I returned early Monday morning from a trip last week to Montana. I experienced many surprises during my visit, saw some pretty country, some petty people, and some of God's many wondrous creations. I saw things men have done to beautify the land, to beatify consumerism, to validate immorality, and to control (or at least attempt) nature. Once again, I made the trip alone, because nobody I know was willing and able to come along, and so as aforetime, it was good that I enjoy my own company. The parks are beautiful places, and I am sure Montana has beautiful people. Unfortunately I saw much of the opposite as well.
I was disappointed by the scenery. Last Friday morning, I left the hotel to drive to Glacier National Park. As I approached, even though the mountains loomed larger, they looked the same distance away for hours, and I wondered how rough that would be for the pioneers to see the mountains never get closer for weeks on end. Glacier was a quiet and reverent place. Bordered by the Blackfoot nation, the park isn't as commercialized as other places or as busy as it could have been given its popularity. Despite the late date in teh season, the signs at the gates, and the people I met, I found a parking place in almost every place I wanted to go. Since I was alone, I didn't go to some of the places I planned, hoping to avoid a bear encounter. Since I was alone, the things I saw were completely silent and wild when I arrived, and I got to see the wilderness as it really is. Since it's late in the season and I already saw Alaska, I found the glaciers less impressive than might otherwise be the case. You can see them from hours away, but they're not as impressive as the ones in Alaska. Still, the waterfalls were abundant and amazing, the wildflowers were in bloom, and the berries weren't on yet, meaning the bears weren't as close to the trail as I feared.
The people of Montana surprised me. Montanans were not especially friendly or excited to have me visit and spend my money there. Granted, I am a bit eccentric, and my visit was marred by multiple complications that created problems. We didn't arrive at the airport until over an hour after our scheduled arrival, but we spent most of that time sitting on the tarmac in Montana waiting for them to fix the jetway. I waited another half hour to get a rental car, and I was so unimpressed by the representative that I complained to Budget. By the time I arrived at my hotel, the clerk had a chip on her shoulder since I was the last unkept reservation, and she had to stay at work longer. Yeah, so they were surly, unfriendly, and self important, which I expect in Vegas where everyone is plastic but not in Montana. Elsewhere, i found the people standoffish and agrarian, unkempt and unattractive, unsullied, and unencumbered. However, they all live in palatial estates, drive exorbitantly priced SUVs and have attractive girlfriends. I guess money makes the man. The people of Montana were the barbarians, but the Blackfoot nation surprised me by being the most civilized part of the state. The people seem interested in their own politics, work hard, built a thriving community, and don't mess with us. If all tribes were like this, the Indians would be far better off in America than they are.
Before I returned home, I visited Yellowstone for the first time as an adult. I remembered Old Faithful being taller, but that's probably because I was smaller. I found more trash there than we d at Mt. Charleston, which surprised me greatly. One geyser has even been turned into a wishing well, and others were covered with hats people lost in the strong winds. Most of the people were nice, and I took a lot of group photos for people. What struck me is that nobody EVER offered to return the favor, so I eventually had to ask someone to take my picture as I vacated the park. Although it was busy, there was plenty of parking here too even into the afternoon at most places, but I did skip some. Despite the abundance of hiking trails, I don't think anyone ever really hikes in Yellowstone. The landscape as I wound through the woods looks probably exactly as it has for centuries with accommodation for tree aging, wildfire, etc. There were some idiots who caused wildlife traffic jams, but because of one of these, I saw my first grizzly bear in the wild, only about 15 feet from the road in a berry patch surrounded by foolish tourists snapping pictures. I saw a few bison, some elk, and a moose, but I saw more wildlife in the Tetons than in Yellowstone. You can tell that the wildlife track through the protected areas by the footprints, but the people mostly stayed on the paths and respected the park, which hopefully means it will last a long while yet. Surprisingly enough, I encountered a ranger on a trail, making this the third time ever, but she couldn't answer ANY of my questions, and so I wonder how in Hoboken these people got jobs with the Park Service but I couldn't even get an interview. The Montana part of Yellowstone is the ugly part, except for the Mammoth Hot Springs resort which is interesting if you want to see what a western hotel looked like in 1920. It was not the kind of visit I expected.
I enjoyed my vacation despite the complications and surprises. The TSA broke my camera, so my photos are all small and low quality shot with my RAZR V3 phone. Truthfully, I was appalled by Montanans and in no hurry to move there. Montana was essentially the same as Idaho and Wyoming, so unless you go for the parks, there's nothing there you can't see anywhere else. I went without cell service almost the entire time unless i was within a mile of the Post Office. After other hikes and trips, I was disappointed by Glacier National Park. The mountains there are lower than the hikes I do at Mt. Charleston back home, and the glaciers are smaller than those I saw in Alaska. If you go, visit Glacier, THEN Alaska. The Blackfoot reservation outside Glacier was the most interesting part to me, since I didn't know there was one there, but I definitely recommend you just go to the Many Glacier entrance directly. The road between the eastern gates is in a state of awful disrepair and curved and narrow. Finally, I was saddened by Yellowstone since it's being loved to death. The people mistreat it, the people abuse it, and it's a good thing they preserved it, because with as many visitors as it gets i know they would have destroyed it for others to see. Maybe some day I'll have a reason to go back and share it with someone special.
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