Camping alone is scary and I am very afraid of the dark and could only pray that I would actually be able to use my knife in a life or death situation. Nonetheless, I drove the 30 minutes out on a dirt road off Highway 2 near the Glacier National Park into the National Forest to find my camping spot.
Between other people, bears and whatever other potential dangers the human mind can create in the dark, it makes sense that some people can’t imagine a woman traveling alone but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
A woman alone in the wilderness
It was only about 8:30 PM when I arrived and I had just enough time to set up camp and go for a walk before attempting my nighttime ritual of reading and writing before bed.
I had only passed one other vehicle on my way out so I left the car, grabbed my bear spray and started hiking. I love long slow walks at every time of day and was day-dreaming when I remembered that to ward off bears and other critters I should make a noise. Making noise is usually not something I have to remind myself of!
So, I started talking to myself and to the bears, "Talking out loud to scare the bear. Well, hopefully, the non-existent bear. Bears...I'm sleeping alone in the woods..... no, don't think about that! Go back to thinking about that dreamy hotshot fireman you're so smitten with." I was speaking this all out loud just like the crazy lady I'm sure I appear to be when I turned the corner and let out an audible breath followed by a very genuine, "What is this Magic?"
Stunning beauty in the mountains
Before my eyes lay a mass of glacial mountains with every color of the rainbow.
I love to be phone-free on my walks, so I took no picture (it’s better that way sometimes, right?). I dug deep to find my writing skills to describe the majesty of looking out over miles of ice-capped mountains.
There were purple, white and yellow wildflowers like little splashes of color in the sea of evergreens and sage bushes.
For miles, that's all I could see until it transitioned into half-burnt and half fighting-to-regrow post wildfire forest. Green, brown and then white trees with various needle coverage; most with none at all. Stark naked and blending together with the darker, almost blue forests further out. Fading lighter and lighter as the distance grew until the blue became white and white became one glowing orange peak as the sun shone his last of the day's golden rays on the glacier and the color reflected even more brilliantly.
Birds were singing, bees pollinating, hummingbirds were so loud they sounded like jet planes and were rather attention hungry as they flew only feet in front of me at eye level just looking at me like,"what are you doing all the way out here?"
What was I doing all the way out there?
The were deer in the valley below who pranced along without ever knowing I was watching from a ridge high above. As the awe of the sight settled in, I noticed the waxing crescent moon making her way across the evening sky as well. Her sharp and clean light allowed other stars to emerge as the sky darkened.
Glacial melt is a hot topic in the national parks and the water seemed as if it was everywhere, from the strong, rushing white water of the river far below to the soft, babbling brooks taking crystal clear, ice cold water down the mountain to the river.
The water was so loud I almost missed the wind making it's way through the pine needles more harshly than through the soft leaves of deciduous trees.
That pink/purple haze of a setting sun made my senses unable to ignore all of this perfection. In that moment I was truly present. It was magic.
I then dashed back to get my phone and take a picture! It is always better when you have a picture! Right? I couldn't help it and the picture didn't do the scene justice at all; how could it? With all of it's amazing apps, even an iPhone can't capture magic.
