Mountain hiking advice

mountains
Bishops Cap left horizon. Pollock Mountain center horizon. Piegan Mountain the small white capped triangle-peak barely noticeable on center-right horizon.

If you have the opportunity to hike above 6,000′ for a week, here is one critical tip and three practical reasons to follow the tip:

Critical tip: You want to have your walking muscles in good condition before heading into the mountains.

Practical reasons:

  1. Walking above 6,000′ is easier if your body is already a walking body.
  2. You will carry a daypack with food, water, and other sensible provisions like a rain poncho, power brick, extra layers for potential sudden adverse weather. A walking body will adjust easier to the extra weight.
  3. Your legs will receive healthy elevation gain and loss. Having a walking body accelerates your acclimation to the terrain.

Note: The goal is to hike at a pace where we maintain controlled breathing. This pace will be especially slow, and wonderful, the first few days.

Finally, our goal isn’t to cover lots of miles quickly. Our goal is to savor the scenery, the company, the wilderness.

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This website is about our BODY. To read today’s post about our SPIRIT, click here.

Trails of Glacier

list of Glacier National Park hiking trails
84 trails listed on this t-shirt. Have had the privilege of hiking 41. Note: There are a bunch of trails not listed, including a couple i named because they aren’t considered a trail. For example: Cataract Mountain, Reynolds Catwalk, Shangrila, Ahern Peak, Mt Oberlin, Swiftcurrent Ridge, etc.

Glacier is:

  • One-million acres
  • 734 miles of trail
  • 300-400 Grizzlies
  • 40+- Wolverines
  • Three-million annual visitors
  • An official International Dark Sky Park
  • International Peace Park with Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park
  • Wild
  • A good friend
  • Home

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This website is about our BODY. To read today’s post about our SPIRIT, click here.

While you can

Glacier Mountain Goat
GNP. Logan Pass. Glacier Lillies and a Mountain Goat.

Hike like you mean it, for some day and you won’t know when, you will not be able to.

dad

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Climb like you mean it

GNP.

You cannot stay on the summit forever, you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above.

One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up.

What one can no longer see, one can at least still know.

unknown author from Outward Bound handbook, 1981

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This website is about our BODY. To read today’s post about our SPIRIT, click here.

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90 days to liftoff

Swiftcurrent Pass with Forky
Swiftcurrent Valley view from Swiftcurrent Fire tower.

In three months, the first day of a Summer-long Glacier National Park visit begins.

Hiking nearly everyday feels invigorating now.

What will it feel like when it arrives?

Cold.

Windy.

Wet.

So be it.

Find a million ways to stay motivated.

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This website is about our BODY. To read today’s post about our SPIRIT, click here.

If you want to stay on this site and read more posts from this Blog, click here.