Glacier National Park and some other stuff

                             There’s lots to cover today, so get your cup of your desired beverage and set a spell! Glacier National Park is a gem, and contained within are the photos, stories, and of course, a few lessons to prove it!

I made my Miss Google Maps lady’s voice have a British accent, so its fun to hear her pronounce Glacier. Over there it’s pronounced Glaass- EE-ur. So now try to get that out of your mind every time you read Glacier!                

The word on the street is that you need at least five days in order to do Glacier National Park any justice.

That word would be correct.

But we only had two, so we made the best of it and jammed as many sights as we could into them. A return visit is certainly not out of the question.

                   There is a lot to see here, and if you get an early enough start you can cram a lot into a day. The issue is getting from desired sight to site (pun and spelling intentional!).

                   Glacier National Park is our twelfth largest, so it’s got some nice area to it. But that’s not the problem with fitting a lot into a day. It’s where all of the various highlights are located. There are several distinct regions of the Park, and they are not necessarily connected. To get from one to another you need to exit the Park and travel around its perimeter until the desired region is reached. That is because this place sits smack dab in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and getting from Point A to Point B is definitely not a straight line. In fact, even when there is road that connects two points, that road is about as straight as a toddler’s scribble on piece of paper.

But it makes for an exciting ride!

You know the kind, incredibly narrow roads cut into the mountainsides in the 1920’s when cars were as wide as carriages, precipitous drop-offs that are literally inches from the sides of the roads, thankfully lined with some big boulders and cemented rock walls but are only about eighteen inches tall. DO NOT look over the edge! It will only scare you to death!

Instead, just look out across whatever mountainside you are clinging to and take in the entire vista! We found these to be every bit as impressive as say, Yosemite or Zion.

                   It’s named Glacier National Park for a reason and that reason is slowly dwindling from sight. We were not in the section of the Park that most of the Glaciers are located in but were able to spy the only glacier that is visible from the road without having to hike to.

Across from the Viewpoint sat Jackson Glacier.

He looked sad.

 Unfortunately it was not as impressive as it has been in the past. For one, it’s August and the snowfields that surround it for a good portion of the year have melted, and second, the Global Warming Trend that is so controversial, has taken an obvious toll on Jackson and all of his friends around here.

Presently there are twenty-five named glaciers within the Park which used have close to ninety glaciers as recently as the 1950’s. They are all scheduled for the Wicked Witch of the West treatment by the middle of this century if our Warming Trend, real or imagined, is not brought under control or reverses itself.

          Anyway, Mr. Jackson was one of the highlights of a trip on the “Going-to-the-Sun Road” which spans the breadth of the Park and is as cool to traverse as its name implies. We did it three times and by the time we were done we could have qualified as one of the “Jammers” that drive the 1930’s era Touring Cars that bring paying passengers on a semi-private tour with twenty of their new best friends.

          This Park, and many of the other really popular Parks, have had to fall back on a plan to reduce the stress on the Parks from too many eager visitors. The most popular tool used is that of a Daily Reservation for entry into either the Park or maybe just the more popular sections.

          We had two passes. One for a single day admission to the Two Medicine area, and the second was a three-day pass for the main artery running through the Park, the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

          On our first day we went to the remote Two Medicine area for a short hike that turned into a relatively long hike, that story is forthcoming. But first we’ll go back to the Entry Ticket system. This system is quite successful. No one wants to be jam-packed into a Park. So, in order to be appreciated, it must be held somewhat under control with respect to how many eager visitors are able to visit along with you on any given day. The process is easy, it’s “On-Line” and it is definitely not a huge profit center for the Parks as the fee for the Reservation is only two dollars per vehicle. They are issued on a first-come, first-served basis. The tickets are released four months in advance and a number of them are held until 8AM of the day before. I found zero issues logging on at 8AM the previous day and procuring what we needed.

          Oh, and this system is only in place for the High Season where some control is warranted.

          And, most National Parks are open 24/7 and this entry system is usually in place for 6AM until 3PM, so if you want to get in early or arrive a tad later, then no daily permit is needed.

          So, let’s get back to those “Jammers” that drive these really cool vehicles. They are called “Jammers” because back in the day, from the 1930’s and before 1987 when automatic transmissions replaced the old manual trannies, the gear grinding was quite obvious as the “Double-Clutch Method” of changing gears was mandatory, thus the sound of jamming the gears!

These vehicles were used in most of the Parks out West for a few decades until the more popular Drive Yourself auto became the mode du jour. Here in Glacier, with that aforementioned “Going-to-the-Sun Road” becoming so popular (and harrowing) these Touring Cars remained very prevalent. Glacier is the only Park where they are still used and get this, they are the Original Vehicles! Now, obviously they have been re-built over the years and some modern attributes have been added such as a larger motor, power brakes (Yay!!!) and the old wooden chassis have been replaced with an elongated and modified F-350 one. In fact, Ford Motor Company donated over seven million dollars to the entire re-fit process, but as you can see, they have retained all of their unique, old-school charm!

          We left our site in the West Columbia RV Park which is on the west side of the Park at 6:30AM and drove down and around the bottom of the Park, and up the east side until we came to the Two Medicine area nice and early, which one needs to do if you want to escape whatever crowds will be on the trails later on. These are no glaciers here, just a pretty lake, some big peaks, and some great hiking trails. Now don’t get any misconceptions here. Paula and I are not “Avid Hikers” by any stretch. We are however, “Avid Dreamers of Hiking” and when the opportunity presents itself, take advantage of our locale and participate to the best of our overweight ability. (I still haven’t shed the “World Cruise Eight” (as I affectionally call my hangers-on)

And we’re at Elevation (about 4000’) and we’ve spent more than our share of time going from doctor’s office to doctor’s office, and the sun was in my eyes, and I stepped on a rock, and there may be mosquitos around…… (have I given enough excuses yet 😊)

          They have stopped rating the trails as Easy, Moderate, and Difficult and have adapted a system not unlike the Ski Areas use, but just slightly modified, these are, Green Circle, Yellow Square, and Red Diamond, and they start with Less Challenging, then on to Challenging, and finally Very Challenging. Note the words Easy and Moderate are nowhere to be found.

          We were looking for our friendly Green Circle trail to Aster Falls which was only 1.3 miles one way, and an elevation gain of 197 feet.

          Totally doable as we had no time limits except our own. We got to the Falls which were quite nice and there we saw a sign that said Aster Park – 0.7 miles. Aster Park ostensibly had the other Holy Grail of hiking, an Overlook! We felt pretty good, we had our water, a snack, and thankfully our Lekki Poles which are adjustable walking sticks/ ’ski poles’ with shock absorbers with us. They proved invaluable as we now were going up an additional 600’ of elevation. None of this can be construed as anything remotely difficult if you are considered to be in the previously mentioned category of Avid Hiker, which of course we are not!

          Onward and upward, we slogged our way through dense forest, tangling underbrush, clinging vines, and dangerous wildlife, wielding our machetes from side to side, pausing only to swat the bird-sized mosquitos that were dive-bombing us with ferocious regularity.

          Well, that what it seemed like except there was no underbrush, vines, or mosquitos, just a narrow path that a few times became a little steep. We did not even need the Lekki Poles to fend off the Grizzly Bears that frequent this area. They did come in handy for their intended use however. We were rewarded with an impressive early morning view of Two Medicine Lake and its surroundings.

We were hoping to see a moose, which frequent these parts, or maybe an elk, but all we saw were chipmunks and a Black Squirrel who scared the bejeezus out of Paula when he accosted her on the trail.

No prisoners were taken by either side.

Upon our descent we encountered the Hordes of Latecomers, those other Non-Avid Hikers who slept in that morning. We were thankful that we got our early start and realized that the secret to seeing these Parks is to GET OUT EARLY!

Down at Base Camp we thanked our Sherpas and had a nice “Hiker’s Lunch” of carrot sticks, cheese, some tuna and crackers, all washed down with some flavored fizzy waters.

My first mistake was sitting on the ground for lunch. It was not the ants crawling on me trying to steal my lunch that was the problem. It was the simple act of standing up after that “Hike of the Century”. I was fairly sore, but it was that good kind of “sore”, the satisfying one. We were quite proud of ourselves because we did not collapse in a heap on the Trail only to be eaten by a bear or need to be carried unceremoniously and embarrassingly back down to the Base by pissed off Rangers.

We decided that for the afternoon we would reconnoiter for the next day which was our drive on the extensive (45 mile) “Going-to-the-Sun Road”. We would enter from the East, which would be the exact opposite from where we would enter the next day. Besides, it was a direct way back to our RV Park.

          Here comes our first lesson of the day and that is how important ‘light’, and its source, direction, and intensity affect your photos. (Everyone takes photos when we’re away on Vacation. Do just a little bit of homework and you will find that your photos will improve nicely. There are even courses that you can take specifically for your cell phone.)

          And… how we see what is in front of us, vs. the way that our digital/film cameras or cell phone cameras do.

There have been many times when I have not snapped a pic because even with the magic of my old-fashioned darkroom to play in, or nowadays, the equally important Light Room software (an Adobe product that I use to “develop” my “film” that is used for digital photography) there wasn’t even a chance that the scene would reproduce nicely enough for viewing.

          Did you ever get your photos back from the drugstore and say to yourself, “I remember these scenes being much more colorful, clearer, and by extension, impressive? You’re not alone and that is because our eyes have the ability to enhance and clarify, even if it’s in our ‘mind’s eye’, the scenes in front of us.  Film or megabytes can only record what is presented to them, they do not know what’s good or pretty, they only want the facts, just the facts. “Click”…..

That is where we, and our technology, come in with film or digital processing. We get to reproduce what we “saw” when we took the photo. Of course, there are extremes, like when you look at a photo and the colors are way too saturated and look “artificially vibrant” or that shot of a full moon that takes up half of the sky. At that point the photos cease to be accurate representations of what you saw when you snapped the shutter and are now moving towards the Artsy Side of things, which is fine and tons of fun to experiment with. See the next example!

          Along with all of that comes the times of the day when Photography is at its best. Morning and afternoon light is preferable and mid-day should be avoided. But if mid-day is the only time that you have, then make the most of it. Don’t ever not take an important shot because conditions are not perfect. Look at that (fake!) photo of the Loch Ness Monster taken so long ago! If they had waited for the perfect time, we would have never seen that creature 😊!

          Here in Glacier and the surrounding areas, there are several forest fires burning which inject some smoke and haze into the region, all of which have an effect on the photos. Photographers for years have had filters that help mitigate these items that get in the way of a nice photo. Our eyes have the ability to an extent to “cut through” this haze and we are able to “see” better to a degree. Definitely to the extent that if you just take an unprocessed photo, we would remark on how hazy it seems. I just attempted to illustrate that to you. This process is nothing new. I used it back in the ‘70’s when I was the Photo Editor in high school and college for the yearbook and newspaper and later in our basement darkroom. Those processes are identical to today’s digital formats except that we no longer have smelly hands from all of the chemicals used for processing film and prints!

You all saw the photos last week from down at Seeley Lake and  the quality (or lack thereof) of them because of the EXTENSIVE fires down there. Fires in the West are nothing new, but everyone agrees that they are becoming more frequent and intense. That is partially because in modern times, we have suppressed what Mother Nature and her pyromaniac son Mr. Lightning have tried to do. Believe it or not, forest fires are critical to keeping our forests in a lively and vibrant way. These combustible events have been going on for many, many, thousands of years, and everyone has adapted nicely except us.

          Humankind.

          The ones with structures that can be destroyed.

A forest is designed to burn every couple hundred or so years. This process helps clear out the detritus and undergrowth, spur new growth, and change habitats for critters, keeping them all happy. When we stop fires at all costs, we don’t let Mr. Lightning do his job in clearing out the old stuff. We delay it until it reaches a point where when it does ignite, it gets so intense that everything gets roasted because it develops into a crown fire which just runs rampant through everything until it’s all gone. Most forest fires, when kept on the ground, just sanitize, and keep that understory at a level that’s controllable, not by us, but by Mom.

          Notice I haven’t used the word Wildfires yet. That’s because there is a difference between Wildfires and Forest Fires. Unfortunately we’ve been experiencing more Wildfires that the latter. Smokey Bear has even changed his slogan from “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires”. A full 80+% of fires today are started by us and can quickly grow to those nasty Wildfires that are so destructive. Everywhere we go out here, that evidence of Wildfires is so obvious, but as you can see, Mom has a way of starting anew and here is some proof for you!

Even though the fires have disturbed the countryside, these Glacial Lakes just keep on being gems of beauty that go unrivaled in the world of aquascapes. There is something about water that is melted from snow and Ice that makes these waters glow with that special tint of blue. It comes from all of the pulverized rock that glaciers are so good at producing. Those teeny-tiny bits stay suspended in the waters and refract and reflect sunlight in a way that gives it that special blueish green, even as its clarity goes unrivaled.

There is still so much to discover here at Glacier, that a return trip is almost guaranteed. With Steve and Phillis only an hour and a half down the road at Seeley Lake, how can we not return? There are still the main Glaciers in the Many Glaciers section of the Park and the northern part of the area which in conjunction with the nations of Canada and the Blackfeet Tribe, we have the International Peace Park. This Park straddles the political boundaries of these nations, while invisibly encompassing and containing the same.

What a nice concept.