Day Forty, Glacier National Park Backcountry, MT: The Consequences of the Weather

As I mentioned before, it rained all night during my second night in the backcountry. This was merely a minor annoyance at night, as I had to sleep in my only change of clothes, which were wet.

But by this point everything I own is wet and dirty. Although I had only spent two nights in the backcountry, I had been camping the previous five before that, and it had rained nearly every one of those nights. My tent was getting the worst of it, being completely soaked. Dirt that had been dragged in through the course of the last 2.5 weeks had also turned to mud. Shoes, clothes, hat, and socks were also wet, as was the sleeping bag. In addition to being wet all the time, things were now starting to get heavier simply by the weight of the water.

The third leg of the hike was one of the easiest, at about eight almost entirely downhill miles. The only problem with this was that the first several miles were almost all through shoulder-height ferns (to your left, that is the ‘trail’) meaning that I was literally soaked through and dripping wet within minutes. It’s a pretty depressing feeling to be squishing in your shoes and socks with 7.9 miles to go. My spare pair of socks was hanging on my backpack in an attempt to dry out from the previous day, while I was wearing the socks I had gotten soaked with mud in day one. That was miserable. But the hike itself was still another spectacular experience. The chance to hike through virtually untouched wilderness was priceless. Furthermore, at least my feet – which had been coated with mud and dirt – got a good washing.

Soon, however, people starting coming from everywhere, it seemed; at least 40 people passed me. Finally, exasperated with, “Hi. Hi. Hi.” I asked someone where everyone was coming from. It turns out, the Waterton Lake sightseeing tour had just landed at the American side of the dock. This boat runs from the Waterton townsite, at the opposite, Canadian side of the like, to Goat Haunt, the American port at my present side of the lake. The idea is that you pay about $38 for a boat ride 8 miles down the day, a 2-mile day hike to another lake, and then the 8 miles back up to Canada. Kind of a crappy deal. Shortly after crossing this exodus, I arrived at Goat Haunt Ranger Station (a one-room shack) where I passed through Customs. I was not yet across the border, but I was free to leave the country whenever I wanted.

After Customs, I ran into a ranger who asked me if I had seen any bear activity lately. I told him about a track I had seen across the trail on the way down, but that was it. He said there had been a lot of bears in the area recently, to stay on top of my game, and that he would be checking out my camp in about an hour. When the ranger did come into the camp, he told me that they had seen a large black bear near the station that day, and fresh scat and tracks up the trail where I was heading the next day.

I spent a few hours in camp relaxing in what little sun there was while attempting to dry out and do some reading. Soon some other camp members arrived in camp. Again, it was really great to have people to talk to. These three guys were from Wisconsin and were doing about a week-long backcountry trip similar to the people I had met the night before.

Finally it was a dry night. So we headed back down to the Waterton Lake, (about a mile away from camp down the trail I had come in on, right where the Goat Haunt RS was), to skip some stones and enjoy the water. It was a great night in good company.