How did my day begin?
Totally off! I woke up thinking
today was Wednesday and it really is just Tuesday. I thought I lost my keys, searching
everywhere for it and later finding it inside the tent underneath a bunch of
stuff. I don’t even know how it got
there and how it got buried too. This morning I
dropped the calligraphy nib along with the ink cartridge in the car seat,
loosing precious ink and then getting it all over everything.
The mosquitoes were super
aggressive during morning prayers and meditation. I told them to stop sucking blood. They said they have to eat to survive. I responded, “Stop all your killing evil ways
so you won’t have to be a leech, blood sucker again.”
I had split pea soup and the rest of last night’s beans for breakfast.
I filled my tea canteen with Bao Chung tea and my water bottle
with hibiscus and sugar. At 9:30am I
drove to Swift Current at 10:30am. The
mountains here with lakes in between are beautiful.
People pulled over for grizzly bear sighting, a light brown young one was by the dam. I followed an SUV and pulled into a dirt road and saw a sign that said authorized vehicle only. This woman who’s SUV I was following, who pulled over to look at wild life gave me a dirty look of disapproval and said I can’t drive in, okay, then neither can she. I had decided I didn’t want to be anywhere near this woman and did not stop there, I figured she was helping me in pointing me forward to move on. It was a gift that came in the form of a shocker.
People pulled over for grizzly bear sighting, a light brown young one was by the dam. I followed an SUV and pulled into a dirt road and saw a sign that said authorized vehicle only. This woman who’s SUV I was following, who pulled over to look at wild life gave me a dirty look of disapproval and said I can’t drive in, okay, then neither can she. I had decided I didn’t want to be anywhere near this woman and did not stop there, I figured she was helping me in pointing me forward to move on. It was a gift that came in the form of a shocker.
I went to the Swift Current Store, Inn, and
restaurant. I used the clean Inn
restroom. The staff was a Chinese lady
and the other a lady from Madrid, Spain. At the
parking lot, a ranger had a viewing telescope and had it set up facing the
mountain. I saw big horn sheep, rams
with big curls, mountain goats with 8 to 9 inch winter coat, shedding from the
butt. They were beautiful. In one sight, I recovered from the dirt pull
out of the SUV woman yelling at me.
This ranger recommended the Grinnell Glacier Trail to see all
three lakes. That I can only hike three
miles in because of the snow, and if I had proper ice ax and snow gear I can
hike further into the glacier but it could be dangerous traveling alone on ice
and snow without trail guide. That
falling into crevasse is definite. Well,
given my injuries, I can’t go that far either.
I can’t even rotate my ankle. I
am hoping all this pressure, movement, and use is not making things worse. It's a blessing in disguise, it keeps me from venturing into adventure that I am unequipped, untrained, unskilled to handle. Without the injury I would have ignored all the common sense safety warnings with my stubborn will and hope to survive on sheer luck to make it out of any journey alive and unharmed. 
When I finally parked at the parking lot at the trail
head it was already noon. I bounced out
of the car with unexplainable joy, peace, happiness, excitement for heading
into the future. 
The trail was covered
in lush greens, and beautiful flowers.
It was so picture perfect. It is
what cartoons, storybooks, movies model after.
The snowy mountains and running river with celadon green lakes and
glacier snow cascades, waterfalls, every step was amazing, beautiful. It was a four hour hike of euphoria for the
senses. The smell of sweet flowers, and
another that smelled like a perfect bowl of pho with all the fixings, was just amazing. There must have been healing
herbs on this trail. If only I knew my
herbs for amazing healings, I could be a happy doctor, if I was a doctor to begin with. Yup, another possible career that I did not
invest in. 
I dunked myself underneath a waterfall three times. I was so hot that it took me three times
under icy glacier water to feel better.
That was my cleansing for the day.
The choice was between the waterfalls or the Lakes. The reflection off the lake of the snow and
mountain was beautiful. I walked without
a hat. Why? I forgot the hat. It is somewhere, yet to be located, I just can't seem to locate it. As a result, it is not on me for the hike under today's full
sun.
A group of eleven teenagers along with a pair of adults
went on this hike too. The boys all
jumped into Lake Josephine and swam. You
can hear and see them across the lake from a trail high up. Their energy was larger than this
lake. 
Butterflies of all sorts flew across the trail for the
flowers that isle the trial. I saw brown
ones, orange ones, blue ones, and white blue tip with green tint. Every time they appeared in front of me, it
was a breath of fresh surprise. I just feel so fortunate with delight to
witness one flying across my path. It’s
like spotting an angel or something like that, just magical to me. 
A mama moose and a young moose crossed the trail at the
beginning of the trail at the bridge.
They both ran fast. I followed
their hoof track until they went by the Swift Current Lake.
They were cute. The young one
felt like a male moose. 
Lots of people invited me to join their hike group so
that I did not hike alone. That was all
very nice and I am grateful for such invitation, welcome, and inclusion. I was on a stroll, I shouldn’t really be
walking and I was hiking, I knew others were all on a speedy hike. I strolled alone at my pace for photography,
artistic inspiration, meditative contemplation, conversations with the
spiritual world, and to limp, shuffle and drag my right leg forward, forcing it to use, exactly what it screams I do not do. 
When I finished the hike, I felt my chest was full,
grounded, and stable. I felt so
good. On the hike, darkness, crap would
try in what seems like endless attempts to creep up, but nature was
stronger. My will to transcend is all is
stronger. 
To heat up my food, I put them on the dash. My croissant was overdone via solar toasting,
it was crispy. My curries were just
right. I ate it with chips. It was a quick and easy meal. I sat on a picnic bench in the parking lot to
enjoy this. It wasn’t the best
choice. There were gazillion varieties
of spiders that crawled all over. I accidentally
smashed a bug while trying to get it off my paper. I decided to do dishes at the washroom in
this lot so I can clean up and put it all away for the night.
I met a couple from Oregon and we chatted until
6:30pm. I noticed I was too exhausted to
drive so I drove very slow, 35 mph on a 70 mph road. I stopped by St. Mary’s Visitor Center to map
out the rest of my trail hikes here on the East side of Glacier National
Park. In summary, I needed snow gear if I
choose to go more than four miles of any particular trail. That there are lots of mountain animals to
spot and to watch out for, mountain cats too if I was to hike alone. The rangers here really are empowering, they
have the attitude of being prepared for the trail and go forth with care on
wild mountain animal encounters and see all the ice and snow as adventure and
not hazard. I think if I wasn’t injured,
I would have gone forth in snow and ice and wouldn’t worry about bears or
mountain cats or deep ice to fall through into. I think I would have put
myself in a lot of trouble and not know it.
A blessing in disguise this injury has been.
I wasn’t allowed to charge my batteries at the visitor
center so I had to go back to the showers to charge everything. There was a long line for the showers so it
all worked out with charging of batteries and waiting. Two woman after me asked me if eight minutes
was enough for showering. I responded,
“No, personally I need forty five minutes in the shower.” They asked me what I do to resolve this. I said to skip shampoo and a detailed full
wash and settle to do a rinse instead.
I saw tonight a one inch long giant ant crawl over the
top mesh of my tent.
