Today was a great day. First off I didn’t have to be at the hospital until 9 to leave for the clinic in Heart Butte. Also the PA I rode with is hilarious. He told me and the PA student, Andrea, funny native stories the entire way. For example, he told us about the creator, Napi who one day saw dogs swimming in one of his lakes. For some reason dogs weren’t allowed to get their butts wet, so before they swam they had lined their butts along so the shore. So when none of the dogs were paying attention, Napi came and switch them all around. Then Napi went up to a cliff and yelled at them to get out of his lake. The dogs were so terrified that they didn’t notice they put the wrong butts on. So this is why when two or more dogs come together they sniff each other’s butt to see if it is theirs. Haha!! He told several more, but this was my favorite.
Once we got to the clinic Stacey and I had a steady morning that flew by. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. For lunch I sat in the break room with a few of the nurses and got to know them. They were talking about a native who passed away this past Sunday from cancer. This lady is well known and respected because at one point she sued the government for misusing the ANI’s money (? American Native Indians?) and she WON!! She is from Browning and it basically a hero around here. So it was interesting to learn about her life.
After lunch the pharmacy side of the clinic was slow so I went and sat in on a few patient visits with the PA and PA student. The two I saw were men who made up stories about being in pain (one “sprained” his ankle and the other fell off his horse). Basically they were drug seeking. Jon the PA has no tolerance for that so he was good at taking care of them without prescribing narcotics.
When I got home I ate an early dinner because I was starved and then I hung out with our other roommate, the PA student until Brittny came home. Linds had gotten the opportunity to go in a couple of surgeries, so I knew she wouldn’t be home until later. When Britt got home we both changed into hiking clothes because Jim, one of the Browning pharmacists, said he was going to take us on a night hike up the Continental Divide trail in East Glacier/Glacier Park. When I first heard we were going, I was pumped, but then people kept telling us how dumb it was for us to go into the mountains with the grizzlies out and about. Grizzlies are most active in the fall because they are trying to eat up everything before they hibernate for the winter. Also this year the berry crop did not come in as well, so they are even more active because they can’t find enough food. So with all of this info being thrown at me, I was sort of nervous of what we were getting ourselves into.
Around 7 Jim stopped by the trailer to pick us up in his little truck and we headed west a little ways past East Glacier. As we got closer Jim kept telling us different stories that made me think, man why are we doing this again ha! So as we turned onto the dirt road that would lead us to the trail, we noticed these massive puddles. Jim’s approach to getting through them was to just floor it. Well by the third or fourth puddle his truck started making funny sounds. Jim reassured us it was no big deal, but that he was just going to park it there and we would begin hiking from that spot and so we did.
Since it was dark outside we had to all use headlamps to help us see. It was pretty neat to be trucking through the tall grass and through the woods only by headlamp light. However, it was also terrifying because you never knew what was lurking around us. We have been taught that the best way to stay away from bears is to be loud as you hike. So we chatted the entire way. Also we had two cans of bear spray with us just in case we did stumble upon a bear. As long as you do not startle a bear, you should be fine, but you also just never know. So hiking is always risky in these parts and especially in the fall and at night. Thus my nerves were alittle rattled ha!
About 45 minutes or so into the hike we reached a open range that was up on a big hill that allowed us to see the plains and also to see all of the gorgeous stars. When you are out in the middle of nowhere like we were, the stars are so BRIGHT and it is awesome. So all of the nerves of hiking through the unknown was totally worth it to see the view and the stars. Jim then gave us the choice to keep going or to turn back. Brittny and I both agreed that we were proud of ourselves to do what we had and to start heading back since it was already 9pm. Even though he would have liked to continue, he was totally fine with our decision. Actually he told us most students don’t like to go on night hikes and he was proud of us for going. Wooo hoo!
When we finally reached the truck we realized we had a small problem…the car wouldn’t start. Jim looked under the hood for a while. Then he tried to restart it over and over until it finally kicked in. We made it back through the massive puddles until we hit the very last one. Right after we went through the last one the truck’s engine went out again from all of the water. It was steaming like crazy. We let it rest for a few minutes then Jim started restarting it over and over until eventually it turned back on. Whew! I thought we were going to have to call someone to come get us ha! By the time we actually got back to the trailer the truck was acting as if nothing had ever happened. Thank goodness!!
So yea, crazy day :) but it was a great one full of adventure. Now I am back in the trailer about to head to bed and thanking the Lord for keeping us safe out in the wilderness. PTL!!
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