It’s time to sweat some baby back. And I don’t mean ribs.

I really miss Chili’s baby back rib ad campaign from the late 1990s. It just makes me think of, well, Boyz II Men, which has nothing to do with hiking in Glacier Park.

Of course, I had to do a quick hike on my first day here. All I had to do was make my bed, and it was still just 1 p.m. Now, it was full sun and temps in the low 70s, so not ideal by any measure. But what’s a hiker to do?

I learned a couple of years ago that if you hike up to a bridge that crosses Snyder Creek (at the top of Snyder Ridge) and back down, you can get a little under four miles in with a little over 1k of gain.

It’s called the Crystal Ford on maps because there is a horse crossing just above the bridge. And that crossing has seen many horses, given that is how the Sperry Chalet has been resupplied for a hundred years.

When in shape, I can tag the bridge in 45 minutes and get back down in 30 minutes. But this would also allow me to scout out what else I might be able to get to this weekend before training begins.

Hmmmmm. It looks like Sperry Chalet is still buried pretty deep. And I don’t want to run into that scary mountain goat I met last time.

I’ve had many good trips up to Apgar fire lookout. Only a few miles and 2000 feet of gain. But that last mile looks like a LOT of work this early in the spring.

As far as Mt Brown…… yeah. No. I remember when that mountain goat attacked me last time for a little dose of salt. Trapped in all that snow, think of the effort he would put into it now.

So, given how early we are in the Glacier season, I will have to pull out my old hiking spreadsheets and see what would be fun. And given all the road delays with the paving, I don’t want to drive anywhere. Hmmmm. This may take a little thought. Fortunately for me, most people agree that I have a lot of little thoughts.

The good news is that I found out my heart still works. And the best part is that I’m only three minutes off my usual time. When I lose some of my winter blubber, I will fly up these hills—well, as fast as any 5′ 8″ short-legged man can fly, of course.

The worst part is that the wonderful Garmin watch that my equally wonderful daughter bought me for Christmas tells me I need 96 hours to recover. But I feel like Jesse Ventura in the classic movie Predator. I ain’t got time to heal.

When I stopped in the employee cafeteria to refill my water bottle, I saw some new signs on the communal dining tables. Sometimes, you really wonder why these things have to be said.Welcome to the world of seasonal workers.

GoatBoy out, but I shall return! This will be an epic summer. But of course, they all are.