Chapter 2: The Untouched Land of Montana
Chapter 2
09/16/2020 - 09/27/2020
09/16
I’ve wanted to do Montana for quite sometime now, so I was super stoked to finally be charting this unknown land. It was hard leaving the land of South Dakota, so I forced myself into another hike!
The 9 hour drive to Great Falls, Montana was a long one boyyy!!! Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Completely dry and empty. Just ranches on ranches on ranches. All of a sudden, an old saloon popped up! I took a break from driving and ordered a shot of bourbon (idk why?? That just came out of my mouth when the bartender asked lol. Usually tequila.) The bartender was the coolest wild west chick ever. My assumption is that she owned the bar. A total badass. I was the only one in the bar and she completely ignored me the entire time. Another couple who were obviously also not from the area popped in. It got more awkward. I went to the bathroom and highjacked it out lol.
Occasionally I would pull off the side and grab a couple pics of the desolate landscape. I stopped at a couple antique stores and bought a cow pelvis and a coyote head :) I really got into collecting bones on this trip lolol. The hazy clouds from the wild fires filled the air. I instantly felt the new danger. It got to a point where I’d be able to stare at the sun and be fine with it because the smoke was covering everything.
I was heading to my friend’s new apartment in Great Falls. I had no idea what to expect because I’ve only met Shane a couple of times back in Philadelphia. His best friend Dewey has also been crashing at his place. We instantly kicked it off. Such great dudes :)
09/17 - 09/18
Shane worked at a local daycare during the day, so Dewey and I literally just drank coffee, smoked, and skated around the town the next 2 days (I bought a longboard at a pawnshop and they taught me how to skate!!) Covid restrictions weren’t as strict as I’ve seen before, so bars and restaurants were in full swing! The first time I’ve sat at a bar in 6 months. It was weird.
09/19
Finally the weekend. The 3 of us were eager to do something because Shane finally had work off. We decided to take the scenic drive towards Helena and camp on Canyon Ferry Lake. We pulled up to an empty spot, tied up the hammocks, started a fire, and explored the surroundings.
09/20
We had breakfast and decided to just drive and see where it took us. Dewey led us onto a dirt road deep into Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. We ended up turning around because the road got extremely bumpy. We found somewhere to hike for the afternoon. Before heading back to Great Falls, we stopped in a town called Craig and grabbed dinner at cute fishing restaurant.
9/21
I decided I was going to head north to Glacier National Park! I said my goodbyes to Shane and Dewey, at least for the time being. I had plans to loop around and come back to Great Falls for a couple more days. Wildfires at the park were out of control. The park’s east side entrance (aka the side I was on) was shut down, so I had to cut through Flathead National Forest and enter on the west. Annoying.
The dry flat land of northern Montana instantly changed into a lush mountainous forest of pine as I headed west. Railroad tracks and rivers ran parallel to the road as I entered the mountains. No service. (From this point forward it was extremely difficult finding service. I mean for the next 5 days I literally had no service. It was a refreshing, yet frustrating.) Luckily, I had a basic itinerary planned out so I didn’t have to look up a lot using the internet.
Lots of roads were shut down due to the fires, so I was limited to hikes on only the western side of the park and along the primary road, ‘Going to the Sun Rd.’ First stop was Bowman Lake! 20 miles of unpaved road. It was super super twisty and always had to peer around the corner and try to to see if another car was coming the other way. Almost crashed a couple of times :)
I hiked barefoot for about 4 miles halfway around the lake. Yes barefoot, the reaction I got from people as they passed me along the trail was hysterical lol. Grounding is the concept of removing your rubber shoes between you and Mother Earth to create an energetic connection. I pushed myself to see if I’d be able to hike barefoot for most of the hikes on this trip. Fully immerse myself with Earth’s energy. I usually pick flowers to press and to put behind my ear while hiking as well. I’m a fein for rocks. Ive collected rocks my entire life, and the rocks out here are ridiculously crazy!!!
I found a place to meditate and then went for a naked swim. I returned to the car and headed out before sunset so I wouldn’t have to drive down the skinny road in the dark. Near the exit of the park was a bakery and pizzeria. I stopped in and had a pastry. Something was telling me not to leave for some reason. I walked around for a bit and decided to backtrack a little and pull into this empty field where I saw a group of girls taking pictures. I asked if I could model their clothing and they said yes!
I ran over to them and they let me try on some jewelry and a couple of jackets. I had no idea where I was going to sleep. The girls told me that I could simply just sleep here. They left and I set up my tent and cooked up some soup. It got cold.
9/22
I think the best feeling in the world is waking up from the cold and stepping outside to see a completely different world. I’m getting butterflies just reliving that feeling every morning. Writing this out in my Philadelphia apartment and time traveling back to when I was fully immersed in the woods gives me the tingles lol. I could have lived out of my car like that for years (maybe buying a bigger vehicle in the future to make it a reality.) I miss it.
I made my usual oatmeal breakfast and headed south into the fog to the West Entrance. Big hike today. I first had to drive as far west as the park allowed me to before the road closed due to the fires. Otokomi Lake. 10.4 miles. Rated ‘Hard’ on All trails. You bet I was gonna make this hike my bitch!! I ended up hiking 6 miles barefoot!! Freezing rain and the terrain was all rocks. As soon as I arrived to the lake, I immediately stepped ankle deep into the freezing lake. My feet were numb enough that it wasn’t a shock lol.
It was unfortunate that I left my food container at Shane’s and my spoon in the car. I packed my leftover pasta into my TEA KETTLE and ate straight from it with my barehands HAHAHA. It was kind of pleasing just dangling my shoeless feet off of a fallen tree and eating without utensils while I overlooked snow capped mountains and a turquoise lake. A simplified feeling..
As I hiked out, a group asked me if I was okay after seeing my shoeless feet lol. I made It about another mile until I finally gave up. The shoes were coming on lol. Ever get that feeling where you think something is watching you. Well, yeah. I got to a part where all the trees were burnt to a crisp, so everything was open and and I was easily visible. I had a feeling a bear. Luckily, I made it back to the car!
I headed west along ‘Going to the Sun Rd’ and pulled off to the side every chance I got. This place was wonderland. Guess who’s tire pressure light just turned on! The pressure light has been wonky ever since I started the trip, so it sorta didn’t worry me. But if I ever got a flat on this road, it would be a traumatic experience lol. Like this road is super high up.
It was time to exit the park. It was getting dark and I still had no idea where I was going to stay because I haven’t had internet since yesterday. I filled my gas tank and bought a handy little device to test my air pressure. Also, I finally got service! I looked up a free site that was only 20 minutes away. It was beautiful. I pulled down a muddy trial to a riverside of rocks. I could have counted at least 30 other groups who were set up. I pulled up behind a fallen tree and set up my tent. Nearly impossible. There was no dirt to stake my tent. Everything was just rocks. I ended up piling rocks at the ends of the tent and hoped that it kept it up. It was my chance to finally make a fire! Unfortunately everything was so wet, so I had to dig under numerous fallen trees to find dry drift wood! It worked! Typically I cook on my propane tank, but now was my chance to fully embrace a cooked meal over a fire. I made soup! My shoes were soaked from today, so I hung them up over the fire using a branch. It didn’t hold up as well as I thought and a huge hole formed on the side of shoe from the heat lol, great!
9/23
I woke up with my tent on me and my toe in shooting pain. I bruised it pretty badly from stubbing it on a rock yesterday, ouch. I headed out for the day, the park was packed. I drove around for 20 minutes looking for a parking spot for the 6.7 miles hike to Avalanche Lake. I ended up parking at a nearby pull off and walked an extra mile to the trailhead. I started out at the Trail of Cedars and hiked along Avalanche Creek where I witnessed lots of waterfalls!
I finally made it to Avalanche Lake! It looked like something out of a fairytale. Truly magical. I tried doing a solo photoshoot with my tripod, AND ENDED UP DROPPING MY PHONE IN THE LAKE. OMGGG. Luckily it was fine! I powered it off and hiked out, shoeless of course. When I got to the car, I found myself limping. My knee was in immense pain, a pain I’ve never felt before. I rubbed some lavender, eucalyptus, and cinnamon essential oil onto my knee and wrapped it in cedar leaves. I secured my knee with the rope I had from my hammock. I couldn’t let this ruin the rest of my day of hiking. I put on tights underneath my pants to help stiffen my knee. I headed to the peak of the Going to the Sun Rd: Logan Pass, The Continental Divide. Elevation: 6646’.
Parking was atrocious once again! After looping around for quite a while, I noticed a couple heading to their truck. I pulled by them and asked if I could take their spot. They waited until I looped around again, and they actually turned down another group because they promised me first :) I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and headed to Hidden Lake. The trail to the lake was closed due to bear activity, which I completely understand because a group of us spotted a grizzly bear about 100 yards out in the open.
I was dead set on doing part of the Haystack Butte Trail, a narrow trail cut out of the side of the mountain. I set my intentions to ignore the pain from my knee and hiked another 2 miles on the trail. I wasn’t disappointed. I said my goodbyes to Glacier and watched the sunset under the mountains. I drove back to where I camped the previous night and tended to my knee and toe. Wasn’t looking good lol.
09/24
Next stop was Missoula! I stopped at a Native American shop and picked up a new turquoise ring, fur, and Red Root Joint & Muscle Rub. I iced my knee in the freezing cold river. I was limping all over. My knee was killing me omg. Lots of Dollar Trees and Walmarts out here, practically in every town. I did some grocery shopping, picked up a knee brace, and more essential oils. For the rest of the trip, my daily treatment for my knee was the Native American join rub, Icy-Hot, cinnamon, lavender, and eucalyptus. I popped into a couple shops, skated around the town, and then I noticed these two guys. For some reason my inner-self was telling me to introduce myself. I saw them in an alleyway taking pictures, so I yelled over and asked if they wanted to grab something to eat. We grabbed some Indian food and sat outside. Their names were Craig and Dawaune, instantly had a connection.
They were road tripping from Omaha to Glacier and stopped in Missoula for the night! Mid conversation, an ex-military Native American came up and slammed a white fish he just caught onto our table. He talked our ear off for about 20 minutes. We couldn’t even get a word in lol. I haven’t even met these 2 guys for 5 minutes and this happens lol. Afterwards, a man tending his jewelry stand on the corner of the road called us over. He immediately picked out these stainless steel fish earrings. The universe really be like that. We took the fish occurrence earlier as a sign to buy these earrings.
I wasn’t sure what my sleeping arrangements were so I asked them and we ended up finding a place in Solo National Park to camp at. We all headed over in separate cars. I immediately lost service, so I just followed them up the road. We pulled off and headed into the wood to set up camp. We made a little fire and just talked for hours. We smoked spiritual tobacco mixed with weed out of a crystal bowl, drank some hot tea and local tequila mixed with oranges, and looked up to the Milky Way. Craig pulled out his harmonica and Dawaune started playing his 3-string guitar. I wore one of their ponchos. We were so happy. Dawaune was a SPIRITUAL HEALER, thank you universe!! We headed into their tent and he started rubbing oils on my knee and doing work to heal my leg. The hue of the tent was magnified in a red light. It was crazy this was all happening.
09/25
My knee felt so much better, it was crazy. They also had oatmeal with a mix of everything for breakfast, so it was perfect. We exchanged contact info and went our own ways. I headed east back to Shane’s. I picked up some new clothes at GoodWill and then met Shane and Dewey for their nightly skateboard ride around the town.
09/26
I tagged along with Dewey and Shane and checked out their new storage unit a little north from town. Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at an Italian place. We skated along the Missouri River for sunset. That night we went to a couple bars and ended the night at the bowling alley bar.
09/27
Today was my last day with the boys :( We skated around and grabbed dinner at a grilled cheese restaurant. I feel like everyday I was with them, we would eat out at. I fully got to embrace the food culture of Montana. Next stop was Yellowstone!