A few alternate titles for this post include: 1) The Misadventures of Blind Smoke, 2) Frantic Planning and Majority Execution, or 3) Ow, My Feet.
We awake Monday to more packing; a single truck load comprised of all of Max’s possessions (I’m not the only one!) to send to the new house before our trip. All moved in, we packed up the trunk with all the gear for the trip, and set off on the 3 hour drive to Glacier National Park.
The drive was beautiful, with the mountains slowly growing the closer we got. The road became more and more winding, feeling like the track of a termite eating through the country. We were kept entertained with a movie, though the audio was more important as our eyes were glued to the landscape and its infinite beauty. A quick stop for some Mexican food, a kind of last real meal for a few days, before we made it to the park. Not knowing where anything was, a quick stop at the visitor center pointed us to the permit office.
We arrived at the permit office at 4:33, with the sign out front reading that they would soon close at 5 pm. But upon entering, we found that they stopped issuing permits for the day at 4:30.
3. F*&@ING. MINUTES.
It didn’t help that our original itinerary was completely booked. Thinking quickly, we frantically tried to plan a new trip before the 5pm deadline, but to no avail. We then opted for a more efficient method. Knowing that the visitor center had Wi-Fi, the availability chart was a simple online table, and having brought my laptop for the movie, we were graced with a 1 hour extension to figure out our trip. Thanks to some excel magic, all the campsites with 2 plots available for both us and friends of Max’s were found and plotted over the course of the next three nights. Color coding the map for each day, it became a terriblely coded rainbow that we could read, trying to connect the scattered dots.
With a variety of routes possible, some including inclines and mileages that sounded borderline sadistic (thinik, 18 miles, 3000 feet of elevation gain) we found a route that would span the 4 days and 3 nights we had. It fit all of our requirements and would give us beautiful views along the way and at every stop. The plan was as follows:
Day 1: Hike 8 miles with 2000 feet of elevation gain, sleep at Lincoln Lake Campground.
Day 2: Hike 16 miles with 500 feet of elevation gain, sleep at Harrison Lake Campground.
Day 3: Hike 13.8 miles with 450 feet of elevation gain, sleep at Lower Nyack Campground.
Day 4: Hike 5.8 miles out and back to civilization.
If you know anything by now, it’s that nothing goes according to plan, ever, but at least we had something for the permit office.
With a plan in hand, we faced our next issue: where to sleep tonight. Fortunately, I had some recent experience with this area, and it was only 6 pm. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my handy dandy road atlas, nor cell signal. But, needing to rent a satellite phone from the local gear shop, I knew they would have an atlas and some good advice on where to sleep for free for the night.
We wandered down the highway, making a few wrong turns and not so good guesses, but finally found a campsite at dusk that would suffice for the night. Kristin and I would take my tent, and Max would sleep in his truck since his buddies would have the tent he would share, and they had yet to arrive. We typed up directions for Max’s friends, and after lots of wandering around the camp area, Kristin was finally able to eke out enough cell signal to get the message out.
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Calling it an early start might be a misnomer, but with howling alarm clock at 4:45 am, I bolted up, wide awake, not necessarily fully functional. I wandered over to the trunk to wake up Max. In my morning haze, I simply threw open the tail gate to wake him up, and in doing so probably took a few years off his life. He jumped awake, screaming and in a panic. But slowly realizing what was going on, he calmed down, I apologized profusely, and went to wake up his friends, a bit more gently.
We packed up camp, and bolted for the permit office. Though they opened at 7, the earlier we arrived there, the better chance we would get the itinerary we had thrown together the previous day and not have to frantically re-plan again. Arriving at a quarter before 6, we were shocked to find 2 more people ahead of us. Then we found that there was in fact 2 more groups ahead of them, one of whom arrived at 3 in the morning to get in line.
Definition: dedication.
Confident in our plan, Max’s friends weren’t, and they began to plan their own trip. So much for combining resources and having a fun group trip. Though after just the morning conversation and learning of their experience in the back country, or extreme lack thereof, we were glad to not have to deal with them. With loose conversation and warm oatmeal to kill the time, the permit office opened, and we got our itinerary easily; a quick warning that we would be crossing multiple rivers and a bear safety video, we set off for the trail head.
Our trip was a one way hike, no loop. Max’s friends were kind enough to drop off his truck at the ending trail head for us before they started their trip. The vast majority of the first days elevation gain was in the first 2 miles of the hike. Exhausted after just an hour of hiking straight uphill, we wondered if the next days 16 miles would kill us. Conversation was on and off, but spirits remained high, and jokes ran rampant. Stopping for lunch at a meadow with a great view made for the perfect peak to the already long day.
We wandered into the camp area extremely early, around 3 pm, with plenty of energy and daylight left to explore Lincoln Lake, set up camp and chow down. Only one other person there, he gave us a small hello, but seemed none too chatty. We went to explore the lake and jump in to wash off the day’s grime. With a bit of delicate hopping around the rocky shore, some fallen trees gave us quick entrance to the deeper parts of the glacial lake. A quick strip down to our skivvies, because there’s no shame in the wilderness, with a slow wade in to acclimate, and we were golden.
So cold, but so good.
The barely above freezing water of Lincoln Lake quickly numbed our bodies, but damn did it feel good. My knees were aching and the natural ice bath felt amazing! Following Max’s lead, I dove in full body, still a shock, but completely worth it. I jumped out and we hung out on the dead tree to sun bathe in an attempt to air dry both ourselves, and soaking wet underwear.
Dry bodies and high spirits, we attempted to get a closer look at the water fall, but were quickly stopped by stomachs yelling louder than this morning’s alarm, and headed back to camp to chow down. And wow, did we chow down!! Thanks to a freeze dried meal and a fellow camper sharing some “summit gummies” we were more than satisfied.
Camp set up, with Max showing off his Eagle Scout skills, I quickly passed out while Max and Kristin stayed up; it was only 730 after all. I awoke at 11 to a dark and clear night. A few loud whispers to Max and Kristin to see the stars, only Max was game. Another unreal night of star gazing, seeing the Milky Way again with the silhouette of the surrounding mountains towering above us. True beauty and bliss.
