We had quite a number of guests stay with us throughout 2021. Curiously, there were a number of them that we did not know prior to their arrival!!! All guests were a delight, but two stand out in an entirely different class - we did not know them in advance; it was a chance coincidence that we even met; they charmed our neighbors around the golf course; and they were on a journey that makes one very jealous — why didn’t I ever do something like this in my younger days?
We actually played a very small role in their travels. Our part began on June 17. I was out for my run to the Belton Bridge, which is my standard maintenance run. The Glacier Half Marathon was only 9 days away. Just another beautiful day in paradise.
On the return portion of the run, as I returned thru “downtown” West Glacier, I saw a couple horses in front of the restaurant. This was quite unusual.
I asked the lovely young lady with them what were they doing. She gave a smile and said they were doing their summer dream of riding the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) https://continentaldividetrail.org from Canada to Mexico. When they started out, the east side of the park was still closed so they could not begin at the official Canadian trailhead near Waterton Lakes, so instead they started out at the Canadian border near Eureka MT, then over the hills to Polebridge, down the Inside Fork road and in to West Glacier.
They were trying to locate a way up to Marias Pass to connect back on to the CDT. Riding up Hwy 2 with busy tourist traffic was not an option, and when I left them to run back home they were looking at the possibility of taking the southern boundary trail in the park and locating a place to ford the Middle Fork. I wished them good luck on their journey.
The next morning I was out for my run to the Belton Bridge, which is my standard maintenance run. I never made it to the bridge. I started out, and as I arrived in “downtown” there were the same two young women on horseback coming over the bridge out of the park. Just as they came into West Glacier, a park ranger in a vehicle with flashing lights pulled them over. “Ma’am, we’ve received reports of a couple people on horseback who were camping illegally in the park”. After 5 minutes of confusion on the ranger’s part, the misunderstanding was straightened out. The women had camped outside the park on the other side of the North Fork, and had rode the 11 miles over Camas road to arrive in West Glacier.
After the ranger left, I spoke to the ladies. “You’re not supposed to be here! You’re supposed to be on the way to Marias Pass. What gives?”. They had spent the prior day asking around of places to ford the river, but mid June is when the river is cresting at it’s peak high. One cannot ford it in June! They were still trying to figure out a plan when I invited them to come down to our house, where they can make calls and look at maps and determine a plan of action.
I called our next door neighbors and asked whether they would allow them to graze the horses on their property and possibly spent a night, which they very generously agreed. The ladies had been riding for over a week, and were absolutely delighted by our offer of showers and laundry facilities, along with a dinner of Sandy’s homemade pizza and some generous sampling of Glacier Distilling products.
I don’t know if you get horses very often in your neighborhood, but we do not. They attracted quite a bit of attention, and other offers of food and advice soon followed.
One neighbor pulled out some maps and showed them how they could ride down to the Hungry Horse Reservoir, continue to the Spotted Bear region in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and connect to the CDT. A plan!!!! They said they would be up early and head out that way. Somewhere in that conversation it was mentioned they would be passing the distillery, and “early morning” changed to “later” so that they could pass by around noon when the distillery opened.
The next morning they saddled up and were on their way.
We had kept in touch with a few texts when they were in cell service. At one point they passed by Anaconda MT, and their story made the local paper.
Later we had heard from them at some point that they made it to Colorado, and then later in to New Mexico, and today (Christmas Eve) received the following photo of them taken 12/21 at the Mexican border at Puerto Palamos. The completion of the CDT!
We very much look forward to their next visit to West Glacier, hopefully soon, to hear the full tale of their travel. What an extraordinary achievement
