WED JULY 4TH!
One month till my birthday! It's 7 am and the wind has not let up!
It's insane out there! The skies look clear though! Let's see what I can get accomplished today.
Alright, so it's still freezing out, but it's sunny and clear. I hiked the 1.8 miles to Red Rock Falls, which I am currently sitting on a rock in the middle of. It's amazing there is water streaming all around me! I can finally see the meadows I've been hearing so much about. Little yellow and blue flowers everywhere. I was the first person here today, even though I passed about 4 groups of people that left before me. I sat in the middle of the falls for a while just enjoying the sun. Those four families eventually found me and I kind of stubbornly didn't move out of the way when they cam to take pictures. I don't know I just didn't want to get up it was so perfect. Eventually I realized more people were just going to keep coming and I wouldn't spend any time here alone so I headed back to the visitors center to see what other hikes I could take.
I bought myself a tea debating whether or not I wanted to hike the 4 miles to Iceberg lake. As I was waiting in line to buy my tea, I overheard the ranger saying it was really really snowy, and she didn't recommend it. The Grinell Glacier Trail was also closed. So I guess when I come back next year for my birthday I will have to spend more time on the East side at Many Glacier. So I headed back to teh west side listening to my 1 Roman Candle song that I am allowing myself and the Sufjan Song "They Were Night Zombies" I stopped at a store that had a huge sign that said Indian Jewelry; Turquoise! So I stopped hoping to a buy a ring, but they really only had earings. I bought a postcard to decopauge with and I mailed some post cards out. It is Gorgeous out today so as I was driving back up Going-To-The-Sun-Road I couldn't help but stop every few seconds to take pictures. Turns out my fucking Camera isn't working! Until I get to a city Iphone photos will have to do.
I stopped at Sun Road to hike to Baring Falls, and then on to St Mary's Falls . Right at the trail entrance there was a sign that said that the place was frequented by bears! I tried not to let it freak me out, and I thought I was doing pretty well, the clank of my keys against my backpack made me feel a little safe, until a bee flew by my ear and the sound of something that wasn't made by me nearly made me suffer a heart attack right then and there. But I kept walking, because the views today are just sooooo amazing!
St. Mary's Falls was just amazing. A rush of white. It wasn't a super huge waterfall, but it was so powerful. I sat on the rocks for a bit thinking about how I have to move out here and how life is way to short if I want to live all the places I want to live. Indy,
San Diego, Italy, Amsterdam, Montana, and who knows how many other places I find, as I continue driving around. Oh man I thought about all of this as I hiked back to my car, and how I am going to pack the rest of the year with nothing but amazing shit I want to accomplish. Time to really start living!
I keep forgetting to mention that I love hikers! Everyone says hello as you walk by, and often they stop and ask where you are hiking to, or how far you made it. I don't know if it's because they want a break, or they are happy your not a bear, or if its just because we obviously share a common interest. Whatever it is, I love it. I love being out here. Anyway I ran into this elderly lady. She stopped me to ask if I was hiking alone, and I said yes. She said "it aint as bad as they say it is" I told her I agreed and that I came out here a little scared, because everything I read says "DO NOT HIKE ALONE" She asked me where I was from, and I told her, and I made sure I also said that I fell in love with Montana. She said "I fell in love with Montana when I first came in 1963, and now I live in West Glacier." I think she's me. She told me that Two Medicines is her favorite part of the park, which I am unfortunately going to miss all of :( I have to spend a lot of time there next time, because of her. We wished each other good luck, and I was feeling much less afraid, and just really really happy. The next guy I ran into wanted to show me pictures of the BEAR he just saw! God Damn! NOOO! No matter how cute and great those photos were, I do not want the chance to take one. Another guy in his group made me test how quickly I could pull out my bear spray. I asked them to wish me luck and I kept going, in the direction of the bear! Shit. As I walked back all these people were looking for the bear, really? what a bunch of idiots! I hauled ass out of there and made it to my car in one piece. I jumped in my car to head back over the pass. I made one last stop at the east side to see Jackson Glacier. It was pretty crazy. I mean all the mountains are covered with snow, but seeing a glacier is pretty different. It is crazy to believe that these amazing valleys were just filled with ice at one time, and now all that remains is this little circle of ice surrounded by snow. Going over the pass was so much more amazing this time. It was my 3rd time crossing it, but my first time that I felt good and could see clearly. The sky was clear that it almost looked hazy. Like my eyes couldn't believe there was something that pure out there.
My eyes really don't know what to believe. All
the waterfalls are in full force today, and giving my car a good wash. I got to the Avalanche trailhead at 3pm and set on the 2.4 mile trailed. I hauled ass through the first 1/2, but Ascending 500 feet in 15 minutes while your sick, is kind of killer. I can Almost smell again, and there were faint smells of cedars, and it was giving me a little bit of energy. I didn't let myself stop even though I wore myself out so early on. I got to the lake and its just fucking ridiculous! Not that I expected anything less. There are 5 god damn waterfalls streamed down that mountains that completely surround me. Of course the water is crystal clear. I was visited by some tiny chipmunks and a Blue Jay. I enjoyed some time pretty much alone at the lake, until this guy came up and asked me about myself. I told him I was taking a road trip hopefully across the US and he was like "Someone in your family must be wealthy" I said "No I have just saved all my money for traveling" he kept saying "Well someone has got to have a lot money for you." what the hell! He almost infuriated me but then I looked at the waterfalls, and remembered why I came here alone.
After hanging out at Avalanche lake for a little while I hiked back down hill, halfway through I saw an adorable deer a few feet off the trail just eating leaves. I got back to my car and I accomplishe hiking 12.8 miles today! I wish I could have done that the past few days, but at least I did it today. Happy 4th of July to me. I rode back to Apgar Listening to Bottle Up and Explode, Blue Collar Red Letter, and Black Tables, Life is good! I do not, DO NOT want to leave tomorrow. I can't wait to come back already. I called mindy and she answered the phone saying "I was just talking to you in my head." I almost cried for the first time since I left Seattle. Most people wont understand, but I just think thats the sweetest thing in the world. I do that with her all the time haha. I was also surprised that once I got into an area with service I got quite a few texts. I didn't really feel like spending time waiting in Apgar responding to texts, because I haven't set up my tent yet for this evening. But for those of you who texted me, you guys are awesome. And every last one of you are in that handful of people I really like that I mentioned in my first blog. Anyway. I got back to fish creek and got settled into campsite B65. I like the C loop better, but this will work. I had a little whiskey and read my book in the sun.
JULY 5TH!
Man I still never got to see the stars in Montana what an Idiot! I think I am headed for Missoula today, jake says it's pretty awesome.
So I drove pretty much all day. I thought I would stop in Kalispell and say hi to my future home, but I felt so gross and I wanted to shower so bad, so I drove on. I listened to my Ipod on shuffle, and every song just works perfectly with montana! I passes a ridiculous amount of huge beautiful lakes! I was really sad to leave Glacier this morning, but I know I will come back and I am happy to be in Montana for one more day. I love Montana, I love that sometimes the highways are pink. I love that the speed limit is 75, I love how great the clouds look, and how blue the sky is, I love how everyone here calls me darling, I love how in every small town there are just enough things that I could imagine living in each one of them, movie stores, banks, mexican food, post offices, thrift stores, I love how everything turns purple in the evening. I love how every town is different and so amazing. I love everything!
I pulled over somewhere before Missoula and I took a shower for the first time in 6 days! Oh man that felt amazing. I scrubbed and scrubbed, my washcloth was black ugh. I washed my hair 3 times. I shaved my legs too! I put on 10 layers of lotion and moisturizer when I got out of the shower. It felt so nice to be clean, that I actually put on a nice shirt, just because I could. I stopped in Missoula all refreshed and went to a Camera store. The guy looked at my camera and said he could keep it over night and if he could fix it it would be 100 dollars, or he could send it to canon and it would be 240, but he didn't know what was wrong with it! What the hell! I obviously couldn't stay there so I just kept driving with my broken camera :( I'll have to fix it as soon as I get to Indy. I kept driving with just one other stop to get gas. I thought a lot about a ton of things that I can't remember now because I have been typing for hours, and I haven't written anything down, but I'll remember tomorrow and write it my journal and then put it up here later. I know that Butte looked awesome, and I want to go there next time I'm here. I also want to visit the Old Montana Prison. Now I am in Livingston in a cute not so cheap motel. I really need to go to bed because it's off to yellowstone tomorrow!
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