Spontaneous. I guess that is what we are. The day after we arrived in Missoula we headed up to Glacier National Park. We didn't have a plan and didn't have any idea what to expect. We showed up at the ranger station to get our backcountry passes and told him we wanted to spend three days in the backcountry so please send us in that direction. He directed us to this small room in the back of the ranger station to watch a short video on the dangers of bears and what to do if you encounter one. The video did its duty because it thoroughly scared the shit out of both of us. But we persevered. It was late afternoon by the time we got to the ranger station so the first night we car camped and did a day hike to some beautiful waterfalls. We got up early the next morning armed with our bear spray (industrial strength pepper spray) and 40 pounds of water and food. This was a point of contention between us because he had never been backpacking and he didn't understand that even 5 pounds makes a huge difference on the bottom of your feet. He wanted to eat like a king and I was going to let him learn his lesson. We hiked in 10 miles to Glenns Lake and by the time we got to Glenns Lake I have never heard someone complain more. We stopped every hour so he could rest his back (trust me, he will never live this down:) But to his credit for the next two days we ate like kings and queens. We pitched our tent, read 8 chapters in our book before the sun went down. We like to read out loud to each other switching the reader every chapter. That way we can still read and spend time together. The sun went down and we went to sleep. We fell asleep quickly after our long hike. At about 3 in the morning I get a tap on my shoulder and a voice whispering in my ear "I don't want you to get scared or move abruptly but there is something outside our tent playing with our bottles of water". Immediately my heart starts to race and we both hug in the middle of the tent. He hands me the swiss army knife and he has the bear spray. The wind is howling and all we want is the sun to come up. Our imagination is going wild and all we can think of is this beast that is outside our tent and about to maul us. We stay together for the next hour and finally I realize that we hung our backcountry pass on the outside of our tent and that is what was making the scratching noise. False alarm!
The next day we took a couple of day hikes and saw some bear skat. When we get back to camp I was making my way to the pit toilet and I turn the corner and there is a grizzly cub right by the pit toilet and I am ten yards away. I immediately turn around and the bear scurries off. After that encounter I felt much better about the bear situation because they really are scared of humans and don't want any trouble.
We made our way back in about half the time because of the all the food that we ate. I had an amazing time not seeing a car for three days. I love the feeling I have when I make it back to the car having not showered for four days and being tired and sore. I can't wait for our next adventure into the backcountry. He caught the bug. Sweet!
