Anatomy of a road trip

This one time I went on a 2 week camping trip with my friend Kel. We drank coffee and hiked mountains and laughed over camp-stove meals and took hammock naps and pretended we aren't adults. It was some kind of therapy.

I posted about our itinerary previously, which had all but changed after the first day. The updated itinerary looked like this:

Minneapolis, MN --> Black Hills and Mount Rushmore, SD --> Beartooth Pass, MT/WY --> Yellowstone National Park, WY --> Bozeman, MT --> Missoula, MT --> Flathead Lake, MT --> Glacier National Park, MT --> Seattle, WA --> Olympic National Park, WA --> Seattle, again --> Billings, MT (for a night) --> home.

Here's the part where I list all my favorite things we did on the trip:

Favorite hike: Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park
About 11.5 miles total, out and back. The views were incredible the whole way, like straight out of National Geographic. The greeeeeen trees were just patiently waiting on the mountain side to be admired, and admired they were. There were little trickles of water on the trail from the mountain, and the GLACIER AT THE TOP holy cow. It was the most blue thing I've ever seen in my life. There was a lake down below nestled between the trees and mountains and that scene it just about killed me.

Favorite campsite: Shoshone National Forest, Beartooth Loop
We were lucky enough to score a free place to sleep right by a mountain and lake in Shoshone National Forest, with no one around and BONUS even a fire pit and picnic table right there. Our tent fit right in this little baby clearing right by the shore of this unreal lake. Our neighbors were the mountains, the fresh smell of pine and the sound of the waves gently hitting the rocks.

Favorite camp meal: JAMBALAYA
We had packed this jambalaya that was unmatched. I don't even know what brand, which is entirely unhelpful. But after a killer hike day and the best hammock nap of my life, it tasted like plain gold.

Favorite park: Olympic National Park, WA
Okay, this one is really a toss-up. I loved Glacier equally as much, but I thought it only fair that I used Glacier already for a favorite hike. This place also had hikes and campsites that were very close seconds. Deer Park campsite was straight up on-top-of-a-mountain, in-the-clouds kind of camping, and our longest hike the next day was the best views I've ever experienced. It snowed on us during out hike (bonus), and got below freezing overnight on the top of that mountain. But hey, no cold no awesome views amiright???

Favorite wildlife spotting: That one time I saw a mountain lion in the wild/a neighborhood
YES. It's true. We saw a real life mountain lion, in a town near where we were camping. Needless to say I slept not at all that night.

Favorite thing ever: My road trip partner. For making life an adventure.