Glacier National Park (July 3-18) Part 1

My friend Camo from the Appalachian Trail texted me a few months back asking whether or not I'd like to join him on a hike through Glacier National Park on the CDT this summer. Since I work in education, I had the summer off. I was not planning on doing any hiking this summer since I just recently picked up a fiddle and was planning on practicing during my break. The call of the mountains was too strong however, and I had to say yes. I was looking forward to getting a few more miles in with my friend. We contacted Moosie to see if she wanted to join us, but she was unable this time.

Camo wanted to aim for the first week in July to hike Glacier. I suggested we do the 90 miles or so along the CDT, from East Glacier to Chief Mountain. It was one of my favorite sections along the whole CDT when I hiked it southbound in 2013. The time frame fit just about right, so Camo and I began planning.

Since both of us have done a lot of hiking, there really wasn't too much to do. Camo had to pick up some more winter gear, including an ice axe and yak tracks. I had all of my gear, I just needed to make sure it all worked. I still had my GPS from 2013 with all of the waypoints stored on a small disc. I still had a CD with all of Jonathan Ley's maps on it. I simply had to print out 8 maps of the Glacier National Park section and print out another 8 for Camo. We decided to get our permits there at the park when we arrived, rather than go through the application process online. In 2013, I had no problems getting the itinerary I wanted although I started about a week earlier than what we were planning. This time however, we ran into problems, but more on that later. Camo decided to do an airplane/train combo to get to the park, but later changed his plans after a friend of his was also heading to the park at the same time. Camo drove up with them. I decided to take Amtrack all the way from Maryland to East Glacier, with a 6 hour layover in Chicago. I liked the idea of being able to reach the park completely by train.

After packing up my gear, my parents gave me a ride to Union Station in Washington D.C. and I hopped on the Amtrack on July 3rd and began heading west. Camo left with his friends on July 4th and began driving north from Texas...