Home in the world
K.J. HASCALL / For the Hungry Horse News
As we sat around the campfire at our Bowman Lake campsite Sunday night, we couldn't help but smile about dinner. We also couldn't help but salivate.
My future mother- and father-in-law are visiting from Nebraska. It's their first trip to Montana. This past weekend, my fiance Shawn and I took them up the North Fork to Bowman, where we had our engagement photos done a few weeks ago. We're trying to treat them to as much grandeur as Glacier National Park can afford in a week.
This was the first time Shawn and I had ever camped together, which is surprising because we're both outdoorsy people and enjoy camping. We quickly assembled camp and took off down the trail that runs the length of Bowman Lake for a gentle stroll through the understory. After a little while, we decided to return to the lake to soak our toes. For northwest Montana, this past weekend was hot!
As the four of us waded around in the lake and casually splashed each other or attempted to skip rocks (I'm a terrible failure), I couldn't help but think how easily cares and worries fall away in the presence of such beauty. College loans, car repairs, wedding costs and recent bereavement seemed to sink into the water and wash downstream.
Out on the water, fishermen cast their lines in the reddening evening light. I cast pebbles upon rocks poking up on the lake, relishing the melodic sound of stone against stone. Little water bugs darted about. Shawn gazed up the lake at the mountains beyond, fantasizing about a someday trip over Brown Pass.
Later, as the campfire crackled and burned red hot, we enjoyed T-bone steaks Shawn's parents brought from Nebraska. We figured we were likely the only people in Glacier National Park who enjoyed steak from Nebraska that night. The Christensens are cattle ranchers and their beef is beyond compare. The cattle enjoy a diet of sweet prairie grasses and hundreds of acres on which to roam. Happy cows taste better.
After dinner we enjoyed each other's company around the fire. Shawn and I listened to stories his parents told us of their friends, their youth and recent cavorting.
I watched the full moon rise through the lodgepole pines. Through those same trees flickered the sparks of fires at other campsites. Somehow, I felt reassured at the sight.
Before retiring for the night, Shawn and I took a moonlit walk back to the lakeshore. Along the way, we saw a number of toads in the road. They hopped away from our headlamps, off on their own business in the woods. The lake was bright and calm. Rainbow Peak and Numa Ridge were reflected in the serene surface of the water. For a few minutes, Shawn and I felt alone in the world, enjoying Bowman's beauty and keeping it all to ourselves.
Again a calm stole over me. I considered how lucky I have been to find myself in many striking places all over the world. But few seemed to compare to Bowman Lake in the moonlight while I held my fiance's hand. We should all take more time to explore the wild places in the world, for in those places we somehow find the quiet of the soul.