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    • 2016 - NYC with Gwen
    • 2016-07 - Colorado - Maroon Bells >
      • 2016-07-01 - Maroon Bells - Denver to Aspen
      • 2016-07-02 - Maroon Bells - Buckskin Pass
      • 2016-07-03 - Maroon Bells - Trail Rider Pass
      • 2016-07-04 - Maroon Bells - Frigid Air Pass and West Maroon Pass
      • 2016-07-05 - Maroon Bells - Gunnison and Denver
    • 2016-05-28 - Tracy and Greg's Wedding
    • 2016-05-27 - Reunion
    • San Francisco 2016-02 >
      • 2016-02-19 - SF201602 - Flying to San Francisco
      • 2016-02-20 - SF201602 - Full Day in San Francisco
      • 2016-02-21 - SF201602 - Cycling Around San Francisco
      • 2016-02-22 - SF201602 - California Academy of Sciences
    • Northwest Road Trip >
      • 2015-08-05 - Northwest Road Trip - Seattle - Part I
      • 2015-08-06 - Northwest Road Trip - Seattle - Part II
      • 2015-08-07 - Northwest Road Trip - Mount Rainier - Part I
      • 2015-08-08 - Northwest Road Trip - Mount Rainier - Part II
      • 2015-08-09 - Northwest Road Trip - Portland
      • 2015-08-10 - Northwest Road Trip - Crater Lake - Part I
      • 2015-08-11 - Northwest Road Trip - Crater Lake - Part II
      • 2015-08-12 - Northwest Road Trip - Lava Beds
      • 2015-08-13 - Northwest Road Trip - Lassen Volcanic
      • 2015-08-14 - Northwest Road Trip - Redding
      • 2015-08-16 - Northwest Road Trip - San Francisco - Part I
      • ​2015-08-17 - Northwest Road Trip - San Jose
      • ​​2015-08-20 - Northwest Road Trip - San Francisco - Part II
    • Puerto Rico >
      • 2015-03-30 - Puerto Rico - Walking around San Juan
      • 2015-03-31 - Puerto Rico - Hiking within the Clouds
      • 2015-04-01 - Puerto Rico - Arecibo and La Cueva Del Indio
      • 2015-04-02 - Puerto Rico - Culebra Island
      • 2015-04-03 - Puerto Rico - Angeles Cave
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    • Greater NYC Area >
      • 2016-06-25 - Bike to Poughkeepsie and Discover Hudson Valley
      • 2016-05-28 - Bear Mountain
      • 2016-06-04 - Longest Day and Cape May
      • 2015-10-25 - Tour de Bronx
    • Bike the US for MS
    • Morris Area Freewheelers >
      • 2016-06-11 - MAFW 2016 Revolutionary Ramble
    • New York Cycle Club >
      • NYCC 2015 B-SIG 17 >
        • 2015-04-11 - NYCC B-SIG 17 - Ride V to Nyack
        • 2015-04-18 - NYCC B-SIG 17 - Ride VI to Oyster Bay
        • 2015-04-25 - NYCC B-SIG 17 - Ride VII to Armonk
        • 2015-05-10 - NYCC B-SIG 17 - Ride IX to Bear Mountain and Cold Spring - Part I
        • 2015-05-10 - NYCC B-SIG 17 - Ride IX to Bear Mountain and Cold Spring - Part II
        • 2015-05-10 - NYCC B-SIG 17 - Ride IX to Bear Mountain and Cold Spring - Part III
  • Trek
    • Guide to Trekking
    • Palisades Interstate Park >
      • 2019-11-30 - Palisades Interstate Park Loop
      • 2019-11-16 - Palisades Interstate Park Walk
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      • 2019-05-25 - Long Island Greenbelt Trail
      • 2019-03-30 - Cold Spring Harbor to Massapequa Traverse
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      • 2019-06-08 - Mount Tammany
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      • 2019-04-27 - EverWanderWhy Hudson County Historic Tour I
      • 2019-04-14 - Freewalkers Between Walk
      • 2018-04-17 - NJ Ultra Festival
      • 2019-04-07 - D&R Canal Trail - Trenton to New Brunswick
      • 2018-02-17 - Frozen Febapple
      • 2017-06-10 - Freewalkers 2017 Hudson River Loop
      • 2017-05-20 - Freewalkers 2017 Big Walk
      • 2017-04-15 - Freewalkers 2017 Between Walk
      • 2017-01-21 - Delaware and Raritan Canal Walk
      • 2016-08-13 - Lenape Trail
      • 2016-05-21 - Freewalkers 2016 Big Walk
      • 2015-05-16 - Freewalkers 2015 Big Walk
    • Catskills >
      • 2019-05-11 - Devil's Path
      • ​2016-09-03 - Catskills Trip
    • Shawangunk Mountains >
      • 2019-05-04 - Mohonk Preserve Rock the Ridge 50
      • 2017-05-06 - Rock the Ridge 2017
    • Hudson Highlands >
      • 2019-12-07 - Harriman-Bear Mountain 7 Peak Challenge
      • 2019-04-06 - Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail Traverse
      • 2019-03-23 - Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail
      • 2017-12-16 - Beacon to Breakneck Ridge Bypass
      • 2017-11-25 - Harriman North 7 Peak Challenge
      • 2017-05-13 - Bear Mountain 50K
      • 2016-05-15 - Bull Hill
    • New York City Greater Area >
      • 2019-03-16 - Shorewalkers 47th GMBW
      • 2018-03-03 - Shorewalkers 45th GMBW
      • 2017-06-03 - Shorewalkers 43rd GMBW
      • 2017-05-16 - Scouting Run
      • 2016-06-18 - Shorewalkers 40th GMBW
      • 2016-05-07 - Shorewalkers 2016 Great Saunter
      • 2016-02-27 - Shorewalkers 39th GMBW
      • 2015-10-31 - Shorewalkers 38th GMBW
      • 2015-05-02 - Shorewalkers 2015 Great Saunter
    • Pennsylvania >
      • 2018-03-31 - Naked Prussian
    • Long Path Project >
      • 2018-03-17 - Long Path - New City to Fort Lee
      • 2017-04-29 - Long Path - High Point to Wurtsboro
      • 2017-04-22 - Long Path - Lake Skannatati to Monroe
      • 2016-12-10 - Long Path - Nyack to Lake Skannatati
      • 2016-12-03 - Long Path - Fort Lee to Nyack
      • 2016-05-29 - Shorewalkers GWB to Nyack
    • Brooklyn Botanic Garden >
      • 2015-05-03 - Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Part I
      • 2015-05-03 - Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Part II
      • 2015-05-03 - Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Part III
      • 2015-05-03 - Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Part IV
    • Old Croton Aqueduct >
      • 2015-04-12 - Old Croton Aqueduct I - Part I
      • 2015-04-12 - Old Croton Aqueduct I - Part II
      • 2015-04-12 - Old Croton Aqueduct I - Part III
      • 2015-04-19 - Old Croton Aqueduct II - Part I
      • 2015-04-19 - Old Croton Aqueduct II - Part II
      • 2015-04-19 - Old Croton Aqueduct II - Part III
      • 2015-04-19 - Old Croton Aqueduct II - Part IV
      • 2015-04-26 - Old Croton Aqueduct III - Part I
      • 2015-04-26 - Old Croton Aqueduct III - Part II
      • 2015-04-26 - Old Croton Aqueduct III - Part III
      • 2015-04-26 - Old Croton Aqueduct III - Part IV

2015-07-21 - MT - Day 55 - Apgar to Glacier Campground

Brian and I enjoyed breakfast with the route leaders and a woman named Hannah and her friends. Hannah had ridden on a previous trip with our route leader Emily for Bike The US For MS, and now was hiking for the week in Glacier National Park. The two of us then took the shuttle back up to Logan Pass, switching to a smaller bus at Avalanche Creek, as the winding road limits the size of vehicles that can go up. 

From there, we started on our thirteen and a half mile Highline Trail hike along the Continental Divide's Garden Wall arête (or rock spine). Almost immediately the trail revealed itself to be a good choice. Soon enough we were walking along narrow four to six foot ledges skirting hundred foot drop-offs. The trail continued to hug the Garden Wall as millions of wild flowers exploded before us and dozens of peaks rose in the distance. We took a break after hiking up the Haystack Pass, about an hour and a half in.
We passed by butterflies and crickets and even spotted a caribou grazing above us. Brian and I grew closer as friends as we chatted. It felt good to talk about undertaking future adventures together.
Soon we reached the steep Garden Wall Trail, which climbs up 950 feet over 0.87 miles to the top of the Continental Divide and rewards hikers with a view of the Salamander and Grinnell Glaciers as well as Grinnell Lake. Salamander and Grinnell used to be connected as one single glacier. Now, the two might not even be big enough to qualify as glaciers at all. Glaciers have to be moving multi-year ice deposits over one hundred feet thick and at least twenty-five acres in size. 

Brian was a lot faster than I was going uphill. I took a break along the way to eat and drink something. That mile and a half or so up and down the side trail felt more like three. It was so worth it though. We were at about 8000 feet elevation and only about a thousand feet from the glaciers.
We hiked down the side trail and went to Granite Chalet, one of the last remaining Great Northern Railroad Chalets, where patrons could stay in the summer and be close to trail country. We chatted with a staff member who was living and working there for the summer before heading the four miles down to the Loop. I couldn't resist running down the rocky downhill terrain and Brian followed behind me. We discovered that I was much faster going downhill. It was my favorite terrain to run on and the first time we ran together. I loved it. We ran about three and a half of those four miles at around an 8 mph pace, passing twenty or thirty hikers along the way. 


We took the shuttle down from the Loop bus stop and heard about a spreading wildfire to the east of Logan Pass. Later I also learned that a Jeep truck had gone over the cliff near the loop shortly after we left, stopping all traffic east of Lake McDonald. The fires would spread to over five thousand acres over the next few days. Our group had missed the resulting chaos by a day while Brian and I missed it by mere hours. After ice cream and dinner, Brian biked the thirty odd miles to Whitefish as I headed to Glacier Campgrounds for some welcome solitude and rest.