What a gift!

Glacier National Park, Rising Sun, St. Mary Lake

“Isn’t it great! What a gift!” exclaims the other intrepid soul who also has woken up at 5 am to see the sunrise in Glacier National Park.  She is very enthusiastic for such an early morning.  Later, we find out she is Mariah Reading, the artist-in-residence and we catch up with her later before our boat ride.  We find out she takes trash left in the park and turns it into amazing natural scenes – check her out at MariahReadingArt.com.  We are staying at the Rising Sun Motor Inn, so one would expect the mornings to be spectacular – they do not disappoint.

The red jagged mountains come into focus as the snow colored mountains at the end of St. Mary lake glisten.  We do feel blessed with an incredible gift this morning. 

Just the night before we were at this beautiful spot and had a nicely dressed couple come by to take professional photos.  “Don’t you always put on a suit when you go hiking?”  One of them says, smiling as he tells us they are getting married tomorrow, here in their favorite place in the world.  Another gift.

Glacier National Park is our (almost) final stop on our two month+ long trip.  It is our first time visiting and we agree with all those who recommended it.  The views are spectacular, the mountains seemingly endless, and there is even a chance you might encounter a grizzly bear.  Well, that last one may not be the best selling point, but it seems like everyone has their enormous can of bear spray attached to their hip or held tightly in their hand ready to go at a moments notice.  We joined the herd and now have our own bright orange mini-fire extinguisher with us any time we step into the woods. 

To be fair, just yesterday as we hiked the closed Going-to-the-sun road, a hiker coming down told us about a recent grizzly sitting.  “The grizzly bear came up the valley and across the road, right behind us and onto a snow bank on the other side.” Sure enough, in the next half-mile we can see the fresh tracks in the snow.  That is close enough for me.  Did I tell you that we then bought our bear spray just afterward?

We do get stopped by two big-horn sheep who decide to hang out in the tunnel we have to pass to continue.  They enjoy licking the salt and water off the walls.  As we wait, we talk to the other couple who are also not interested in being cornered by a sheep.  We notice she has full leg braces and walking sticks –  and she is determined to make it up this fairly grueling 5 mile uphill hike. On the way down she tells us about her condition and how she keeps moving despite the pain.  She tells us of her nine brothers and sisters (!) and how they made her resilient.  She tells us how her concerned mom thinks she should just be in a wheelchair because she could hurt herself.  But she takes her doctor’s advice and keeps moving as much as she can.  She has two pre-teen daughters and wants to be there for them – she wants to show them that they can persevere and get through really hard things. 

As I hear her story, my own aches and pains feel pretty miniscule.  I am humbled listening to her story and see her take each painful step back down this 10 mile round trip hike.  She doesn’t complain – just keeps going. 

It is good to put things in perspective. Another gift.