Moons in Montana - Part 2

Wednesday dawned far and away warmer than the day before, but still not quite boating weather. Jake had been dying to get back up in to the Park and do some hiking and was in dire need of some buddies to go with him. (Hiking alone, in unfamiliar territory, in bear country is just not safe.) I volunteered, but knew that since I currently have a faithful (and hungry) sidekick, I wouldn't be able to commit to a long hike. We all waffled back and forth long enough to drive Jake nuts and for my dear, kind, magnanimous parents to offer to watch ALL THEIR GRANDCHILDREN (with the exception of my little sucker - that's FOURTEEN children) in order to give us some time together as brothers and sisters. I feel a bit guilty about being so quick to pawn off my children, but I must say having a newborn and three other little children leaves me feeling a little stifled at times. - Not usually, but every once in a while I need a little free time. And who better to spend it with than my favorite people in the whole entire world? My family.

We drove back up to Glacier, headed for the Sperry Glacier Trail. A trail that begins at Lake McDonald and ends at the Sperry Chalet. It's 6.7 miles long (from lake to chalet) and rises over 3400 feet. Not having much hiking experience under my belt, I didn't really have any idea what a 3400 foot rise over 6.7 miles looked like. I was assured by both Jake and my dad that the reason why the trail was so long was because they purposely make the trails in National Parks to be at a level most anyone can do it. With lots of switchbacks and nothing too strenuous. My plan, carrying Violet with me in the Moby wrap - and Kelly's (who is 4 1/2 months pregnant) - was to hike until we decided we were done and then turn around and wait for everyone else back at the lake. Nels, not being much of a hiking enthusiast, was planning on just spending the day with me and making sure that his wife - and more particularly his baby daughter - didn't get eaten by a grizzly. :)

The first two miles of the trail should have been my first clue as to what the rest of the hike would entail, but I think I fit into the "glass half full" category and can't help myself but think that "it's got to get better just around that corner." :) Straight. Up. it went. But hey! we've got to get out of the valley, right? Of course the first of the trail will be straight up. We split into two groups fairly quickly. Jake, Chris, Melissa, Wendie, and Genny going on ahead and Me, Kelly, Nels, Ben, and Alyssa a bit behind. I couldn't help but laugh at our little group. Me - carrying my four month-old baby and my "I haven't been well exercised in over a year" body. Kelly - in awesome shape, but also halfway through her pregnancy with their fifth child. Alyssa - also in great shape, but still dealing with anemia. Ben and Nels - who have spent most of the past two years devoting long, long hours to work in front of a computer screen. Also, Nels carrying not only his camera, but his tripod as well, because if we're going hiking, he's at least going to get some good footage out of it. :)

The hike was beautiful. It really was and I'll keep reminding myself of that. However, most of it was also fairly monotonous. Up. Up. Up. Through the trees, most all of the time. Most trails seem to have beautiful vantage points along the way, where you can see your progress and at least have some gauge of where you're going and how far you've come, but this trail wasn't really like that. I think around mile 4 or 4.5 Kelly and I were feeling like we were about done, but Ben - ever the encourager - kept saying, "Just another 15 minutes." or "The other group has got to be almost to the top, why don't we just keep going till we meet up with them going down." And secretly, in my own mind, I just wanted to get to that place where I could feel like we'd actually "made it" somewhere. I didn't care much about the top, I just wanted to know I'd accomplished something. We ran into a Ranger going down around that point who said that there was a waterfall about 15 or 20 minutes ahead. He also let us know that over the past week a grizzly sow and her cub had been spotted in the area, but hadn't been seen for the past several days. I figured if we could make it to the waterfall, I'd be fine with staying there, taking pictures and either turning around or waiting for the rest of my siblings to meet up with us on their way down. - Besides, we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes in the middle of the forest.

My gorgeous sisters-in-law

Alyssa & Kelly

Violet enjoying a change of scenery with Ben

Fifteen minutes longer, was actually hours longer and the big waterfall we'd been hiking to, while lovely, had no real access to it. The mosquitoes and the belief that something rewarding HAD to be just around the next bend kept us going until finally my wish came true and we got above the tree line. Just a little further and we could actually SEE the Sperry Chalet sitting up on the edge of a magnificent cliff. At this point, I decided that I was done. There was still a mile to go, Violet was getting fussy, I couldn't find her binky, my legs were killing me, and it was all still up-up-uphill.

the Chalet and Restaurant - high, high above

Much to my dismay, at the point I decided I was done -- totally satisfied with my efforts and feeling that just SEEING the ending point was good enough for me -- Nels and Ben decided that if we were going to stop, we should have stopped hours ago. There was no way that either of them were going to see the end without making it there. Gah! Are you kidding me??

A little further on, I sat down again, fully prepared to stick to my guns and sit there on my sweet little rocky ledge and wait for the rest of our group to come down to us, when low and behold we actually SEE our group. At the Chalet. Waving. What a terrible feeling, knowing that having seen us, they were going to wait for us at the top. There was no getting out of going all the way.

I know it sounds boring to read, but rest assured, it was all very dramatic at the time. :)

We finally limped to the top only to have Melissa greet us with a pitcher of lemonade, Jake with an overpriced cookie, and the information that we'd better drink up fast because the restaurant was closing and the waitress was kicking us all out! Seriously?? Good grief.


The view was gorgeous. Absolutely. Having been in the trees 7/8ths of the hike, with no real scenic beauties along the way, Nels was happy to have a reason to have lugged his tripod nearly 7 miles uphill. For the group shot at the end! :)

The lake in the very far away background is where we started.

Upon our arrival at the Chalet, I was able to find Violet's binky buried in the backpack and she promptly fell asleep in my arms. 

We took a few pictures sat down for about 15 minutes on the top of the cliff and then headed out. Needing to beat the sun.

As we got almost exactly to the spot where I'd been determined to sit and wait, we found the hill to the side of the trail dug up in two or three spots. An obvious sign of a bear who'd been looking for roots and bulbs. The dirt was still very fresh and had probably been dug up within the past 20 minutes or less. As we continued down the trail, we followed big bear and little bear tracks for probably more than a mile and a half. All along the trail. Needless to say, I'm glad that my dear husband convinced me that we needed to go all the way to the top. I can just imagine myself sitting in that very spot as Mama and Baby Grizzly came upon Mama and Baby Chick. Thank you, my Love, doing your duty and saving our lives!

From then on, Melissa became our self-proclaimed Nervous Noise Maker. Not wanting to startle Mrs. Grizz by coming upon her unexpectedly, Melissa sang for probably more than two miles continuously, at the tippity top of her lungs. Every song in her head from "The Star Spangled Banner" to camp songs such as "As One Black Bug Bled Blue-Black Blood, the Other Black Bug Bled Blue . . .." Wendie, Alyssa, Genny, and Kelly helped -- with me chiming in for the high notes and gracing all with one charming rendition of "Climb Every Mountain". Melissa kept pestering me to "Sing, Rachel!" but sadly at that point, my poor body had no energy left for singing. It was concentrating quite hard on pick up foot, put it down, pick up foot, put it down . . . .  I'm positive that not only did Melissa single-handedly deter that bear from running into us, but scared it permanently out of the entire canyon! :) I love you, Melissa -- and your nervous singing! :)

Unexpectedly - to me anyway - the hike down the trail was just as (if not more) difficult than the hike up. Not wanting to wake my babe, I carried her laying down in my arms. My feet decided to blister. And rigor-mortis seemed to be settling into all the muscles of my legs. LOL! 

Violet finally woke up about 1.5 miles from the finish line and as both his reward and punishment for organizing this Trail of Tears, I passed her off to my "little" brother. :) 

I cannot stress what an incredible baby Violet is. She happily rode in the Moby wrap almost all the way to the top of the mountain, only getting fussy shortly before we got there - probably as a result of being slightly chilled from being snuggled up to my sweaty bod and from being tired. She fell asleep as soon as I popped her binky in and then slept nearly the whole way down. She was happy for the brief periods that her uncles or daddy carried her and was basically an angel the entire day. Just happy to be with her Mommy. She is just such a sweet little dolly.

We finally reach the trailhead at about 8:30 PM. Four and half hours up - half hour at the top - and three hours down.

Don't we all look happy? :) I love that several of us have fake smiles.

My body was so exhausted at this point that there was no energy for true excitement. :)

We stopped at A&W on the way "home" and what a sight we were!!! I honestly could barely move my muscles - and I know I wasn't the only one. Melissa, Wendie, Genny, Jake, Alyssa, and Chris were in high spirits - looking as if they were ready to just sKiP the rest of the way back. However I hobbled around the restaurant, trying SO very hard (and failing) to not look like an 80 year-old who'd just had a hip replacement, and let's just say that one of our group took the two steps outside A&W backwards because going forward was just too intimidating. LOL!!!

We arrived back at the cabin to find ALL our little babes tucked sweetly into their beds. Grandma and Grandpa had spent the day taking them all to the park, to the lake, on countless four-wheeler rides, and frankly just wearing them all out. 

I still can't believe that I hiked over 13 miles - while carrying Violet. To a large extent, I really overestimate my abilities and I don't know when to quit. I'm retarded like that.  --- On the other hand, I did it. So there.