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Ten minutes out of town, we found the dirt road that goes up to
Storm Lake. We had been there before, shortly after moving to
Anaconda, Montana. The road was hard on the car, but we couldn't
resist going. This time we would hike up to the tundra and stay
the night. My wife Ana had never been camping above the treeline.
There were a couple cars, but nobody in sight. The lake was
sparkling in the sunlight, and the mountains of the
Anaconda-Pintler range rose up all around it. It was quiet and
cool here at 8,000 feet. We put on our packs and started up the
trail. Twenty minutes later we were past the lake, and the trail
steepened.
Hiking With Guns In Montana
After an hour of zig-zagging up the mountain we met another
hiker. We talked briefly, and noticed the handgun on his belt.
This is common in Montana. We've seen guns on the hiking trails
and in the bars, and the bank tellers don't even blink when
customers walk in wearing guns - they probably have their own.
We never did ask this hiker why he had one, and didn't find out
until later that there are grizzlies in the area at times,
something some "experts," have denied. At least we had our freon
horn to blast if we met a bear, but then maybe that would just
get the bear angry.
The trees got smaller as we climbed, and ended just before Storm
Lake Pass. Ana waited patiently at the pass while I ran the five
minutes - which became twenty - up to the peak of Mount Tiny,
about 10,000 feet high. Small, compared to some of the
surrounding mountains, but it seemed almost rude to give a
beautiful mountain a name like that.
Later, past goat meadow, Ana waited again while I scrambled up
the rocks to the top of Kurt Peak (also about 10,000 feet). I
couldn't find the route where I came up, so I went back up, then
down the west side and finally back north to the grassy slope
where Ana was waiting.
Maybe it was foolish to leave Ana alone. Just three months
later, two boys were attacked by a mountain lion on the hill
just behind the town of Anaconda. The fourteen-year-old fired
his gun to scare it off. Both boys were probably larger than my
gunless wife. Fortunately, we didn't meet any cougars or bears
on this hike, but Ana had other things to worry about.
Camping With Aliens In Montana
"I hear voices," she told me in the tent that night. I assured
her there was nobody within ten miles of us, and then she was
worried about aliens landing in the meadow. Well, it would make
a good landing site. The wind threatened to shred the tent all
night, sounding like the whispers or screams of ghosts - or
aliens. By morning the wind relented, but it was well below
freezing - time to get Ana home.
Despite the cold she hates so much, Ana couldn't help stopping
to take in the view as we crossed the high meadows on our way
home. Mountains, grey with rock, green with grass and flowers,
and painted with white patches of snow, were everywhere. Lakes
sat in valleys below, unvisited for weeks at a time. We'll be
back there again, but perhaps with bear spray and alien
repellant.
Notes:
Forty-five miles of the Continental Divide Trail pass through
the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Other trails in the area are
never heavily used. You can easily find mountains and whole
valleys where you'll be the only human residents for as long as
you stay.
About the author:
Steve Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the U.S. and
Mexico alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom
he met in Ecuador. To read their stories, tips and travel
information, visit: http://www.Everything
AboutTravel.com
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