TDP

We hit the trail at 7:45 am after a breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate. We had made our lunches and were making good time up the trail. We passed Atlantic Creek Campground and passed another "t" in the trail when I saw a little bird that looked like a meadow lark. I looked closely and it was a baby bird that was learning how to fly. As we sat and watched we found the mother very close by, sitting on a branch cooing as her 3-5 chicks were following. I am pretty sure it was a ptarmigan. As Marie and Rachael watched the birds, Ryan and I started on the trail and not fifty feet down the trial I startled a moose. I saw it's rump near the trail and it took off up into the woods. Marie and Rachael came up and were able to see it on the side of the hill in the woods.

My goal was to hit Triple Divide Pass by 11 am so we could summit and get down in time to take Marie to the train. We started walking pretty quickly and made it to the pass at 11:05. At this point we saw that where we wanted to walk was covered in steep snow fields. We would have to wait to summit the peak. After lunch Ryan and I walked up a ridgeline toward the peak, and had great views to the North and South. Rachael hiked toward Mt. James on a ridge line, but neither of us were more than 500 feet higher than the pass.

We decided to head down at around 12:45 and walk back to camp. We arrived back at camp at around 3:45-4:00. We all went straight to the creek to refill the water bottles with a filter and to cool down our feet.

Marie packed and we all went into East Glacier at about 5pm. We got there at 5:50 and Marie grabbed her ticket. We went to a grocery store where Marie grabbed snacks and ice cream, and we grabbed beer and chips. We waited at the station and put Marie on the train to go to Portland. Our summer journey together was over, but we still weren't home yet. Marie was going back to Portland to take part in an Earth Science Teacher workshop. I was going back to the farm after a few more days in the park.

Ryan, Rachael and I drove back to camp, and made chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions for dinner. I grabbed a chicked from the farm freezer and we wrapped it in tin foil and threw it in the fire. We did the same with the carrots and onions, but cooked dehydrated potatoes on the stove. It was delicious and we all went to bed with sore limbs and full bellies.