Opinion: Mud and Moths

So I did a hike last weekend with the boy deep into Glacier’s backcountry. Just getting a permit is a bit of a workout if you don’t have a Sun Road reso.

I found a parking spot in West Glacier, then road a bike to the permit center. Fortunately, I was pretty much able to get the spots I wanted. Deep snows are helping, because people can’t make trips yet over mountain passes, so there’s not as many through hikers.

The trails are also mud and in some places, flooded entirely. That doesn’t stop most folks, but I suspect some are turning around.

As a point of clarification, when I say mud, I mean deep mud. The kind of mud that can suck off a shoe. The kind of mud that if you’re going uphill you might take one step up and slip down two steps.

I’ve seen worse, of course. I recall one trip when the trail itself was under water not just for a few feet, but hundreds of yards.

I met a few interesting people. One woman wanted to know where her “hanging pole” was in camp. She had walked by two of them already. Glacier puts up a little map at the entrance of all its backcountry camps, She apparently hadn’t even looked at the map.

I pointed out she walked right by them.

“They told me I would have my own hanging pole,” she said.

There’s a lot of jokes that come to mind with that statement, but I suspect Glacier frowns upon lynchings.

We had to cut the trip itself a bit short. The boy had a shoe fail and the plastic cup that makes up the heel was rubbing a hole in his foot. I taped him up, doubled up his sock and we slogged out.

On the way I saw a hummingbird moth. The most delicate of creatures, this moth looks just like it’s name implies — a hummingbird,.

This was the first time I’ve ever been able to get decent pictures of one.

They’re gorgeous little creatures with transparent wings.

Despite 28 miles of muck, the sighting made the trip. The boy’s foot is healing quickly. The next adventure lies ahead.