Well, I'm beginning to settle back into civilized life. This weekend was Cabin Fever Days out in a tiny town called Martin City. The festival consists of lots of drinking, carny food, and the bar stool races. This year they had to haul snow in to cover the road for the races. Lots of people raced down the hill on make-shift skiing devices. There were some cool ones like an old school desk on skis, a stage with a pole dancer, and a bear that was ridden by a man wearing fringe. After the races we headed to the bar (what else is there to do in a place like that?) to have some drinks. After the bar, we spent some time in jail (don't worry, it was only a horse trailer with a keg that was made into a pretend jail), and then eventually ended up back at the bar for some good music and dancing.
Sunday, Shayla, Jesse, and I hiked into Many Glacier. The road was still clear, so we strapped our useless skis to our packs and started the exciting seven mile trek in. The weather was warm with a light wind. We spotted a coyote, a downy woodpecker, two grouse, and lots of bighorn sheep. We arrived at the cabin by 3:00 pm. Shayla and Jesse headed up the road towards Swiftcurrent to finally test out their skis. (I reluctantly stayed behind to publish the blog for the third graders.) Just a few hundred feet up the road, Jesse spotted a lynx! (That S.O.B.!) Poor Shayla hasn't spent much time on XC skis, so she was busy flailing on the ground and missed the sighting. They returned a bit later with Jeff's other guests in tow. Chelsea, Mike, and Conner came into Many Glacier a few nights before us to explore the wilderness and keep Jeff from going insane. I would say the four of them dank more than their rations of whiskey during the visit. Later that night, the whiskey drinking continued as the men (and Chelsea) played beer pong from their seats on the couches (how lazy!). Shayla and I were happily the lame-O's and chatted in the other room.
Chelsea, Conner, and Mike took off early Monday morning to head back to Portland. Jesse, Shayla, and I geared up and took a quick ski out to Fishercap Lake to get some fresh air. The weather was awesome! Eventually, we headed back to the cabin where we dined on bean quesadillas. (This may not have been the best idea since the plumming is STILL all jacked up. The toilet allows for one flush every few hours. Translation: We all had to do our business in the woods. So, if you are in the Many Glacier Valley and see a set of foot prints heading behind some tree, DON'T follow them. You might not like what you find, especially if the warm weather keeps up.) After lunch, the three of us headed back out on our skis. This time we slowly made our way out to Grinnell Lake. The snow was perfect. It was just a little bit sticky, and I think it made me a bit over confident about my skiing skills. Out on Lake Jospehine Jesse got a little over confident with his skiing skills and tried to be fancy. He started to wobble all over the place and started to fall. Somehow his right ski came all the way up and the back end stuck in snow for a split second before he came crashing down right on his tailbone. I tried in vain to sympathize, but I was laughing so hard that I couldn't even stand up straight. Jesse layed on the ice whining for a few minutes before he recovered and pulled himself to his feet. We cautiously continued on down the lake. Not far down the lake, we came across a dead baby mountain goat that had fallen off the cliffs. It's face was pretty banged up, but other than that it was untouched. It couldn't have been there long because it was still warm (yes, I sure did touch the dead goat, and I bet you would have too!). That would have been a perfect discovery for moron Bear Grylls! Well, once again we continued on towards Grinnell Lake. Everything was so quiet and peaceful out on the lakes. We hung out for a while at Grinnell then headed back to the cabin before we ran out of light in the sky. When we got back to the cabin, Jesse and Shayla posed for pictures with the pineapple that Jesse hauled all the way in to Many Glacier. It made for a silly pic being in the mountains and all. We spent the evening grilling up kabobs, eating pineapple, and playing cards (this time there was no whiskey involved).
Monday morning I cooked up some blueberry pancakes and managed to pack 50 lbs worth of junk into my pack (those downhill skis were a killer). Luckily, Jesse and Shayla are awesome and helped pack some of my stuff out for me or my pack could have been even heavier. It was super windy hiking out but luckily the wind was at our backs. We all probably looked like we were drunk swaying back and forth. We arrived back at the car to find everything in order and headed back to the west side.
Tonight I will be taking the train to Oregon to pick up Elvis (my car). If I meet any crazies (and I probably will), I will be sure to tell you about them.
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