Day Five of the Hike

Talk about grizzly country! Every nature documentary I've ever seen shows mountain slopes with fallen logs. The desperate grizzly pops out and destroys an elk. Well, I'm less of a match than an elk and there I was, tromping through bear central. There was nothing to do but admire the beauty, hope you don't die, and walk on. It's a refreshing perspective for sure.

Mile after mile of spruce slopes. Up into the cool air and then back down into the humid mosquitoes. Over and over. I started looking forward to the extra exertion exacted by hills because up was always the correct direction. Up out of mosquitoes and back into Montana. We hiked up above the mountain lakes. My waist adjustment on my pack now cinched to the tightest possible setting. I was down several pounds. We just couldn't eat enough because we were always walking!

I rounded the bend and discovered a crystal clear mountain pond. This was surely the spot for our afternoon rest.

I started to realize that my usual lead on Angie was shrinking. I was faster at first, but maybe her experience or her hiking poles gave her impressive endurance. I was wearing out faster, but only I knew it for now. I was hungry all the time but I knew that we didn't have enough food. I got used to the mainly empty stomach and I still think that a good fast clears the mind.

We got a little turned around at some point and wandered into a beaver swamp. I found some poor cowboys lasso and decided it would be a perfect souvenir. After all, I had cows at home. We made our way back out of the swamp and course corrected. I felt some sadness realizing that the trip was ending. I would soon be going back to the world of talking people and confusion. Every motivation for every action seems so pure in the wilderness.