Many Gacier to East Glacier

From Many Glacier to East Glacier we had 3 large passes to hike over: Piegan, Triple Divide, and Pitamakan. Piegan essentially climbed right out of Many and proved to be a challenging day for my bilateral pinky toe blisters. Brian also battled with his blisters, which we blame on the snow and Gore-tex. The next day involved little elevation gain as we traveled around St. Mary's Lake for miles and miles. That night we were rewarded with a beautiful view right out our tent door. It sounded like a swamp monster but it turned out to just be a gigantic moose bounding through the lake waters (see picture). Triple Divide was amazing because we got to stand at the head waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Hudson Bay all at the same time. Our last day over Pitamakan was beautiful with Two Medicine Lake greeting us in the distance as we slowly hiked (or hobbled in my case) down through a beautiful glacier carved valley. We made it to East Glacier the next day with 100 trail miles under our feet. We picked up the gear that Brian's Dad had sent and also picked up a pair of overnighted, larger toe box, shoes for me. And now we head off into the Bob Marshall Wilderness for 10 days (170 miles of trail) with no cell reception till Lincoln, MT (hopefully to celebrate the 4th of July).

Goat Haunt to Many Glacier

Our first full day on the trail we hiked 18 miles and were immediately overwhelmed by the beauty and remoteness of Glacier National Park. Not 1 mile down the trail we were greated by a huge bull moose, but he didn't seem to have much interest in us. We came to our first pass, Stoney Indian (see picture), where we utilized our backcountry navigation skills. A majority of the trail was under the winter snow that day. We made it to our first backcountry camp (see picture) just after seeing a black bear and her cub on the trail. The next two days repeated themeselves in that we would hike from one valley, over a giant pass, and into the next valley, zig zagging our way through GNP due to trail closures. We made it to Many Glacier and camped among RVs and tourists. We got to take a well deserved shower and it felt amazing! We were also fortunate enough to befriend a group of other CDT hikers: Chance, Freefall, So Far, George, Luna, and Aaron. They instantly felt like family. From Many we also were able to get a hold of Brian's dad who saved us from our multiple gear failures. My pack

B and B forever, we're engaged!!

On June 14th, on the bank of Waterton Lake at the US/Canadian boarder Brian knelt down on one knee and proposed. Of course I said "YES", while crying. I was toltally shocked. That night we celebrated in style at Goat Haunt Port of Entry. One of the gracious rangers, Mark A., gave us a bottle of Meridian wine and a couple of retro cups so we could toast to our engagement. We sat and chated by the lake for awhile, it was wonderful. The next morning we awoke to have our passports stamped and headed down the trail into Glacier National Park.

Goodbye to the "normal" life

Well here is a picture of us and the Boise family (Corbin, Mom, AD, and G-ma) at our last get together before the hike. Tomorrow we will drive for 12 hours to East Glacier, MT. Since our last post we visited my Dad in Spokane and had a wonderful and relaxing stay on Coeur d'Alene Lake in Idaho and celebrated Brian's and my Grandpa's birthdays at my cousin's place. We then drove back to Seattle and took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to spend a few days with Brian's parents. This time was crucial because it allowed us to finish up some much needed planning for our hike. The weather was beautiful and it made me sad that I was going to be missing a potentially beautiful Seattle summer, but then I got over it:) We then made a stop in Leavenworth, WA for a climbing festival called Rock Fest. Then a pleasant drive to Boise, our final driving destination. We had put 5000 miles on car-car (the very original name of our 85 Camry) in the last month and were happy to park it in the drive of my mom's house. It is hard to describe the excitement, stress, and anxiety that we are feeling right now, but all I know is that I am ready to start walking! On Sunday we will drive to Waterton Lake, Canada and say fairwell to the "normal" life. So, next time we post we'll have a few miles under our sore feet and will be back in the US somewhere in Glacier National Park.