Our
first course of action was also our biggest mistake—at
least for Yumi it was. One afternoon we just decided
to head up to Green Bay and pick up some backpacks at Dick’s
Sporting Goods. It was there that I picked out the Mammoth
Kelty Red Cloud 5400, with enough room for 2 weeks worth of
stuff. For Yumi, we picked out something small: the
Kelty Santa Fe, which held 4500 cubic inches. Ooops. We
also picked up a couple of 20 degree Mountainsmith sleeping
bags. Basically, with addition of my old Svea 123, we
were ready to hit the trail.
We decided that our first experimental run would be an overnight
to Rock
Island State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. Getting
there was half the fun and essentially all of the expense,
as we had to take two different ferries to get there.
The lessons we learned were simple. They don’t call
it Rock Island for nothing. The thin foam pads we had
enabled us to get about 2 hours of sleep. Something better
was needed. We also discovered that the small dome tent
I had was perfect for the kids in the backyard, but too small
for me to get stretched out in. Solution: Get back over
to Dicks’ for some Therm-a–rests and online to Backcountystore.com
for a new North Face Slickrock.
Next test: Newport
State Park, Door County, Wisconsin. No ferries
this time, but we did have to walk about 3 miles to get
to our site. The first weekend in October is supposed
to be nice. This time it wasn’t. The wind was
blowing like a mother and it was cold. The tent held
up great, the sleeping bag and mattress kept me warm in
35 degree cold and the stove didn't work for shit. Solution: Visit
REI in Brookfield and get a new MSR Dragonfly stove. While
we were at it, might as well get each of us a new pair of
boots, a coffee press for Yumi's favorite morning habit
and a map of Porcupine Mountain State Park up in the U.P. Oh
hell, how about a new MSR Blacklite cook set with fry pan
for good measure?
Over the next few months clothing and
other gear was purchased through REI, Gander Mountain in
Sheboygan or Dick’s. Some of the stuff we actually
used on the trip: Nalgene bottles and bladders, Petzl
headlamps, rain gear and water filter. Other stuff
never made it out of the basement: Rain ponchos, candle
lantern. Live and learn, baby.
Wisconsin winters are long, but I had
a lot of planning to do so it went quite fast. First, we
needed a place to do this thing. Originally I thought
that spending 3 or 4 days in the Tetons, Yellowstone and
Glacier was the thing to do. Nah, too much driving. Let’s
just concentrate on Glacier for the entire two weeks and
do a real good job there. Yumi agreed with my wisdom.
Besides, I had other reasons to do Glacier exclusively.
My father had always wanted to visit the park and I thought
this might be a way for him to see it. The second reason
was top secret---for Yumi anyway. She would eventually find
out when we got to Helen Lake. but that's much later on
in the story.
Now that we had a firm destination, we
needed a hike. Time to hit the Internet. I scoured
web pages every day trying to find pictures and information
about all of the possibilities. How many nights could
I convince Yumi to stay out for? 4 and 3? 3 and
3? We finally decided on 7 nights however I wanted
to allocate them. What a understanding lady, that Yumi!
I purchased the Trails Illustrated map,
downloaded some PDF’s from the NPS website and went
to work. At first I wanted to do what I later found
out was essentially the Northern Circle route, but found
out that some of the campsites wouldn’t be open when
we wanted to go. Dammit. There was a trip originating
from Chief Mountain that looked good and a 3 nighter from
St. Mary Lake down to Two Med over Cut Bank and Pitamakan
Passes.
Finally, I decided that the prettiest option would probably
be the routes we eventually got: Kootenai, Mokowanis
Junction, Cosley lake, Elizabeth Lake (foot) and Poia Lake. The
other trip would be the Dawson Pass loop at Two Med, staying
at Noname and Oldman Lakes.
Probably the most important detail that had to be worked
out was my physical condition. My once-athletic
physique (I'm the one on the right) had bloated up to
a rotund 240. Too much. I needed to lose some
weight to take the pressure off my bad knees and get some
wind. I didn'’t feel like dying in the mountains. I
also didn'tt like the way the hip belt on my pack pushed
all my flab over the top of the belt. Hideous. I
felt 208 was an attainable goal if I could get over my Snickers
addiction.
Yumi solved this potential problem by purchasing me an elliptical
trainer from, where else, Dick’s, for Christmas. Every
day I got on that thing and before I knew it the weight
started to drop. By the end of April I was down to
214. I could kick myself for not losing the extra
6 lbs. I was coaching the kid's soccer team and was having
a hard time finding time to change my socks much less spend
35-40 minutes training. Yeah, I slacked off but still
weighed 218 when we left on July 9.
Childcare was coordinated with the grandparents; meals were
tested, scrapped and tried again; gear lists and packing
lists and lists listing the lists were made all in the attempt
to bring this trip off the smoothest it could possibly go.
Then it came time to send in our trip request to the park. April
was the longest month I’ve had to endure. Every
day I logged onto the Glacier website to see what campgrounds
on what date were still available. Every day some more
sites came off the board and I still hadn'’t received
my notice that we got our trip! Dammit.
It got so bad I started making alternative plans for the
Absaroka-Beartooth and/or Bob Marshall wilderness areas---and
bought the books and maps just in case. I was a total wreck.
Finally on April 28 we got the word: we got our trips
almost exactly when we wanted them. The only problem
was our long trip would be in reverse, meaning Stoney Indian
pass just got about 800’ taller. But who cares? We
were going to Glacier.
Now the real countdown began and bunch of details needed
to get worked out. The truck needed to be checked out,
menu plans needed to be made, food bought and child care
for 5 kids needed to be arranged. It all got done. Now we
only had to wait for July 9.
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