‘The Vortex Is Real, It Sucks You In’

28 Jul 201728 Jan 2018 / bens game / 3 Comments

I’ve been trying to leave Salida for a couple of days now. But its fighting me , its like being on a ship in rough water constantly trying to trip me up, and as I climb through the decks I fall over buckets and mops tumbling head over heal to the previous level . I’m concerned I’m going to become swallowed up by the furniture. A downward spiral of soft pillows and comfy chairs with backpackers and hikers never going anywhere. Its dangerous. My mind runs through the potential jobs of busking and bar work. Here there is no politics, no stress, just laughter. Its easy to forget why you came to a place, ‘have I really just travelled half the world and hiked and cycled thousands of miles to sit here?’

I’m in a hostel, where several people have stopped a day or two, or three. I’ve fixed my bike and adjusted everything to go but inertia has slowed me down. I have packed several times to leave but the stairs going up to the dorm room seem to be a slide down hill for my kit and I get spun around trying to find the exit which evades me every day at 11. By the time I find it its 3pm and too late to go. I wake again at 9 am, its Ground Hog Day. Sitting back each day listening to music, singing to songs with other backpackers, and short walks around the town. Everybody here has given up everything at this moment and its peaceful. Backpackers go out to the shop, buy cheap food and cook it. Then share everything. When someone new walks in, they are invited without question. Life is cheap to sustain. There is no tearing hair out with big bills. Every hiker has a different colour and energy and its wonderful.

Yesterday when walking to the shop we came across a scared bear in a tree. The ranger in charge of the taped off area said he will likely come down in the evening when all the people are gone and run straight out the town to a quieter place. I kinda felt sorry for the poor fella, so many people vilify these black bears but he looked exhausted draped across a fork in the tree petrified of the people nearby. I hope he made it out ok.

Hopefully I do too.

Benjamin.

Yellowstone, lightning, Tetons and Bear

11 Jul 201728 Jan 2018 / bens game / 1 Comment

So I decided to take my Yellowstone Alternate just because its there. It felt pretty counter intuitive to cycle 16miles north (the wrong direction) and to voluntarily climb over the Continental Divide and extra 4 times, but, I did. The park itself is beautiful. Spoilt only by the constant stream of cars and rv’s tearing down the road from one gift shop to another like in some chaotic ritual, I had to escape the madness. They seem to stream from one gift shop to the next to get a meaningless stamp in a book and buy another ‘genuine’ gift from China. Met a few cool people on bikes around here. I had an easy day into the park and another easy day out deciding it would be better to go to the Tetons. One more lightning storm cycled through, if you check the pics carefully you can see one of the bolts. Im currently based at Jenny lake (though writing this in Starbucks in Jackson due to the very generous allowance of seats, power and wifi).

I met Harry and Roelie (she calls her self Rachael to make it easier for everyone). A lovely couple from Holland cycling north. I started yesterday knowing I had to sort some form of ice axe and crampon for my next endevour, I will climb the South Teton and Middle Teton peaks. I woke, cycled 5miles to breakfast, then about 15miles to the campground, then 7.5miles downhill to the town of ‘Moose’. From here I checked my bank balance to discover to my horror that I had not been a victim of card fraud, but overspent somewhat, so i can say goodbye to the chance of buying a house anytime soon. After arranging for my friend to send some kit to the local UPS; I cycled 7.5miles back up the hill, where I sat and thought what can I do with this delightfully empty day. After twiddling my thumbs for a while, along came Harry and Roelie. They announced they were going to the pub and invited me back down the hill for beer. A few pints later after an enjoyable afternoon we cycled back up the hill.

This morning i could hear some thumping about in the trees, presuming it was Harry in a drunken I felt obliged to check he was ok. As i came closer to the noise maybe 100m from the tents, I started to recognise the sound of a bear foraging. I ran back to the tent, grabbed the camera, and slowly approached. The noise was down the bank to the lakeside and i could hear it slowly moving along. I decided in the most inadvisable way to head it off further along. So a went ahead and waited. I now have a kind of cool vid of the black bear approaching. It was in a dip behind a downed tree and as it rose up, spotted me about 20 meters away, and scarpered off. A great way to start a day. I wonder what it is like for bears to be in constant fear of the thousands of people hiking and cycling around these parks.

Tomorrow i can collect the ice and and crampons and get ready for my thursday ascent. Followed by sprinting the following day to Atlantic City to meet Justin for a cycle across the 120mile Great Divide Basin. Bring on the next few days!!!

yellowstone park

early morning yellowstone

more lightning

yellowstone

beautiful canyon

spot the black bear (he is in there)

Justin, Harry and Roellie

deer in camp

mirror lake in the morn-jenny lake, tetons

local climber/skimo on 7mile ride home

Glacier Park- Cold, Wet and Happy part 1

16 Jun 201728 Jan 2018 / bens game / Leave a comment

So, Me and my friend Josh have just finished hiking Glacier park.

Day 1….. After getting permits we started from Chief Mountain on the Canadian border crossing. Walking through long meadows, and hiking to the top of Red Gap Pass, which was clear of snow, the descent down made easier by glissading a snow field on the other side instead of walking the switch back path. At the bottom of the valley as we come through a clearing a grizzly bear pops up and runs a few metres, we hear what we think is another bear in the trees and walk quietly on. From half 1 to half 8 we cover 20miles and feel like progress in the park will be good.

Day 2….. The morning starts well with a black bear encounter , Josh leading the way and the bear jumping up about 10meters away and sprinting to a safer point away from us(see pic). We take this as a good sign and keep hiking. Around 8am it starts raining, heavy. As cold as it is we push on, occasionally climbing over the downed trees from the winters avalanches, the forces involved in stripping the hillside and tumbling and splintering them to pieces must be immense. A few hundred feet up the valley we hit the snowline. The path cannot be seen so we make our own route, crossing snow bridges and keeping in awe of the tree tops pointing out of the snow. Because of the heavy rain we decide to scramble out own line up the pass instead of risk unstable snow slopes. The wind cuts to the bone through our wet layers so stopping is no option. We push as fast as we can to the top and descend over the other side, crossing snow slopes at pace axe in hand to arrest and falls. As we descend we pick a route carefully to avoid the cliff edges and weakening snow bridges, some looking no more than 6inches thick and spanning metres over icey rapids we hear running below. By the time we descend to the going to the sun road we are struggling to stay warm, shivering and jaws chattering. We decide the safest call it to bail out route and come back with dry gear. 7 hours of continuous rain and wind whilst winter mountaineering was not the original plan. 25miles covered this day. Finished by 3pm.