Monday, June 17th

Monday, June 17th

I made it to Montana yesterday on a flight from Philly to Glacier Park Airport which is just outside of Kalispell MT. Baboon and I arrived around 12:30pm and I have to say that I was happier to get off that plane than any other plane I have ever been on. A few days back I started to feel like I was getting a cold; unfortunate for starting the trail but no big deal. Once I got on the first plane to Chicago, however, I realized that the cold was affecting more than the hike. My nose and ears were so plugged up that the air pressure from the plane made me go deaf. The first flight wasn't too bad but the flight from Chicago to Kalispell was awful. By the time I got off the plane I was completely deaf in my left ear. It took until 5pm today (29 hours) for me to regain my hearing. After bumming around the airport for a while a man walked up to us and offered us a ride to East Glacier...for 140 dollars! We politely declined and began looking into rental cars to make the 87 miles to East Glacier. The one rental car service wouldn't give us a car because East Glacier is somewhat remote and they didn't want to have to drive out to pick it up and the other rental car service wanted 170 dollars. So, we threw up our thumbs and got a hitch within 15 minutes. The couple that picked us up were from Columbia Falls and despite the fact that they were not driving to East Glacier, offered to drive us there anyway; refusing to accept gas money. I wish I would have had my hearing at that time to join in the conversation in the car but unfortunately I missed out on that bit. Getting my first hitch from that kind couple was a great start to the CDT! We got dropped off right on the small main strip of East Glacier and walked the .6 miles to a hostel/bakery. Baboon and I got a private room (shared bathrooms) for the night and I went to sleep right after an early Mexican dinner which I didn't end up eating due to nausea. My fever started last night but let up a little this morning. It's starting to rise again now unfortunately.

With the cold and fever I was a little nervous to start the trail tomorrow. I know the miles are going to be hard with the snow and with being out of hiking shape and under the weather I wasn't overly excited to head out. I told myself to suck it up so Baboon made the call to the ranger station to set up the permits and camp spots for the 100ish miles of Glacier. Normally we don't need many permits and normally there are NO designated camp spots on the CDT, however, hiking through Glacier is a different story. We were told upon calling that there were no spots open for tomorrow night so we have to start on Wednesday instead which I am extreamly happy about as it gives me another day to rest away this cold.