Waiting for mail, part II

People

Some of you have asked if I've met people on this trip.

I have met some interesting people, but I am not going out of my way to make new acquaintances. There are a few memorable folk: Martin at Marias Pass and Richard in Lethbridge (more on him later).

Hiking along St Mary's Lake in Glacier NP

Marty is a Blackfoot, born and raised on the Reservation in Montana. He went to graduate school at Montana Tech in engineering and has traveled a good deal in his lifetime, having worked with the Hoopa in Redding, California, and with the Hopi in Arizona, among other places. He was very happy to be on his first vacation "home" in a long time and seeing snow on mountains again. He was on his way to visit his daughter in Kalispell and other local friends and family. We talked about the fractionalization of tribal lands, social issues, and how beautiful Montana is. I have an open invitation to visit if I'm ever traveling through Minnesota, where he's living and working for the federal government. Who knows where N0MAD will go next?

Beautiful wildflowers along the trail

Walking in the rain

There comes a certain point where you just get tired of being cooped up reading or drawing and need to do something else. You just accept — reluctantly — the fact that you're going to get wet.

The Red Eagle Trail is supposedly an "old bison hunter's trail." It extends gently back into the Glacier Wilderness above St. Mary's Lake, and I followed it for several miles, but have been a little leery of being alone too far back into the backcountry because of bears. I carry bear spray, but wanted to enjoy the hike without too much worry.

The scenery is magnificent, the wildflowers amazing, and, while it did rain and periodically, it finally cleared up by the end of the day so there was unaccustomed blue sky, which made everything even better. The fierce winds that had been blowing previous days were even absent!

The only thing about hiking in the rain is that while you might stay relatively dry on top, all the vegetation is wet from the rain (even when it stops raining) so that as you walk your boots and pants gather up every bit of moisture hanging on every leaf.
It's been a couple of years since all the wet hiking in Washington, so I sort of forgot about this fact. I hadn't thought to get out rain pants, but might reconsider this in the future.

Twin lodges in the beaver pond!

This trail even has the option to go past a beaver pond! It was an active pond — I saw lots of evidence of gnawed trees, and the dam itself was about four feet high! This was also the first time that I've seen a double lodge.

Beaver lodges and dams (and the resulting ponds) are awesome engineering feats. This particular dam must have been 40 feet long and 4 feet high!

I would have loved to have actually seen the beavers working, but they tend to only come out at dawn and dusk, which is very late these days, and I didn't really want to stay out that late! One of these days, I'll find a pond and be able to watch for them. 

Buffleheads swimming in the beaver pond

Even if the beavers weren't out, there was so much to see here: yellow warblers in the brush, robins flitting from tree to tree, and ducks swimming on the water. I heard woodpeckers (there was a big fire here in 2006), but I never saw one.

I imagine that there may be fish in the pond as well.

I saw only a few other hikers on the trail, so it was relatively uncrowded.

The Lubec barn at the 1913 ranger station site

Lastly, there were two log structures at the end/start of the trail. The ranger station (aka "house") was a very pretty one with broad porch and gabled roof, but unfortunately the sun angle was wrong so I couldn't get a good picture of it. The other structure was a barn brought in and reassembled from another location, but would have been similar to the one that originally was there.

Eva, the wife of the first park ranger, Chance Beebe, told stories of the animal life that abounded in the area, reporting that there were "skunks in the cellar, lions in the attic and bears in the backyard." Mrs. Beebe recalls having to guard her laundry drying on the line, because if she didn't the bears (black bears during the daytime; grizzlies at night) would rip it to shreds! It must have been an interesting life there in 1918!
Click here for more information. They were hardy folk in those days!

Shooting star

A different sort of Indian paintbrush

Reading

So, when it's raining, I can do "inside" things. I have always loved to read — the opportunity to be transported to another place and time in the hands of a good writer is a portal through space and history.

I've read more books in the past weeks than I have in a long time, and I am reveling in it!

See my next post for a reading list!