Hiking

As I referred to on the first Glacier page our total mileage for the backpacking portion of the trip was 40 miles and we did approximately 7 miles a day. Every day included some kind of vertical gain, when you get your backpacking permit the vertical gain and drop are calculated for each portion of the trip. So every morning I would make sure take a peek at what was in store and was easily excited if I saw a 0 next to the gain. I soon learned however that the number was completely deceptive...since there was always some kind of uphill walk...they forget to mention that rolling hills are not included in the elevation calculation...hmmph! The biggest gain that we had in a single hike was Day 3, the infamous Two Medicince Pass Day 3, we did 3000 ft. in 4 miles...without a pack no problem...with a pack....well at least we had plenty of Power Bars to go around. The scary part was that our guide Dan must have been carrying about 65 - 70 lbs....go Dan!!! Well we made it and the view made the hike so worthwhile...it was just amazing...

All of the hikes were great and I got to see so many things. The first couple of days we were surrounded by forest and trudging through plants and then we entered into a sub-Alpine environment. Our last three hikes were to lakes, beautiful lakes....we camped at one called Upper Two Medicine on the last night....just spectacular and the water felt great...and we practically had the place all to ourselves. The last night was actually pretty funny...after an afternoon of nothing but sun, some clouds rolled in and by nighttime it had started to rain. There was also a mean wind howling through the valley...and the tents were flapping all around...our replacement guide Julie thought our tents were going to blow away, Susan was calling to me asking if I was still there....and then the lightning started...hmmm big lake..Renee's 25 ft away from the big lake...water = good conductor...needless to say all of us got a limited amount of sleep that night.

Lessons Learned

• Pack Light! Pack Light! Pack Light! Did I give that the appropriate emphasis? - I'm going with my smaller bag next time and a new tent..for most of the trip I carried 40 lbs., I'm going to try for carrying only 30 lbs the next time.
• Bee stings aren't that painful - I had never been stung by a bee before this trip...I was stung twice.
• Hydrate - My toughest day was actually day 4 that had a minimal vertical gain...we were hiking in the scorching afternoon sun and I hadn't drank much...well I had some coffee for breakfast...smart huh?
• Pee before going to bed and no tea before bed - trust me you do not look forward to trekking out to the pit toilet at 3 am...even our guide wouldn't do that
• Ignorance can be bliss! - This is in reference to bears...I'm just kidding of course, there is some stuff you should know
• "Hey Bear" - We got very use to Julie, our guide, calling this out...you want to alert bears to your presence...make lots of noise when hiking, hike in groups, if you encounter a bear make noise to scare it away, never look a bear in the eyes, if it charges you..after you freak out...and if you don't have pepper spray...get into the fetal position, cover your head, protect your vital organs and play dead....grizzlies are not people eaters, well at least that's how the story goes.

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