Road Trip – Omaha to Seattle – Day 6 – Poston, MT to Many Glacier Camp– September 16, 2010

Woke up early and went down to the lake to shoot some photos. It was a bit after sunrise, but it didn't matter anyway, because it was pretty overcast and I couldn't see the sun regardless. This would become a trend.... I got some great photos, however, because the colors are changing for fall and anyone could take a shot with their disposable camera and make it look good in this area. I saw bald eagles, wild turkeys, and deer that just walked right up to the car and posed, basically.
Cooked myself some breakfast on the grill, eggs, bacon, and toast, and tore down camp to head up the road. First, I drove into Apgar, the first southwest entrance to Glacier National Park, and talked to the rangers as to where to camp. They told me the action was on the west side and to go there and talk to the other rangers. So I took the “Going-to-the-Sun Road” all the way from the west side of the park to the continental divide in the middle of the park, Logan Pass. It was a bit rainy the whole time, but by Logan, there was fog everywhere and construction was going on half the road. This is a alpine road, mind you, which generally has little or no shoulder, and the edge is a 1000 ft fall, if not more. Pretty scary in the pouring rain. But, it was absolutely breathtaking. This whole trip to this point has been a rollercoaster of many sorts. I talked to the rangers at Logan and they said the best place to set up camp for me and my situation would be Many Glacier. So I drove another 50 miles to get to Many Glacier camp and set up my tent. It was raining the whole time. I set out to get in a hike before sunset to try and maximize my experience, even though the weather wasn't the greatest. I drive to this amazing hotel situated on a lake near Many Glacier, and find the trailhead to Grinnell Lake. It is about a 6 mile rountrip hike, but I thought I could make it back by dusk, so I went on.
Turns out, I thought I was prepared for a rainy hike, but by the time I was about a mile in , I started to realize that my gear wasn't as rainproof as advertised. But I pressed on. By mile 2, I realized I was the only one on the trail. Bit I pressed on. By mile 3, I realized my “waterproof” boots, definitely not waterproof. I started getting pretty cold. It wasn't all bad, but, after awhile, I was doing it just to do it. The scenery was pretty amazing, but the weather was so poor I didn't bring my SLR along, just my PAS, and got the best pictures I could. I made it back to camp and realized that my clothes, even layered, were completely soaked through, it was still raining, and was about 50 degrees at this point. I got back to camp to find my tent was leaking slightly and tried to fix that issue. I did my best, and stripped off my wet clothes to trade them in for dry ones. That was an amazing feeling. Then I went and sat in my car with the heater cranked up and seriously contemplated breaking down camp and leaving for an early start to Seattle. I didn't. I don't know what is was, but I wanted to feel like it was worth it.