So I am sitting here in East Glacier Park, Montana for the next day and a half to start hiking the Continental Divide Trail starting just below the Canadian Border at Chief Mountain. Both Spins and myself applied and reserved our permits for camping through Glacier National Park today and because there are limited sites and most CDT hikers are starting this week, the first few campsites were reserved until the 19th so we wait.
Traveling to here was a tiring adventure in itself so a few extra days of R&R are more than welcomed! I took a 12 hour train ride from Buffalo to Philly to visit my family and see my youngest brothers high school graduation then jumped on an early flight Sunday morning to Kalispell, Montana which is 87 miles southwest of East Glacier. We arrived at the Kalispell airport around lunchtime and started surveying our options on how to get to East Glacier because we flew in without any plans on how to get there (the usual). The only rental car company that provides service to East Glacier informed me that they would not sell me a rental because they had low inventory at the airport. Apparently they didn't want my money....the taxi service was a steep $140 to East Glacier that I wasn't willing to pay. We mulled around and then came up with two options, taxi to the town of Whitefish and then amtrack to East Glacier or hitchhike strait to Glacier from the airport. I got my thumbs stretched out and ready to go!!
After twenty or thirty minutes a wonderful couple from Columbia Falls (about 20 minutes north of the airport) picked us up and we asked for the shorter ride to West Glacier (only 30 miles from the airport) and would reevaluate our situation from there. They were out scenically driving around because the weather here is GORGEOUS a dry sunny 75 degrees! After talking for a while they offered to drive us the whole way to East Glacier and we also got to stop at Goat Lick crossing where I saw a mountain goat up in the hills. I'm fairly certain it won't be the last I see either when in the park. I just would like to give a super huge THANK YOU shout out for the ride to East Glacier it made life so much easier. So now I sit eating as much as possible, anticipating the trail ahead.
Traveling to here was a tiring adventure in itself so a few extra days of R&R are more than welcomed! I took a 12 hour train ride from Buffalo to Philly to visit my family and see my youngest brothers high school graduation then jumped on an early flight Sunday morning to Kalispell, Montana which is 87 miles southwest of East Glacier. We arrived at the Kalispell airport around lunchtime and started surveying our options on how to get to East Glacier because we flew in without any plans on how to get there (the usual). The only rental car company that provides service to East Glacier informed me that they would not sell me a rental because they had low inventory at the airport. Apparently they didn't want my money....the taxi service was a steep $140 to East Glacier that I wasn't willing to pay. We mulled around and then came up with two options, taxi to the town of Whitefish and then amtrack to East Glacier or hitchhike strait to Glacier from the airport. I got my thumbs stretched out and ready to go!!
After twenty or thirty minutes a wonderful couple from Columbia Falls (about 20 minutes north of the airport) picked us up and we asked for the shorter ride to West Glacier (only 30 miles from the airport) and would reevaluate our situation from there. They were out scenically driving around because the weather here is GORGEOUS a dry sunny 75 degrees! After talking for a while they offered to drive us the whole way to East Glacier and we also got to stop at Goat Lick crossing where I saw a mountain goat up in the hills. I'm fairly certain it won't be the last I see either when in the park. I just would like to give a super huge THANK YOU shout out for the ride to East Glacier it made life so much easier. So now I sit eating as much as possible, anticipating the trail ahead.
Say hello to Montana for me. Beautiful place. My thoughts are with you CJ and can't wait for updates and maybe a picture or two. <3
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