A day in Glacier. part 1

6:30am my alarm starts vibrating next to my pillow.  It doesn’t startle me because I have been awake for an hour due to the light from the sun pushing through the white walls of my canvas tent.  I reluctantly throw off the covers and sit up.  As I put my feet to the ground I can feel the cold grass between my toes.  It’s the first thing that truly wakes me this morning. 

I search through my clothes looking for a fishing shirt that is not stained from sweat and dirt, I find a winner.  I throw on a pair of shorts, kick on the flip-flops and peer out the tent flap.  To the left I can see straight in the Glacier National Park.  I can tell by the clear sky and stillness in the air that another beautiful day is ahead of me.  As I step outside I feel a slight chill in the air but am comforted knowing that it will be gone within a couple of hours.

Walking up the gravel road I head towards the Barn hoping I am the first to the bathrooms this morning.  Much to my delight I am, as I look in the mirror and can see that my beard is mashed in on one side of my face due to sleeping to on it hard.  I tug and pull a bit to keep my face from looking totally off center.  I wash the crustiness out of my eyes, brush my teeth, floss (because the dentist told me to) and throw on some deodorant to make myself at least smell decent. 

Headed in to the guide kitchen I grab a cooler hanging from the ceiling.  I check to make sure that is was cleaned the night before and set it on the ground to start work on packing lunch.  Lettuce, onions, bread, and cookies…the list goes on.  As I am packing Connor walks in to join.  For just a moment the kitchen sounds busy with the chopping of veggies and the cooler door opening and closing.  We have a two-boat trip today so we will be having lunch together on the river.  We make random jokes but keep the talking to a minimal.  We are both aware that too much talking this early in the morning is just not worth it.  Enough coffee has not been consumed just yet.

Lunch is packed and we head for the boats.  Connor grabs the Excursion and hooks up to one of our raft trailers.  I direct him towards our fleet of fishing rafts and we load the two that we want.  The feel of the cold green raft on your hands is another sharp look into the day ahead.  Large hefty straps are tossed over both boats to secure them once they are positioned correctly on the trailer.  We make sure to grab two anchors while loading our arsenal of gear.  We both hop in the SUV and slowly drive down the hill towards the fly shop.  The sound of the cold rafts material rubbing together is an all to familiar sound.