsite a mile down the trail from the river.



Even though we didn't achieve what we set out to do, the hike to and from the Tek was still beautiful, especially with all of the fall colors. With the shortened trip, we had time to sleep in and relax around camp before hiking out to the car the next day. We finally made it out around 7 that night, drove straight to a local restaurant where we all scarfed down our food, and then snuck into the local resort spas overlooking the Nenana River. iitting there, we watched the full moon rise through the trees and over a mountain toward the south as the sun was setting toward the north. There's always next year, maybe.

The first strand of the Teklanika River, you can see the rope/string left there
by hikers to help everyone get across

I read about sixty pages of my book at the campsite as everyone else slept in. I also snapped this self portrait. The beard is no more, now people tend to call me wolverine.