Freezing in Glacier

Fire!
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We left Bozeman and headed north, planning to camp outside the east entrance to Glacier. The drive north was beautiful, but the weather was not. After minimal deliberation about whether or not the rain would stop, we decided to be big shots and checked ourselves in to the Big Sky Motel in Choteau, MT (which, incidentally is where we did all our last blog updates. I am not sure if we like motels more for the bed and adjacent bathroom or wi-fi...).

The photo above was taken of a helpful sign posted in our motel room.

'I am not getting mauled to death by a bear over a f---ing dinner mint!'

Hey, it was cheap...
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The next morning we headed towards Glacier, rolling into East Glacier just in time for the snow to start. The ranger was very friendly and honest -- he told us that the weather was supposed to be rotten all afternoon with a Miss America smile on his face.  (Jon's note:  at lunch we were informed that all the snow we could see beautifully capping the mountains was not there the previous day.  How's that for timing?)

Instead of hiking and camping in the snow, we elected to drive to West Glacier (which, for those of you familiar with the park was made slightly more difficult by the fact that the road that cuts across Glacier was not fully opened). So we went around. An hour later, the sun was sort of shining in West Glacier, which we considered a huge improvement over snow. We found our campsite (located in a gorgeous spot along the shore of Lake McDonald) with ease and pitched the tent with not so much ease -- we managed to bend and/or bust most of our tent stakes on the mostly frozen ground.

On the road to Glacier
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Several hundred expletives later, the tent was upright and we were off to lunch and then an afternoon hike up to Snyder Lake. Although the map warned us there was an elevation gain of a few thousand feet, we didn't realize this would translate to hiking uphill for two straight hours. (Jon's note:  a 10% continuous grade for 4.5 miles to be exact.) Keep in mind that in addition, we clapped every few paces to make sure that all the grizzly bears waiting to be surprised by us and then eat us knew we were coming so they could run away instead of eat us. Bear bells be damned. (Another note:  I'm pretty sure bears don't eat humans, but I hear they maul them...)

Snyder Lake
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Also awesome: when it started hailing. Luckily instead of golf balls we got dime-sized pellets. No major head injuries. Just wet jeans. (Again:  wet jeans are marginally better than hail denting your head when it isn't much above freezing.)

The photo at right will attest to the fact that in spite of many obstacles, we eventually made it to Snyder Lake. Take that foul weather and bears!

After scampering down a few thousand feet, we found some dinner and returned to our campsite where Jon built a fire. Since it was getting towards 40 degrees, this is where we spent the rest of the evening. When the sun finally went down at 11, we doused the fire and crawled into our sleeping bags -- Jon into his comfy, down-insulated bag and me into my summerweight purchased for hiking through Spain in June sleeping bag. Guess who was cold? Hint: see photo at right/left. (Important note:  I feel the need to add that I offered my sleeping bag to Julia several times during the evening.  Rather than accepting that offer I awoke on a few occasions to find myself pinned again the wall of the tent.  I'm told that was an attempt to cuddle for warmth.  I took some photos of a very bundled Julia the following morning... for those of you who don't know, she can be a bit cranky before the morning tea.  In cold weather that effect is apparently multiplied by about a million.)

View from behind our tent at the end of the day.
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The next day, though, the sun came out and there was much rejoicing. We had a hearty breakfast in town, drove up the Going to the Sun Road (which goes all the way to Logan Pass, i.e. the Continental Divide when it's fully open, which it is as of July 1), had some lunch and hiked to Avalanche Lake (where I did some dancing, as the photo shows). Afterwards, I relaxed by Lake McDonald in the glorious, glorious sunshine, which erased all memories of sleeping outside in the cold. And cold or not, the scenery just can't be beat.

We survived another hail storm!
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Jon's endnotes:  The scenery in Montana is really gorgeous, and if any of you reading this ever have the chance to drive around that state I encourage you to do so.  And if you are in Montana you have no excuse for not visiting Glacier.  Okay, the weather is very unstable (we were told it snows sometimes in August there, on days when the temperature hits 80 at some point no less) but the summer days are very long (the park is almost as far north as the Canadian border).  Pictures never do grand landscapes justice, but trust me, it's beautiful.

Avalanche Lake
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Funniest moment of the first night of arctic camping:  The campground is definitely bear country and there are many warnings about keeping any food items in or near your tent (everything is supposed to be kept in bear-proof lockers or a hard-bodied vehicle... bears do frequent the campground often).  As we are about to doze off I ask Julia if she has any food in her pockets, to which she replies no.  She asks me the same, and I deny having anything when I realize there's a dinner mint in the pocket of my gray hoodie.  Her reply, and I quote, "I am not getting mauled to death by a bear over a f---ing dinner mint!"  Now I was already nice and cozy in my sleeping bag and had no desire to go out into the cold and schlep to a bear locker, but I realized that, as is often the case, Julia was right.  Although I doubt bears really like dinner mints.

Cold, cranky Julia
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We know we are woefully behind on updating the blog, but there has been a lack of time and/or internet availability.  We'd do more tonight, but it's getting late and we're both beat.  There's an internet cafe here in Mt. Shasta, CA, which we hope to hit tomorrow after breakfast but before continuing south.  Next stop (on the blog that is)... Seattle (with a brief layover in Idaho).  Stay tuned...

P.S.  Our blog was chosen as an Editor's Pick!  Not sure what that means, but still pretty cool.