Killing Wildlife in Glacier National Park

We are just finishing up a great week spent primarily in Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. We are about 2 hrs from home, just south of Waterton National Park right now. After six nights in a tent, I sort of wish we were on our way home today, but we are being held captive for another night because we spent too much cash in the states. We need to be gone a full week to get the largest duty exemption on goods brought back into Canada.

I originally had great plans to do a huge US road trip all of the way to the west coast through Oregon and into northern California. However, I was enjoying summer around home so much that the plans reduced down to a nice week loop through Northern Montana and Idaho. Even that modest trip reduced once we got to Glacier NP as we sort of got caught up in the park and the pursuit of a kayak for the last week. The park is really quite majestic with abundant wildlife. We've seen mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mule deer, marmots and even a few bears this morning. As the title of this post describes though, one of God's creatures had a fatal run-in with me. On our second night, Melissa had to get something out of the truck topper and was surprised to find a little brown mouse enjoying my bag of sunflower seeds. I wasn't overly concerned as all of the food was sealed well so I didn't think much of it. The next day, I bought a second bag of sunflower seeds to replace the one that the mouse had feasted on the previous night. That night, I left them in the cab of the truck only to find that they were compromised by a mouse during the night. Not a good move on the mouse's part.

I think I may have picked up a love for sunflower seeds from my wife, but I do know that they are essential for summer enjoyment. When the little jerk of a mouse ruined two bags on me, I declared war. I realize that animals and plants in National Parks are pretty much untouchable, but I'm sure even a park ranger would've sided with me on this (although I didn't ask). I drove into town and bought a couple of mousetraps, set one in the truck cab and and one in the truck bed. Using my hunting skills, I cleverly garnished the traps with some of the tainted sunflower seeds. The following morning, I anxiously woke (like it was Christmas morning or something) and went to check my traps. Success! I nabbed the little bugger in one of the traps. I felt a twinge of guilt as he was kind of cute, but nonetheless I had won. Marty: 1, Nature: nil. I'm just hoping the bears don't hear the score before I leave the park tomorrow.

The park is very underdeveloped and a great place to get back to nature with lots of hiking trails and primitive campgrounds. Melissa has been wanting to get into hiking for a while now and I have been kind of digging my heels in. The last hiking I remember doing was in the good old boy scout days. The idea of hiking is great, but my memories always go back to a)trying to follow a trail that has been overgrown for years and inevitably getting lost, b)some kid always crying when we got lost, c)carrying way to much hiking "equipment" (who the hell needs a hatchet to go hiking). I know that all of this is just in my head, so I did some research and we planned to do a big hike near Logan Pass called the Garden Wall. From what I've read, this is one of the top hikes in all of North America and not overly strenuous. It covers almost 18 Kms and takes 4-6 hrs, but it is mostly downhill with a stunning view overlooking an amazing mountain valley. I figured this would be a good way to get back into hiking for the sake of my wife. Unfortunately, we decided to put the hike off until our fourth day. The reason that this was an unfortunate decision is that a great deal of smoke from Montana's forest fires blew into the park on day 3 and has been restricting the awesome views since. We decided to save this hike for another time when we would actually be able to enjoy it. We did buy a year pass to the park so that we have no excuse not to come back early next summer to do it. While the big hike did not happen, we did do several other hikes totalling about 20 Km and spanning some amazing scenery.

After setting up camp and getting ready for bed on the first night, we went to tuck in and broke the zipper on the tent. Now, the tent doesn't owe us anything. It was a cheap Costco tent and performed well over the past few years including our journey to the east coast last summer. It was time for a new tent anyways as this one is too small and does not breathe well. To get through the night, I found a couple of clamps in the truck to keep the door half-ass closed for the night. The next day, we decided to go into Whitefish (about 1/2 hr from the park) to look for a another tent. This decision inadvertently changed our plans for the rest of our vacation. We went to the big outdoor store and were delighted to find a great tent at an end of summer price. While at the store, I asked about used kayaks for sale and they told me that I was in luck as they were having a sale on all of their demo equipment on Saturday (3 days away). They had one whitewater kayak that I was quite interested in at a very good price, so we decided to stay in the area until Saturday to take a chance at getting it. On Friday, we picked up and moved to a Whitefish campground in order to get to the store early. I was told that these events are popular and that I should come early as it is first come-first served. I took their advice and showed up at 7am to find a few others lined up. After a quick discussion with those ahead of me, I determined that I was the only one after the whitewater boat, much to my relief. At 9am, the doors opened and I purchased a slightly used 2007 model whitewater kayak for $378 USD (retail price was $925 USD and I'm sure it would have been up over $1,100 in Canada). Needless to say, I was tickled and have been on a high since. We picked up some accessories to go with (paddle, helmet, life jackets, roof rack - all on sale except the roof rack) and I am now ready to paddle after humming and hawing about getting a kayak for the past few years. I may have to mark the demo sale on my calendar to attend next year as well as the deals were unreal.

All in all, it has been a great week. Got back to nature (didn't check my email for 4 days which is an accomplisment for me). Experienced for the first time some of the amazing wilderness that is just about in my backyard. Finally, got a sweet boat at a great price and the gear to go with it. Only bad part was the absence of sunflower seeds (stupid mouse).

Enjoy the photos and get your asses to Glacier National Park before the Glaciers are gone (projected for 2030).