Day 158: The Amtrak Disaster

September 25: My train back to Seattle didn't leave until about 6:30 in the evening, so I had all day to relax and goof around in East Glacier. I noticed a few changes since my last visit less than a week earlier. For instance, Brownies had been completely boarded up. The store had closed for the season the last time I was there, but the building hadn't been boarded up--not like it was now.

Additional businesses had closed as well. I tried to drop into the Glacier Park Lodge, but it was now closed for the season. I was glad I made my visit the last time I was in town. I hadn't realized it would be closed by the time I returned to town again.

Lots of drama at the East Glacier train station this evening!

Much of the day I spent just chatting with other thru-hikers. A large group of about a dozen people had just arrived and were working to get permits through the park. One person I was surprised to see was Money. I didn't understand how he had fallen so far behind me until he bragged that he had taken something like 50 or 60 zero days on the trail. He seemed determined to set a record for the most zero days ever taken on the CDT by a thru-hiker.

About an hour before the train was scheduled to arrived, I picked up all my worldly possessions and said goodbye to everyone, then headed over to the train station.

There were a few others there, and we sat around waiting. The animated screen showing train schedules showed that our train was scheduled to arrive about an hour late. I wasn't particularly surprised about this since Amtrak is notorious for running late--especially on these long-distance trains. This train we'd be boarding was the Empire Builder, and it started in Chicago, taking two days before arriving in Seattle.

While waiting for the train, one of the other passengers noticed a fox by the train station, so we all got up to admire the fox. I was surprised it was out in the open and didn't seem to mind the crowd of us watching it. It was my first really good look a fox in the "wild"--if outside of the train station could really be considered wild.

Eventually the fox wandered off, and we continued to wait for the train. I chatted with one of the other thru-hikers who was also scheduled to ride the train. Then a guy showed up saying that he heard that there had been an Amtrak train that derailed. He didn't provide any details, though. Just that one had derailed. Somewhere.

There are Amtrak trains all over the country, though. I didn't know exactly how many, but even if the rumor were true, it seemed unlikely it would be our train. Anyhow, our train was still scheduled to arrive at 7:30 or so according to the signage at the train station. The train station didn't have an Amtrak worker there to check people in or anything, though, so there was no one to ask about anything.

It was about 10 minutes later when someone checking their phone found a news article about an Amtrak train that derailed in Montana not too long ago, and that there were at least three fatalities.

Hmm.... I was pretty sure that there couldn't be more than about two Amtrak trains in Montana today. The only Amtrak route that went through Montana was the Empire Builder, and one train passed through in each direction. At this point, I thought there was a better than 50/50 chance our train had derailed. The morning train going eastbound had gone through town hours earlier, but I wasn't sure if it would have been out of the state yet.

At this point, everyone at the train station became immensely interested in this train derailment, myself included. I pulled out my own phone to see what I could find out about it online, at which point I noticed a voicemail from my sister.

She had left a message asking if I was alright. She had heard on the news about a train derailment in Montana and knew I had been planning to take the train that evening. I called her back immediately and told her I was fine--not even on a train as of yet, and that we were still trying to figure out if it was our train that had actually derailed. If it derailed and there were three fatalities, I was very confident in predicting that our train would be canceled--we just hadn't heard anything yet.

I gave my mom a call to let her know I was fine. I didn't think she had heard about the train derailment yet. If she had, she probably would have called already, but I called her to let her know that I was fine just in case she did hear about it later. No reason for her to worry unnecessarily.

I also gave Amanda a call. Amanda answered the phone immediately. "Hi, how's it going?" she asked.

"Well..." I said, not really sure where to start, "I think my train derailed?"

"What?!"

"Yeah, I think my train derailed. I'm not 100% certain of the fact, but it seems likely." I went on to explain the situation. "Anyhow, I just wanted to give you a head's up, just in case you happened to hear about it."

"Do you need a ride?" she asked me. She was with friends at a concert in the Seattle area. 

"Maybe," I told her, but said to hang off for the moment. I still wasn't sure what all was happening and needed to learn more. Maybe I'd just spend the night at the hostel and catch the train tomorrow instead.

We hung up, but I promised to keep in touch with updates. She had a friend who works as an engineer on Amtrak and sometimes works this route and said she'd try to call him about updates as well. And make sure he wasn't actually on the train, which was a possibility.

It didn't take long before we found a news article saying that it was the westbound train that had derailed. It was my train. I was literally at the train station waiting for that train to arrive, but at this point, I knew it never would. The board marking train arrivals continued to say that the train was delayed until 7:30 or so.

Most of the passengers wandered off by around this point. I decided to wait until about 7:30 and see what happened. Although there were no employees working at this station now, maybe one of them would get a call to come out and help all the stranded passengers. Maybe they were making arrangements to have a bus come by and pick us up. I was curious what would happen with the digital sign when the supposed time that the train would arrive never arrived.

I did call Will and Luna at the hostel to let them know that I'd likely be returning for an extra night. When I called, Will answered the phone, and when I told him it was Green Tortuga, he asked, "So, are you spending another night? I heard about the train derailment."

They had already figured out that I'd probably be returning to the hostel even before I called. I confirmed the situation but said I'd hang out until 7:30pm to see if anything happened.

While waiting, we continued to look for updates about the train derailment. Apparently, it happened only a few hours before it was scheduled to arrive at this station. And the most recent news reports we read said that there were at least 10 fatalities. It was bad.... But those counts seemed to be wrong. In subsequent days, only 3 fatalities were listed. Dozens went to the hospital.

I was grateful that I wasn't on the train when the train derailed, but it certainly caused some trouble for me. The other thru-hiker there tried calling the Amtrak customer service number about changing his ticket, but after being on hold for about 45 minutes, it disconnected when his phone ran out of power. Perhaps they were busy with news of the train derailment. They might be bombarded with thousands of calls from family of passengers--as well as passengers like us that now needed to make other plans. Plus all the other passengers at all the other stops the train would have made.

When 7:30 finally arrived, our train disappeared from the digital arrivals board. I joked with the others around me, "Did you see the train go by? I totally missed it!"

Almost immediately, my phone rang. It was an automated message from Amtrak explaining that there was a "service disruption" and that due to our remote location, there were no buses or anything available and that our train was canceled. They provided a phone number to call about questions or to reschedule, but it was the same number that the other thru-hiker had been on for 45 minutes before being disconnected, so I didn't put much stock in that for the moment.

I finally gave up waiting and headed back to the hostel for the night. The large group of 12 people who had arrived made a communal dinner, and after hearing that I'd likely be returning for the night, saved a little extra for me. That was nice. =) 

Back at the hostel, I tried rebooking new tickets for tomorrow night, but the Amtrak website wasn't showing any trains at all running through town, in either direction. And I checked the next several days, and no trains at all were now scheduled to run. That was ominous. I was basically stranded in East Glacier for an unknown period of time. I could try hitchhiking, but that's a long way to hitchhike back to Seattle.

I gave Amanda another call and told her the situation. "Think you can give me a ride after all?"

She said she had already thrown some stuff in the car when she got home from her concert and was prepared to drive out, just in case, and would be on her way. According to Google, she should arrive sometime tomorrow, Glacier NP was a 9 hour drive from Seattle non-stop.

And with that, my day finally ended. I spent an extra night in East Glacier.

The next day, I ran into Just Awesome who had just finished the trail that afternoon. He shook my hand, congratulated me on completing the Triple Crown, then said, "You got me! You totally got me!"

I was a little confused about what he was talking about at first, then he explained. "Those four girls you met... you told them to pretend like they had met me on the PCT. They did! And I totally believed them! I was scratching my head, trying to remember where I had seen them on the PCT, then they finally let me off the hook and told me that YOU put them up to it!"

I laughed. Yes, yes I did. =)

"So why are you still in town? I figured you would already be home by now?"

"I tried to leave," I told him, "but my train derailed." Being on the trail, he hadn't heard anything about the train derailment and I filled him in. 

It seemed to be the headline news across the country. The news even made it to Poland. I had sent a postcard to one of my Polish teachers saying that I planned to take the train home when I finished the trail, and after hearing about the train derailment, he sent me an email asking if I was okay. I don't think he had been especially concerned.... at the time I sent the postcard, I had no way of knowing exactly when I'd finish the trail or precisely what day I'd be taking the train, but he noticed that the timing was right and thought he'd drop me a message... just in case. But that's how I found out the incident had made it into the Polish news.

Anyhow, Amanda arrived later in the day after driving the 9 hours overnight and I finally had a way out of East Glacier.

We drove nearly non-stop back to Seattle. We stopped briefly to pick up one guy on a bicycle. I had met him at the hostel, actually, and he left earlier that morning riding toward West Glacier, but the wind was fierce and he decided he had had enough. So we piled him and his bike into the back seat and took him the rest of the way to West Glacier. We stopped for dinner, and for gas at a couple of places. 

It was after midnight when we arrived back in Seattle, and my hike was now officially done. I never imagined that just getting off the trail would have turned out to be an adventure in itself.

Day 153: Finally leaving East Glacier!

September 20: Upon waking up, I ate the rest of my leftover pizza from yesterday for breakfast, then headed over to the post office to pick up my packages. I was expecting two packages: a food package with some food items that I'd likely never find in such a small town otherwise, and that arrived just fine. My other package, however, the one with the laptop, had not arrived. What?!

I had to drop by the post office to pick up some packages.

Of course, I didn't want or need the laptop at this point. I was leaving town today, and I certainly had no intention of carrying my laptop into the backcountry. The box, however, did contain some other items like extra batteries and such that I could make use of. But, more importantly, it also included my crowns. I was about to complete the Triple Crown of hiking--one of the few people that will ever hike all three of the main long-distance hiking paths in the United States: the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. To celebrate the feat, Amanda had found some small, lightweight crowns that I could use as photo ops at the Canadian border. They were made of paper and could lay flat, but they were glittery and showy and perfect for a photo op to celebrate the end of the trail. Not wanting to carry them anymore than I needed to, however, I had shipped them here in my bounce box.

But it never arrived, so I didn't have my crowns. =( Well, actually, I did have the letter A for A.T. That had fallen off the A.T. crown and when I reported it to Amanda, she sent me a new letter A to an earlier post office which I had been carrying ever since. But the glittery letter A was useless without the rest of the crown. Bah! Stupid post office!

In case you ever wanted to know, the world's largest purple spoon was in East Glacier.

 
Back at the hostel, I repacked all the food from the package I did get into my pack and I threw away the now-useless letter A. At the hostel, however, I did stumble on an old, broken tiara that somehow ended up there and I thought that would be my crown for the end of the trail! The tiara was shiny and a bit small for my head. I think it was meant for a child-sized person. It was also broken in half, but nothing a little duct tape couldn't fix. In fact, I think a little duct tape would give it just the right character for a thru-hiker. =)

Finally packed and ready to go, I left the hostel at around 11:00am. The air was cool and crisp, and the surrounding mountains showed a thin layer of snow. I hadn't been able to see the mountains through the clouds yesterday, but now that the weather had cleared, I could definitely see that the higher elevations had gotten some snow.

Starting my day's hike at Two Medicine

The first hitch took about 15 minutes. Two Canadian girls that easily could have passed themselves off as hippies stopped to pick me up. They were heading back to Canada, however, and not to Two Medicine in Glacier NP where I needed to pick up the trail. So I was only with them for 4 miles until they reached the junction with Two Medicine and dropped me off there.

The next hitch took considerably longer--I had to wait about 1.5 hours before someone pulled over to offer me a ride down the rest of the way. The traffic was moderately busy, but car after car passed by without picking me up. About a half hour in, what looked like a homeless guy searching the side of the road for aluminum cans wandered up to me and tried to chat me up. I tried to discourage him, though, fearful that someone who would pick me up might have second thoughts if they thought this guy was also looking for a ride as well. Go away! After about 10 minutes, he did go away, though, and I continued my solitary attempt at hitchhiking.

I finally got a ride and was back at Two Medicine by around 2:00pm. I only needed to do about 11 miles to reach my assigned campsite, though, so not a problem. I could knock out 11 miles before sunset. Definitely. *nodding*

The trail climbed steadily upward, eventually climbing up a pass overlooking Oldman Lake. The pass was covered by a few inches of snow, though, which annoyed me to no end. It was so miserably cold up there! And I had not wanted or expected to hike in snow. The pass was only located about 7700 feet above sea level, after all. *grumbling*

I had a bit of snow to hike through at the top of Pitamakan Pass.

I pushed onward. After the pass, the trail descended a couple of thousand feet leaving the snow behind me. I was grateful that I wouldn't have to camp in the snow, at least.

I didn't find anyone else at the campsite, but that didn't surprise me. I couldn't imagine why anyone would be traveling southbound this late in the season and I didn't see any footprints in the snow over the pass, so I knew nobody was immediately ahead of me. I also didn't know of any other hikers who planned to reach this point this evening. Just Awesome, I knew, was hiking the section from East Glacier to Two Medicine and would camp at the campground at Two Medicine. I was 11 miles ahead of him on the trail as of this evening, and would only extend the lead as the days went on.

So I wound up having the entire Morning Star Lake campground to myself. Although rain wasn't in the forecast, I went ahead and set up my tarp to help keep me marginally warmer during the night. Given how cold the day was, I had little doubt it was going to get uncomfortably cold during the night!

My campsite for the night would be at the Morning Star Lake CG.

This tunnel under the railroad was the only (legal) way to get between the two sides of East Glacier.

There was definitely some snow that fell at the higher elevations yesterday! Except for the pass, however, I didn't have to go through much of it.

Later in the afternoon, the clouds started rolling in. It wasn't raining, but it did make things even colder!

That's Oldman Lake down in the cirque.

Pitamakan Pass was where I had the heaviest snow to deal with, and it's coming up soon!

Pitamakan Lake

I found this old patch of snow a little creepy--it looked too much like a melting face to me! It was right over Morning Star Lake as well, so it watched over my campsite all night long!

There were designated spots within a campground where you were allowed to prep food. Bringing food into your campsite was not allowed!

Day 152: The East Glacier Zero!

September 19: Today would be my first zero day since Debois, WY--36 days ago and two states back. For over a month, I've been hiking the CDT without a break. Some days were shorter than others, but every single day required some amount of hiking. My shortest day of hiking in the last 36 days was a little over 8 miles during one of my days in Yellowstone.

But today, I would take a zero day. For a couple of reasons. The main one was wanting to pick up my packages at the post office tomorrow, but perhaps a better reason was that the forecast for today was expected to be terrible. Rain, wind and possibly even snow at higher elevations. Not a great day for hiking, and I was perfectly happy to sit it out. However, after today, the weather forecast called for pretty decent weather the rest of the week. Not to mention that hanging out at the hostel only cost me $15/night--this zero day was very affordable.

All the CDT hikers going through East Glacier signed this page. (PNT hikers coming through also had a small portion in the lower-right corner they could sign, but their numbers are pretty small compared to the number of CDT hikers passing through.

 

I did, however, still have chores to do and the most important of them was getting myself a permit so I could legally hike through Glacier National Park. Just Awesome had a friend he had met on a previous trail, Granite, who had just finished his CDT thru-hike and Granite and Lady Granite planned to catch up with Just Awesome--who also happened to need a permit and arranged things so he could get a ride with them to the permitting office, and further arranged things so I could get a ride as well.

Which meant I needed to wake up early since Granite, Lady Granite and Just Awesome planned to meet up at 7:00am in time to be first in line for permits when the permitting office opened at 8:00am.

Just Awesome introduced me to Granite and Lady Granite, and we hopped in the car and were soon on the way to the backcountry ranger office.

We arrived before they opened, and kicked around waiting. The rain had stopped momentarily, so we waited outside for the doors to open at 8:00am.

There were two rangers to handle the permits, so Just Awesome and I each got our own ranger. Just Awesome wanted to follow the same path and schedule that Granite just completed, but the pace was a bit slower than I preferred so we arranged separate permits.

We both were required to watch a video about backcountry safety and the rules of the trail. I had seen it before--or at least something similar to it two years earlier when I hiked through the park when I started the Pacific Northwest Trail so there wasn't anything new or surprising for me.

That's Just Awesome, watching the video that we were required to watch before we'd be issued our permits.

 

We paid for our permits, then the rangers printed them and handed them over.

I liked my schedule for the most part. It wasn't totally want what I wanted. Tomorrow I'd do a pretty short 11-mile day, but that just meant I could take my time leaving town. And my last full day of hiking would require a long 26-mile stretch. Given how short the days were now, that would be a sunrise-to-sunset hike. I'd have preferred breaking it up into two days, but there weren't any nearby campsites available to do that. I'd live, though.

On the permit, they had written that the itinerary was not recommended--probably because of that 26-mile day. But the rangers knew were were thru-hikers and 26 miles wasn't a bit deal for us. =)

In any case, I officially had my permit, and I now knew the precise day I would finish: Friday--five days away. In five days, I'd reach the Canadian border and call it done. In five days, I could finally go home. Just Awesome, with his slower-paced schedule, would finish a couple of days after I did.

Afterwards, the other three wanted to get breakfast in St. Marys. I wasn't particularly excited about the idea because I had already eaten some cereal before we left East Glacier and wasn't hungry at all--not to mention that the town was in the wrong direction--but I joined along anyhow.

Upon arriving, however, we learned that the restaurant that they had wanted to go to wouldn't be open for another 1.5 hours. Argh! We looked through the gift shop nearby (which was open) before driving back to East Glacier. The drive was pretty, but it seemed like a huge waste of time overall.

After making it back to East Glacier, I rushed over to the laundromat to do some laundry. I never quite seemed to have enough time to do it yesterday while they were open, but I had time now. Timing was critical here. The laundromat was next door to Brownie's, and both were scheduled to close for the season today. They were owned by the same people, and the town was shutting down. Neither business would open their doors again until next year.

And, in fact, they were scheduled to close at 4:00pm. The last load of laundry was allowed an hour before at 3:00pm. If I didn't get my laundry started by 3:00pm, I'd have to wait until next year to do it here!

Brownies was scheduled to close for the season at 4:00pm, so anything you wanted to buy, you had to do it now or never! (Or at least not until next year.)

 

Anyhow, I got my laundry started with plenty of time to spare. I wandered back to Brownie's at 3:30pm to order a late lunch and early dinner. Since it closed at 4:00pm, I really couldn't come back any later!

I ordered a pizza and a Coke. With only a half-hour left before the store closed for the season, the shelves were mostly empty and a lot of food options were no longer available. Everything must go! Well, the non-perishable items seemed to mostly be in stock, but the perishable items were very limited.

While paying for my pizza and Coke, the lady behind the counter asked if I wanted one of the pastries for free. Anything they didn't sell in the next half hour was going to get thrown out anyhow. I was happy to help clear the store for her, and offered to take one of the cookies.

"Sure you don't want two of them?" she asked me.

"Well... okay..." I replied. "You twisted my arm." =)

Just Awesome shows off all the empty shelves at Brownies.

 

I went outside to wait for the pizza to be ready where Just Awesome was also waiting for his own pizza, and he looked longingly at my cookies. When I told him that I got them for free, he was a bit jealous. He went back into the store hoping to score a cookie for himself.

He came back out a few minutes with a cookie, but told me that he had to pay for it. I laughed.

"The trick," I told him, "was that you had to pretend not to be interested. When I didn't ask for or show any interest in the cookies, she tried to foist them off onto me. But you walk in asking about them, and she thinks she can sell them instead."

At least he enjoyed the cookie, even if he paid for his.

A short while later, our pizzas were ready and we sat at an outside table to eat them. At 4:00pm, the store closed for the season, and I took a photo of the sign in the window saying as such. There would be no more Brownie's visits while I was in town.

It's official, Brownies was now closed for the season. It happened right before my very eyes!

The whole town seemed like it was shutting down or soon would be. Many of the businesses already had signs up saying that they were closed for the season, and many of the others that were still operating I heard would be closing within the week. The place was starting to feel like a ghost town.

Later in the evening, I wandered over to the Glacier Park Lodge, a magnificent and historic building in its own right. I bought a postcard, a patch and a pin for my hat.

The interior of the Glacier Park Lodge was magnificent!

The rest of the evening I mostly spent with all the other hikers in the hostel, chatting away and having a great time. Life was good!

Although Brownies closed, the one store that was still open and would be all winter is the general store. So no worries, we won't be starving in town! Just that our options were becoming more limited.

Day 151: The Two Medicine Slackpack

September 18: While looking at maps the evening before and planning out the next section of my hike, I realized that I had an unexpected slackpacking opportunity. From East Glacier to Two Medicine, it was about 10 miles, and permits for Glacier NP could be acquired at Two Medicine. And I realized--I could therefore hike from here to Two Medicine, pick up a permit, then hitch a ride back to town until I could pick up my packages on Monday. It meant I'd only need one zero day instead of two!

 

Even better, tomorrow, Sunday, the weather was expected to be bad. Definitely a good day to take off! Which meant I should slackpack today.

The one kink in my plan, as I looked up permit information for Glacier, was that permits would be issued only a maximum of one day in advance of starting a trip. Since I didn't plan to start for two days, I couldn't get a permit today. I'd have to wait until tomorrow.

Well, at least that would give me something to do on Sunday, I suppose. I could hitch a ride to Two Medicine, then hitch a ride back into town. At least I wouldn't be hiking in the bad weather tomorrow.

I really liked the idea of not taking a zero day today when the weather was... well, the weather had problems, for sure, but rain and snow were not in the forecast. "Dangerously" strong winds, however, were most definitely in the forecast. As well as a heck of a lot of smoke from wildfires burning who-knows-where. But I could live with that.

So that's why, at about 8:30 in the morning, I found myself back on the trail and hiking. But my pack was very light--I would be returning to town at the end of the day and therefore didn't need much more than snacks to eat and some water. Perhaps a jacket if I got cold.

As I got above tree line, the wind was bad--perhaps the strongest wind gusts of any day on the trail so far. It knocked me over several times. The smoke was quite thick as well, thick enough to smell it in the air, and definitely enough to obscure otherwise phenomenal views along the way.

From this photo, you can't see that the wind was strong enough to knock a grown man over, but you can see a lot of the smoke in the sky that just seemed to get worse and worse throughout the morning.

 

It was also a fairly rugged day of hiking. Although I covered barely 10 miles for the day, my GPS recorded over 3,000 feet of elevation climb as well as another 3000 feet down. In total amounts, it wasn't much, but given the relatively short distance I covered, it was some of the steepest terrain of the trail. A perfect place to slackpack! =)

Near the top of one of the ridge lines, I found a credit card laying in the middle of the trail. It was an Amazon card, and surprisingly heavy, as if it were made out of metal instead of the usual plastic that my credit cards were made out of. It seemed like a weird choice for a thru-hiker--I'd imagine that a thru-hiker would prefer a lightweight credit card!

I didn't recognize the name on the card, but I didn't know the real names of most of the hikers on the trail. It looked like the card had only been out since that afternoon, and I knew Jazz Hands had left shortly ahead of me. Maybe it was his card? I wasn't sure how to contact him, though. In any case, I decided to pick it up and perhaps back at the hostel, someone might recognize the real name. Luna and Will might even recognize the name on the card if they had a record of the payment there. Additionally, almost all thru-hikers return to East Glacier after finishing the trail since it's pretty much required to go through on the way to anywhere else after getting off at the end of the trail. If it belonged to a thru-hiker, they'd probably wind up back in East Glacier within the week. I might be able to get this card back to the owner.

The first half of the hike, I saw absolutely nobody on the trail, but after passing a side trail to a scenic viewpoint a few miles from the end, I started passing a large number of day hikers from the park. They were climbing up a steep mountain and most of them looked exhausted and out of breath, but I often stopped to chat with them when they stopped to catch their breath as I was passing by.

One group said they could give me a ride back to East Glacier if I were still trying to hitch when they got back to the trailhead. That made me happy--there was a limit to how long I might have to hitch to get back to town! Probably not more than an hour or two. I hoped to find a ride sooner than that, but it was nice that I had this as a Plan B.

Eventually I made it down to the trailhead, and it only took me about 15 minutes to get a ride from two women who just finished finished their own hikes.

Back in town, I finally took a shower. I had arrived late enough the evening before that I never got around to it, but now in the middle of the day, most of the other hikers at the hostel were gone so I made use of the shower while I could.

Then I headed to Brownie's for lunch, where I ordered a sandwich, potato chips and a Coke.

Back at the hostel, I met a few of the other hikers there. The place was surprisingly busy with probably 10 or so hikers in all loitering around. Some of them had just finished the trail, reached the end, and were passing through East Glacier a second time, this time as a stopping point on their way home. The others were like me, still hiking toward the Canadian border.

One of the hikers fresh back from finishing the trail turned out to be from San Luis Obispo--my hometown in California. Wow! Way cool! His name was StormMocker, and he told me about first trying to thru-hike the CDT back in 1977. I couldn't imagine what the planning for something like that must have been like so long ago. Without Guthook, without GPSes, without decent guidebooks and resources to learn about thru-hiking. Of course, the operative word was tried. He didn't actually succeed, but it had been burning a hole in him ever since and he really wanted to finish the trail while he still had the health to do it, and by golly, he finally finished. He finished today! Congrats!

Later in the evening, I headed out with four hikers to Serranos Mexican Restaurant for dinner: Reality Check, Just Awesome, Click and StormMocker. We got there just as the restaurant opened for the evening and spent the next hour or two eating and chatting and laughing and having a good old time. I really missed people on the trail and was thoroughly enjoying my time with all the other hikers in town! It seemed odd that the trail could feel so empty but the trail towns so busy with other hikers.

Reality Check and Just Awesome couldn't sit still long enough for me to get a decent photo in the dark interior of Serranos!

I had already inquired among the other hikers if they recognized the name on the credit card they found, and when we sat down, I joked that they could order anything they wanted--that he hiker who lost their credit card was paying for our meal. I was totally joking--I had no intention of really using it, and they all knew that but laughed anyhow. =)

Then we headed back to the hostel where we eventually headed off to sleep for the night. Living the good life!

I did get a lead on the credit card I found, though. Someone said they thought it was a certain hiker with a given trailname, and he was actually hiking with his friend--both of whom were trying to hike the Triple Crown this year. I'm not talking about finishing a Triple Crown this year, but hiking the entire thing in one calendar year. That's the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail--all in a single year. Most people only do one of those trails in a single year, but a precious few want a bigger challenge and attempt to do all three in a single year. It's insane. Even by thru-hiker standards, it's totally insane.

Anyhow, I hadn't realized that's what he was doing. I met him briefly at my last campsite on the trail when they hiked by me in the dark, and the rumor was that they were planning to finish the CDT within a few days then hop over to the PCT and finish the Washington section of that trail. The rest of the Triple Crown they had already done.

In any case, I was finally able to find his account on Instagram, and the name on the account matched the one on the credit card. I found him! So I sent him a message to let me know that I found it and asked if he wanted me to throw it away or send it to him. I didn't expect a response quickly--he was in the backcountry probably without a signal. He might not even have realized he was missing his credit card yet, and wouldn't notice it was missing until he finished the trail and tried to pull it out to pay for something.

So I sent him a message, but I didn't expect an immediate response. I was a bit surprised when he finally did send me a message back a couple of weeks later. I figured he'd finish the trail in a few days and reply then, but it was two or three weeks later when I sent a second follow up message that I planned to throw it away unless I heard back otherwise, and a few days later he finally replied. He was already back on the PCT and had canceled the card and had a replacement sent after realizing he had lost it. So after carrying the card myself for two or three weeks, I finally just threw it away. At least he learned what had happened to it. =)

The views were awesome, but I imagined they would have been even more awesome if not for all the smoke in the air!

My ending point for the day was somewhere near the bottom of that lake in the distance.

These guys walked up to me like they expected me to feed them. They had definitely picked up some bad habits from earlier hikers!

This is the Two Medicine ranger station where I could get a permit to hike through Glacier NP, but since I didn't plan to camp until two nights later, I couldn't pick up a permit until tomorrow. I will return!!!!

Day 150: The East Glacier Run

September 17: It was another bitterly cold morning. My water bottles partially froze and frost covered everything. I so did not want to get up this morning! Or rather, I very much did not want to leave the confines of my sleeping bag.

The sunrise, however, turned out gorgeous. I eventually pulled myself up and ate breakfast and brushed my teeth afterwards, but I skipped flossing them like I usually did. My fingers were so cold and numb, I just couldn't work the floss. My fingers just didn't have the necessary dexterity. Argh! Stupid cold. I really needed to get this trail done.

The sunrise was gorgeous! Cold, but gorgeous!

 

I managed to get on the trail and hiking at 7:47am according to my clock. A quick and steady walk helped warm me up a bit, but it was still a cold morning and I wore my fleece jacket for the first part of the day.

The trail largely followed parallel to a creek, but it crossed the creek about a dozen times in total. I didn't count them all, but none of them had bridges and comments on Guthook reported some fairly harrowing crossings at times by the southbound hikers. However, a few of the northbound thru-hikers with more recent reports said that the water level was low enough that it was possible to rock hop across every single crossing without getting one's feet wet. Given how cold it was, that sounded like a swell idea to me!

Some of the crossings were a bit of a challenge or required navigating up or downstream to find a suitable place to cross, the I did manage to cross them all without ever getting my feet wet. Sweet!

So many water crossings, but I managed to keep my feet dry! Whew! =)

Early in the afternoon, I reached a campground at Highway 2. Originally, my plan had been to stop here, or at least somewhere nearby, and camp for the night. Just across the highway on the other side of Marias Pass lay the promised land: Glacier National Park. I did not, however, have a permit that allowed me to legally camp in the park. Not yet, at least.

The trail, on its way to East Glacier, eventually leaves the park and enters the Blackfoot reservation--which one also needs a permit to camp in. (I'll make a note here that I thought you needed a permit to camp in the reservation, but I later learned that you actually need a permit to hike through their reservation as well. I didn't know about that at the time, though. So while I refer to needing a permit to camp, I completely ignore the fact that I needed a permit to hike through--but only because I didn't realize it at the time.)

Which meant.... the next legal place where I knew I could camp was actually in the town of East Glacier itself. That was quite a distance away, however, and it was only Friday in any case. If I made it into town today, I'd have to take a double-zero to wait for the post office to open on Monday.

On the other hand, I really didn't really feel like stopping so early in the day. Eventually, I decided to push onward and hoped I'd reach town before dark and hope I could find cheap accommodations. If I didn't make it before dark, I guess I'd have to stealth camp illegally. Somewhere to be determined. I hoped it wouldn't come to that, however.

I did stop for a lunch break at the Summit Campground, however, used the outhouses and checked out the impressive obelisk marking the pass. Then I crossed Highway 2 and a railroad--the railroad actually predates the highway over this pass. The pass was discovered by the white men when explorers were looking for a route to get the railroad through the Rocky Mountains in this area.

The obelisk at Marias Pass

And just passed the railroad, I officially entered Glacier National Park. I couldn't help but smile at finally being in the park. The CDT ends in Glacier National Park! This was the last stretch of trail! I still had the entire park to go through before I reached the end, but still... the end never felt so close. I had sewed a patch of Glacier National Park on my hat--it was my destination the entire time. And finally, I was here! It was a sweet, sweet feeling of success. =)

I had only been in the park for about 3 minutes when I came across a moose standing on the trail. Wow! How cool! It's like he came out especially to greet me for my grand arrival!

I watched him for a bit, and he watched me, but eventually I grew bored of the watching and shooed him off and continued the hike.

This moose greeted me on my entrance to Glacier NP.

The weather forecast for the afternoon included an advisory about "dangerously high winds." The wind did, indeed, pick up strongly about the time I entered the park. I wouldn't say that they seemed especially dangerous, although even a light wind could blow down an occasional tree. That's always a risk. The bigger problem I had with the wind was the wind chill. Even in the sun, the air felt cold and the wind chill even worse! The entire day was just plain cold.

A couple of hours in, I took a short snack break during which Reality Check rounded the curve and caught up with me. I last saw her way back in Rawlins, WY, which seemed like a lifetime ago. We chatted for a few minutes, catching up with each other's adventures. She mentioned having reserved a cabin in East Glacier for $50/night or something, and I asked if I could sleep on the floor or something if I couldn't find my own accommodations in town and split the cost. She didn't have a problem with this, and I felt much better having a definite place where I could stay for the night without breaking any laws. =) But my plan was to find other accommodation and let Reality Check have her cabin all to herself.

She pushed onward, and I finished my snacks and followed a short time later. Reality Check hiked a lot faster than I did so I had no expectation that I'd see her again until after arriving in East Glacier.

I passed a couple of weekend backpackers heading in the other direction, but otherwise the trail was empty. Late in the day, I crossed into the Blackfoot reservation--at this point hiking illegally since I didn't have a permit but still oblivious to the fact thinking that I only needed a permit if I camped there.

In the reservation, I noticed a lot of bear poop. Not just a big pile of it, but it seemed like bear poop was everywhere! I must have passed dozens of separate poops the last couple of miles into town. I definitely did not want to camp anywhere near this area. My gut feeling was that the bears were particularly thick here because they'd try to go into town and score food in trash cans or on the street. I suspected these bears weren't especially fearful of people given the close proximity to town. And there were likely grizzly bears included in the bunch. Nope, I definitely had no intention of camping in this area after seeing all that bear poop.

So much bear poop on the way into East Glacier. It was everywhere!

I reached town very close to sunset and headed out to the Looking Glass. It used to be a restaurant but turned into a hostel this hiking season and hikers could camp inside the old restaurant for a mere $15/night. It was easy enough to fit a dozen or more hikers as well. Plenty of room for everyone!

So that's what I wound up doing. And since the post office didn't open until Monday and I therefore had two more nights that I wanted to stay in town, the low-low price of $15/night was absolutely awesome. Safe from the elements! Safe from the cold! An enormous, industrial kitchen to cook! It was a pretty nice setup.

The owners, Luna and Will, were incredibly friendly and welcoming and shared all sorts of interesting stories about the hikers who came through behind us. They seemed to really enjoy their hiker clientele as well. I had arrived so late, however, that I didn't spend much time chatting with them this evening. I'd definitely get to know them better over the next few days, though! =)

In hindsight, I realized that if I hitched a ride from Marias Pass into town, I could have arrived in time to pick up my laptop from the post office. Argh! That would have been an awesome choice as well! I could have hitched a ride back tomorrow then slackpacked the distance from Marias Pass into East Glacier. Now I was stuck in town for two zeros days without a laptop. *sigh* So I was a little disappointed for not thinking of that alternative option earlier.

My home for the night... actually, the next few nights.

I took a short lunch break at a campsite at Summit Campground, just off Highway 2.

Crossing the last railroad tracks of the trail....

I guess you don't have to register here unless you come in the winter?

Hello, Glacier NP!

I left a few leaf people faces on the trail for those behind me to enjoy. =)

Yes, I suppose it is an open range....