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comment by thenewgreen
thenewgreen  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What is your favorite national/state park? Why should I go there?

    These two parks together were designed as the first international peace park.
I didn't realize that, thanks. I spent a lot of time in Glacier. I went to the University of Montana in Missoula. I once went on a trip to Glacier with my then girlfriend. We camped beside Lake MacDonald. We went on a day hike and I decided, like an idiot, to wear my Teva sandals. While walking the trail a deer stepped out in front of us. It was about 4 feet away, I could almost touch it. It led us down the trail for about a quarter mile almost within arms reach the entire time. It was magical. Then, it jumped off the trail down in to a cleaning. There were about 20 other deer down in the clearing. I decided to go off the trail and follow. I was sure the deer was inviting us...

Long story short, I stepped on a rotted out log and my leg fell through. I severely sprained my ankle and a shard from the log shoved up in to my foot like shrapnel. I was bleeding everywhere and I couldn't walk. My girlfriend weighed 110 pounds soaking wet. I weighed 180. She couldn't help me walk, I was too heavy. She had to go get help. Two guys helped me down.

I was the first ever patient at the newly built Glacier National Park Emergency Medical Center. -It was basically one room. There was a PA there that stitched me up. Prior to the stitches he asked my girlfriend what she was studying. She said "biology" and that she wanted to be a doctor.

He said, "oh, then come over here, I'll let you observe. If you look right here..." (he pointed to my exposed ligaments)

BAM! My girlfriend fainted and hit her head on the ground.

She was the 2nd patient ever at Glacier National Parks new ER center.

She changed her major.





FishKight  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh, wow. Injuries in the wilderness are scary, especially one as serious as yours. I'm glad your girlfriend was able to find help. How long did you have to wait for her to return? Hopefully you were able to continue enjoying the park after this unfortunate accident... I will never trust deer after this story. Thanks for sharing. Lucky I have nothing but good memories from my time in the park. I saw my first moose and grizzly there, but kept my distance.

thenewgreen  ·  3429 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    How long did you have to wait for her to return?
Long enough to start wondering, "do bears smell blood, like sharks do?"

    Hopefully you were able to continue enjoying the park after this unfortunate accident..
We were more or less "tent bound" after that. Which, wasn't so bad really.

Like I said, I have been there many times. Probably more than 20. I have mostly amazing memories of the place.