day 32 -- rainy glacier

seriously? a crew had hiked in early that morning and started repairing the hitching post, so no late sleep. they hadn't arrived the night before, since there weren't any bags hanging from the pole at 9pm, but there they were. and better prepared than me, with rain slickers and hiking poles. so plan C: leave the tent and hope it dried out a bit before I packed it up, hike out to the continental divide and hopefully spectacular views, return to the campsite, pack up, and get back to the packer's roost by 8pm at the latest so I could get back on the park road and through a road closure at logan pass by a 9pm nighttime construction cutoff. around 21 miles in all (8 miles out and back, then 5 back to the bike), but more than half with a light pack with food and water only. misty damp to start and more than a bit chilly, but I had enough layers as long as I kept moving. I kept hoping for the sun, but no luck there. over the course of the hike I went from hoping for sun...to hoping against rain...to very glad for bouncing hail rather than soaking rain...to hoping the gusty winds would die down...to hoping the trail at the bottom wasn't two inches deep in water.

for all of that, though, the landscape was even more inspiring than I could have imagined. I won't try to describe it...it's way bigger than words. check out the photos, some of which worked especially well with the swirling clouds on these rainy days. it's the sort of landscape that invites cliche -- I'll go with a scale that would force even lance armstrong to recognize his insignificance. the trail headed just over the next ridge turns out to be two miles away. the view just around the next corner isn't actually reachable. a campground called 'fifty peaks' for the endless series of craggy edges visible from that spot. inspiring hiking, most of it across the well-named flattop mountain and easy, still mostly through burned forest that afforded views all around when the mountains weren't obscured by clouds. the bb sized hail and wind weren't all that bad, though they cut a quiet picnic short when I started shivering, and past the divide a heathy moor that recalled scotland, even down to the invisible and inaudible creek ('burn' to stick with the scottish imagery) the gurgle from which rushes up only as you step within a few yards of its rocky course. so I re-resolved to make glacier the focus of a trip for summer '11, to hike across the park from west-to-east and to loop into the canadian section along the way. peaks, glaciers, forests, glacial ponds. otherworldly.

all went well until a ginger limp down the trail back to the bike -- the achilles quit after about 15 miles. I thought I was making good time, esp when more rain sped me along, but I reached packer's roost at about 8.10pm. since everything was soaked, I decided to repack under the stable overhang, and by the time I'd stuffed and remounted luggage and changed back into rain-soaked and heavy, smelly leather, it was 8.40pm. only twenty minutes to reach the road closure point and make it to the east side of the park and a good 50 miles closer to havre for the next day's ride. a rainy ride in the dark through hairpin turns wasn't all that much fun, but better now than a few weeks ago. minutes clicking by, construction lights appear on the slope too far away, more turns and turns and turns...and the construction zone at 9.02. road closed. ugh. back down the same winding roads, in the rain, and farther. faceshield rain spotted and fogged up, car headlights blinding me. and frigid. the first unpleasant ride of the trip, but no choice this time. back down past lake macdonald, past the park lodge (surely full), past the west side visitor center, past the town of west glacier (no vacancy), resigned to a ride all the way back to columbia falls. but vacancy at a summer resort motel, and desperate enough to overpay for it, if only to dry out my gear so as not to ruin the tent with mildewy saddlebags. naturally this summers-only spot didn't have heaters, so I cranked the air conditioning and hid out in the lounge with a roadtripping couple from the smokies and shared a couple bottles of moose drool. in sum, I would have been better off spending another night in the campground with the chainsaw crew and heading off in the morning. anyway. glacier dampened me...but not enough to scare me off.