I wound my way from Santa Fe to Glacier National Park via a series of visits with trail friends. My first was with a young woman I met when I was hiking the CDT. Kremlin shared her knowledge of the Arizona Trail with me since she had done it a few years prior. After a lovely visit with her, her childhood friend Jen, and Jim, her soon to be husband, I visited my dear friend Debbie who trail angeled me both times I did the CDT. I consider her to be my on trail physical therapist. She is also one of my biggest cheerleaders, constantly reminding me that hiking is a head game and pain is all in the brain. Debbie has also insured that I have the gear I need for the trail, including a new tent and socks,. While visiting her, she found a replacement for the wool shirt I carry. My old one was taped up and patched together. I had been looking for a replacement for years and was thrilled when Debbie found one for me in a thrift stop.

After some lovely time with Debbie, I stopped in Golden, Colorado to do an interview with backpacker radio. What was going be about a hour and a half interview turned into 2 1/2 hours. It was fun and after I was done, I had to not second-guess myself about certain things I said in the interview which is expected to come out in a podcast sometime in the first few weeks of July.

https://www.backpackerradio.thetrek.co/

I stayed that night with Morgan, a new friend I had never met before. She is a friend of Debbie’s and offered to put me up in Boulder, Colorado. She’s quite a trail runner and has done the rim to rim to rim in the Grand Canyon, which consists of an over 40 mile run in one day, twice going down into and up out of the canyon on steep trails in extreme heat.

From her place, I stopped for a night with another dear friend Chelsea and her partner, Cody, in Fort Collins, Colorado. I was thrilled to finally get to meet her lovely daughter Rae. Chelsea and Cody picked me up when I was hitching out of Buena Vista, Co during my CDT hike. We’ve remained friends ever since. Chelsea is a wonderful young woman who continues to deal with the adversity in her life with great grace and kindness.

From Fort Collins I drove more than 11 hours to McAllister, Montana, where I stayed with Dean and Jackie Strong. When I came past their house with a gimpy knee while on my CDT hike, they let me stay with them for a number of days. Jackie has quite the green thumb and an eye for beauty. She grows some amazing flowers and has a business sewing drapes. She has become my trail tailor. She altered some shorts for me on my CDT hike and this time she shortened the shirt Debbie had gotten for me. The new wool shirt hung below the bottom of my rain jacket and would have wicked water upward, so Jackie cut it off and hemmed it for me.

Dean, who has done a number of things in his life including raising cows, is a proud papa and spends many days each week taking care of his numerous grandchildren.

From McAllister, I went up to Helena and had another wonderful visit with Barb, a long time CDT trail angel. She is another person who understands the power of internal reflection, and who is committed to healing trauma both in herself and in the world. She offered to mail things to me that I might need while on trail.

Visiting with all these kind and wonderful friends and feeling the connections we share helps me move further away from the pain of the way my ex left me. Rather than being swamped with the pain of loss, I feel such gratitude for the riches I’ve been given. While I lost a lot financially in the divorce, I am now so much richer with the friends and connections I’ve made and the experiences I’ve had during these last four years of adventuring.

Four years ago it was hard to believe that I would ever feel the way I do now. While the past has left scars and still evokes some pain, the next time I feel devastated by life, I want to remember that if I can just hold on and ride through it, there might be better things for me on the other side. I want to remember to sit in the present with whatever is happening, joyful or painful. Rather than fighting whatever’s happening, I want to embrace it all as an opportunity for personal growth. By maintaining this attitude no matter what life brings me, I know I’ll be happier.

After leaving Barb’s, I picked up a 65 year old woman named Mary who is going to hike with me. Mary has been a long time PNT trail angel. I called her to see if I could leave a package at her house. She informed me I could, but added that she wouldn’t be there when I arrived. After years of hosting hikers, she decided she wanted to hike the trail herself. She has never done a long trail before, but she grew up in the northwest and is a real outdoors woman. After a short conversation, we thought it would be nice to hike together. I am excited by the possibility of having a tramily on this hike after years of adventuring alone. Tramily is a word that combines both ‘trail’ and ‘family.’ It refers to a group of people who meet up and hike together. Often the bonds in a tramily become as important as those in a biological family.

When we arrived in Glacier, we met Sarah, the third member of our tramily. She is a small but mighty 24 year-old who has hiked the 211 mile John Muir Trail. She grew up in San Francisco and is currently in Glacier with her father, who is going to shuttle us all to the trailhead. I stayed up way too late the first night in Glacier talking with these new friends. As a result of that and having been up late for a number of nights before, I was feeling poorly on Monday. This reminded me that while hiking with people is going to be wonderful in many ways, I have to be careful of my tendency to take care of other people’s needs before my own. I can get caught up in what’s happening outside of myself and forget to check inside to make sure I’m maintaining awareness of what I need to do for myself.

I mailed my packages at the post office in East Glacier where the post woman remembered me from three years ago. Then my tramily and I went up to St. Mary’s to talk with the rangers and find out what conditions were like on the trail. The rangers are still recommending ice axes and full crampons. None of us have crampons with us, but we will take our micro spikes. Sarah is now in the process of acquiring an ice axe.

Based on the weather, trail conditions and our eagerness to be off, we decided we would get our permit on Wednesday morning. This would allow us to start the trail on Thursday. You’re not allowed to pick up your permits until one day before you set out. We’re fairly confident we will be able to acquire one that meets our needs because it is still early season and we will be on a route that’s not as popular with the Continental Divide Trail hikers. One route of the CDT starts at the same place as the PNT, but the CDT hikers have the option of avoiding the high western route and heading straight south, while the PNT hikers do not.

From the ranger station, we walked up onto the snowfields where I taught both Sarah and Mary how to do a self arrest. This involves using an ice axe or pole to stop yourself if you fall on a steep snowy slope and are tumbling down. They both picked it up quickly. Then we headed off to get some food.

As I write this, it’s early Tuesday morning and I’m in my car. The others are asleep inside the hostel here East Glacier.

That’s all for now. Thanks again to everyone who made it possible for me to continue to blog on this trail. The next time I write, I expect it will be about my first miles PNT. If you want to find little updates before my blogs come out, you can check my new Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/themarybadass/?locale=sl

I usually share the Instagram posts on my Facebook page so you can find them there as well. There will be a few pictures and a small little blurb that’ll give you insight as to what’s to come.

#pacificnorthwesttrail #PNT #thruhiking #nationalscenictrail #CDT #continentaldividetrail #trailangels #tramily #olderwomenhiking #arizoniatrail