Digital Nomad Life: Month 132

Month 132 started with two weeks of intense work and lots of work drama and ended with road trips and camping in Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

We had three days left of Griztronics at the start of the month and with multiple power issues and crazy long lines (up to 14 hour waits!) to get in, that would have been a challenging event as it was but then I got food poisoning on top of that which definitely made it much, much worse.

We had two days between shows where I was busy working, then we had another sold out show, Brandi Carlile. This is a pretty full-on event at the best of times but on load in day, we had a crazy storm that ended up damaging and flooding a number of tents as well as destroying around three. This made for a crazy busy couple of days of work as we were also short-staffed. 

Luckily the second half of the show was much better and I was able to go into the venue for the first time this season to see Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile with some old work friends who were out working for another company.

We had another quick two-day turnaround before our third sold-out show in a row – Rufus Du Sol. My friend Dani flew out from New York City to work that one with us so I headed to Seattle for a night to drop our worker Eddy off at the airport and pick her up. Rufus was another very busy show but I made it in one evening to see them and really enjoyed it.

Finally our busy run of shows was over and Dani and I headed out to Coeur d’Alene in Idaho for the first night of our road trip. After a morning exploring Coeur d’Alene and Wallace, we entered Montana where we spent the next week between Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park and Missoula.

Despite some rainy and cold days, we still did a lot of hiking, saw lots of wildlife including a grizzly up close, and enjoyed a night back in civilization for good food and cocktails in Missoula.

We had a night back at the Gorge where we went out for dinner next door at Sagecliffe’s Whiskey Bar to celebrate Toby’s birthday the day before, then headed to Seattle for Dani’s last night before she flew back to New York.

After Dani left, I spent another night in Seattle before heading to Granite Falls for two nights to camp and hike which I loved. I snuck in one more night in Seattle after so I could go to the Sunday markets, then drove back to the Gorge where I spent the last day of the month working and preparing for the next show: Beyond Wonderland.

Now onto the stats!

Countries Visited: USA

Places Visited:

• Washington: George, Wenatchee, Ellensburg, Seattle, North Bend, Granite Falls
• Idaho: Coeur d’Alene, Wallace
• Montana: Big Fork, Polson, Lakeside, Whitefish, St Marys, Many Glacier, Dupuyer, Missoula

National and State Parks, Monuments, and UNESCO Sites: Wayfarers State Park in Montana, Flathead Lake State Park in Montana, Glacier National Park in Montana, Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest.

Islands Visited: No islands this month.

Days on the Road: 16 days.

Best Meals: Caramel apple and butter chicken pies from Bean and Pie in Couer d’Alene, Breakfast burrito from Birch Provisions in Big Fork, Pan con tomate from Bar Plata in Missoula, Za’atar bagel with black truffle cream cheese from Rachel’s Bagels in Seattle. Sorry Montana but your food scene (except Missoula) left a lot to be desired.

Hikes/Walks:

• Seward Park Perimeter Loop in Seattle, WA 2.4 miles
• Tubbs Hill Perimeter Trail in Coeur d’Alene, ID 2.6 miles
• Wayfarers State Park loop trail in Big Fork, MT 1.8 miles
• West Shore Flathead Lake State Park loop trail in Lakeside, MT 2 miles
• Trail of the Cedars trail in Glacier National Park, MT 1 mile
• Rocky Point Trail in Glacier National Park, MT 1.6 miles
• Cracker Lake Trail in Glacier National Park, MT 13 miles
• Iceberg Lake Trail including spur trail from Many Glacier Hotel in Glacier National Park, MT 13 miles
• St Mary Falls and Virginia Falls from Jackson Glacier Overlook in Glacier National Park 7.8 miles
• The M Trail in Missoula, MT 1.9 miles
• Discovery Park Lighthouse and Beach loop trail in Seattle, WA 3.9 miles
• Green Lake loop trail in Seattle, WA 3.65 miles
• Mount Pilchuck trail in Granite Falls, WA 6 miles
• Big Four Ice Cave trail in Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA 3.3 miles
• Lake Twenty Two trail in Granite Falls, WA 7 miles

Watching: I Will Find You, Dead Like Me

Reading: A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko, So Far Gone by Jess Walter.

New Posts: No new posts this month.

Highlights

Seeing Two Shows at the Gorge

The first show I actually went into this year was for night three of Brandi Carlile because I wanted to see Sheryl Crow, and she was so amazing! We had two friends working the show so we met up with them and watched from the Sunset Deck. We stayed for the sunset after and the first couple of songs of The Highwomen.

Although I was tired and didn’t feel like it, I dragged myself into the venue to see the first part of Rufus Du Sol and it was fun. The lights, the music, showing Dani around the venue – it was definitely worth it despite feeling even more tired the next day.

I am going to try making myself go in more often this season as I don’t know what the future is going to hold for me in regards to the Gorge.

A Day in Northern Idaho

We had one day and one night in Idaho’s Panhandle on the way to Montana and it was fun, despite it being a notoriously conservative area (so obviously this is a very privileged take).

We got into Coeur d’Alene in time for dinner and soaked in the hot tub at the hotel which was really nice after four busy days of work. The next day we explored the cute town center, had some amazing hand pies, and hiked around the beautiful Tubbs Hill peninsula.

After that, we stopped in the historic town of Wallace which also has a pretty town center and some cool shops to look around before crossing into Montana.

Exploring Flathead Lake

We had one full day and two nights at Flathead Lake and although the weather wasn’t the best, I enjoyed driving around the lake and visiting some places along the way – the cute town of Big Fork and the Miracle of America Museum were highlights.

The Miracle of America Museum has one of the largest displays of nostalgic artifacts, antiques, cars, and even full buildings I have ever experienced. It is basically part museum and part junkyard and I mean that in the best way possible. I absolutely loved it and could have spent the whole day there.

Hiking and Wildlife in Glacier National Park

The bad weather continued during our time in Glacier National Park but we still had an incredible time hiking in the park. My favorite hike was to Iceberg Lake but Cracker Lake and St Marys and Virginia Falls were gorgeous too. I would have loved to hike to Grinnell Glacier, but unfortunately it was closed as someone was attacked by a bear there a week beforehand.

We got to see a Grizzly on the trail as well as some high up on the mountains, mountain goats, chipmunks, and foxes. No pikas, unfortunately.

24 Hours in Missoula

Missoula is such a cool college town and it reminds me so much of Boise. We spent a night there in an apartment in the city and loved the excellent shopping, cocktails and tapas at Bar Plata, and hiking the M trail for views of the town and surrounding mountains. 

Being a Tourist in Seattle

I always love going to Seattle and this month was no different. I spent three nights in Seattle and crammed so much good stuff in including hiking in Seward Park and Discovery Park, visiting the seals at Ballard Locks, walking along the rocky coastline in Magnolia, visiting Pikes Place Market and the waterfront, watching the sunset at Alki Beach and Sunset Park in Ballard, hanging out at Gas Works Park, visiting the Rose Garden at Woodland Park, and going to Ballard Farmers Market and Fremont Fair Day. 

Hiking and Camping in Granite Falls

I spent a couple of nights car camping in a National Forest campground near the town of Granite Falls and it was a beautiful and quiet campground. I appreciated being mostly offline for a couple of days and did a couple of hikes that were on my bucket list for a while – the Mount Pilchuck trail to a historic fire lookout, and Lake Twenty-Two to a pretty lake.

I also did a shorter hike to the Big Four Ice Caves and that was so beautiful with a towering mountain, tons of waterfalls, a turquoise river, and some really cool ice caves. I can’t wait to go camping again next month.

Lowlights

Three Challenging Events in a Row

This month for work was probably the most difficult and draining I have had at the Gorge and I feel very relieved that it is over. Griztronics was long wait times and food poisoning (more on that below), Brandi Carlile was a crazy, destructive storm and being short-staffed, and Rufus was difficult guests (and a staff member) and guest list issues.

Three events in a row that were sold out and with only two days between is challenging enough, but with the above issues it was just so much worse.

Stomach Bug/Food Poisoning

I don’t know what I ate or drank to cause it, but on the second day of Griztronics I woke up just after midnight with stomach cramps and diarrhoea which unfortunately continued for almost a week. It was uncomfortable, inconvenient, and I didn’t get a lot of sleep while trying to work two busy events and running errands. Not ideal to say the least.

Hiking in a Freezing Cold Storm

While hiking to Iceberg Lake in Glacier we got caught in a dramatic but short hailstorm. The sun then came out again and it was just stunningly beautiful. We sat at the frozen lake for a while, chatting to a Kiwi family we met and watching a crazy mountain goat high up on a steep ledge.

It started clouding over again, and as we were leaving the lake we had another hailstorm, but this was much longer, the hail was larger, and it turned into heavy rain that soaked through my rain jacket and left us wet and freezing for the long 2.5 hour hike out.

I haven’t been that cold for a while and it was challenging. We dried by the fire at Many Glacier Lodge for a while then went back to our freezing cold cabin to be cold for the rest of the evening. I didn’t expect to be so cold in summer.

Bad Weather in Montana

About half of our time if not more, was cloudy and rainy in Montana and it was a bummer as last time I went to Glacier back in 2013, it was sunny the whole time and I had such a great experience. It’s a risk traveling to the mountains in June as the weather can still be quite changeable then. When I went to the Canadian Rockies in June two years ago it was gorgeous but this time I wasn’t so lucky.

Not Great Accommodation Experiences in Montana

Montana summer prices are absolutely outrageous, even worse than Washington which is very pricey, and we were very disappointed with the quality of the accommodation we had for how much we paid. Our first two nights we stayed in a private room at a hostel and the hostel and the room were really nice but the door wouldn’t lock and there are no staff onsite so we couldn’t get hold of someone until the next day. 

I liked our tiny cabin at the West Glacier KOA but it was small and rustic, not what you would expect for $170. The cabin we stayed at in St Mary’s was pretty terrible. It wasn’t well-made and the door was warped and didn’t shut properly, there was no ladder to get up to the top bunk so it was difficult to get up and down, and the toilets were pit toilets and absolutely reeked.

It was so cold while we were there too and because of all the gaps in the cabin, it never got really warm from the provided heater. I am fine camping for camping prices but I definitely expected more from an expensive cabin.

Work Drama

I can’t really go into it in detail, but I will say that we have been dealing with a very difficult person at work who doesn’t respect us or what we have built, making our work environment quite toxic this season.

Spending

I don’t include international flights in my recaps. Some of my costs are shared with Toby or other travel partners.

Total: USD$2688

Another not bad month with high expenditure on food and drink but reasonably low for everything else. Next month will be more expensive as I will be traveling more.

Accommodation $761

My 12 nights of paid accommodation for the month consisted of two nights in Airbnbs in Seattle, one night at a motel in Coeur d’Alene, two nights in a private room at a hostel at Flathead Lake, one night in a cabin at a campground in West Glacier, three nights in a cabin at a campground in St Mary’s, one night at an Airbnb in Missoula, and two nights camping in Granite Falls.

My 19 nights of unpaid accommodation for the month consisted of 17 nights in the staff RV at the Gorge, two nights car camping in Seattle.

Food and Drink $1066

Clothing/Shoes $189

• Rain jacket $189

Transport $204

• Gas $193.50
• Seattle water taxis $10.50

Activities $108

• Miracle of America Museum in Polson $20
• Flathead Lake State Park entry $8
• America the Beautiful One Year National Park pass $80

Other $278

• U.S. Phone plan $35
• Spotify $14
• OneDrive monthly storage $2
• Garmin monthly subscription $14
• Netflix $10.50
• Toiletries $4
• Charity $20
• Massage $30
• Camera battery $10.50
• Gifts $6.50
• Book $8
• Souvenirs $30.50
• Candles $7
• Computer charger $33
• Art prints $53

Website Costs $12

• Keysearch One Month Subscription $12

Vehicle Costs $70

• RV and van insurance $70

What’s in Store For Next Month

I’ll be preparing for and then working a show at the Gorge for the first week of the month (Beyond Wonderland) then I will be embarking on my biggest and most adventurous trip of the summer!

After a night in Vancouver, I will be taking a ferry to Vancouver Island and spending a couple of nights camping at Port Hardy in the north of the island. From there, I will be taking a 17.5 hour ferry through the Inside Passage all the way up to Prince Rupert, not far from the Alaska border.

I have a couple of nights to explore there before taking another ferry, this time for 8 hours, to Haida Gwaii – the main objective of my trip.

Haida Gwaii is a very special and unique place. It is an archipelago of remote islands – an eight-hour ferry ride from Prince Rupert – that is co-managed by the native Haida and Parks Canada. It is home to abundant marine life, historic indigenous sites, ancient temperate rainforest, and pristine coastline. It is often called the Galapagos of the North and I can’t wait to experience it for myself.

I will be doing a four-day tour of Gwaii Haanas National Park with Moresby Explorers who are hosting me, and another six nights exploring the natural and cultural attractions of Moresby Island and Graham Island independently. I have booked local guesthouses for four nights and I will be camping for two nights. 

From Haida Gwaii, I will be taking the ferry back to Prince Rupert and then driving the 1000 miles back to the Gorge over five or six days. It’s going to be one hell of an adventure!!

The last few days of the month, I will be back onsite, catching up on work and life admin before the next show: Chris Stapleton.

To read additional Monthly Recaps, you can find them here