Come Josephine in my flying machine. GoatBoy learns how to walk.

So I finish up my tours for the day, get the bus washed, and put to bed (right next to the dirt road entrance to the encampment they call Beargrass RV to make sure it has a fresh coat of dust to mix with the morning dew). Then Jeni says ‘Do you want to go for a hike.?’ I would eat a cat turd sandwich before turning down any kind of hike no matter how tired I was. Sure.

Fellow Red Bus drivers Rebecka and Jeni swoop me up, and I jump in the back of a 2007 Avalon that may or may not have a tire balance issue but a power steering leak. Off to the Many Glacier area we go. It’s almost 4 pm, with the hike being to Grinnell Lake via the south shore of Lake Josephine. Well, let’s call it what it is. A walk. But at least we aren’t going lame and taking the tour boat.

I have not been to Grinnell Lake since probably when Mitch was still in a kid backpack. It has been a very long time. And a refresher at a leisurely pace would be nice as the late afternoon heat started to abate.

I’ve always liked Mt Henkel and all of that red scree. The snow is generally all but gone come July. One of my favorite climbs, until the NPS closed the south-face approach because of constant bears. Now you have to climb either of the peaks to the side FIRST, and then traverse over. Yeah, right.

The mountains are calling and clearly, I must go. With my new acquaintances.

Mount Gould was certainly putting on a nice game face for the late afternoon. Just look at that big, beautiful, thick, long, black diorite sill. Just don’t search that term on Urban Dictionary.

But of course, it is when we bottom out in the cirque and confront Grinnell Lake that the real early evening magic starts to happen. I forgot all of those after-dinner hikes I’d take as an employee when working at Swiftcurrent in 1985. After all, everything was just THERE.

The group took about four hours for the eight miles in/out. Of course, with that whopping 350′ of gain/loss you could really feel the ache in the quads. Both Jeni and Rebeka had never been here before, or for that matter even worked in the Park before. It was all new to them.

It was enjoyable to see how they appreciated and took in all of the colors, sounds, and scents of what makes Glacier such a special place. How they would stop for photo ops that I would have normally just glossed over. And their fascination with the flora was almost childlike. Such awe, imagination, and that magical feeling you get for seeing a new and unique plant for the first time.

Initially, I had a very stoic ‘been there done that’ kind of vibe radiating out from me. But being with people who could slow down the pace helped me remember what a truly unique environment I was traveling thru was exhilarating and refreshing. And no matter how I have changed thru the years, this valley still had the power to take me back to when the world was all new and crisp and clean and unfolding and waiting to be explored.

When I was too young to know what I could NOT do because I hadn’t been told yet. “No” was something you said to your parents, but never to an adventure. Or a road trip. Regardless of how big or small.

So a thank you to my fellow employees this summer. Allowing me to take an opportunity to tune out all of the static and focus on what is in front of me. To enjoy things simply for what they are. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a quiet early evening. Of course, then I had to retire to a close-quarters cabin with two guys who can’t figure out how to take out the trash or flush a toilet.

Whoops. Almost lost my Zen moment. Ah…. There it is again.