Grand, Magnificent, Sublime, Angelic, Stunning

Wow, what an incredible couple of days out in the Many Glacier Valley. It has been long overdue, but I finally made it back to the east side of the park. This time I recruited Stephanie and Jimbo for the adventure (not that it took much persuading). I borrowed a couple of bikes from our good friend Ed on Monday to make the trip in much easier. Tuesday, we loaded up Elvis with three bikes, three packs, snowshoes, and three eager seasonal workers, and headed for windy highway 2 towards the east side of Glacier Park. It was a beautiful day and a pleasant two and a half hour drive. Stephanie spent the trip doing crafts in the back seat while Jimbo and I B.S.'ed to pass the time. We made it to the gate by early afternoon, assembled the bikes, and sped off towards the cabin. It was a nice ride in though the wind was brutal. It made even the flat sections feel like we were going uphill. But, nevertheless we pedalled on thinking only of the home brews that awaited us upon arrival. Everything was going well until about mile four. Somehow my front tire found the one dagger-sharp stone on the road causing my tire to go completely flat. Fortunately, Ed is prepared for such emergencies and had a air pump attached to the bike. The unfortunate part is that the hole was far to big for any temporary repairs, leaving me to walk my bike the remaining three miles while Steph and Jimbo rode off merrily towards the finish line. I can see the humor in it now, but if I would have written this blog immediately upon arriving at the cabin, there would have been words not suited for children inserted into this story. Eventually, I made it to the cabin, cracked open the home brew, and all was well again. To summarize the evening at the cabin, we enjoyed some delicious steaks, had a few cocktails, played some Guesstures and DDR, then reluctantly called it a night.

Wednesday, I awoke to bright blue skies and was eager to start the day. My co-pilots needed a little more persuasion. Well, Jimbo did anyway. I attempted my first wake-up call at 10 am. When this didn't work, I went back, coffee in hand. Still, I was unsuccessful, so I set the clock ahead two hours. This did the trick. Jimbo rallied and finally got out of bed (though he wasn't too happy to find out about the clock trick). Our goal for the day was to climb 7,947 ft Mt. Altyn. We biked towards Swiftcurrent then ditched the bikes when we hit too much snow and headed on foot towards the base of the mountain. Some of us (Stephanie, Jeff, and myself) were more motivated to complete the climb than others (Jimbo). Jimbo sat down not far along the trip and refused to budge, so the rest of us pressed on without him sure he would be sorry when he saw our photos. The hike up the mountain took a bit longer than expected though we were not in any hurry. We successfully spooked about fifty bighorn sheep who took off running upon being invaded by the creatures who walk on two legs. We passed through many patches of snow though we never needed the snowshoes we lugged all the way to the summit. Between the snow and scree fields, we were all a little worn out by the time we reached the saddle. Luckily from the saddle it was an easy walk up to the summit. There was a beautiful mountain goat waiting for us on the summit of the mountain, but he too was spooked before we got to him. Finally on the summit, we were able to relax and take in the view in its entirety. Words can not express the beauty of the landscape. There were snow covered peaks all around us and frozen lakes in the valleys. From the summit we could see Duck Lake, Lake Sherburn, Swiftcurrent Lake, Lake Josephine, Fishercap Lake, Redrock Lake, and Bullhead Lake. I could have sat up there until the sun went down. It was unbelievable. I can say with confidence that it was the most beautiful view I have ever seen in Glacier Park. This was definitely in part because of all of the snow. There is nothing more beautiful than a sea of perfect, snow covered peaks. Eventually, reality kicked in, and we realized that we must head back down. It was already 4 pm. The way down proved to be much easier than we thought. Going back down is almost always much worse than the trip up, at least for those of us whose knees have already gone to hell. Well anyway, the scree was nice and soft and perfect for a fast run down the side of the mountain. We also realized that the snow patches were a quick route down as well. Now, I would not normally recommend sliding down steep patches of snow of the side of the mountain, but we were not near any cliffs and the snow was soft enough to put a foot out and be able to stop. Sliding down on our bums was so much fun and so fast! Well, it was fun the first few times, then my rear was so cold and wet that I couldn't do it anymore. What took most of the afternoon to climb only took an hour and a half to get down. We made it back to the cabin with a couple of hours of daylight to spare. Jimbo made us some queso which we all pigged out on, and we lounged around the rest of the night in food comas.

Thursday morning, I took a walk up above the hotel to check out the dwindling snow drifts. There is a picture in the lodge that was taken in March a couple of years ago. The snow drifts were above the second floor of the hotel and completely covered the breezeway to the annex. This year the snow drift doesn't even come close to covering the first floor. It's crazy. This has been such an interesting winter. I hope it doesn't mean it will be a hot summer! Back at the cabin, Stephanie, Jimbo, and I packed up our belongings and prepared for the trip out. Luckily, Jeff was able to repair my tire, so I was able to bike out with the others. The trip out was awesome. There was no wind and the sun was shining, beautiful and warm. We made it back to my car in forty minutes, loaded the bikes, and headed back to the west side of the park. We couldn't resist a stop at the Glacier Grill for delicious Cold Smoke and calzones...always a great way to cap off a trip!