Friends on the trail

At age 46, the list of things I find surprising has shortened considerably. But a garage sale July 12 on the side of a mountain: That was different.

My friend George scored a pretty good deal — seven almost-new camping chairs and a cooler for $30.

Here’s what happened.

We (My husband, Wes, and I and our friends Gene Marcille and George Scherman) followed a group of 20-somethings up the trail from the Bowman Lake Ranger Station to Numa Ridge Lookout in Glacier National Park.

They took their break on one side of the lookout while we chose another. But it wasn’t long before we were all visiting.

It turned out they were from Maryland and Pennsylvania. They had hiked in a couple of different spots in Glacier, but the North Fork’s out-of-the-way atmosphere had appealed to them and they had spent the night at Campsite 28 at Bowman Lake.

This was their last night in Montana and they were looking for a couple of things — advice on what the Flathead Valley might have to offer food-wise and someone to take some of their recently purchased camping equipment off their hands before their flight home.

George and I were nearby when they started putting together an advertisement.

One of the young men threw the offer out to us and George pounced. The deal was so good that Wes wanted to know why I hadn’t made some sort of a move.

George was faster than I was — and I didn’t want seven camp chairs and a cooler.

Numa Ridge Lookout has been on our list for some time — and with the snow still deep in some areas of the park, it was finally time to give it a try.

The hike itself was darn nice — slightly more than 11 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 3,000 feet.

It took us 4 1/2 hours.

The trail was in great shape — granted the first 3 1/2 miles were in the woods, but the vistas we enjoyed when we broke out of the trees were well worth the sweat.

We had great views of Mount Carter, Rainbow Peak and Square Peak. Bowman Lake below was beautiful.

As for difficulty, I’d rate it “not too bad.”

The climb is steady, but it seemed right about the time I was ready to cry “uncle,” the trail would even out just long enough to catch my breath.

The only thing I didn’t care for: the mosquitoes. Even with a generous spraying of “Off,” I was covered with bites.

What I did enjoy were the people — the seven we followed to the lookout were friendly, intelligent and as interested in hearing about our lives as we were about theirs. Back at the trailhead, we waded in Bowman Lake and chatted with a nice family from Huntington Beach, Va.

And for a final send-off?

Settling into a chair on the porch at the Polebridge Mercantile (few places are more pleasant, in my opinion), we introduced ourselves to a nice couple, who it turned out were visiting from Massachusetts.

All-around pretty good day.

Reporter Dixie Knutson may be reached at 758-4446 or by email at dknutson@dailyinterlake.com.