The Glacier Saga

It all began with a boy....

Ok, well not really... but kinda... it would be folly to deny that a boy didn't play a role in my consideration of venturing to Glacier last summer. It got your attention though, didn't it?

I'll admit, I wasn't looking to work in Glacier last spring. I wasn't even looking for a job at all- I already had one, albeit a not-so-salaried one. But a job none-the-less mentoring kiddos I had already dedicated one summer of my life to.

And here I am the better part of a year later much to my amazement, considering the tumultuous turns of the summer and the fact that I had all these grand travel plans for what I was going to do after my grand Glacier adventure... not that those plans have been discarded, they've simply been delayed.

So here I sit, in a cabin on the edge of the park next to a wood stove with the wind howling just outside my window and I think, why? Why am I in a place in the middle of winter with few other people around, no nightlife to speak of, and nothing but yak-traks, snowshoes, skis, and skates for amusement (a situation I've been known to occasionally complain about I'll admit)?

I'm here for the wolf track five minutes from my door that's larger than my hand, for the challenge of finishing a snow-survey before the wind knocks the metal tube from your hands and the train rolls to a creaking stop blocking your route back to the car, for the adventure of skiing 15 miles of unbroken trail with a ski-pole held together by duct-tape and ski-boots with ripped lacings that freeze solid to too-skinny skis.

I'm here for the sight of a sleek & lanky mountain lion vaulting itself across the road in pursuit of a white-tailed deer on the way to work, for the look on an out-of-staters face snowshoeing for the first time on a clear day by St. Mary lake, for the laughter that results from snowshoe racing &, consequently, face-planting in the snow,  for the knowledge that every day brings something unexpected, for the solace that the mere existence of these mountains lend to one's soul.

I'm here because I can be here.
And that's all there is to know.