4 Two Medicine 15th June 2025

 Two Medicine 15th June 2025


We rode the Amtrak train from Whitefish to East Glacier.  In itself a whole new experience.  The locomotive and it carriages were tired and yet it held onto a charm with capped conductors, lengthy embarkation and a slow majestic rumble as it snaked along Flathead River.  Our time, just over two hours, was short as the engine pulled its carriages from Seattle to Chicago.  Passengers walked by in their pyjamas as they headed from their sleeper car to breakfast in the observation car.  It was very romantic, lacking the refinement and mystery of an Agatha Christie novel but full of pioneering spirit and wheels of steel.



After a short transfer we arrived at Two Medicine Camp Ground on the East Side of Glacier National Park.  GNP is home to over 700 miles of trails, numerous glaciers and diverse, protected wildlife.  


Quite simply TMC has a campground, a one desk ranger station and a small gift shop nestled at the east end of Two Medicine Lake.  And it was here that Sally and I watched a bear attack video (with some peril), collected our permit for our week’s hike through the Park and sat watching the sun set behind snow capped mountains as a cool breeze kept mosquitoes at bay.    



We tried to imagine how tomorrow, our first nine miles of 3100 would feel, who we would meet what we would see and whether the incessant wet farting would stop.  Since arriving in the US we had eaten an abusive diet of white food which when combined with jet lag caused bloating and discomfort that wouldn’t be pleasant as our buttocks rubbed together with each stride through this majestic wilderness.

Bear Grass


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

14 Sula to Leadore

Image
If during the planning of this journey you had tried to describe to me the beauty that I would see, smell, touch and emotionally connect with, I would have not hesitated in coming to this place.  There was at the time of coming to America significant pressure from friends and peers not to come because of the geo political situation.   But where is here? Here is a place where I realise that religion, politics, and social gossip have no place.  They merely serve as a buffer, a distraction between us and who we truly are.  This sleight of hand we have created takes away our right of existence. To be.  Here in these mountains I am not in a country I am part of the country, an equal to every living thing including those damned mosquitoes that appear when I sit with Sally in the evening to nurse our sores, talk about our day and talk about our tomorrow. 170 miles to new shoes! The map is not the territory   Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were sent by Presiden...
Read more

1 Travel to JFK 12th June 2025

Image
Travel to JFK 12th June 2025 All went to plan.  We returned the hire car that we had been using the past couple of weeks to rental returns at Gatwick dent free and with a battery charge of 80%.  The check in, courtesy lounge, boarding and flight were seamless and smooth.  There were of course a couple of blips.  I had left my headphones at home so bought some new ones, with an old school cable; that would save power on the trail (keeping it positive 😅).  I also hesitated in buying a pair of Oakley sun glasses.  I just couldn’t justify the price, even if it was duty free. The whole flight was fine too.  Norse Atlantic flew 787 Dreamliners with psychedelic jet lag lights which looked pretty and took my mind off the turbulent decent into JFK.  It was 30 degrees and the air was active.  Then the luck ran out on landing and jolts in the temporal force of the Universe began to appear. The gate wasn’t available and so we taxied and spent a lot of t...
Read more

11 Into the Bob

Image
The Bob Marshall Wilderness I’m sitting in a small town America bar.  The town is Augusta MT.  To the sounds of country slide guitar and crescendoing, passionate male vocals I think about the past week.  I think about how to describe the brutal routine and discipline needed to hike 25 miles of mountainous terrain before sunset every day for the past six days.   🎸🎵“So if you have time for a beer or maybe two 🍺 🍺 I’ll tell a short story of blisters, and tea, and how her trail name became Special Agent Sally.” Leaving the one horse reservation town of East Glacier was sad.  Sad to say goodbye to the local people whose lives were dependent on the trade the park brought.  I took a photo of the hostel where Sally and I had stayed and we headed back onto the trail, out of the Reservation and for a while back through Glacier National Park and then onto Summit.   At Summit we took shelter from the wind behind an obelisk, a memorial to Theodore Roosevel...
Read more