Getting Back in the Groove

As much as I enjoyed having Scott and Steve out there, the trip took a different spin after the Olympic hike was over. It was fun, but I was craving to get back to living the ULTRA life. The ride on the bike last night was a pretty good way to get it started. Woke up fairly early, packed up and grabbed some breakfast at McDonalds before hitting the road. I do have to say that all the fast food restaurants in the West are very efficient and have enjoyable people working at them. It catches me off-guard sometimes. Anyway, it was off to Montana, one of 4 states I haven't been to.

The drive was a little lonely, but luckily I am a huge fan of music and had my harmonicas in the passenger ready to be played. The weather was nice and I was rockin out all the way through Idaho. Once I got to Montana, the scenery was just beautiful. The whole drive was about 5 hours so I got to Glacier around 3 PM and since I had no plan, my first stop was the visitor center. I basically told the ranger that I had 48 hours in the park and I wanted to see what it had to offer. The first ranger told me to take a tour bus through the park. I told him I wasn't doing that, and he asked me what my mountain driving experience was. I responded that I had driven across the freakin US and was able to drive any road. He said I had never driven on a road like this and he wasn't sure if I could handle it. Pissed off, I walked away without even responding to that.

The second ranger was much more helpful. She told me a bunch of day hikes that I could do. I was torn between doing day hikes or actually heading off into the backcountry on a solo journey. I felt like it wasn't the safest thing to do, but then again, when is the next time I would be in Glacier NP.

I didn't have time to make it to a backcountry campsite that night, so I just camped out at the main campground near the west entrance. I set up camp and then went to the closest trail to go for a trail run. Now in hindsight, trail running is probably the worst thing you could possibly do in bear country. You are not able to make a lot of noise and you are flying around corners; these are the 2 cardinal sins in preventing bear attacks. Luckily the trail I picked was straight uphill and the first half of the "run" was similar to the "power hike/run" that Nick and I did in VA. It took me 38 minutes to go 2.8 miles in and on 23 minutes to do the 2.8 mi out. I was kinda hurting when I was done, so what would be the next logical thing for me to do? Exactly...take the plunge. I drove to the nearest pull-out for Lake McDonald and snuck into the woods to change into my jammer. I then went down to the water, goggles on, and took the plunge. I'm not sure if it was the fact that the water was ~50 degrees or I had just finished a pretty hard run, but as soon as I started trying to swim I was dizzy as hell. I could see the bottom of the lake (because it was so clear) and I was being tossed around a little with some rough waters. Instead of the bottom being stable (like in a pool), it was moving all over the place. Therefore my swim lasted for about 90 seconds before I stopped and just headed back to shore. Not exactly a training swim, but still took the plunge none the less. I couldn't help but just sit by the lakeside and take in the scenery of the park. I knew that this was only the edge and I couldn't wait to get deep into it.

I then headed back to my campsite, set up a 3 person tent for myself, and made a delicious dehydrated meal. I picked up a 6 pack of Moose Drool beer (last time I drank that was in Flagstaff on Road Trip 2008) and just typed up some blogs. The stars that night were absolutely amazing. There is a reason that Montana is known for its Big Sky. I then headed to sleep and had the whole tent to myself. It was a little lonely, but nice at the same time; life needs a balance. ULTRA day 31/39: COMPLETE.

JM