SUMMIT: Bearhat Mountain
Glacier park is... Hizzoly Shizzat... Just the Pants, ma�am.
The illustrated version!!
Talk about a fsking grunt. What the heck is a bearHAT anyway? I guess it�s supposed to be shaped like this. Yeah, that�s what we climbed. All eight-thousand, six-hundred feet of it. OK, that�s a lie. We really gained only like 2,600 feet of elevation from Logan Pass but that�s counting the 500 feet we lost to get to the base. All the rest of the elevation was gained in the last mile. But no, we kept going right on up to the north summit where we overlooked the mountains west of the divide over to Logan Pass.

For an eight hour hike, we did some serious climbing without mishap. Well, almost without mishap. On the way down from the summit and about halfway to the bottom of the mountain we were tailed by a rather large, curious mountain goat who followed us another quarter of the way down the mountain. Closely and with great interest. Justin thought it was cute until it poked out on some CLIFFS about three feet from my HEAD. I think it was trying to rape me. We had to high-tail it down the mountain to get some place where the goat wouldn�t knock us fifteen feet down a ravine but we were followed, much to my dismay. I can�t believe I was that terrified of a fucking GOAT but it was a male who could have, potentially, for some hidden goat-reason, been aggressive in a bad way. That and I was always last so the goat was closest to me. I was, however, the one carrying the Bear Mace� five seconds and thirty feet worth of high-grade pepper spray. I think it works on goats, too. WHY in God's name was it following us for so long and so close? Murray, when I asked if I could have goats and you told me, �baby, you can have all the goats you want,� this is NOT what I meant!!!

That was the most serious incident of the day. Aside from arriving back at the parking lot at 8:30 PM in the dark and not eating dinner until 10:30, the hike went well. We arrived at the base of the mountain at noon and summited by three. Unfortunately, even fleeing from the goat and stopping to ogle the little pokemon dolphin-bunny things twittering around the rocks, we took as long to get down the mountain as UP it and still had to climb (grunting and complaining all the way) out of the basin. It was also ass-cold out there, especially in the morning coming over the saddle down into the basin. And, as you can see, Murray and I are wearing shorts. �Are your legs cold?� One hiker asked, �That�s all right, we�re impressed,� he said.

I was grateful for the shorts while we were climbing, as we had to scale several levels of cliffs and after all the work we were sweating hard. But it still struck us all as impressive when we came upon icicles in one of the crevasses we were climbing, even in an area shielded from the wind. For the most part, we were warm. When we got to the summit, we ran for the cairn, looked for the registed (didn�t find it) and fled from the exposure as fast as we could. My GOD was it cold up there! But three feet down from the summit, even on a gentle slope, was completely out of the wind. We rested for maybe half an hour and hauled ass down the mountain. By the time we got home it was pitch black and it had been hours since any of us had sat down. Our legs and arms complained in ways we hadn�t heard before and we walked like geriatrics with sticks up our asses. You should have seen us totter around the kitchen making dinner. It looked like a regular retirement home.

Nothing a few glasses of wine and some Aleve couldn�t fix, in my mind. ZONK.

That was Monday in Glacier and a good start to a good week. We arrived on Saturday night after spending Thursday night (in at 3:30 AM�. Gag) and Friday in Helena. Friday was a lazy day recouping from 14 hours in the car the day previous. Next time we get a hotel. Met up with Beverly who has been gutting her house where she and Tim lived together until recently. Both Time and Bev�s living accommodations have been quite a bit different since they split up� each to their own now and they�ve chosen to go quite different directions. Tim�s new house is MARVELOUS and Bev�s done good things with the place on Rodney st. Though I know it�s tough to see memories change, especially for Justin. I can�t imagine what it must be like for Bev (especially spending the last three months sleeping outside and showering where she could find water as her house was ripped up). We all cope with change in our own ways.

Wend down Rodney st. to visit some more old memories. Spent an hour or two talking to Richard Swanson about life, school, pottery, etc. Showed Murray his studio and walked around out back. I�d say it�s been a while since I�ve been back to that house but I guess I was there over New Years Eve. It�s the first time I�ve been in Helena during the summertime for � four summers and even now the seasons were changing in a chilly way that gave me the impression it�s perpetually winter there.

We headed out around 1:30 Saturday after stocking up on everything we could possibly need including venison and fantastic pot. We arrived to be greeted by more family (I�ve met most of Justin�s family that I hadn�t seen before this week) and were taken out to dinner at an obscenely fancy restaurant called Heaven�s Peak, after one of the more impressive mountains here(we're contemplating climbing it). Jeez does Alex Speyer love wine. Left us three bottles of at least thirty dollar stuff. We�re drinking it with BBQed chicken and Spaghetti. Yum, classy! We also have way too much food since Justin�s aunt and uncle left about a week�s worth of stuff here when they left. It means we�ll probably be leaving with about as much stuff as we came in with since we planned our meals and shopped for them before coming here. Oh well, we are starving students! (yuk yuk, that�s a big joke)

Sunday we hiked to Huckeberry lookout, a twelve mile hike (6 up, 6 back) east of the park entrance near Apgar village. Technically it was a summit but was class one hiking (on trail, very slight incline� no switchbacks even) all the way to the top. No register to be found there, either! Dammit, will I be able to leave my signature nowhere in the park this year?? (see, we all got a bit frustrated) The walk was pleasant, and a good warmup, but impending weather made us nervous on the way back. That, and it was f*cking LONG. Even on the slight grade, twelve miles seems like a lot. We saw no one else the whole day and were surrounded by complete wilderness in absolute quiet. Saw a few birds (one titmouse and a brown ptarmigan) and nothing else in the way of wildlife. Murray liked the stump though. Luckily for us, there were still ripe huckleberries on the mountain despite it being the end of the season and no grizzlies to compete with. Luckily, I say, because the bears would have won.

There�s something absolutely marvelous about being here. And utter serenity which is so surprising in its completeness and depth but so easy to take for granted. This is a sacred place and a place which I am glad to be at for the changing of the seasons. The moon over the lake the last three nights of the equinox has been stunning. Sunday night I woke at 5:30 in the morning to a brightness on the water that was eerie and beautiful. I haven�t been able to dedicate myself to completing my ritual dedication to the goddess, partly from fatigue (I figure I should be fresh while doing it) and partly from doubt. I have everything prepared, should the moment feel right.

It truly seems like fall here now. The air has a fantastic chill to it and everything seems classic in this mountain cabin. Outside the weather is, and has been �partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers� (via radio) for the last three days. Sometimes, according to Justin (with much laughing and apologies at my expense), it has been �cold as a witch�s tit.� Well, my tits *have* been pretty cold outside. I�ve been glad for the chest strap on my backpack as it makes for a good nipple restraint. Otherwise I might put some poor marmot�s eye out.

We are all enjoying ourselves thoroughly. And to those of you who were invited and passed up the chance, I say simply, �ha.� It�s the end of the season here, yesterday the lodge and the market closed. We have the park to ourselves in absolute quiet and serenity and it�s unbelievably beautiful here. We�re doing and seeing things that defy imagination and loving every moment of it. And we�re like to say well, next year, we�ll be here and you can be too. This is a place to let go. Forget about work. Forget about money. Forget about the past. We�re neutral and open and so is Glacier Park. I'm here with goats and pokemon, way the hell too much food, good wine, good company, HELLA mountains and fires that smell like Christmas.

Don�t you wish you were?