7/7/07 Glacier

We went up to Glacier National Park the other day and did a 12 mile
loop hike past these amazing mountain lakes. It's pretty incredible
there. Huge mountain peaks with lots of alpine lakes between them.
I need to explore around the park more, providing I have time. It's
kind of a tease where the bio station is located because we are about
1.5-2 hours from some really cool stuff but we do not have a lot of
free time.

I discovered or re-confirmed a few things about myself on this hike.
The first thing is that I am incredibly sensitive to altitude. I
know this from my fabulous experience with altitude sickness in Peru
but I forget that I live at sea level and my lungs really prefer to
operate under those conditions. Our hike only started at about 4500
feet but for the first hour and a half I was having so much trouble
breathing that if it had been safe for me to turn back alone (grizzly
country) I would have. It was kind of embarrassing. I have been
seriously hiking and training for several months so I was in shape and
it actually had little effect. I was really glad that I went
though. One of these days I will actually get some pictures on
freaknugs so y'all can see what I'm up to here.

The other thing I re-confirmed about myself is that I am a different
kind of outdoors person from most people. Living in Seattle there is
this tremendous pressure to be this
outdoorsy-gearhead-mountaineering-Outback driving person. I am
definitely into nature but in a totally different way from this kind
of person. The 12 mile hike was great but I get every bit as much
out of a 6 mile hike as I do out of a 12 mile one. I do not need to
get to the highest peak or find the absolute best view. I am just as
happy to be out in the forest enjoying the hike, stopping to figure
out what bird is singing. It's not about getting to the top for
me. It surprises me that I feel in a minority in this respect, but I
do. The 12 miles was really not a big deal, I actually thought it
would kick my ass more than it did. But next time I want to enjoy
the journey a little more as my fellow hikers were really excited to
get to the view at the top. They walked right by a bunch of wildlife
that I had to point out to them.

The other thing I've realized while being here is that I am still
really sucky at the morning thing. I've been secretly patting myself
on the back for like a year because I thought I was actually getting
better at getting up early and functioning. Now here in the land of
Folgers I have realized that the only thing improving my performance
at home is the incredibly strong coffee I drink. When I press my own
Peet's coffee here I do fine. The days I try drinking cafeteria
coffee I am a total zombie most of the day. I think I'll be a drug
addict til I die.

Ok, so I've bored you with my self-discovery so now I'll go back to
animal stories. I was at my site yesterday and spent about half an
hour watching a fox hunting in the field. He would run, then jump
straight up in the air and pounce on things (probably meadow voles).Â
I also scared the tiniest deer fawn. They bed down in fields and
wait for mom to return for hours. I was practically on top of her
before she finally bolted. She couldn't have even been a week old.
Poor thing, I must have terrified her. I also saw some little
weasel-marten-mustelid thing chasing a deer mouse. I love those
little weasely animals. They're so fierce.

It's storming here today so it's a few hours of research followed by
some b-movies on netflix most likely.