Speechless And Awestruck

Healy Pass
July 23, `72

Back at the hostel, Mike and I were feeling claustrophobic. They had
to turn kids away because the place was getting to full. We were glad
for the roof and the showers though. (In Montana I never showered.)
The weather continued to be shitty. It was always cold. We were
waiting for a break in the weather, but after our second night at the
hostel, we decided to take off for the backcountry anyway, rain or shine.

After ten-miles, we turned on to a dirt road. At the trailhead we
covered our bikes as best we could. We left them chained to one
another in the back of the truck, and started hiking up into the
mountains. We decided to hike into Egypt Lake. It was approximately 13
miles in, and once there, there were other trails if we wanted to keep
going. The sun was out, but it didn't stay that way. Even though it
rained we didn't notice it a whole lot because the scenery was so
beautiful.

After hiking eight miles (mostly uphill), we had climbed above the
rain. On top of Healy Pass the sun was shining, and the horizons (all
but the east) were covered with the peaks of the Canadian Rockies. The
panoramic view was spectacular, not so much because we were up near
the peaks, but because we were standing in a meadow (about 5 or l0
football fields of rolling hills) that was full of blooming
wildflowers. Mike was overwhelmed. He said, "I half expect Heidi, from
the nursery rhyme, to be grazing her sheep up here." Before us,
reaching out to the sun (through the snow in some cases) were
thousands of yellow, blue, and violet wildflowers. Needless to say, we
were speechless when we walked through the field of wildflowers.