Glacier National Park

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