Three Chicks in the Sticks

Wow, I have just had a most amazing and wonderful week. Last Tuesday (Aug. 8) my mom and sister flew out here from Illinois to spend a week with me. My sister and I have gone on trips to Glacier Park together several times. It is a most amazing and beautiful place. Last summer while we were there we were sitting on the shores of Lake McDonald drinking our traditional bottle of wine and we decided that the following year we had to drag Mama along with us. It was really important for both of us to do a trip like this with her before time got away from all of us (Mama is 71 and still going strong...she slept of the ground for gosh sakes!).


On Thursday (Aug. 10) we packed every spare spot in the rental car and headed east. We took Highway 2 all the way to Kalispel. That is the most scenic way to go in my opinion. Highway 200 is pretty cool too but less direct. It was getting late in the day when we got to Kalispel so we headed to the campground to get a spot. It is only a five hour drive from my house to the park. Ellen and I always camp at Apgar on the west side because it is rarely full and Ellen can walk up to the village for espresso (a most important thing). The campground is not on Lake McDonald but just across the road from it. While Ellen and Mama went back into town to get groceries, I set up the camp and then sat on my butt for a bit and read a book. After Mom and Ellen got back we went down to the beach. This time we did not have wine but beer. The wind was strong and the clouds were dark but we hung out down there for about an hour. My Mama even had a beer. That night there was rain and a thunderstorm that was pretty cool. We stayed nice and warm and dry though.

The next morning was pretty wet so we headed up to Polebridge for some breakfast at the bakery. It is about a 25 mile drive on part gravel roads north to the little village of Polebridge. The place is basically a hippie sort of town. It is off the grid so there is no electricity except for a generator that is used in the Mercantile/Bakery. All the bread and wonderful food is cooked in a wood fired oven and it is all unbelievably delicious. I had some sort of pesto/goat cheese/sun dried tomato sort of thing that just about knocked my socks off.

After the day cleared off some, we headed for Medicine Lake over on the East side of the park. One really great thing about traveling with my mom and sister is that we have no agenda. We just figure out what we want to do and where we want to go moment by moment. At Medicine Lake, we took a boat ride across the lake and then a 2 mile hike up to Twin Falls. We had one of those Ranger Rick guys with us so he stopped and showed us a bunch of stuff. Mama got to eat some Huckleberries right off the bush which thrilled her. Mom's new bionic knee was working great walking along that rocky and root covered path. Ellen and I could hardly keep up with her.

The next day (Saturday) was really wet and rainy so we decided to go into White Fish and dink around. My mom is one of those Quiltaholic chicks so she had to hit the local quilt shop and my sister the artist had to hit the galleries. I was most content in the Mackenzie River Pizza place. They have great pizza and the salads are really great with grapenuts and pears in them. The beer ain't bad either. On the way back, we stopped at the KOA so Mama could take a shower. Five bucks for a shower!!!!! I passed on that one and just kept giving myself sponge baths in the campground bathroom. Later that night after it got dark, we went down to the beach and boat dock along the lake to see the stars. The moon was not up yet and the sky was clear except towards the Continental Divide. We sat on a bench with our heads up watching the shooting stars. It was pretty darn cool.

Sunday was the only day that it did not rain. We started out with a big Kathy cooked breakfast of cholesterol and fat. Yummy. I had been wanting to get a hike in but my mom and sister were concerned about my choices (alone in bear country) so I opted for a hike to Avalanche Lake. It is the most popular trail in the park. From my perspective of hiking the trails of the Inland Northwest, seeing 10 people on a trail in the day seems like a lot so I was thinking maybe I would run into just a few more folks than that. Wrong. A Sunday afternoon in August at Glacier Park is pretty busy and I probably saw at least 60 people on the trail. When I got to the lake, there were probably 60 more people sitting around at the bottom of the lake. That was ok though because it was just too beautiful for words.

The trail leaves from the Trail of the Cedars boardwalk which is really dark, damp, and beautiful and climbs above the Avalanche Gorge which has been scoured out by water and left with amazing bowls and chutes cut through the rock. The trail climbs 2.1 miles to the lake and mouth of Avalanche creek. This is where most of the folks were. I continued on the trail up to the top of the lake where there were very few people. It took me about 50 minutes to do the 2.9 miles to the top of the lake. I just sat there on a log and spaced out on the beauty for about an hour.

The lake is in a cirque at the base of Mt. Brown, Bearhat Mountain and the Little Matterhorn. Words and pictures cannot do justice to the beauty of this place. Three major streams come off the mountains with waterfalls that rush into the lake. The water is turquois and cold (I stuck my head in it...and had I been the only person up there I would have stripped down and gone for a very chilly naked swim). It was easy to just sit there and lose track of time. As I was getting everything back into my backpack, a deer came through the woods and walked right past me, within about 8 feet from where I was standing. She did not care if I was there or that I took her picture.

The trip back down the trail took about the same amount of time. The entire route is tree covered and made me think of a forest from The Lord of the Rings. I kept expecting Tree Beard to show up at any moment. There are ancient cedars, amazing rock formations, moss, dark and dank nooks and crannies, and amazing views across the valley through the trees. It reminded me of my trips backpacking in Colorado. The high mountain environments, lakes nestled at the base of towering mountains, the air ripe with the smell of pine. There is nothing that makes me feel more alive than being in the mountains, smelling the air, feeling my feet on the earth, and moving my own body across this living landscape. It is what pushes me, sustains me, makes me feel alive and a part of the pulse of the universe. Whether it is in the Rockies or Dishman Hills, it is what grounds me and makes me feel that life is worth living, regardless of the losses and the pain that are a part of being human.

I got back to the parking lot at the same instant that my mom and sister were pulling in. It was perfect timing. They spent the past few hours dicking around McDonald Lodge having lunch and they brought me a sandwich and chips. They have always been my care takers; my two mothers. My sister is 9 years older than me and both have looked out for me like mother hens. I have been blessed to have been born with them in my life (oh, I feel a bit weepy with this one).

After they picked me up we headed up to Logan Pass. It is a most amazing place with mountain peaks all around. Ellen and I walked on a small trail just west of the pass and saw a mountain goat chomping grass just off the trail. Mama loves the mountain goats so I had to go fetch her and make her come and see. While we were just watching the goat, some other people came and scared it and it ran up onto the trail right in front of us. The three of us have a healthy respect for critters. Though they may be cute and charismatic, they are still wild animals (and I have a bear story from a previous trip to pass on...see the next post). I had never been that close to a mountain goat before. It was pretty damn cool.

The entire trip was just too cool for words. Though I had to leave Walter at home and it just about drove me nuts, I was with my two favorite people in the world in a place that just took my breath away at every turn. It is a trip I will cherish and remember forever.