day 21

Babb to Banff

Got up with the sun to get the car packed up - had to make sure there was space for Emily and Ariel! I had also agreed to give a ride to the campsite owner’s mother-in-law - a lovely Ukrainian woman named Valentina.

Got over the border, made a stop at Tim Horton’s, and parked at the airport to pick up the girls. What a treat! We had a quick hour and a half long drive to get into Banff.

We got to the Juniper Hotel, dropped our stuff off, and walked into Banff downtown Banff to explore. We stopped for a quick bite (happy hour hot dog, truffle fries, chicken caesar salad) at Park and walked around. On a whim we stopped at Last Temptation Vintage where we all found a lil somethin’

We walked back to the hotel, took some chill time, and headed downstairs for dinner in the hotel Bistro. Our server was a delightful man from Denmark named Clay. We shared a tomato and sourdough salad, brussels sprouts with birch syrup and sunflower seeds, roasted fingerling potatoes with leek puree, half a roasted chicken, and a pistachio cake.

After dinner we moseyed right upstairs to bed.

day 20

A whole heckin’ day in Babb

Woke up and hightailed it over to Glacier National Park! Checked in at the ranger’s station to figure out my plan for the day - a 7ish mile hike to Grinnell Lake. I was feeling low energy so I went to the lodge to grab a cup of coffee. The woman at the coffee shop was so sweet, I expressed feeling not excited about my day and she totally hyped me up.

Thank goodness she did because this hike did not disappoint! There was a fork in the trail - one to continue to Grinnell Lake, and one to Grinnell Glacier. The Glacier trail was about 10 miles and was mostly uphill, I decided to give it a shot. Only one day in Glacier, gotta go for it!

At one point I had to stop because there were some big horn sheep crossing the trail. They had been hanging out for a while so there were a lot of people waiting above. I kept my distance but they decided to cross the trail right next to me. One of them stopped about 10 feet in front of me and didn’t move for a few minutes - just stared at me. I was standing so still and breathing so shakily, so nervous that he would suddenly find me a threat and send me sailing down the mountain. Eventually he moseyed up the mountain and I was able to keep going.

I was doing pretty good, but about a mile before the top the trail started getting too steep for me. I am so afraid of heights! There was a small waterfall that ran over the trail that required going up a sort of stone staircase with a very long drop off to the side. I went up it feeling very shaky but made it. I kept walking and saw that things were only going to get sketchier as I walked up - something that would be very difficult for me coming down. I decided it would be best for me to turn around - can’t navigate down hip-height steps and gravel with shaky knees (especially alone)! When I approached the waterfall I went down on my butt, getting completely soaked in the process (worth it). There was a man waiting for me, who told me to take my time. At one point I stood up and started getting really nervous and he grabbed my hand and helped me down. I was sooooo grateful. Here are the views were I decided to turn around and the waterfall (which doesn’t look very intimidating in the photos).

The rest of the hike down was beautiful. Ran into some more big horn sheep, but was able to give them a lot of space. Chatted with a woman on the way down who was on her way up. She was from Montana and had gone up to the glacier many times. She said that while the glacier is beautiful, the last mile of the hike was much steeper and more narrow, and that I did the right thing. She also told me a crazy story of a bear encounter she had where she and her boyfriend were charged from behind and had to use two entire cans of bear spray to get it to back down. Yikes!

When I was almost at the bottom, someone had to wait for me to pass them in a narrow spot. I apologized for taking so long and expressed that I was totally beat from the hike. They looked at me and said “I’m just proud of you.” I responded, smiling, that I really needed to hear that because I hadn’t made it to the top and they said “Whatever you did was enough.”

Made my way back to my car, found a spot at Swiftcurrent lake to jump in, and drove back to my campsite feeling really accomplished.

When I got back to the campsite, I went swimming, took a super hot shower, made myself some dehydrated dinner - chicken and dumplings - and crawled into bed.

day 19

Helena to Babb

Took my time waking up, made myself some yogurt and coffee in the big kitchen and read my book for a while. I ended up talking to the owner of the AirBnb and another woman who works on the property for a while. She gave me a more in depth tour of the hostel sharing that Jeanette Rankin, the first female congresswoman, used to hold meetings in the front room (very cool).

I called the shop, who still didn’t know if the part had come in so I would have to wait and be patient. Went for a run at the big track/football field down the street. I did a Chappell Roan (so good) walk + run and it was TOUGH at 4000 feet, but did my best.

I got back and was about to hop in the shower when the mechanic called and said my car was ready!!!!! I walked right over to the shop, picked ‘er up, and headed back. I ate my left over curry, packed up the car and hit the heckin’ road.

The drive to my next stop was about 3.5 hours. I finished listening to Slow Horses while I packed up the car so I started Page Boy and listened to Sasami. Had to have the windows down quite a bit because while I have a new A/C compressor it still needs to be charged.

The drive was short with lots of heavy downpour, but overall I was just so excited to be on my way.

I arrived at the campground in Babb to a man and his wife buzzing around on an ATV - Abby and Anna. They showed me where to park my car and helped me get all set up. The campsite was beautiful - right on Duck Lake, equipped with a really nice super hot shower. I took a shower, made myself a sandwich, read a bit, and got in my car while the sun was going down because it was very cold! I finished Assassin’s Quest and passed the heck out.

day 18

A whole heckin’ unexpected day in Helena

I woke up early champing at the bid to call mechanics around town to see who could help me. After a few phone calls I managed to find one that had time to look at my car that morning. I took the car over to them, and they quickly noticed that the A/C compressor needed to be replaced.

I walked to Steve’s Cafe for a denver omelette, hash browns, and delicious sourdough toast with marionberry jam. While I was eating, the mechanics called and said that they could do it but would need to overnight the part meaning I would have to stay an extra night.

I went back to my room and wallowed for a while. I read a lot of my book and took 3 whole naps. I got my shit together, walked into town, and got some stellar green curry and a cucumber roll at Suki Café. Everyone working there was spectacular, so sweet, and wished me luck on my travels.

A storm came in, thankfully I missed the rain but it was so windy! I stopped at the Gold Bar for a few $1.50 whiskey sodas. I read a bunch, talked to a few people, and watched a few people stumble around who were waaaayyy to drunk. The bartender’s name was Gigi she had red wavy hair down to her butt and was tough as nails. Pretty sure she would have fought someone for me if needed.

Took my butt home and tried to keep it positive!

day 17

A whole heckin’ day in Helena

Woke up, made a little breakfast, and drove into town to see what was around. Grabbed a very delicious honey cinnamon latte at Montago coffee and read for a bit. Afterwards I spent a few hours walking around, shopping, and seeing what looked good for dinner later that night.

I headed back to my spot for a bit of a chill. I laid down to take a quick nap but ended up sleeping for an hour and woke up super disoriented with 15 minutes before the bang trim I had scheduled. I rushed out the door, and made it on time. After the bang trim (which was great), I grabbed some things at Target and the Natural Foods store nearby to prep for the 3 days of camping ahead.

When I arrived back at the AirBnb, the battery light came on on my car and it made a weird sound. After some googling and looking under the hood I realized that the serpentine belt had come completely off and I would definitely need to take the car to a shop immediately the next day before I could drive anywhere. Thankfully my AirBnb host was so nice, let me know I could stay as long as needed to and recommended a mechanic to me.

I ordered a Lyft and headed over to The Union for a steak dinner! I ended up being there for three hours or so. I had a bavette steak with bone marrow butter, beef fat fried onions with charred scallion ranch, a snap pea salad with radish, mint, and sheep’s cheese, a cup of s’mores (a chocolate mousse with graham cracker bits and tons of charred marshmallow on top), and some delightful sparkling rosé. I also had a lot of really great conversation with the bartender (an extremely talented ceramicist and fiber artist half way through a two year artist residency nearby) and the guy next to me (a respiratory therapist who loved hot tubs and music festivals).

After dinner, I grabbed a Lyft home with a super nice driver named Omar. He also had a Subaru in the shop and made some recommendations. I went up to my room, got stuff organized to leave the next day, and trotted off to bed.

day 16

Grand Teton National Park to Helena

Was struggling this morning to figure out what I wanted to do. Thunderstorms and a 5 hour drive were on the horizon. I had originally planned to drive through Yellowstone, but didn’t want to add that much time to my drive and plus I had only swam in 2 of the 3 lakes on my list!

I made myself some yogurt with fruit, and coffee (I also managed to spill boiling water and super fine coffee grounds all over myself and the table in the process) and drove over to String Lake. I jogged around the lake for about 40 minutes to warm myself up and made my way into the lake. Thunder and lightning was coming up quick so I had to be fast to be safe. I walked out about 30 feet and the water was barely knee deep so I basically had to lay down to get all the way in. It looked ridiculous but it felt amazing. As soon as I got out it started to rain - perfect timing.

I hurried back to the ranch to pack up my bed right at check out time. I made a sandwich and enjoyed it in the kitchen area while watching the rain. I snapped a pic of the library before leaving because it was such a perfect, cozy spot.

Drive was about 5 hours today - listened to my book, an ep of Normal Gossip, a couple eps of the Handsome pod, and lots of Angel Olsen.

This particular route was not the most dazzling, but the rain made for some epic views. Lots of what I think was wheat fields, silos, old buildings, and the tiniest of tiny towns.

Made it to my spot in Helena - a large b&b with 12ish rooms, a big shared kitchen, and lots of little spots to hang out. A longer term guest named Gerald showed me around. I asked him if it was okay to keep anything in my car and he said he wouldn’t chance it. SO I proceeded to take every single thing out of my car up two flights of stairs in the rain. It was humid and brutal but I’m not trynna mess around! I got settled in, took a shower, did a load of laundry (which included my white chore coat that I had spilled coffee grounds all over) and made myself some dinner.

For dinner I made half a bag salad I bought a couple days ago and roasted some asparagus. In an oven! I can’t really describe how good it felt to use a real kitchen. Made me miss home.