Glacier Backpack Cancelled/Dearborn River/Embracing Disappointment

Our place from above.

I spend a lot of time planning back country trips; it's one of my escapes. It's also a big time sink, especially when I consider how many of the trips I plan actually happen. This is especially true when the family is involved. 

We are currently on our summer 2014 family trip, and the original plan for our first four days was to backpack from Many Glacier, up in Glacier Park, over to Goat Haunt, where we planned to take the ferry into the town of Waterton on the Canadian side, and then travel on to Fernie, BC, for some biking. I had scored a hard-to-get permit, with the some of the best back country camp sites in the Park, the necessary equipment and food purchases were made, shuttles arranged, the backpacks were packed, and then the day before we left, Alex injured his foot surfing in the Clark Fork River. As we drove up to Glacier the next day, after some prying and watching him walk, it became apparent that he was hurting pretty bad. Finally, just after Polson, we made the decision that a four day, 30 mile walk with a heavy pack was probably going to be too much for him, and so we turned around. 

Back in town, we dropped the packs, loaded coolers for a camping trip at our property on the Dearborn River, and made it out of town that evening. Time at the Dearborn is sedentary, at least for me. I probably do 50% of my yearly reading in the ten or so days I spend up there a year. It wasn't really what I was looking for, but it is always good to be up there, and anyway, that's life. With some experience under my belt, I am convinced that success in life is at least as much (and probably more) about moving through failure and disappointment as it is about actually experiencing success. So although I'm bummed that we missed out on what was sure to be an awesome family bonding experience in Glacier, I embrace that it went the way of most of the other trips I've planned, existing only in my mind and on the maps spread out on my dinning room table, remaining in the realm of the still-yet-to-be-done.      

 

Looking downstream from our camp.

camp fires are always a highlight

Looking up stream.

The kids playing horse shoes.