More Montana Madness...

Yesterday, we went on a hike. We headed up to Glacier National Park, and had plans to walk the Highline Trail.

We headed off, and immediately were greeted with an aboslutely phenomenal hike. Basically, most of the hike, you are on a precipice about 6-10 feet wide. On the uphill side is either a sheer cliff, or very steep hill, and on the downhill side is a substantial dropoff, leading down to the valley some hundreds or thousands of feet below. Beautiful mountains and lush valleys as far as the eye could see. Simply awesome.

On the way out, we rounded the corner and came face to face with a big ram staring us in the face. It looked pretty damn big, and had those huge curling horns. We backed up pretty quick, and when it started coming our way, started scrambling up the mountainside. It taught us a thing or two about scrambing when it headed up the mountain as well, easily jumping it's way up the sheer face. Pretty awesome. We were all a little freaked by the whole thing, but laughed about it, and wondered what could have happened. You certainly wouldn't have wanted to get butted by one of those puppies.

We stopped for lunch, and I wolfed down some food and then felt like I was going to throw up. It didn't happen, but it didn't help my general feeling of altitude sickness (headache, mostly).

At 3.8 miles (out of 7'ish), I decided I was about at my 50% point and put in a vote to turn around. I wasn't feeling that great, and figured the return on investment on going further wasn't really worth it. Diana, though able to go forward, came back with me, while Iwan and Mike were going to head out a little further.

During the hike back, Diana and I took our sweet time, since we were going to have to wait for Iwan and Mike anyways. We found a nice spot in the shade a little ways up a dried out waterfall off the trail, and hung out there for probably 45 minutes or so, enjoying the view, and Diana even catching a quick nap.

On the way back, we ran into another ram (probably the same one), up ahead on the trail. It was going our direction, and didn't seem to mind us being there, so we follwed it. It would stop and eat, and when we got close, continue moseying along. When some people came from the other direction, it headed uphill, and we passed pretty close by it. While we were sort of freaked after our first incident, in retrospect, I don't think it really cared if we were around or not.

We made it back to the lot, and hung out for a good while for Iwan and Mick to return. It turns out they headed out the whole 7 miles, plus headed up a little further on a side trail, and then walked the whole way back, rounding out a little over 18 mile hike. They were pretty beat, and happy to be back. Color me impressed by their fortitude.

We stopped and picked up pizza and beer on the way home, and ate and got cleaned up and stuff. We were all pretty bushed, but laid outside for a while to watch meteors in the absolutely clear, beautiful night sky. We saw some good ones, but not as good as I remember in the past. When it was clear that we were all falling asleep (after being out there for perhaps 15 minutes), we all headed in for bed.

Today has been designated "lazy day". We got up late and I made some omlettes. Iwan and Mike went through the ritual of setting up the fantasy football league, while Diana and I observed in awe and astonishment at the back and forth between Iwan and Mike as co-commishes.

We had some thoughts of golfing today, but lunch turned into a sit around the table and chat which has lasted for some hours. I think we're going to play some games, and head into town for dinner and drinks (and poker?) later, but for now, it's been really nice to just hang out and relax.