I have about six conflicting tan lines. They’re confusing and jolting and weird, but they tell a story. My varying skin tones have come to represent my many summer adventures in the great, wild nature of my home state.
I grew up in the North. Not quite Canada. Moose country, bear country, hillbilly and hippie country. I grew up under the big, sweeping skies of Montana. Usually when I tell people I’m from Montana, they immediately assume I own a fleet of horses that I ride to school, I use an outhouse, have never seen a working light bulb before, and that I know how to fight mountain lions by strangling them with snakes. It goes without saying that all of this is completely true. Montana is rough and tumble. I don’t feel right going outside without my cowgirl pistol and most aerodynamic lasso.
Not really. Actually Montana isn’t just what people think it is. There is lots of good, sturdy, reliable civilization here. There are banks and elevators and laws. However, there is a lot of Montana that is untamed and fierce. Most everyone I know has had some kind of bear safety training and are capable of surviving in pure nature without much help. This past summer I took Montana on and explored it like I had never done before.
I backpacked to hidden mountain lakes, I jumped off cliffs into rushing rivers, I found rope swings dangling off precarious tree branches, I was introduced to bluegrass and some intense foot stomping, I touched some goats, I became attached to some very special cows, I played in piles of dirt and paddle boarded out to mysterious islands. I freaking confronted Montana and now we are closer than ever. I’m still leaving her for college, but it’s just a little break. I just need to get out on my own and find out who I am outside of us, you know?
Anyway, there I was - like Lewis and Clark themselves - finding adventure, learning about my world, capturing it in any way I knew how. Unlike Lewis and Clark, I did NOT poison a nice tribe of people with small pox or bring a slave because those things are horrible. However, I did take lots of pictures and got stung by a wasp. Aside from the slight allergic reaction to wasp stings, the exploration went very smoothly.
My favorite trip of the summer was what I like to call, “The Quest to Heart Lake.” Three of my great friends and I backpacked into a beautiful little lake where we camped for a couple days. This adventure encapsulates easy Montana exploration in my experience.
THE QUEST TO HEART LAKE
Three young, strong ladies and I packed up our bags and took to the dense, unknown forest in search for redemption and escape. We carried everything we would need to survive- toothpaste, water purifier, pot, stove, pillows, bags, favorite books, toys, food, extra shoes, sun glasses, reading glasses, fabric softener, pastels, laser pointers- the works.
As we dragged our burdens up the mountainside, we saw a moose, sat on some really huge rocks, got pricked by dangerous plants and then put mud on the wounds. It was intense. It was dangerous. It was two and a half miles of pure adrenaline.
Once we arrived at the lake within the mountains, we set up camp. We pitched our tent, we fired up the stove, and found a suitable tree to hang our bear bag. The following days were filled with sleeping in hammocks, making fire, spying on bald eagles, fishing on the lake, making slightly repulsive food, and wandering around.
One afternoon, the squad and I decided to go for a hike to an unknown area. We all had sunscreen and good attitudes so we figured we could do it. Little did we know that we could do so much more. A couple minutes into our hike, we abandoned the established trail. The conventional way was not for us. We took to the mysterious wilderness beyond what the government deems “appropriate outdoor activity.” That’s right. We bushwhacked it.
We not only survived, we thrived. We scrambled up jagged rocks and cliffs, we somehow climbed down sheer drops, we crawled beneath low, thorny branches and clambered up marshy mountains. We found pristine creeks, untouched by humans. We found snow that had stayed in tact despite the summer heat- because this is Montana, where the rules of the universe hardly apply.
We summited intimidating boulders and hopped across streams. We ended up in paradise. We were alone in a world of absolute beauty, completely devoid of human society or civilization. We ate the snow, smelled the flowers and screamed to keep bears away. Then we screamed because we wanted to. Then we screamed because it had become a funny thing to do. Then we continued to scream because we had become competitive with each other about the screaming and how loud and obnoxious we could be.
Upon realizing that night was soon upon us, we quickly found a route back to camp and hiked in. On our way back to our makeshift home, we bumped into some unexpected neighbors. It turns out that our hidden wonderland of nature was not entirely hidden. There were campers scattered all around it, campers that had hiked and backpacked for peace and quiet in the great outdoors, campers that were subjected to our howling, our loud and offensive cries. We hung our heads and giggled back to camp to hide in our flimsy home.
Aside from that one slightly embarrassing mishap, the trip was absolutely magical. The wildlife was near and dear, the water was beautiful, the mountains were majestic as all heck, we found ourselves, we cleansed ourselves. We made our own food, we hung our own food, and we went off into the forest to digest our own food. We took care of ourselves and forgot the worries of the world in our own new one, made from pine trees and trail mix.
This trip was incredible. People love to take to the woods, to the unknown and unpredictable wilderness. People like to put their lives on the line, they like to get away from the concrete and just yell at some mountains with their friends.
Montana is an absolutely sublime place. It is pristine, a diamond in the rough, a real knock out. There are a million things to do in Montana, if all of your interests lie in a sunbaked forest. The people can be weird, the atmosphere is often confusing, the food is sometimes questionable… but the mountains and lakes and rivers and trees and clouds make you believe in magic again. I highly recommend Montana. I give it a 10/10 review.
