Glacier Trip - Part 4b: Guy Trip and a Ryan

Saturday
We had the best intentions for an early start the next morning. Ryan, who knows me like a brother, was chuckling that I was not stressed out by the timeliness of the trip. Hey – it is vacation and everything is beautiful so why rush anything. That, and the fact that for some reason I was the slow guy for pretty much the rest of the trip.

We eat another wonderful massive breakfast and head over to the Ranger Station to get our campsite reservations. The guys begged me to say that they had all already watched the video. In a moment of significant peer pressure and severe weakness, I conceded. It hurts.

I planned out a trip back to the Belly River area where I had been every year so far – but since we had a limited time I wanted to give these guys the "Greatest Hits" tour. I was hoping to stay the night at Cosley lake (8.5 mile hike), but it was completely booked – which makes three years in a row that I could not stay there.

• Year 1 – Closed because of a juvenile grizzly bear frequenting the area
• Year 2 – Closed because a horse had killed another horse and so the owner had blown the dead one up with a stick of dynamite. Apparently, if a horse dies out on the trail, the carcass is too large and a bear would hang out there and eat. If they blow it up, then the smaller animals would carry the pieces away. However, this was a "blow up" gone bad and the bears were enjoying the buffet.
• Year 3 – Fully booked.

We booked the trip to Glen Lake and then Elizabeth Lake. We would enter at the Canadian border and then my idea was that I would hike the 10.5 miles (800ft climb) back to the car and pick them up – because I was sending them out through Ptarmigan tunnel which is a 10 mile hike but 2500ft up and 2500ft back down. I figured that would teach them to hike faster than me…I had done that hike before I would simply describe it as "spectacularly brutal".

We headed out after filling up on water and got on the trail around noon. We ran into the Ranger around mile 3. He was on his horse (and was leading two others) on his way to pick up his girlfriend. We talked a bit and he told us to stop by his cabin and rest in the shade. We did – and Mike took probably my favorite picture of the trip along his corral. Looking in his window, he had a fish thawing on the counter and a couple bottles of wine open – with candles ready. If this cabin starts a rockin’… An additional note, Tim rated his outhouse the best of the trip. Apparently, there was a nice breeze that blew from underneath that Tim found pleasant after a long hike.

The cabin is 6.2 miles into the trip. We left to have lunch another 1.5 miles away at Gros Ventre falls. My friends from last year will remember that stop as where I forced them to march with limited breaks because we were running so far behind. (They actually still speak to me). The falls were nice, although you can tell that the water is down from the last couple of years. We hiked the last 3 miles from there to camp and my friends got to fishing.

Now it should also be noted that on almost every trip I have taken butter and foil – but no one with me has ever caught a fish. That streak was maintained this evening. Fish Count = 0.

Tim stopped reading his book "Night of the Grizzlies" because he finally got scared. He had left his book "Spectacular Plane Crashes" back in the car so he would have to read that on the flight home.

Sunday
We took the shorter hike with the stream crossing to Elizabeth Lake. The first year, the water was well up my thigh, but this year it was around my knees (although still shockingly cold). We stopped at Dawn Mist falls and then headed over to camp.

We picked a camp because there was a lure there attached to a tree. The guys went out to fish with the lure and it turned out to be the charm. They caught more fish that I could count – but kept 9 to eat. The logic was two apiece, but the 9th was so big that they had to keep it. I guess there is a rule. They had brought oil and spices to cook with – but with my doubts about the fish (in Grizzly country) I had not really brought the right thing to cook it in. We used my aluminum heat shield on the stove – until it melted through after fish #4. We used a rock as the serving dish and picked the meat out with our fingers. The fish was the best of my life. Ryan – I am sorry that I doubted you.

Again, paranoid about the smell – I wouldn’t let anyone sleep in the clothes they wore for that experience. There was some push-back, but with the slightly crazed look I had in my eyes, everyone conceded.

This was also a bit of a switch in sleeping. Mike and I shared a tent – but the campsite was at a slight slant, so Mike did not want to sleep "down hill" so rather than sleeping "head to toe" as I normally encourage, his head was up on my side of the tent. You see, head to toe is great. If only one head is at the end of a tent, (1) you can toss your stuff around., (2) you don’t smell each others breath, and (3) you don’t wake up face to face and scream in the morning because you don’t have your bearings about you and you think you picked up a really really ugly chick from a bar. This is also good for a reason that Mike was soon to discover – because in the middle of the night, with your hat pulled down over your ears and the sleeping bag tightly wrapped around your head – you still cannot block out the volume of my snoring from 12 inches away. Mike’s quote of the trip was "Nicole is a saint".

Monday
We get up the next morning, pack up and head out. Tim generously comes with me and Mike/Ryan head over the river and through the woods to Swift Current Motor Lodge they go. We make it out about (Tim 30 min. earlier) and drive the hour to get to where Mike/Ryan would come out of the woods. They had been there about 10 minutes and we stretched out on the porch letting their feet dry. I asked if it was a good hike and they said it was – and they had seen bears at the end of it.

We paid for showers at the camp site – but this was more of a place for car campers so no towels or soap was provided. So, I bought a bar of Irish Spring and we cut it into four pieces. For Towels, I bought a roll of Bounty that we split. Soon, as clean as a whistle, we headed out to Two Sisters for lunch and PIE. Everyone was full but I required that we order at least one piece – I picked the blueberry peach, which was not a great combination, but it was still pie.

We headed on to our next challenge. Tim’s goal was to see bear. Mission Accomplished. Ryan’s goal was to get away into the woods far from email. Mission Accomplished. Matt’s goal was to set up a great trip. Mission Accomplished. Mike's goal? Make it out of the woods in time to get to a sports bar to watch the Bengals’ pre-season game. Mission soon to be accomplished.

We headed into Whitefish which was an awesome little town and found what turned out to be the local blue collar hang out. Which was also full of Green Bay fans (who the Bengals beat like a drum). No fights but the locals got even because the greasy food we ate made the game of rock/scissors/paper for the bathrooms a little more aggressive.

Tuesday
I got up around 4:30 to take Ryan to the airport and came back for the guys. Ryan (and then Nicole) had coached through getting an earlier flight and so we all then could fly out around the same time. The security at Kalispell seemed a little lax – so Mike dared me to see if I could run through it. He even offered to yell a long war whoop as I ran through the metal detector. My blister on my foot was bothering me, so I passed.

Mike also had access to the Crown Room at the airport in Salt Lake – which is awesome. We arrived in Cincinnati, Nicole grabbed us at the door. We gave Mike a quick ride home. Trip Complete.