Another 12 mile hike

Tuesday I decided to hike along the west shore of Lake MacDonald, a long narrow lake. The area where the trail runs is through a forest that burned in 2003, and is now starting over toward growing the next generation of forest. There are still a lot of dead trees standing--probably more than have fallen--and the new growth is pretty much all low level as the new trees compete for sunshine to fuel their growth. Some of the trees look very bizarre. Since height is the name of the game for trees here, most of the branches and vegetation is near the top. This makes for a skeletal appearance to the forest, especially when the undergrowth is sparse. In some places, there are a bunch of fallen trees, all in different directions, giving the appearance of a gigantic game of Pick-up-Sticks. Others are still standing, but with the trees dead, there is nothing to hold the bark on and consequently there are slabs of bark lying around the base of the trees like skin from a molting snake. Still others are twisted and broken in such a strange fashion that it makes you wonder what forces would make it break that way.
I was contemplating all those things as I was on the last leg of my hike, strolling quietly along, when I heard a nearby crashing sound. Looking that way, about 25 yards away, I saw the wide furry brown butt of a bear that I had surprised making tracks to get away from me. I am certainly glad that it wasn't a Mama with cubs thinking I was some kind of a threat, and I am equally glad I left my picnic basket costume at home, too!
Needless to say, after giving that bear a few minutes to vacate the area, I continued on my way back to the van, making lots of noise in the process. I was talking to myself and the bear (who I nicknamed Gentle Ben--wishful thinking, maybe?), and singing (don't ask--it's not something you want to hear!), and doing anything to make noise so I didn't startle any more bears.
Consequently, today I think I am going to stay a little closer to civilization and rest up a bit. I was plenty tired before seeing the bear, and the adrenaline rush burned a lot of energy too. By the way, no pics of the Gentle Ben--he was out of sight in about 3 seconds flat, long before I had my first cohesive thought!

What a small world

It's been quite a day today. I have met a whole bunch of people from Michigan today in the course of my travels. First was a couple from Flint who were right behind me at a road construction site on the Going To the Sun road (the only road that goes across the park east-to-west). At the next road construction stop when everybody was once again out of their cars taking pictures and shooting the breeze, a woman from a few cars back walked up wanting to know where we were from--she was from Fenton.
This evening after getting settled in my new campsite, I had a craving for a cheeseburger, so I went to the Glacier Grille to take care of it. Sitting next to me at the bar were a couple of young guys who work out here seasonally running rafts on the river and doing guided fishing excursions. One guy is from the Traverse City area and I think the other said he was from the Grand Rapids area, and they were both very helpful and informative in pointing me toward some day hikes I might want to consider.
As we were talking, a couple from the Irish Hills area spotted my Porkupine Mountains hat and introduced themselves. Finally, as I was getting up to leave a guy at the adjacent table called me by name--he had overheard me introducing myself to the two guys at the bar, as well as seeing my van outside with a sticker from the dealer in Hillsdale where I bought it. There were a half dozen at that table all from the Coldwater area!
So I just have one question: how many people are still in Michigan?

I've moved

Okay folks, it's Monday the 12th and I've moved my campsite to a KOA in West Glacier. It's a pretty nice place--even has trees! I've never been a big fan of KOA because they are usually just carved out of some farmer's field, but this one was built in a woods.
I did a 12 mile hike to Medicine Grizzley Lake yesterday that taxed me a bit. I was huffin' and puffin' more than once on the hills and plenty tired by the time I made it back to my van at the trailhead. The lake itself probably wasn't worth the hike, but it was more about the journey than the destination. It was a nice little lake, surrounded on three sides by mountains that all had streams and waterfalls feeding the lake, which in turn fed a stream that I parallelled most of the way in. On the way out, I got rained on for about 3 miles, but guess what--I didn't melt!

Kickin' my butt!

The mountains that is! I hiked about 8 1/2 miles yesterday, of which 2 1/2 was fairly level and the rest was either uphill or back downhill. When you combine 1000 foot of climb with the altitudes it's definately a real workout. You feel really insignificant out there in the mountains--I know that my pics and video won't do them justice when I get back home. At the same time, I don't think I would want to live here, either, because I think it would be too easy to take these majestic mountains for granted, but they sure are nice to visit! I've resized some pics, hoping to have more success in posting them here. I saw mountain goats on Thursday and a bighorn sheep Friday, but so far no bears, moose, or elk.

First hike in Glacier

Planned on spending the day mostly driving around the park and acclimating myself--which I did--but when I got to the Logan Pass visitor center at the top of the Continental Divide I saw a hike listed to Hidden Lake overlook. It was only a 1 1/2 mile one way hike over mostly snow. The climb was about 450 feet, so I decided to tackle it. Only thing was, the starting point was over 6600 feet. I was huffing and puffing all the way up! Saw a few mountain goats who weren't camera shy at all, as well as a marmot along the way. Haven't seen any critters that can eat me yet, though!

Made it!

I rolled into St. Mary MT about 6:00 pm local time, got myself a campsite and had my basic camp set up by 7:30. I'm at the very back of the campground with some birch trees covering the drop-off my tent is backed up to. Within the first hour of being there, I spotted a fox trotting across the road about 30 yards away. He stopped like he saw some food and gave me the opportunity to grab the camera for a couple of shots (not very good shots because it was almost directly below the setting sun). I am posting one.

The total mileage was almost 2000 miles in getting here and the van did very well, getting me 16+ mpg. A long ride but I think it will be well worth it.

Montana!

After 2 days of steady driving, I entered Montana yesterday. The first day was rain from the time I crossed the Macinac Bridge until I parked for the night in western Wisconsin. Yesterday consisted of passing through Minnesota (very pretty state--rolling hills and lots of lakes) and North Dakota (very flat, but with a 75 mph speed limit). I did make a detour in ND though, to see what they called the "Enchanted Highway". A local artist has done some huge metal sculptures (30-50 feet tall--I'm posting a pic of the one visible from I-94) and they are stationed along a 30 mile stretch of desolate road to bring tourist dollars into their town. I thought it was a pretty novel idea, as they really attract a lot of attention.

I also stopped at Painted Canyon Visitor's Center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and snapped a few pics.

I plan to get to Glacier today and get a base camp set up.