Westward Ho!

In late July, the SageMarts packed ourselves into our new larger car and pointed it west.  Our first stop was Theo Roosevelt National Park.  We had heard rumors that this park is not to be missed, and I have vague memories from childhood, but when you look at a map and see it there on the western border of North Dakota with the endless flat plains of Montana stretching out behind it, you doubt.  Or at least I did.  Which made the stay there all the better, as it is truly a beauty.  The landscape, the light, the animals that roam all about your car as you drive the ring road.  Then there's the river right below the campsite- a river that may or may not have any good fish in it, but makes me yearn to learn how to flyfish.  I was surprised by that.  We didn't spend much time there, but were grateful for the chance to hike the windy hills and lookout for prairie dogs, wild horses, mountain goats, buffalo.  They all followed their stage directions and appeared for photos on cue.  

After breaking camp on a sunny morning we plodded across the endless expanse of eastern Montana, to roll into the foothills outside Glacier National Park as the sun was setting.  We stopped into a restaurant that was renowned for its pie.  It didn't disappoint.  In the pie department.  An impressive dust storm blew through town as we dined.  The wait staff pulled down the windows but not before all meals were lightly dusted with grit.  As the sun went down and the wind howled, we made our way to our campsite with in the park.  It was not an auspicious beginning.  But we got the tent up before the rain.  And by the tent I mean our glorious new super structure.  Perfect place to play a game or two of wizard as you wait out the rain.  The morning dawned gray- with a low low ominous sky.  The perfect setting to take the boys over to the visitior center and introduce them to the BEAR DANGER.  By watching a video that talks about bear maulings.  Didn't do wonders for Eli's desire to do some hiking.  In fact he was determined to stay put and not venture outside the buiding until we pulled up in the car and pointed our car out of Glacier and away from the bears.  

We managed to get him on to the shuttle bus and headed out through the clouds towards a 'popular hike'- a code we used on Eli to mean that there would surely be no bears.  And there weren't, right then.  And the sun came out, and it was so dang beautiful that we all finally relaxed.

The next 10 days were spent hiking and camping and animal spotting (yes, bears.  Grizzlies even).  The boys were fabulous hikers, as long as you let Eli do all the talking.  He was convinced that keeping up a steady patter would keep away bears, so before we started every hike he choose a topic.  And then he talked. One day I think he talked the entire 8 hours we were hiking.  Luckily for me that topic was about what JK Rowling should do for a sequel to Harry Potter- a topic I understood.  When he got into his sci-fi fiction world he was creating in his latest novel or how he was going to build his game board for "The Dystopian Wars" I was lost.  Well, I wasn't lost, because the trail was clearly marked, and I found out quickly that Eli wasn't looking for a conversational partner.  He just needed to be making noise to ease his bear fears.  

There was one hike where bear fears (I admit I had them) were supplanted by falling off of cliff fears.  Although in the end it was bears that were the most real that day.  We took a boat to a trail head where about 30 of us headed off into the woods.  Which, in the start were not woods, but neck high berry bushes.  With berries.  Ripe ones.  Perfect bear habitat.  Which was proven when we came around a corner and saw a mama black bear and her cub just off to the left.  wow.  But once we emerged UP and out of the berries we crossed through a forest, and out on to the rocky hillsides.  Mountain sides.  Up and up for hours- then across a goat path to a ladder, up that to a natural tunnel just larger than me and my back if I bent myself double.  The tunnel was a little clausterphobic, but I longed for those confines when we emerged on the other side, perched on an inches-wide ledge, a chain drilled into the rock on our left, and open air falling down down down on our right.  Once we were across, I couldn't fully relax as there was the knowledge that to get back to the boat we had to cross back along the edge, through the tunnel, down the ladder, and eventually back through berry-land.  The lake at the end of the hike was glorious- but I admit the view was somewhat colored with fear of the return.  

When we got back to the chain-ledgy part, I went first so I wouldn't have to watch my kids.  As I got on to a patch of somewhat stable ground I stopped to wait for my family.  There was a young couple there waiting to go the way I had just come from.  I told them I couldn't watch my boys- would they keep an eye on them?  The woman agreed and gave me a play by play- "They are doing great, coming along, looking good...oh...oh... I can't watch...wow....looking away."  Didn't help me.  I did resist the urge to shove her over the cliff, because I realize she was trying the best she could.  

Long story short.  We made it.  Hard work.  Jon and I were kind of stumbling by the end, our legs so tired from going up and then the down- which was easier on the lungs but did our oldish knees in.  We emerged from the berry bushes with a half hour to spare before the boat returned.  Shortly after we arrived there, a man came out behind us, sweating, hyper, wild-eyed.  He had just surprised the mama bear who took a charge at him.  He was able to whip out his bear spray and give her a shot, so she turned off before giving him a swat or a bump or a bite, whatever her plan was.  I have never been happier to get on a boat.

The rest of the trip was less eventful.  Filled with lovely hikes under blue skies, campfires, and nightly laughs in our new lovely tent.  We ended with a somewhat thrilling raft ride down the Flathead river.  Just the right amount of controlled chaos for all Sage-Marts.  Theo upped his adrenalin levels (he yearns for more of that than I do) by 'riding the bronco' through the last set of rapids.  It was a delight to watch him up on the bow, our paddlemates cheering him on as he raised one arm in the air and rode those waves.  It is an image of my sweet guy living large and carefree that I hope to carry with me the rest of my days.