It isn’t often that Montana is in the news, but unfortunately it decided to be this week.
For the first time since 1988, and for the first time in an apparent very long time for any reason other than wildfires, Yellowstone is currently completely closed. The latest reports are saying that it might open again next Monday or Tuesday, but even then the northern loop of the park will be closed indefinitely as many of the roads are entirely gone.
Waking up to this news on Monday morning was quite devastating. It’s been raining the entire time I’ve been here, so I can’t really say I was overly surprised, but even so my disappointment was extreme. The videos and images released by the park service showed a path of destruction all along the Gardiner And Yellowstone Rivers that left entire sections of road destroyed entirely. As a pandemic graduate, I can’t help but feel a little annoyed that once more, an experience I was looking forward to was majorly disrupted by a supposedly “once in a lifetime event.”
As is often the case, however, when life closes a door, it opens a window. On Tuesday morning, aka my version of Saturday since I work weekends, I woke up and just decided I was going to drive around until I saw something worth doing. Going down Route 20 towards Idaho, I saw some signs for a dirt road coming up and decided to go down it since it was in the general direction of a mountain I’d seen off in the distance for most of my drive.
This impromptu decision ended up being one of the best adventures I’ve had so far, Yellowstone included. I drove along a long and winding dirt road, and eventually started to have fun just driving along the mountain pass. The scenery was beautiful, and the off-roading aspect of it made me feel like I was actually doing something, not just driving along. Eventually, the trees started to separate every now and then and finally I was met with a few glances of the mountain which had disappeared for a little while. Still snow-capped, it was absolutely gorgeous even on the once again cloudy day.
Mountains will always hold a special place in my heart, and just maybe I’ll climb this one or one like it while I’m here. I’ve been trying to find some good climbs outside the borders of the park, and hopefully once the park reopens I’ll get to do some of those too. I haven’t gotten to do as much hiking as I would’ve hoped, though that’s largely due to my own lack of planning. Pretty soon I’ll have to overcome my own tendency to never plan anything and actually try to have some structured time.
I’ve been trying to structure my time more in general as of late. I feel as though I’m past the point where I’m still just taking a mental break from school, and as such I need to start making a healthy routine. I had a friend remind me during a phone call the other day that the things you do daily are pretty much what you call a life, and so it’s worth making sure that you’re getting those things right. I’ve gotten the gym worked into my routine, which is something I’m proud of for sure, but other than that I’m missing out on using a lot of my other time usefully or healthily. I’ve been happy to catch up on a lot of TV I didn’t watch during school, but I think it’s time to add a walk and some time for reflection to my daily routine, as well as getting my sleep schedule to a more normal place. I’ve always been a night person, but this often prevents me from adequately using my waking hours to do things that are really worth doing.
Overall, I’m continuing to adjust pretty well to being out here, minus this mountain air which is just unbelievably thin. 7500 feet of elevation is no joke, as it turns out. I’m enjoying the freedom of my quasi-adult life so far, and I hope to continue making it into more of a life.
Finally, I think I’ve come to the (hopefully) final conclusion that I need to go back to school. I still don’t know what exactly to go for, which is a detail I probably ought to figure out first. Regardless, it’s nice to be able to work through a bit more of the fog in terms of what I want my future plans to look like.
But, as always, man plans and God laughs, so who knows what’s next. I just have to make sure to look for open windows.
Song of the Week:
The Line 
Leave a comment