Posted by chris ballew:

The second Friday of July, seven of us started the journey to Glacier National Park in Montana. We were lucky that we even made it out of Knoxville in the first place. Making reservations in Glacier can be a buerrecratic (sp?) nightmare what with snow in July, big crowds and grizzly maulings closing down trails. The seven that went were: myself, Denny Becker, Keith Darnell, Tracy Arnold, CJ OLennick, Benjy Darnell and Frankie Miller. After Keith was thrown out of my apt. complex for disturbing the peace five hours before leaving for Montana, we decided we were in for lotsa trouble. We left at 7AM after swearing we would be out of town by 5. The long trip was made longer by frequent bathroom stops by Frankie, babe scoping by Benjy and Frankie, and great tiredness by the drivers. There were 2 classes of people on this trip--drivers and riders. The riders were those ineligble to drive the rental cars due to age restriction requirements. The drivers hauled the riders around the US. There was much discontent among the 2 groups. We made it to our first stop, Dennys parents in South Dakota, by friday evening. His mom kept bringing us plate after plate until even Keith and Frankie could eat no more. After a 2 hour ordeal in Walmart the next morning, we went on through South Dakota. We visited the badlands, Mt. Rushmore, The Corn Palace and CJ drove the rental car off a ditch in Custer State Park (I have pictures). There is no speed limit in montana, but the police seem to get offended when you say that. As far as glacier went, it is one of the most beautiful places Ive been. Several places to visit are: Iceberg Lake, Gunsight Lake, the Highline trail, The entire 2 Medicine Area and Waterton in Canada. Everyone except for me, CJ and Frankie saw grizzly bears in the Many Glacier section of the park. This is the area of camp where you see signs at the campground entrance that read "Welcome to Many Glacier Campground. People have been injured and killed by bears in this campground! Thank You". Among the highlights of trip were: * leaving food in the front seat of the car at the trailhead with the window cracked, wondering all night if a bear had decided to bash the door in * Benjy tying the counterbalance line for our food by climbing eight feet up a tree and holding the rope carrying the food in his teeth while he tied it * Mesquitos were the worst Ive seen anywhere. Thick as pea soup (?) * Listening to CJ use every curse word known to man to describe his anger while being bitten by mesquitos on an 8 mile hike * On trails, Denny met 20 people he knew from various parts of the country * Seeing a man doing pushups beside his Camaro on the interstate shoulder * Seeing a woman and two men in a fistfight on an indian reservation in montana * Close up encounters with Mountain goats * and THE HIGHLIGHT was Denny and Benjy getting interrogated at the Canadian border because they thought Benjy was serial killer Andrew Cannag (whatever his name is/was) Anyway, glaciers great. go there. it CAN be done for cheap. Each of us spent approx. $160 for 10 days--thats renting two cars, gas food, camping--everything. Ive got pictures ill put up soon as I figure out how! Chris

Hiking Trip Reports