Fun with tenting!

Well, this morning we are in Kalispell, MO, and you may notice that it was not a planned stop on our itinerary. More precisely, we are in a motel there, after just two nights of tenting at Waterton Park. We arrived at Waterton campsite on the lake on Saturday afternoon as planned, in partly clouded skies with tremendous wind. We struggled to get our tent up in constant gale-force wind off the lake, and although we had hoped also to put up a tarp above the tent, there were no trees near our campsite. It was so windy that our normally domed tent looked more like a partially melted Hershey kiss. Dean concocted a series of ropes to guy the tent against the wind, but even so, the force unhooked the tent poles from their little ring-pegs and we were circling the thing, trying to keep it from collapsing altogether. Finally it seemed to be pegged and tethered as much as possible, but remained flopping and slapping in the wind. It seemed impossible that we would have to try to SLEEP in the thing.

Dean crouched in its lee and lit the Coleman stove and we cooked our planned delicious dinner of steak, new potatoes, Zucchini, fresh salad and macaroons. All the while, the deer and fawns were poking around us, interested in our activities, and I suppose, perhaps in our food. When finally everything was cooked, and the wine poured, the dinner was immediately cold because of the constant gale. We couldn’t even put down our wine glasses for fear of them taking off in the gusts. Once the sun disappeared behind the mountain, and eventually sank below the horizon, the wind showed signs of subsiding, and gradually over the next hours it became quiet. Whew. Our camp neighbors in an RV, a couple from Calgary (Doreen and Gregg) and their 3 children, invited us to join them for a campfire in their portable fire pit, and it was lovely to be able to relax after the war against the wind. We planned that on Sunday, Dean and Doreen and I would take the boat down to the south (Montana) end of Waterton Lake to Goat Haunt and walk the 13k back to Waterton. As we were saying goodnight, it started to rain. We dashed into our tent and off to sleep.

It rained. And rained. When we awoke in the morning it was drizzling but the clouds were down to only about 200feet above us, and the visibility was nil. We quickly decided that the morning boat trip was out and we would hope for clearing during the day. By mid-morning it was raining properly and by afternoon, pouring. I finally have found a use for all those little plastic cases of trial-size dental floss that accumulate after trips to the dentist. On this trip, the zipper for the main door of our tent has quit working, so I sewed it closed with dental floss and we are using the smaller entry door instead. Luckily because we have the large tent we were able to set up inside with our chairs, a camping table, our iPod (we had electricity at our site) and the electric kettle. Really, it was almost comfortable. Doreen and Gregg invited us into their RV in the afternoon and we eagerly went, and whiled away several hours just chatting and sipping. During that time, Gregg looked out and said, “It’s snowing”, and sure enough, great gobs of slush were crashing down with the rain. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes at our elevation, but the mountains around us became quite white. We were cozy in their RV. What a pleasant couple. We finally left them when it became evident that their kids were fainting with hunger, and we were facing the challenge of taking a shower… but, oh, what joy to find clean shower stalls and lots of hot water. We went out for a delicious Italian dinner in town, (where we didn’t have to fend off the deer for our food and the food stayed hot more than 5 seconds) and were in our sleeping bags before nine. And guess what? Still raining. Water had seeped into our tent around the edges, but amazingly, the upper dome and fly were holding out the downpour.

We both awoke at 2am when the sides of the tent began to flap gently, and within minutes, the wind had started up again to near gale force. It had stopped raining, but instead, we were in a tornado again. I went out and discovered that the entire sky was clear, and with little ambient light, the starry array was spectacular. Dean got up to see it as well, and we stood out in the wind looking skyward. Soon we were aware that Gregg was struggling to put down the awning on their RV because it was flapping violently, so we helped him with that. Amazingly we were able to get back to sleep even with the tent wobbling around us, and were even slightly (very slightly) thankful that the tent and fly would dry out before we packed it up later. When we got up, it was cold, and still windy, so we went off to breakfast in town, came back and wrestled the tent down and into its place in the soft-sided car-top carrier. Sadly, Dean discovered that the plastic container of his clothes he had left in the carrier was partially soaked. Our towels and mats were soaked from mopping up the water that had seeped into the tent… I was fit to be tied. Dean, normally sweet natured, is very crabby when putting up or taking down the tent even in good conditions, and more so in difficult ones. So, eventually we got everything re-stowed in the car, and set off from Waterton just before ten.

I had another odd experience in Waterton Park. I found a wedding ring which someone had posted as lost. She is a woman with whom we spoke on our first night there, in another campsite next to ours. I have emailed her to say we have it, and as she lives in Colorado, we may either deliver it or mail it once we hear back from her. I also found 22 cents at various places in the park during our stay there. Quite a lucrative, if uncomfortable, stay.

It is too bad that we essentially missed Waterton Park because of weather, from the point of view of hiking or seeing more of it, but we did have great fun with our new friends. The drive south and through the Glacier National Park in Montana was cloudy but absolutely stunning anyway, and we enjoyed the trek along a twisting narrow road, stopping to take photos along the way. Both of us agree that we would love to do it again in clearer weather. The mountainous scenery is breath-taking. We (I) opted OUT of camping, as we had planned, and thus we are at a trusty Econolodge in Kalispell. Solid walls and a roof. AND a clothes dryer!

Alison’s ***New*** Conditions Regarding Tent Camping (still evolving).

1. Don’t.

2. If you have to, make sure the weather is going to be at least vaguely reasonable.

3. As much as possible, let Dean put up and take down the tent on his own… nothing can be of help to him.

4. Friends and good food make up for inclement conditions to a certain extent.

5. If you have to tie up your tent against the wind, it is too windy to tent.

6. Always choose the largest tent available in case you have to move indoors for a day.

7. A back-packing air mattress is not enough padding for comfortable rest.

8. Always have an umbrella and a flashlight. A picnic sun umbrella can double as an entryway for the tent if it is raining like stink.

9. Availability of electricity at a tent site is not a bad thing.

10. Campsites with flush toilets, warm water and showers are a good thing.

11. Never try to cook and eat dinner in gale force winds. Make reservations.

We have changed our plans for the next 6 days for more flexibility with the weather. But will be back on the ‘schedule’ starting in Salt Lake City. We are taking advantage of a ‘between the storm’ window for our Yellowstone camping time.