Today we left the back country. I am relieved to be done. I love how scenic Glacier is but, after yesterday, I’m glad to be out of it (I think my nightmares will be haunted by visions of being pushed towards a cliff and the sounds the winds make going through the pass – they sound like a jet engine that’s really close). Continue reading “Day 8 – Out of the Woods”→
First off: good news, we weren’t eaten by a bear, so, woo! But today has been a day.
I was still a little sore this morning but a hike was doable. Planned is 2700ft up, 1800 ft down, so it should be easier on my knee. We left at 10 or so, and it should be a 6 hour hike, so, ideally, an early day.
We are in the backcountry, woo! What a ridiculously long day: 11 miles, 7.5 hours, 2480 feet up, 2518 feet down. The morning was frustrating because it was cold, I wanted to get up and see sunrise, the tent was wet, and we had to repack our backpacks before setting out for the trail. We still decided to stop at Johnson’s Cafe for a nice hot breakfast before setting off for the trail head to Elizabeth Lake via Ptarmigan Tunnel.
Today is my first backpack hiking day. Let’s just start at the beginning of the day.
After a good night’s sleep, we once again wanted to be up for sunrise. I was able to get up 15 minutes before it and get out of the tent into the cold. Lara stayed in her warm sleeping bag. She had hoped (without communicating this desire to me) that I would open the rainfly so she could see it as well. Continue reading “Day 6 – Into the Woods”→
Experts claim sleep is important and needed – my body doesn’t listen. Last night, it took about 90 minutes to fall asleep, and after an hour or so, I woke back up. After a couple hours, I fell back asleep, and slept for another 2-3 hours before waking up. 4 hours of sleep while being exhausted from moving means one cranky morning.
The sunrise on the Tetons was gorgeous though, so, bonus, but the temperature was bitterly cold (25° F).
I eventually dragged myself out of my sleeping bag into the cold morning. It got down to 25 degrees F in the night, so I was not really excited to get out of my cozy cocoon.
After moving our camp to another site (since we had to take one of the ADA accessible sites the night before, and without an access pass, you’re only allowed one night) we loaded up our backpacks with water, clothing, and food for a hardcore training hike to prepare for backpacking in Glacier NP and North Cascades NP. Our packs were probably around 40-50 lbs so that we could find out if we could hack it, which is a great idea and important to do, but it sucked.
Today, we bid farewell to the “Three Breasts” (if that’s what the French think breasts look like, well, they need to spend some time on the internet). Also, I got a decent night’s sleep. We’re getting much better at packing up camp now so, progress! Continue reading “Day 4 – “We punished ourselves yesterday, let’s do it again today.””
