50 & 51
Day 50: Epic with a side of overcast! This day was our last day in Glacier National Park, so we planned to do the hike up to Scenic Point with a ranger named Pat, whose reputation for humor preceded him. We woke up to very cloudy skies, checked the forecast at the information board, packed rain gear and sandwiches then headed for the trailhead. The group was about twenty-five and after a short side trip to some falls, we headed up and up and up! To get scenic, we had to get elevation. It was worth the climb since much of the view was back over Two Medicine Lake and the surrounding mountains. At one spot, we could look down and see the Minnie in the parking lot 2000 feet below! Eventually, we climbed into the clouds which then seemed to part as we reached the tip top of the point, and then the blustery wind disappeared as everyone ate lunch. We could see the town of East Glacier as well as the entire Two Medicine valley. Alanna and I were thrilled, in spite of the clouds, to have such a wonderful last hike in GNP.
On the way down, two interesting things happened. First, there was a spirited conversation about the hike up and over Siyeh Pass. We had not done that one, so we were very curious. Ranger Pat proclaimed it his favorite and a fellow hiker who spends the better part of the summer in the park had already done it three times this year. We were now even more curious. If you are curious how this part of the story ends, you’ll need to skip ahead to Day 51, but if you can be patient, another extraordinary thing happened on our descent!
About two-thirds of the way down, we passed an elderly woman sitting under a tree eating a sandwich. Ranger Pat knew her and they talked as we passed. A little ways down the trail, a hiker asked Pat who she was, and he replied, Alice Kehoe. I then brought the group to an immediate halt and exclaimed, “Alice Kehoe! The Alice Kehoe?!!” My guess is that most of you are scratching your heads and saying who the heck is Alice Kehoe. Turns out, the rest of the group was in your shoes, and Pat was astonished that I knew of her—this was a first for him.
Alice Kehoe is a world-renowned anthropologist who studies American Indian culture, specifically the Blackfeet. I was incredibly lucky, back in 2000, to study with Dr. Kehoe at Marquette University as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar. Five weeks studying American Indians with Alice Kehoe! For those of you that don’t know, I taught American History as well as humanities for quite some time, and I have a MA in history. My thesis was on the Nez Perce tribe and how education was used in the forced assimilation process. This may all be too much information, but it does explain why I was so ecstatic to learn it was her on the trail.
Pat, being a stand up guy, brought her by our campsite a few hours later when she was back from her hike. Dr. Kehoe remembered me!!!! We spent over an hour talking about the seminar and what various participants are up to today as well as a variety of other academic and Indian related topics. On board the Minnie, I actually have a bracelet that I bought at the pow wow we went to as part of the seminar. We traded contact information and though it had started to rain, Dr. Kehoe insisted she would walk across camp to her site. When we were chatting with the campground host later, we learned that Dr. Kehoe is now in her late 80s, and still comes every summer for a month or so since this is Blackfeet country. She is amazing! And, she was getting ready to head to Japan once she got home to attend a conference. I can only hope I have such energy and drive at that age. What a day!!!!
Day 51: We stayed in Glacier one more day! The beauty of our life right now is that we don’t have to be anywhere and after hearing about the Siyeh Pass hike, recognizing we had one good day of weather on Monday before a series of storms rolled in, we opted for one more day and one more hike. Superb decision! The hike was an epic ten plus miles. Visually stunning—this is the phrase I kept coming back to as we walked up and down dozens of switchbacks pausing every few minutes to look around. I am not confident that I can do it justice with words; you have to come to Glacier and do this hike. That said, here’s a few tidbits: tight switchbacks up a scree field, views of the Sexton and Piegan glaciers, more wildflowers (!!!!), bighorn sheep, multiple glacial carved valleys, a burn scar from last summer that smelled like a fireplace, and mammoth waterfalls. It went on and on with every step. We agreed that it was a fitting end to our now eleven day stay.
Glacier has been good for our bodies and our souls. We needed this time, in this peaceful setting, and though we will in fact move on tomorrow, we know we are coming back. After all, there are 700 miles of trails available in this park, and we’ve only hiked 75 miles of them! Glacier has permanently implanted itself deep within us both, and we are incredibly grateful to have had the time and the energy and the curiosity to immerse ourselves in this most wonderful spot in the world.
