Blog

I made it back across the border yesterday for the 7th time in a month.  No issues this time.  Just a, “Welcome Home” from the CBP Agent which felt really good.  I am currently in Seattle at my friend Daniel’s apartment.  I plan to post about my 16 days in Canada later but until then take a look at my photos from Squamish, Vancouver Island and Vancouver in my “Vancouver Area” album.

Also, I added a few photos that Frank took to the end of the Montana album so you should check those out also.

Matthew

Vancouver Area

28 Photos

A few days ago the most amazing thing happened to me, I took/had/grabbed (whatever verb you use) a shower.

It was my last morning in Jasper, Alberta before I headed to Yoho National Park.  My plan was to get up, grab a quick breakfast, and get on the road.  I was going to complete the Wilcox Pass hike in the Columbia Icefields part of Jasper National Park on my way to Yoho so I didn’t want to hang around the town too long.

I looked on my phone for a coffee shop to grab some coffee and breakfast and found “SnowDome Coffee Bar” but when I got there I found the place was a public laundromat with a little place in the corner that serves coffee with minimal food.  It actually looked like a nice little coffee bar and was fairly busy but I wanted some hot food so I walked down the street to Coco’s Cafe.

I got my hot breakfast but decided against the coffee because for some reason I wanted to get a coffee from a laundromat.  Whether it was divine intervention, dumb luck or fate but it turned out to be an amazing decision.  I went back to SnowDome, got my coffee and I saw the sweetest words I had seen in a long time, “Co-Op Coin Shower”.  Holy crap, I found a pay-to-shower establishment. 

Now this may not seem like a big deal to you readers who have immediate access to a hot shower 24/7.  But after about 10 days living in my car, hiking most days, using glacial lakes to wash off your sweat and difficulty running my fingers through my greasy Italian hair, the notion of taking a shower felt like heaven.

I debated for about 3 seconds on whether I should delay my trip South for a shower.  I went back out to my car, got my soap and shampoo, change of clothes and walked back to the shower.  It was the best 5CAD I had ever spent.

Check out my three new albums.

Jasper National Park

23 Photos

Yoho National Park

13 Photos

Mt. Revelstoke National Park

11 Photos

July 13, 2017. Matt asked me to write something for his blog about our backpacking trip through Glacier National Park and I happily agreed to. It’s mainly written from the perspective that I had as it happened.
June 28, 2017, ~9pm EST

Tomorrow, I will meet my very good friend, Matt Casey, for a planned 3 day, 3 night backpacking trip through Glacier National Park. This will be my first backpacking trip. For well over a month, I have put in a lot of time determining the route that we will take, preparing a list of supplies needed to live in the wilderness for a few days and nights, and getting my backpack ready. Planning the route has been difficult because it’s still early season in Glacier so a lot of the routes are blocked by snow and ice. There is one route which I’ve read great things about starting at Bowman Lake and ending in Goat Haunt. Some of the park rangers said it would be very difficult and others said it was doable. Yesterday afternoon, Matt spoke with a park ranger who said the hike was dangerous and likely required an ice axe, crampons, and route finding skills, of which I have experience with none. I was a bit discouraged when he called me and told me we may need to avoid the route. But last night, Matt met a group of guys who had just completed the route and they said it wasn’t bad at all. Based on that, we’ve decided to give it a go. It seems insignificant, but it’s a 3 day trip that we’ve been planning for quite some time and the views can make or break it, so I was really excited to hear we’d be taking our chances.

Soon I will be lying in bed, excited and anxious for the trip and worried that I’m forgetting something (hopefully not my passport). I’ll wonder how Scout is doing with the new sitter. Once I fall asleep, I won’t think about Scout again until the trip is over.

June 30, 2017, ~1:30am MDT

We finally made it to the hostel. All I’ve done today is travel. The 6:20am EST bus to the subway to another bus to LGA airport. A flight to Toronto, a transfer to Calgary. A shuttle to my rental car. I drove the rental car from Calgary to Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta where I met Matt. I hopped in Matt’s car and we drove from Waterton to our hostel in Glacier for the night. We stopped to pick up a 6 pack along the way and drank it in the hostel.

The best part of the day was seeing Matt for the first time in Waterton. The Waterton Lakes NP is beautiful; we saw a couple of bears while we were driving through it. Driving through Glacier was awesome also. We took a famous road, Going to the Sun Road, to get to the hostel, and even though it was getting dark, I was able to appreciate the beauty of the park. There wasn’t a worst part of the day, although 19 consecutive hours or travel is less than ideal. Now it’s time for bed as we’ll be up around 8am to start the excursion. I’m too tired to be excited/nervous.

June 30, 2017, ~9:30pm MDT

Today was our first day on the trail. We left the hostel around 10am, picked up ice axes and started the hike around 1pm. We got to camp around 5pm after hiking ~7 miles. From 5 to 9:30, we hung out at the campsite. I took a lot of shit out of my backpack and then put it back in; and then tied it up so bears wouldn’t eat it; then I took it down to get my food out to make dinner. Then we went to set up the tent so I had to tie up my stuff again. Then I took my stuff down again so I could brush my teeth. A whole lot of nonsense really.

Oh yeah, we talked to a freak for a while. She hiked the Pacific Crest Trail last year which is ~2,700 miles and was just starting the Pacific Northern Trail which is ~1,200 miles (she did about 25 miles per day). Very nice girl though, very impressive. She was doing this all by herself. I wonder if she gets lonely.

The best part of the day was surviving it, and not losing anything…like my passport. Matt’s company has been awesome, we’ve had a lot of laughs and are getting along great. The worst part of the day was the hike itself. There was a ton of brush which made it tricky to walk, a lot of mosquitoes, and the views were just OK. I also don’t love all of the administrative bullshit (i.e. putting up my bag and taking it down 20 times, always feeling like I’m forgetting something, etc.) which comes along with backpacking, but hopefully that will improve as a I get into a routine and have a better handle on what I’m doing. Lessons learned: tie shoes tighter—ankles weren’t very well supported; don’t let feet get wet…blisters! Things to buy: eye mask for sleeping, hand sanitizer.

July 2, 2017, 6:21am

I just woke up from a very vivid dream. I was with a girl in her bedroom and all of a sudden the boat that we were on started taking in water so I hurried out of her room and made it to the top of the boat. The boat was going down until there was only the top of the boat left above water, like in Titanic, except that it was moving forward and I could steer by putting my hand in the water and using it like a rudder. I saw a sign for Home Depot of Jersey City so I steered that way. As the boat sank, I jumped in the water. A crew man who was standing in the water gave me a raft. I climbed in and then I woke up.

July 2, 2017, 7:05am

Matt’s up!

The views hiking yesterday were much better than Day 1; in fact, they were beautiful. They were similar to the views in Cascade Canyon in Grand Teton NP, but didn’t have quite the same impact on me. Possibly because this isn’t my first hike ever.

The best part of the day yesterday was the views. I got a lot of great pictures. Also, can’t forget hanging out at Lake Francis with Matt. That’s probably the best view we’ve gotten so far although there have been plenty. We skipped rocks, Matt went for a very brief swim, we chatted, laughed and filtered water too. The worst part of the day was the 2,000 ft. incline in ~2 miles. Matt beasted it and I was hurt. I need hiking poles.

July 2, 2017, 9:05am

Breakfast is done and camp is largely packed. Onto Goat Haunt now, followed by the 2:25pm ferry back to Waterton Lakes. We’ll finish up a day earlier than planned, since the skeeters are brutal and we’ll get to do a day hike tomorrow. We’ll stay in the hostel tonight. I’m looking forward to a bed, a shower, and no bugs.

July 2, 2017, ~12:00pm

Matt and I just saw a large black bear on the trail, maybe 25 yards away. I wasn’t scared at first, but then it moved, and I got a good look at how big it was and how quick it was. I was shaken up a bit. It was awesome.

On July 3, Matt and I did a 10 mile out and back day hike to/from Iceberg Lake which was beautiful. We said our goodbyes and I was already looking forward to seeing him again in August for the Wind River Range expedition with Kyle. Looking back on my first backpacking trip, there are a lot of important things I learned. I learned to stay organized, to use my compression straps to keep the pack comfortable on my body and allocate weight properly, how to apply moleskin to blisters, how to use the jet-boil and cook up Mountain House, how to set up and take down camp (still a work in progress), and how to deter bears, just to name a few. Matt was an excellent leader and teacher. He was patient and let me make some mistakes on my own which helped me to learn. I can’t say how grateful I am that my first backpacking trip was with him.

I also found that hiking adheres to the delicate principle that what you put in, you get out. A lot of things about backpacking suck. Mosquitos suck, sleeping on the ground sucks, eating oatmeal, peanut butter, tuna and Mountain House everyday sucks. Traversing miles of wilderness, surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty is inspiring. The solitude that comes with it, and time it allows for internal reflection and to be free from external disturbance is invaluable. Spending three days 1 on 1 with a close friend is wonderful.

I was also reminded of the value of close friends. Close friendship is one of the few things that doesn’t adhere to that delicate principle. You spend your childhood having fun with and getting to know someone. Then you leave for college and see each other 5-10 times a year. Then they move to Houston and you see them just a couple of times a year. You wonder how you’ll get along, what you’ll talk about for four days, and if you’ll want to choke them out by the end of the trip, or vice versa. But that doesn’t happen with close friends. You’re able to pick up right where you left off because of the years of memories and closeness you have. It’s one of the few things that offers us joy, without the skeeters.

It was an absolute pleasure, Matt. I hope you get everything out of the trip that you’re looking for. I’ll see you in Wyoming.

Frank

After meeting Daniel and Jonathan my first night in Glacier, it inspired me to stop paying for sleeping.  I have the advantage of a bed in my Subaru, why don’t I take advantage of it.  While it may be easy to tell that someone is sleeping in my car due to the shades not providing 100% coverage and every time I roll over my car moves, it is not overtly obvious either (like an RV or tent) so I could probably get away with it.  Also, I felt the downside would be a demand to leave so that wasn’t a big deal.

The night of the 28th I decided to sleep in the parking lot of the St. Mary Inn.  It was the night before I had to pick up Frank and the following morning I had to be up at the crack of dawn to get our hiking permit to ensure we got what we wanted. 

I’m sure anyone who knows me would say I have a real aversion to breaking the rules.  I don’t like confrontation or arguments and most of the time I would much rather follow the rules than go through the hassle of getting caught regardless of the consequences. 

The parking lot was bordered by a gift shop and Inn rooms on one side and the Inn office and restaurant on the other. I pulled into to the parking lot and I felt like there was no real risk even though I knew this was not allowed.  I started setting up my bed and I see a woman casing the parking lot with the appearance of a security guard.  Why would this place need security?  We are in the middle of nowhere.  What is she securing?  Is she on the lookout for people sleeping in their cars?  Of course this is my first thought.  I quickly finish with my car and walk to the gift shop where I saw her go in last.  As I walk in, she is walking out and I can see on her black brimmed hat “SECURITY”.  I continue into the gift shop and while I fake-looking at the sweatshirts and magnets I keep an eye on her as she crosses the lot into the Inn Office.  I’m super paranoid now.  I mosey across the parking lot (real cool like, trust me, I wasn’t suspicious at all) and into the Inn Office/ Restaurant where she is behind the counter.  The Office lobby is filled with people on their computers and phones trying to get the last bits of social media and web browsing before the office closes and they will be without service or WiFi for the next 10 hours. I feel like I can’t just turn around and walk back out so I continue into the restaurant and sit down to grab a beer with, again, my eye on the security guard.  Imagine a James Bond type tailing a person of interest, super cool, super suave, not weird at all. 

The security guard heads back out into the lot, I finish my beer and I then head  back out into the parking lot too.  I’ve lost her.  Damn.  Damn, Damn. 

You have to understand that while this is all happening I realize how ridiculous I’m being but I can’t help my paranoia.  When you are by yourself for hours on end you find stuff to do.

I can’t find her anywhere in the parking lot so I very casually walk back to my car, very quickly jump in and stay very still.  I kept imagining her jumping out of bush to knock on my window.  I probably laid there motionless for like 15 minutes.  My mind was racing now, I really needed to sleep tonight because I knew tomorrow was going to be a long day of driving, picking Frank up and driving back across the park.  Where will I sleep if they kick me out of here?  I had to sleep close to here because I had to be first in line to get permits the next morning.  What if I didn’t get the permits because I wanted to sleep for free?  What if they barred me from the park?  I kept thinking how I was going to screw things up for Frank and my trip.  Can you tell how high strung I am?

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night with my racing thoughts.  But nothing ever happened and I was first in line to get permits the next day.  I was there 55 minutes before they opened and 45 minutes before the second person in line.  But when you can’t sleep it is easy to get up I guess. 

The day Frank and I got back from our hike we stayed in the hostel.  That was July 2nd.  I haven’t paid to sleep since.

Matthew

I spent June 27th through July 4th in Glacier National Park.  The park is HUGE.  I think I put about 700 miles on my car just driving around, back and forth, from one side of the park to the other and back again. 

After talking to the guys doing the PNT at the hostel my first night at Glacier, Frank and I decided to move forward with our original plan of hiking from Bowman Lake to Waterton Lake despite what the park rangers were telling me.  If you are looking at a map of the park, Bowman Lake is at the northwestern corner of the park and Waterton lake is at the very top in the middle of the park and the only way to get back to civilization from Waterton Lake is to take a ferry across the border into Canada and end up at the village of Waterton, Alberta (a tiny village inside the Canadian Waterton Lakes National Park).  To make this work, Frank flew into Calgary, rented a car and drove to Waterton.  I crossed the border at Babb, MT and met him in Waterton.

(Note:  Telling the CBP agents that you are just crossing into Canada for a few hours to pick up a friend then cross back tends to instill suspicion.)

I got to Waterton, a few hours early, walked around the tiny town, bought our ferry tickets for the end of our hike and ate dinner.  Frank got in around 7ish, we decided to leave his rental car in Waterton and we drove to the North Fork Hostel in Polebridge, MT.

The next day we woke up drove to West Glacier, MT to rent our ice axes and crampons then drove back to Polebridge and started the hike.  The first day of the hike was honestly not that great.  We trudged through mostly dense forest and even though we were on the edges of Bowman Lake for the entirety of the day we couldn’t see it for most of the hike.  We also couldn’t stop moving because every time we did, the mosquitoes started attacking us. 

We arrived at our campsite around 6 and took care of the necessary things; make/eat dinner, setup camp, make water, get in tent to avoid mosquitoes.  It was also at this time that Frank mentioned the ferry tickets which I immediately realized I had left in my car at the trailhead.  Shit.  We would have to buy tickets again.  (But hey, we remembered those passports.  Frank went through his bag at least 3 times to make sure he had it.  It was there every time.)

The second day was much better.  The hike was much more open allowing for great views as we crossed over Brown Pass.  We saw Hole in the Wall waterfall which is a 700 foot waterfall.  This is all Frank wanted to see the whole hike.  We ended the second day at Lake Francis where we had the whole campsite to ourselves.  There was another great view of a waterfall right out our campsite flowing into Lake Francis which was an unexpected bonus for us.  I took a “shower” in Lake Francis before we made dinner and turned in for the night.  The mosquitoes were also pretty bad the second night and we decided to cut our hike a day early and get the ferry a day early to head back to the hostel.

The final day we hiked from Lake Francis to the Waterton Ferry.  With about 1/2 mile left in our hike Frank called out my name forcing me to stop in my tracks.  He motioned to the right of the trail and there about 30 yards off the trail was an adult black bear.  I moved slowly back to Frank who had already, quickly grabbed the bear spray, and we stood in awe of this creature who was hanging out eating.  It noticed our presence and took off parallel to our path about 20 yards then stopped again.  You cannot believe how fast these things move when they want to.  It moved into a clearing between trees and we could see it clearly.  It… was… HUGE.  I’ve never seen a bear this close before, always from a distance or inside the safety of a car.  I always had this idea that Grizzlies were huge and Black Bears were smaller, which is true, but this one was way bigger than I would have imagined.  It seemed ambivalent to our presence and continued to just eat/sit/hang out.  We slowly moved along our path and out of its sight.  My heart was pounding after the encounter.  I’m glad we saw it but I’m glad it was at the last 1/2 mile instead of the first where we probably would have been on edge all trip.  We were able to get on the 2:25 ferry and make it back to Waterton crossing the USA/Canada Border as we crossed the lake.  I assume not too many people cross into Canada via this means.  I got to check the “Marine” box on the Customs form in regards to how I was traveling.  Never done that.

Overall, it was a very successful hike.  Not too grueling, I got to see some great views, and the company wasn’t half bad either.  It was Frank’s first overnight hiking trip so he was relying on me to show him the ropes.  Not sure how well I did at teaching him what needed to be done but we survived so there is that to hang my hat on.  “Hey, Mom, Frank didn’t die!  WOOT!  WOOT!”

That night we drove all the way back to the hostel and stayed the night.  The following day we picked up my car and drove to the Many Glacier part of the park to complete a day hike to Iceberg Lake.  After we got back to the cars we said our goodbyes and Frank headed back to Calgary.  I ended up spending one more night in Glacier before heading to Banff.  The next day when I crossed the border it was my 6th border crossing in the last 6 days.  They decided to stop me this time, made me get out of the car and go inside for further questioning.  Although, I had nothing to hide, it was still a disconcerting experience.  They asked me a few questions then took my passport and had me go wait in a waiting room while they did “something”.  After waiting for about 10 mins they told me I was free to go.

Spending the time with Frank was great.  I can’t remember the last time we spent this much one-on-one time together but it was great experience.  Living away from home for these passed 8 years had led me to new experiences, new cities and meeting great friends but there is something about childhood friends that can’t be replicated.  We know each others parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins and when we talk about these people I have a personal connection to all of them.  Memories of growing up in the other’s home and knowing their HOME phone number by heart; (How many phone numbers do you know anymore?) these are weird connections that are special and show the length and strength of a relationship.  20+ years in someone’s life will produce a lot of memories and nostalgia and I’m looking forward to 20+ more.  Thanks for joining me Frank.  It was an unforgettable experience.

Matthew

Sooooooo, like the front page says this is a work in progress and I’ve never claimed to be an expert at traveling, hiking and especially blogging but I just figured out I could post from my phone. 

Hahaha. I feel stupid for just figuring that out now. Now I can post as long as I have mobile service and don’t need a coffee shop. 

Great success

Matthew

Also, you can follow my instagram at “realtripping”.  You should just be able to click the instagram icon at the bottom of the page and go right there.

I arrived into Glacier National Park on 6-27-17.  I stopped by the Ranger Station to try to figure out if Frank and I could do the hike we had planned on doing where the short answer was “no” and so I spent quite a while there trying to find a different route which proved very difficult because all of the mountain passes were still covered in snow and unpassable which really restricted where we could go.  I found a decent alternative, left the Ranger station and decided to try a hike to Avalanche Lake before heading to the hostel for the night.  I started the hike late, around 7PM, and decided to hike until 8:05 which would give me time to get back to my car and drive to my hostel before sunset which was around 9:30PM that day. 

Around 8PM I ran into Daniel (Not his real name) walking back towards the parking lot.  The first thing he said to me was, “I hope you are not planning on making it to the lake”.  I responded I was planning on turning soon but was going to see if I could make it to the lake first.  He told me I was only about halfway there so I figured it was best to turn around now and walk back with him but not before he took me around one more curve where I saw my first elk of the trip.

He was probably in his mid twenties and as we walked back to the cars I learned that he recently just got out of the Navy where he was an engineer on a submarine for the last 5 years in Georgia.  He was driving from Georgia to Portland to start his new job.  He was not enthused about this new job as an engineer and told me his true passion was scuba diving.  When he wasn’t on the submarine he was working at a dive shop and had completed the requisite dives and certifications to be a diving instructor.  He was planning on working in Portland until January then move to the Caribbean to work full time as a diving instructor.

I mentioned that I just recently got certified and he said he was planning on going diving the following day in the park and had enough gear for two people in his truck.  He invited me to join him and which I accepted.  He said he was sleeping in the parking lot at the hotel at Lake Mcdonald and that the dive was in Lake Mcdonald so be there around 8AM. 

I asked about him sleeping in the parking lot and he responded that he had traveled from Georgia to Montana sleeping in parking lots of National Parks over the last 10 days and hadn’t paid once for sleeping.  He figured this is federal land and his taxes pay for him to sleep anywhere in them.  (Eh, whatever works for you)  He would park his F250 Diesel truck in some parking lot, crawl underneath his scuba gear and fall asleep.  I felt like such a naive, idiot.  I built this car to sleep in and yet I was paying to sleep in places meant for RVs.  How much money had I wasted over the last three weeks?

I left him in the parking lot with the expectation of seeing him the next morning.  I never saw him again.

When I got to my hostel that night I met several guys who were 2 days into their trek of the Pacific Northwest Trail.  This trail runs from Glacier National Park all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  Lucky for me, these guys just walked the path that Frank and I had planned to hike but in the reverse direction and they said there was one part that was a little tricky but if you had an ice axe, you would be fine.  This first person account is what led Frank and I to complete our original route.  (When we went through 4 days after them, we probably didn’t even need ice axes but since I had one, I used it).

Three of these guys, Will, Ian and Erik, went to college together and look to be recent graduates.  They invited me to play a board game with them before they headed out to to their tents for the night.  The game was Carcassone which I had never heard of.  It is a map building game where you pull tiles extend the map and place your pieces to earn resources and points.  I won, NO BIG DEAL! 

Jonathan was another guy staying at the hostel that night and the only other guy actually sleeping in a bunk as the PNT guys were all sleeping in their tents out back.  Jonathan looked several years younger than me and as per usual we started a conversation about our travels.  He was on a 10 day vacation where he drove from Orange County to spend a week in Glacier NP.  That night was his last night in Glacier before he was starting the 20 hr drive back to Southern California.  The last thing he was going to do was see sunrise at Bowman Lake which was about 30 mins from our hostel.  I invited myself along. 

When I told him what I was doing he responded with something like, “Well, I hope you find whatever it is you are looking for.” Obviously, this is a notion that I have spent time thinking about.  What causes someone to drop everything, quit their well-paying job, leave their established life to go live out of a car.  I’ve never really come up with a good answer.  Am I looking for a purpose, a job, a calling, something I’m interested in, relaxation, an experience, a challenge?  All of those things?  None of those things?  I try not to think about it because then I start thinking about getting to the end and looking back and realize this was all a waste.  That nothing came out of this and I’ll be back working in some office doing the responsible thing, living a life.  I guess if nothing else I’ll have some cool pictures I can put up.