East Glacier Village is lovely. It carries an atmosphere of family vacations, excitement and good times. I made up my mind to rest here a while before tackling the last stage of the CDT. After all, I’ve walked over 2,700 mi (4345 km), I think I deserve a break!
About 400 people call East Glacier Village home, and it has that real small-town feel. Everyone greets you on the street with a big American smile and, sometimes, thrillingly for an outlander, a tip of the cowboy hat. There’s good home-style food to eat, typical of the hearty Montana fare, which mixes the influences of Native American cuisines with that of ranchers from European nations such as Ireland, Scotland and Germany. You have frybread, a Native American delicacy of puffy, fried dough, often topped with local jam made from huckleberries, as well as pasties brought over by Cornish immigrants. Meat, as in most of the US, is highly popular here, but many people prefer game, as Montana is hunting country, and so bison and venison are staples on restaurant menus.
One evening, whilst having a drink in a local bar, I was offered a strange dish by a couple of ranchers. They called it the Rocky Mountain oyster. At first, I was horrified at the idea of eating oysters so far from the sea, but they assured me it was local. As it turned out, the ‘oyster’ is made from a unique part of the bull, deep fried and served with a slice of lemon. I’m sure they’re delicious if you grow up on them, but I quickly told the guys I was a vegetarian, and had some onion rings instead.
After a few days
enjoying real food, a nice change from hiking rations, I decided that enough
was enough and it was time to head out of East Glacier and into the National
Park itself. As I left my hostel, I hoisted my backpack once again, stretched
and then restarted my journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment
It's so good to see you here . . .