The Glacier Park permit offices issue a small number of walk-in camping permits per day. If you show up after they run out, you're out of luck--gotta wait till the next day and hope for the best. The permit offices open at 8 a.m. Well, Mary Badass was there at 4 a.m. yesterday (Sunday). First in line.
It isn't easy keeping up with Mary. This morning, I opened my email in-box and found a dozen messages from her, most containing new blog posts. Wonderful posts. I'll post one later today.
She is now beginning her southbound hike (1350 miles back to Wyoming). She says she plans to go slow because of her knee. I'm skeptical. Slow? Mary? C'mon.
She is carrying bear spray. Park personnel report that four bears have been sprayed by hikers in the areas where she is camping. We discussed bear-avoidance tactics, which include hanging your Kevlar food bag 25 feet above the ground. She explained how she does that--you attach a rock-filled bag to a rope and throw it over the branch of a tree. I'm pretty sure I would not be able to do this successfully, so I asked her if she had done that before. She laughed. She said she once watched as a baby bear stood on the shoulders of a mama bear to try to get at her food bag, which was high up in a tree.
The trip from Colorado, where she rested her knee, to Montana involved a bus (another blog post) and a lift from a friend. While driving in the friend's car, a can of bear spray exploded. She laughed when she told me this story.
She said she is glad to be in Montana. The desert was really hot. In Montana, there is still 20 feet of snow in some parts of the trail.
She sounded good.