[Day 118] Waterton

That’s it. After a flat five-mile walk along the west side of Waterton Lake, I made it to the terminus of the Continental Divide Trail at the Treaty of 1925 border monument — a treaty which resolved some border disputes and clarified the 49th parallel as the United States-Canada border in these parts.

Luckily, I had some backpackers who arrived nearly at the same time to grab my photo. The one and only Dan Hoffman took my photo at the border. I’ll get more to the crew in a bit…

After a few minutes of taking it in, I jumped in the lake. A couple dips in Waterton Lake were a required baptismal experience after completing my rendition of the holy Continental Divide Trail. I walked the remaining five miles to Waterton Townsite, crossing by many tourists and even some true French-speaking Canadians. In town, the ratio of American to Canadian license plates was about two to three. I have made landfall in another pricey tourist town! I made the call to the Canadian border patrol at Chief Mountain to report entry and estimated a two day stay in Canada. I’ll be back in the states today.

Now, as I said, Dan Hoffman took my photo at the terminus. Dan reminded me of Dave Grohl with his stylish long dark hair and goatee. Dan and Ryan were leaders of the crew through Glacier to Waterton I met at the border monument, and they were offering to drive me right through the Chief Mountain border crossing today. That was too convenient and coincidental to deny. I joined them for post-hike lunch in Waterton to an assembly of probably 14 guys. Wow. They had a serious crew. At lunch, they explained the Dan Hoffman Memorial Hike (DHMH) — a 15-year (the running count is a hotly debated topic) annual adventure that honors when Dan Hoffman purportedly went missing and died during a solo hike in the Grand Canyon. After what sounded like an extensive search and some serious miscommunication, Dan was found to be happy and well alive. After a lunch of laughter and talking trail, Dan suggested going across the street for some special berry pie — Saskatoon berry to be specific. It was some killer stuff. I, of course, went for seconds, along with another burger and root beer float from the Waterton Cafe.

We loaded up the cars and made our way to the Chief Mountain border crossing. The law enforcement at the crossing asked more reasonable questions than I expected. After scanning everyone’s passports, you could tell they wanted us dirty hikers on our way presence. At the Red Eagle Motel down the road, the crew repacked cars and hugged it out as they separated to make way to their respective locales in the country and abroad. I sincerely hope I become a member of the Dan Hoffman Memorial Hike. Dan gave me a poem book, The Country of Marriage, that I at first thought was a bit of a joke. Dan marked a particular poem in the book that provided the creed of the group. I put it on the docket for tonight.

Dan and crew brought me all the way down to East Glacier Park Village, and I gave my big thanks to their support at the end of this journey with a few hugs. At the Looking Glass Basecamp, Luna, who owns and runs the hostel along with Will, assembled me and a couple other hikers to go to the Bison Creek People’s Market. They served up some great fried chicken and huckleberry ice cream.

After my day, I laid down to read the poem Dan provided me. The poem, entitled “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, ” spoke to me. I read it over a few times, building a personal thematic understanding. I fell asleep with my nose between the pages, dreaming of that which is illogically logical. Poetically, that may describe our very human existence. But, we ascribe meanings and duties as necessary to obstruct our minds and give procedural definition to retain a sort of universal logic — thus is society and civilization. And by these notions, people achieve comfort in existence. As the poem might suggest, man can’t let society pull the rug over his eyes. There is value in chasing that which is illogical, unrewarding, undervalued, unclaimed, untouchable, unpredictable. It is clear — my journey is far from over.

Signing off,

Zeppelin / fReaK (ON a leash)