Hiking Challenge - Day 1

Nathan finally accepted a job at Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone, MN. This is a fantastic deal for us because Pipestone, MN is about 3.5 hours from our house, which means Nathan will be home on weekends. I was really excited until I started to realize that I wouldn't get to spend the summer in Glacier. Chief on my list is all of the great hiking I'll miss. Pipestone has one nature trail, but it is only 3/4 of a mile long and not nearly scenic enough to satisfy my spoiled appetite for mountain passes and grizzly bears. So, to get it all out of my system, I decided that I would have to take advantage of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. And so, every day for the next two weeks that I'm here, I am going to hike.

I got up this morning excited for my first hike only to find out that it was...snowing. Oh well, nothing was going to stop me from getting my hike on, so I packed an extra pair of pants, pulled on my signature Wisconsin hat and headed off. I decided to start out on the Painted Canyon Trail and then continue up the Upper Paddock Creek Trail before turning around.



Nathan and everyone else in our building was working, so I had to hike solo. There are only four things that worry me about hiking alone here in Theodore Roosevelt (as opposed to the four things that worry me in Glacier: bears, bears, bears, and bears). In Glacier, I wouldn't even consider going out alone, but here, the chances of something eating me are slim to none. There are still a few things that made me think twice:

1. A Bison Trampling - I've met them out on the trails before - just give 'em enough room and they don't bother you.
2. Rattlesnakes - I've never seen one, but apparently last year's training session included the interns being a little closer than they'd anticipated on their first day.
3. Ticks - They're everywhere, but Nathan tends to invite them in and finds them in his sheets, on his computer monitor, and who knows where else so I've had enough experience with them.
4. Mountain Lions - Not that scary, until you come across a bone right at the head of the trail like I did today that sends your mind racing:
   

I figured, though, with it being a "beautiful" spring day, that lions have plenty of other delicious baby animals to gnaw on besides me. The hike was wet, but incredible. I ended up walking a little over 5 miles in 2.5 hours - a lot shorter than I'd wanted, but the going was slow due to all the MUD.


It was great, though. The trail descended right away and got out of the wind, but not out of the snow. It was pretty sad watching me try to move along the trail, giant clobs of mud weighing me down until I decided to give up and just walk in the grass near the trail. I passed several, purple Pasque flowers, the only ones up in Theodore Roosevelt to date.


I was having fun not seeing any animals, until, suddenly, I saw two wild horses running just in front of me. My new favorite, a white one, split off from her buddy and to my surprise, started to run right at me!

She did this several times to check me out and kept watching me. Although one of the Rangers thought she may have had a colt hidden somewhere, I really felt like she was just curious and then a bit like she was watching out for me; making sure the invisible mountain lion I couldn't detect stayed away, perhaps?