I Love to work at nothing all Day

So I was “stuck” in Whitefish, Montana for as few days while I get my bicycle situation sorted out. I must say I have had worse problems than having to find something to do in Whitefish. I realized that I had been gone 2 weeks already but according to google maps, I was still only a 10 hour drive from Seattle. I was spending all my time driving and not doing anything.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like to drive. Consciously, there has been some amazing scenery pass by my window. On the other hand, I think my unconscious brain sees the odometer spin and thinks “Look at that, You are really getting things done. A real Mover and a shaker”. When, in fact, I am just sitting on my ass all day, staring out the window and listening to mix tapes I made in the 70’s.  I have to admit that I haven’t gotten my head around the fact that I have nowhere to go and a loooong time to get there. So this forced pause in my Seattle escape is good.

One of the blogs I follow is Local Color XC. A young Midwestern couple, chucking it all, buying and fixing up an old camper and spending a year traveling to every state. One of the blog posts was a lament on the amount of day to day work such an endeavor requires. Carson estimated it to be 40% work and 60% fun. And he has a travel partner. My current estimate

of my waking hours is 60% driving and 30% fixing and adjusting stuff and 10% doing camping stuff. It is a full day. But up to this point, aside from an occasional beer, I have not been enjoying the trip as I should.

 

I decided to go back to the scene of the great Bicycle crunching debacle from earlier in the day and hike around the Big Mountain Ski Resort. Since I have been sitting on my ass for the better part of 8 hours a day for the last 2 weeks and totally non active for a few months prior to my leaving, I decided that I would take the ski lift to the top and leverage gravity for my first foray into enjoying my freedom. Plus there was a beer at the summit Pub to appropriately celebrate said freedom before I headed back down. The summit lodge had great views into Glacier National park so that was a nice bonus.

The hike down was mercifully easy.  Thank You, Gravity! I even stopped to eat wild huckleberries with a couple of hippies along the way. That didn’t last long when I realized that bears really like huckleberries too. And given the choice, I am pretty sure they would like their main course sans Patchouli. I beat a hasty path down the hill

I stopped in town for a beer but it was pretty quiet. I ended up getting some beer and going back to cook dinner at camp.

It was a nice shady camp but with the train passing through at least once an hour, I called around  for another campground for the next. I found a private campground just a bit out of town and called it a night.

I had another whole day before the bike would be ready so I went into Glacier National Park. Probably my favorite of all the park I have been in.

I was here almost 10 years ago and did a hike on the far side of the park. This time I did a hike out of Logan’s Pass at the top of the Going to the Sun Road; The Garden Wall. The trails hugs a cliff for the first few hundred feet. Not for the fear of heights folks, then opens up to grand views back down the valley back to Kalispell. It is a high altitude hike but there isn’t much elevation gain so it is good for those of us not in prime hiking shape. It isn’t actually a loop so I figured, I would hike for a few hours, turn around and head back to the car. Glacier is good for that because the views are amazing in different in either direction.

I kept seeing turn around points ahead but when I got there, I saw a better turn around point just a bit further. I had a chat with couple hiking through to the road. They hoping to catch the shuttle back up to the parking lot. The challenge was the last shuttle was just 3 hours away and still six miles to get there. They were young and good looking so I don’t think they would have any problem catching a lift from a passing stranger if they missed the shuttle. Me? I was going to have to hoof it or I was hiking the 8 miles back up the Going to the Sun road. It gave me a goal if not a bit of stress. I had already hiked 5 miles, had limited water and really wasn’t hoping to throw out the thumb. The stress trade off was more and more beautiful views along the way. The last 4 miles were downhill so it was pretty quick but through a recent burn so not all that pretty.  In the end, I can check off the 12 mile hike and had plenty of time to catch the shuttle.

On the way home, I stopped in a local restaurant for Bear Safe Huckleberry Pie Ala Mode and a burger before heading back to camp. Too beat for any nightlife.

The camp was fully booked for the next few days and there was some rain predicted for the next couple of days so I just hitched up the trailer in the morning, picked up the bike and headed out.

I think it was a good first effort not working at nothing all day. I hope to continue that. In the meantime, Back to the drivers seat.