Mingling with the Locals

After a surprisingly good night of sleep in the car Amber and I ate breakfast car-side, hummed a few more bars of Ray and headed back into the park. The day before, we decided to do one of the ranger-led hikes. Each one is on a different subject matter (edible plants in Glacier…the shrinking glaciers of Glacier…safety in the woods, etc.) Originally, we had intended on doing the hike on plant life but because we ended up on the west side of the park, we decided on the 9:00 a.m. hike on the Robert Fire of 2003. When we arrived at the trailhead (5 minutes late, of course) we found Leah, our guide. Leah was walking back to her car because no one had shown up yet. “Are we too late for the hike?” we asked. Leah is a cheery looking gal of about 25. Her hair was in a side ponytail under her ranger hat and her thumbs were youthfully tucked into her backpack. “Haha. No, no! It’s fine.” She assured us. Luckily, it could be a little bit more laid back hike than her normal “And to your left you will find blah blah blah….We’re walking. We’re walking…”

For about an hour, we casually walked through the forest and got to know Leah. We learned about the benefits of forest fires (and about prescribed burning), how they put the fire out, and about the changing ecology after a fire. It’s not the complete disaster you would think. Sure, from far away the mountainside looks bare, like a wasteland with tree trunks littering the ground; but up close, there are all kinds of new growth: saplings of trees whose cones only get released when fire can melt the sap around them, tall grasses, fireweed (one of our favorites—It’s this gorgeous tall, green weed that has bright fuchsia flowers). We picked huckleberries too. We told Leah about ourselves and our trip. She told us about herself and what its like to work summers in the park. We even got a few pics too. Toward the end of the hike, Leah asked us what else we wanted to do on our visit to Glacier. We told her that swimming is one of our favorite things to do. Ok here is why Ranger Leah in The Woman.

Not only did Leah insist that we had to go tubing through the park, she made it happen for us. On her lunch break, we followed Leah back to her house just outside the park in a neighborhood where mostly employees/rangers live. She let us borrow her tubes, took them to the bridge where we put in, and shuttled us to get our car to the bridge at the end of the float. She even pointed us in the direction of a store for beverages on the way. For two hours, Amber and I floated through Glacier National Park on a river that started at Lake McDonald and headed south to the Middle Fork Flathead River. We were surrounded by beauty the whole way. We passed mountains, through valleys, heard a variety of birds, ducks swam by us one by one. It was amazing!! One of the coolest things we have ever done.

Leah completely made our trip with the tubing, and continued to by offering us a place to stay. We camped in her back yard, and made ourselves comfortable in her home. Her roommates were awesome. They were so hospitable. Her friends were awesome. So funny. We loved listening to their war stories about the weirdest park visitors, bear attacks, and stupid questions. (Just so you know, Jack Hanna did NOT get attacked by a bear in Glacier. He sprayed a cub that stopped to look at him with bear spray…the same bear spray he was visiting the park to PROMOTE) The local dive bar, The Stone Fly’s karaoke night was awesome. (The bro-mantic boy band singing “Rich Girl” was awesome) Everything was…AWESOME! We are so grateful that we met Leah. She truly made our trip to Glacier unforgettable.