Monday 9/28/98 - Sperry Campsite: Got to West Glacier last Thursday at 9:30 pm in the pouring rain, and stayed at the Glacier Highland Hotel til this morning, cuz I caught the flu on the train ride out here. Other Amtrak highlights were a long delay to arrest a child molester that told the cops that he was going to a Man/Child Love Festival, and talking to this drunk & paranoid chick nicknamed "Kissee", who looked a little like Meridith Baxter (Birney). She kept insisting that one of the conductors was "Amtrak CIA". This morning, I walked 2 1/2 road miles to Apgar Village to get my backcountry permit. The male Ranger, with a long braid, told me that they don't recommend hiking alone, and going without bear spray, both of which I was going to do. He also informed me that there was no berry crop this year for the bears to fatten up on cuz of a drought, so the bears were in a bit of a frenzy. It's getting dark, so I'll write more soon . . . .

Wednesday 9/30/98 - Reynolds Creek Camp: Where was I . . . . Oh yeah, I hitched to Lake McDonald Lodge and the Sperry Trail trailhead on the Going-To-The-Sun Road, and started my hike at 1:30 pm. 3500' in 6 1/2 miles with some lingering chest symptoms from the flu. I got done climbing after sunset. First 4 miles were relatively easy, I even caught up to a couple, who started an hour before me, but 15 minutes after I passed them, I took a break, and after that, I didn't have any energy at all. The view was great though, cuz I was death marching up into this gigantic bowl, between Edward Mtn. & Mt. Lincoln. Finally I passed Sperry Chalets and made it to my campsite, after briefly getting lost near the chalets. It was getting dark & I wasn't hungry, so I hung my food, set up camp, and went almost right to sleep. Woke up at 4 am cuz the condensation in my tent was raining on my down sleeping bag. I got out of my tent, star gazed, and hit up the early 420. I wanted to dry everything out, so I didn't start hiking til 12:30 pm. Almost immediately, I passed this cool little pond, at around 6400' with another 500' yet to climb. When the trail topped out, my first thought was, 'Oh shit, I'm in alot of trouble.' There, before me, was the Continental Divide, in the form of Mt. Jackson, at 10,052'. I was awe-struck. I just stared, wishing I was up there, and a bit thankful that I wasn't. Thought I had all downhill from there, cuz I misread my Backcountry Permit, but I ignored that for a while, until I got to the trail junction that led to Lake Ellen Wilson, a beautiful huge emerald of a glacial lake. It took alot of effort not to blow off my schedule, which was chiseled in plastic on my Backcountry Permit. The winds picked up, as I hiked up into the cloud blowing over Gunsight Pass. After a break at a warming hut at the top of the Pass, it was all downhill to Gunsight Lake Campsite, a very long downhill. The suspension bridge, that crossed the the outlet of Gunsight Lake, was already dismantled for winter, so I was going to have to ford it, and once I figured that out, I just barrelled across the creek. Went in up to my knees, plus a lot of splashing around, so my boots were soaked and so was the bottom of my shorts & boxers. Wet boots suck! Later, while pumping my water, (not a bad taste for lake water) I saw a way across the creek that probably would have kept me dry. Oh well, it was more fun to cross it without the added weight of my brain. I should add that there were clouds as far as the eye could see, at the 6000' level, which wasn't all that far, being surrounded by mountains. I got to cooking right away, ate, set up camp, and quickly went to sleep. In the morning, the clouds had dropped to 5000', and I was at about 4800', it was eerie. The rainfly to my tent was drenched, but at least my down sleeping bag was dry. I guess I started packing leizurely, at around 7:30 am, and hit the trail by 9 am. With only 4 1/2 miles to hike to here, I took my time and sang while I hiked, cuz there was alot of bear scat on the trail, and I was a bit spooked. Was done hiking by 11:30 am, so I set up my tent to dry out and been sitting on the bridge over Reynolds Creek ever since. I'm surrounded by mountain peaks, it's so cool!

Thursday 10/01/98 - Many Glacier Backcountry Campsite: Woke up feeling like crap. Took my food bag down from the bearbag hanging contraption, only to find that some little beasty chewed into my food bag, and destroyed 2 of my breakfasts. It was probably a squirrel. Yellow blazed today. I was supposed to hike this secion twice, according to my Backcountry Permit, so I decide to hitch today, in an effort to kick what's left of this flu, plus it's supposed to rain for the next two days, which I had scheduled to day hike around the Many Glacier area. At least I had 1/2 a nice day to play around here. If it hasn't started to rain tomorrow morning, I'm going to try to climb up to Grinnell Glacier & back.

Monday 10/05/98 - Red Eagle Lake Campground: So Friday morning I got up early to hike up to Grinnell Glacier, when after a half mile, the clouds burst loose with a heavy downpour. I quickly headed back the way I came. The rest of Friday & Saturday, it rained and freezing rained, until a little before sunset on Saturday, although it did snow some about 750' above where I was camped. Read "Cold Mountain", a good Trail book. Then a little after sunset on Saturday, while I was reading and the wind was whipping around from every which way, I was suddenly brought out of my reading trance by a low deep grunting noise that sounded like it was real close to my tent, and I knew immediately that it wasn't my stomache. When I heard it again, I frantically put out my cigarette, and began to sweat & shiver in fear. "Please go away grizzly bear," I weakly & meekly whispered twice. I turned on my flashlight and moved the beam slowly around my tent. After a brief pause, that seemed an eternity, I heard what ever it was move heavily away though the surrounding brush. It took me another 5 minutes to get up the nerve to stick my head out of my tent to see if the coast was clear. I don't know if it was truely a bear or what, but that animal instinct inside of me came alive, like it's never done before, and it told me it was a bear. Close call for my heart, which hasn't pounded that hard since I quit coke over a decade ago. Yesterday was windy, but mostly sunny, as I walked one mile of road, just past the Many Glacier Hotel, to hitch to the St. Mary enterance to GNP, cuz I wanted to pick up some Bear Spray, plus I needed to get a new Backcountry Permit. Everyone I talked to on the way to the hotel told me that the'd been watching a bear all morning, but it was gone by the time I got there. Got a pretty easy hitch to St. Mary and ate at the Curly Bear Cafe. Food was OK, but pricey. The outfitter was in the same building and they had Bear Spray, but it was bulky, heavy, and $43 to boot, so needless to say, I didn't buy any. I seemed to have survived my bear scare, so I convinced myself that a "real man" shouldn't be afraid of no bear. Yeah, right. At the St. Mary Ranger Station on Going-To-The-Sun Road, I saw the prettiest little Rangerette I ever have laid my eyes on, and I wished I could have laid a lot more than my eyes on her. She had a smile that could last a lifetime, and to me there's nothing sexier than a great smile on a women. After getting a new Backcountry Permit, I headed to St. Mary Campground to set up camp, then headed back to the Curly Bear for some more gluttony, and to see that smiling face a couple of more times. After over indulging my stomache, I headed to St. Mary Lake, and found an area somewhat protected from the wind, and it was 4:20 pm . . . . When it got near time for sunset, I headed back to the campground, and took a small trail up to an old water tank, and climbed up on it to watch the sun set behind a ridge. Pepsi 1 liter bottles up here don't have the wide mouth, if they're changing the Big Slam bottle, I'm gonna riot! Yesterday was really windy, but this morning they were on a rampage. Steady 35 miles an hour, with gusts up to 60 is my guess. Waved so-long to my new heart's desire on my way to the Red Eagle Lake Trail, which later became the CDT. Thought about that smiling love goddess of a Ranger all day while hiking, and the views weren't that bad either. Took it real slow, on really easy trail, but my leg strength still hasn't recovered from the flu, and I know I've got a couple of harder days than this to come. Once the trail hit the woods though, I was pretty well protected from the wind. Had to ford Red Eagle Creek twice, cuz both suspension bridges were taken down for the winter. Stayed dry on the first ford, and only got a little bit of water in my right boot on the second one. Haven't fallen on any ford yet in GNP!

Wednesday 10/07/98 - Oldman Lake Campsite: Yesterday was a long hiking day, But it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. Saw my first patches of snow & ice on the trail, but not very much of it. Had 2 fords, but not much happened, except it was a great day to be alive. Today, I got a later start than yesterday, and took a 1 1/2 hour break at Morning Star Lake to watch some birds play around. Then I had a pretty hard climb up to Pitamakin Pass, where I saw this weird squirrel-like creature, with a rats head. At the Oldman Lake Campsite, I met my first 2 Hiker/Backpackers in the backcountry. Cool dudes from Tennessee, who I hung with for an hour at Oldman Lake until after sunset. It was a bit cloudy, cool, & windy today, but the clouds have cleared up now.

Friday 10/09/98 - Two Medicine Campground: Never made it back up to Pitamakin Pass, cuz when I woke up yesterday, my knee told me to stay put, and I'm finally starting to listen to it. It started to drizzle around 10:30 am, and it spritzed for most of the rest of the day, except when it turned to freezing rain & sleet. During a small respite in the weather, I did a little camp maintenance around the privy by digging a water bar, and digging out an area in front of the privy door, so you could actually open the door without pushing or pulling dirt along with it. Two couples showed up around 4 pm, and a half an hour later there was another little break in the weather, long enough to cook & eat dinner outside of my tent. The 2 nights I stayed at Oldman Lake, my only fear was that some tree would fall on me, cuz this campsite was riddled with dead trees, & the winds were howling fiercely. The storm had cleared out by this morning, but wanting to stay somewhat true to my Backcountry Permit, I hiked down to Two Medicine Campground. A nice, easy hike, except the last 2 km seemed more like 2 miles! Set up camp in the closed section of the campground, cuz that's where all the bear boxes were. At sunset, I shot the last of my film at Paradise Point on Two Medicine Lake, and then on my hike back to my camp, I probably saw the best view of my outdoor life. I passed this small pond, just below the lake, and everything in front of me was reflected in it. There was a little ripple on top of the water, and the effect on me was hypnotizing. No photo could have captured what I saw, and lucky for me I didn't have any film left.

Tuesday 10/12/98 - From an Amtrak train: On Saturday, I walked out of Two Medicine Campground with snow falling lightly. Only one vehicle passed me, going in my direction towards MT49 (nine miles away). It was a couple that I had said hello to as I walked through the campground. I stuck out my thumb, and when it became obvious that they weren't going to stop, (not that I was expecting them to stop), I gave them a friendly wave, as is my habit, and they couldn't even wave back. As they sped by, I saw that they were from my home state of New Jersey. Figures. About a minute after reaching MT49, a big pickup with a two story camper cap picked me up. It was the first vehicle to come my way. The dude had been toking up, and offered me some. Told me that he was heading to Vancouver to pick up some righteous seeds. He asked me if I was packing a gun, to which I replied that it's too heavy. He told me that he wouldn't travel alone without one, and showed it to me. Drove me about 50 miles to Columbia Falls, 11 miles from my destination of Whitefish, MT, and within 10 minutes, I got another ride that took me the rest of the way to the Whitefish Train Station. If you don't count the nine miles of road walking, it took me about the same amount of time to hitch, as it would have if I had driven the distance myself! Purchased my ticket home for yesterday, after finding an advertisement for a hostel, 2 blocks from the train station, for only $13 a night. So I had two nights to hit the bars, get my hair & beard cut, & hit the town library to do a little web surfing, but the best part was eating "real" food. That's my least favorite part of hiking, next to not having a shower every morning, the fact that all trail food sucks! I'm on the last leg of my train ride back east. Switched trains at Chicago, where I hit up a couple of bars and ate some more. The roast beef wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, but I couldn't believe how clean Chicago seemed to be. Fall's in full swing right now, so I decided to complete the 45 miles of the AT, in New York & New Jersey, that I have left to really complete the whole thing. Ain't life a bitch! :^)