We get caught up so much with negativity in the average day particularly if you listen to the news, that when something comes along that restores your faith in humanity, you want to hold that moment forever!
We arrived in Kalispell Montana at midday today in order to spend the next 5 days at the West Glacier Outdoor Centre which is approx. 30km away. I clearly didn’t do my research well enough because there were no buses to take you there, just cabs which cost approx. $100 which was unbudgeted. The next surprise was that when we got to the Outdoor Centre there were 4 “preppies” on college break behind the counter who weren’t overly helpful. When we asked about the shuttle buses to take us to the various hiking tracks, they stared at us like dogs that had seen a card trick. Eventually, they called a manager and she simply reinforced the message by saying, “Oh no, most people who come here drive”. I said, “That’s fascinating, but we don’t have a car. Is there any way we can get into the park and back out again by dark each day?” She said, “Oh no, most people who come here drive”.
So here we were in the middle of nowhere hoping to access a world heritage park that’s 150km x 50km with no transport. Nice one dickhead (that’s me by the way). So preppie 1, now gives us our instructions to the cabin which happens to be the furthermost one from the centre, 800m away up a 30-degree incline on a gravel track! We got half way up having worn out the wheels on our backpacks on the gravel when suddenly a car came towards us. I was in the middle of cursing the preppies for not offering us a lift when the car stopped and two woman our age offered us a lift.
They explained they were happy to go back up as they were actually inspecting the site. One of the ladies Shawna has a son who lives in Montana and he will be getting married there. Her offsider Jen joined her from the ride, Jen being from San Francisco and Shawna from Southern California. Both have been school friends since they were 14 and were almost telepathic in their understanding of each other. We invited them to see our cabin, something they hadn’t been able to do and then we discussed making the hard call to getting a car given we hadn’t budgeted for that either. Because we can’t use our phones, quick as a flash Jen had Hertz on the line and suddenly I was picking up a car down the road in the morning! They then offered to take us down to the general store to get some food and then into the national park for a “teaser” of what we can expect to see. We spent a brilliant couple of hours in colourful conversation and witnessed some extraordinary scenery.
Ladies I know you’re reading this right now and once again Lynda and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness. You know you are always welcome at our place when you visit Melbourne one day, and I will feed you as many Tim Tams as you like!
I think we’re in for few eventful days. I’ve never driven a left-hand drive car before so I’d be surprised if something idiotic doesn’t happen and we are about to see some world class wilderness. We saw a deer today and there are bear warnings everywhere. If I can meet Carrie Brownstein in Portland there’s every chance I’ll run into a bear.
Finally to my boss Drew, these rivers are exquisite, almost turquoise due to the melting ice and provide the world’s best fly fishing. Oh that’s right…after 2 trips to Queenstown and then the Masters golf in Georgia in the past 12 months, you’re not allowed anywhere for the next 3 years that’s right. Sorry I mentioned that. Anyway looking forward to getting into it tomorrow. Hope all’s well. Some photos from my phone today.
