Making it to Glacier

Wow! - that's pretty much what I've been exclaiming for the past several days, generally with my mouth hanging open or a shit-eating grin on my face (which expression really makes no sense at all). I've been in Glacier National Park for a couple of days after a bunch of days riding to get here (I've kind of lost track...). It's truly awesome. I am so tired after a day of hiking, and it's so past my bedtime - since I'm riding about 60 miles out of here tomorrow - so I can't do any of this justice.



I'll just say: my birthday hike exceeded my wildest hopes. Not just in terms of being out in really wild, incredible landscape - rocks & snow & tumultuous melt - but with amazingly great company. I had hoped to sort of glom onto some hikers today, since hiking alone is discouraged (due to the grizzly bears, who it's unwise to surprise walking quietly along by yourself)... and wasn't sure how that would work, exactly... but at the shuttle stop I met a group of three women who were going to the same trail I was, and they immediately invited me to join them. They were such wonderful people, I was more than safe - it was a really delightful day. They have a standing Friday hike and had been chomping to get into the park - the road to the pass just opened a couple of days ago, historically late (about a month later than usual) due to the 400% of normal snow they got this year. (Yes, four times as much. Now it's melting - no wonder North Dakota is flooding...)

I don't know when I'll be able to really sort through all the photos and post them up - maybe not til Missoula, on Tuesday! - but here are a few teases. I know I need to catch up on several days of riding to get here, too - most of which were amazing.

I will say this: I planned this ride to be on roads that made sense to get to a couple of specific destinations, and I've been meandering a bit - but it turns out in a landform kind of way my route has made total sense: I've been following connecting watersheds. It was really exciting to realize that while reading a fairly random placard at a scenic area I stopped at - and I'll explain it better when I'm not so sleepy (and rather done in by the slab o' chocolate cake I treated myself to - or rather, shamelessly asked for, given it's my birthday - they gave it to me for free, with a candle on it even!).

Here's a short video I shot from the porch of the Glacier Park Chalet, an incredible stone building at the top of the trail we hiked to. You can stay there overnight - which I might just have to do sometime when I come back...