INTREPID BIKER: Always enjoy meeting people traveling extensively, particularly by bike. Here’s Richard, a man I meet several days ago in Kalispell, Montana, who has been traveling AROUND the U.S. for almost 20 years, living quite comfortably off what his bike can accommodate. That means Richard carries panniers, a small day pack — and across his chest a tripod secured in a carrying case.

Richard says he has few expenses other than health insurance and that he has never encountered any problems. He said he’s had to modify his life style just a bit, and no longer reads obituaries. I told him how old I was and he said he was one year younger. That means we’re both young men.

Janie biking a small portion of the C&O Canal near Harper’s Ferry; intrepid adventurer,
who has been experiencing America by bike for over 20 years. Now operated by
the NPS, men and women interpret the hayday and purpose of he old C&O Canal. Essentially, it is now a bicycle path.

Occasionally, Richard says he’ll push his bike onto a train, and that sounds like an ideal example to follow to fulfill a trip that has been on my bucket list, if, of course, I’m still in good health next year. I plan to be. One year from this September I want to peddle from Pittsburg on a new bike trail to Fredrick, Md, then link with the interconnecting C&O Canal that continues on to Wash, D.C. It’s all rails to trails so no worry about vehicles. I’ll carry a tent, but generally intend to stay in B&Bs which flank the two trails. The area is loaded with history and passes near Gettysburg and also near Harper’s Ferry. Of course I want company, so will be putting pressure on Janie. She always likes my ideas — once she gets into them. My daughter and son-in-law also say they’d like to make this trip.

Anyone actually made this ride? It’s 350 miles and I expect travel time will be about two weeks. Richard said he’d ridden a portion of the C&O, and I have too — a short portion that is, and that was about 30 years ago. Oh, and then just 10 years ago, Janie and I rode a very short portion easily accessed from near Harper’s Ferry.

Generally, the route is level, and passes over a hard dirt trail that parallels an old canal once used by farmers to transport goods to D.C.

I really want to fulfill this long-held dream.

———–

THIS TIME ELEVEN YEARS AGO:

Faces From Our Mount Rainier Climb

GHOST FOREST: Two weeks ago (about the 20th of July, 2018) Janie and I camped in Glacier National Park at the Two Medicine Campground. During that time I made a hike to Scenic Point and that was memorable.

But even more memorable was the “ghost forest,” through which I passed. Wraithlike trees have been flanking the trail for decades and were most likely killed by blister rust, an exotic disease brought over from England.

Limber pine tree killed by white pine blister rust.  Age is dramatized by ravages of weather.

Significantly, my first job in Glacier (before I worked as a ranger) was on a park labor crew whose job description was to spray all five needle pines with a chemical thought to eradicate the spores that killed these trees. On the west side of the park’s Continental Divide these trees are called white pine, but on the east side, limber pine. Sadly our work was of little avail for blister rust has killed both species, hence the ghost forest.

Lone limber pine ravaged by both disease and weather; forest of ravaged limber pine; Clark’s nutcracker.

THERE IS HOPE, however, that the tree has mutated and that the park is beginning to see a species that is immune from the disease. In other words, there has evolved a tree that is “genetically–free” from the death knell caused from the blister rust spores. Not many of these trees yet exist, but in the meantime, I think the “ghost forest” does have an otherworldly appeal.

Interesting as this story might be there is yet another aspect.  Cones from the two species make up an important component in the diet of grizzly bears, so the dispersal of cones is important not only for the resurrection of a healthy forest but also to a number of mammalian species such as the grizzly bear.

OUTDOOR WRITER AWARD: Two weeks ago Janie and I attended an Outdoor Writer’s gathering held each year somewhere in the Northwest. The conference lasted almost a week and this year the NOWA (Northwest Outdoor Writer’s Associaton) conference was held in Choteau, Montana.  “The Front,” as the region is also called is renowned for its beauty, its immense deposits of dinosaurs bones, for its Native American history and because the Old North Trail parallels the small town.

But of particular significance (at least to me):  Each year awards are given at the conference and I was flattered beyond words (literally) to receive recognition for contributions made over the years as both a writer and photographer. It’s called a LEGACY AWARD, and others also received the award and that placed me into a group I’ve always admired.

Twenty Seventh Anniversary:  Twenty-seven years ago – that’s May 4th, 1991 — Janie and I were married, and for the past few days we’re been recalling some of the highlights of our lives as a couple. At the time we were surrounded by family and friends and were married in New York by Methodist minister Tom Vancus, who had once hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.

That afternoon we drove to New York City and spent the first night of marriage in the World Trade Center. We dined in a revolving restaurant that looked out over the city and then attended CATS, a Broadway musical. Tragically, we cannot repeat our stay at the World Trade Center.

We departed NY several days later, then drove to our permanent home in Montana, then on to Alaska. Back then I had a contract to teach in a summer school program at a remote Gwich’in Indian village known as Arctic Village. The superintendent, an old friend, was trying to bring in people with different backgrounds.

My expertise was photojournalism, and for three more summers, Janie and I worked in several different Gwich’in Indian villages, to include Fort Yukon, Beaver, Rampart, Venetie and Arctic Village. At the end of our first summer we created a multimedia slide presentation, later made into a video and used by the Alaska Department of Education to acquaint prospective teachers with life in remote villages.

Originally, we’d planned to stay but one summer, but we became so enamored with their subsistence culture of caribou and fish, we continued to return, even doing so one winter. As well, we took up their cause to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, “birth place of the Porcupine Caribou herd,” writing stories for many major publications. We continue to support their various causes and remain friends with a number of the Gwich’in.

Now, 27 years later, we’re still fulfilling assignments with various publications, most of which we cover from the comforts of our Airstream. The easiest way to summarize some of our experiences is simply to post pictures.

Accordingly I’ve included a small sampling of images from various spots in North America. Included are images of northern lights streaking over our cabin in the Arctic; an image of a four-month trip along the Yukon and Porcupine rivers; toasting one another near the Mojave National Preserve; and using a wheelbarrow to transport our camping gear to a site in the Dry Tortugas.  Finally, I’ve included images of the  Apostle Islands, and of an elk and our Airstream in Jasper, Alberta. You can see write-ups on some of the areas by following links to blogs which I’ve included below.

It’s been a great life for Janie and me, and we hope to keep exploring North America for years to come, celebrating anniversaries where ever we might be.

—-

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM ALMOST 1,000 BLOG POSTINGS

The Citadel, Preserving Quebec’s Peace

Return To The Everglades Anhinga Trail

Grand Pre, A Prime Contender For Designation as a World Heritage Park

Ghost Mountain

BERT GILDART: Yesterday , I told Janie that before the day was over, she’d be in jail.  “And why might that be?” she inquired as we drove along Highwy 93 north to Ely, Nevada, enjoying the beautiful stands of Joshua Trees now starting to flower and the endless baths of cactus.

Despite the Jail House atmosphere, the dinner was absolutely excellent.

“Well you missed one of our turns,” I said, and was immediately countered  that I’d turned off to see what Janie was calling “an Alien Landing Site.”  It sure looked like one and we stopped to take pictures. As well we got off from our route stopping to photograph the immense stand of Joshua trees, now starting to bloom.

Travels yesterday took us to Ely, Nevada whee we dinned in the cell of
an old Jail House.  The bottle of Jack Daniels dangles from ceiling and is was tantalizing to us prisonsers

Nevertheless, I was right about one thing: we did wind up in a prison cell in an Ely Super Club which had partitioned a section of the cavernous room into 15 different dinning “cells”.  The section is used to add ambiance to a person’s dinner experience – and the metal bared doors even close.  A bottle of whiskey tangled just above the center of the table and the surrounding walls were lined with black and white image of some of the area’s historic figures.  With their dapper mustaches all look a little like Doc Holiday.

Janie and I both thought this was a landing site in Nevada for space aliens. 
Other, however, say the immensity of blinding lights derives from a vast outlay of solar lights
Janie and I both believe that immensity is intended to serve as a alien landing station.

Janie splurged and had a T-bone stake while I stuck with fillet of salmon.  Both of us followed the servers recommendation and supper on their “stuffed potato.” I topped off the meal with a huge slice of carrot cake and a scope of ice cream. We conclude that jail food was really good.

————

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO: (Twenty Hours of Photo Ecstasy)

http://gildartphoto.com/weblog/2013/04/24/twenty-hours-of-photo-ecstasy

Ulysses:The words that follow here were penned by the famous poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, and appeared in his classic poem Ulysses.  Academics viewed Ulysses as resolute and heroic, and they admired him in part for the thrill he derived from traveling.   Tennyson said that Ulysses… considered himself a symbol for everyone who wanders and roams the earth. His travels exposed him to many different types of people and ways of living. Ulysses declared that his travels and encounters have shaped who he is: “I am a part of all that I have met,” he asserts. And it is only when he is traveling that the “margin” of the globe that he has not yet traversed shrink and fade, and cease to goad him.

Much the same can be said for the modern day traveler and I have met several from the Airstream community who use the words that follow in Tennyson’s poem as an inspiration for their own travels, printing selections on the back of their cards.

Traveling “Top of the World Highway” from Alaska to Dawson City, Yukon Territory

In an effort to embed these words in the minds of modern travelers I’m attempting to complement (actually an impossibility)  Tennyson’s words with a few of my images, hoping readers will find the combination relevant, for we’ve all had challenges to overcome, and if you are a steadfast traveler certainly you’ll remember days when the fates were unkind.   But memorize the poem and perhaps  some of your concerns will quickly fade.  That’s what several of my traveling friends believe and it’s certainly what my friend Burns Ellison believed, made clear one night as we were struggling to find our footing as we climbed over Alaska’s Brook’s Range, for that night as we sat around a campfire, Burns recited the words by heart.

But more pertinently, Ulysses is also a validation for the types of parks we’ve focused over the years, such as climbing  Mount Rainier or kayaking to the wreck of the Franciso Morazon.  We included these activities here as suggestions of what you may find following your own interests at a time when — just like Ulysses – you’ve gotten a little older and been “made weak by time and fate…” But like Ulysses — and mostly likely many of our friends — we hope we’ve all remained “strong in will.”  For that reason we are still doing that which we enjoy most  – and that is traveling — believing our adventures have “shaped” who we are, and have enabled us to “find a newer world.”

So “Come my friends, ‘Tis not too late…”

-—–

Come my friends, ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite the surrounding furrows,
for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

—————-

MOUNT RAINIER: By the Grace of God and a Damn Good Guide

Kayaking To the Wreck of the Francisco Morazan

April 2018, and I thought I had published this shortly after his memorial service held September 2017.  Sorry!  Apparently I published it only on Facebook.  Again, sorry.  I prefer this format to the much more difficult to access one on Facebook.

DEDICATION: “To men such as Jerry DeSanto, who offer the hope of preserving outdoor skills still needed by contemporary rangers.” From my book “Montana’s Early-Day Rangers” published in 1985 by Montana Magazine.

This past Sunday (September 17, 2017) a group that must have numbered over 150 gathered at the home of Karen Feather to celebrate the remarkable life of Jerry DeSanto, Karen’s “significant other.”

Jerry was one of the most remarkable outdoorsmen I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  I first met him at a Wilderness Association meeting in Great Falls, Montana, and I was flattered when he invited me to join him on a cross-country ski trip.  And so, several months later, I found myself   x-country skiing from the East Glacier Ranger Station across Lower Two Medicine Lake to the snow-shrouded ranger station now remembered as Two Medicine Ranger Station.  Gathering wood from the stack of firewood outside we kindled a fire in the station’s old wood stove, and I knew I had made a friend when he pulled a flask of wine from his backpack also intended to “warm” us.

As the years went by we made a number of hikes into several other historic ranger stations, with him narrating the structure’s history.  As a man who’d withdrawn from a doctor’s degree program in history, his interests were obvious.  Of course most of Jerry’s hikes were solitary, but there were yet other events which recall his fun-loving nature.  Most memorable of all was the time my daughter got married along the banks of the North Fork River not far from Polebridge where Jerry was stationed for much of his career.

It was November14, 1997, and the wedding evolved into a wild night.  I had provided Angie and Will with a “Shot-gun Wedding,” and here’s where Jerry came in.  Right after the wedding we proceeded the short distance to Karen’s Northern Lights Restaurant/ Saloon.  Karen had prepared meals for the entire wedding party, but first, of course, we needed a bartender.  Jerry was there and he served as one of the best ever, making sure our glasses remained full.

Sadly, several months following Angie and Will’s wedding Jerry was patrolling the backcountry when he fell ill, later to be diagnosed with herpes zoster. Tragically, the disease progressively reduced this vigorous man until he had to be placed in a nursing home, but during the entire time Karen remained by his side on an almost daily basis.  And so it continued for almost 15 years, until this past August, when he finally passed away at age 88.  Appropriately, Karen announced a memorial which attracted people from all over the country.

In attendance was former Glacier superintendent Bob Haraden (now in his 90s). Of course there were many other former Glacier employees, most of whom I know and now call good friends.  Included here are a representative of a few of those individuals whom I was able to photograph.  They include, Bob Haradan, Chris McEwan, Dan O’Brian, Jack Potter, Bill Hutchinson, and Rich Thompson playing guitar with David Stanley.  I wish I had been able to find Fritz Royer and Karen when I had my camera ready.  Also included in this rather lengthy post is an image of old Two Medicine Ranger Station (torn down), and an image provided by David Shae of Jerry with a pack horse.

This group was a remarkable one and as we sat around we remembered many events from Jerry’s life, but the one that got the most attention was the one recalling a mauling Jerry suffered by a sow grizzly while on patrol between Kintla and Upper Kintla lakes.

As the old newspaper report posted next to Jerry’s hat recalled, Jerry was the only ranger ever attacked and injured by a grizzly bear.  At the time (August of 1986) Jerry was 55 year old when the small grizzly pulled him from a tree. While the bear was on top of him, DeSanto tried to fend her off with his left arm.  He then cussed her and hit the bear in the face with his pack.  The grizzly ran away.

Though injured Jerry was back one month later where he continued with his life’s work.  As a devoted outdoorsman he helped preserve hundreds of acres in the North Fork as wilderness.  For all these reasons I maintain that Jerry DeSanto embodied the passion – and those many, many outdoor skills  — still needed by contemporary rangers.

——

Ten Years Ago At This Time:

http://gildartphoto.com/weblog/2007/11/04/is-global-warming-real-look-at-the-photos

Photographic Retrospective of My Year: Here’s a selection of my favorite images taken this past year, some have been published.  Several come from events that were much celebrated and include the solar eclipse and the incredible flower bloom from spring of 2017 in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

We Planned One Year in Advance to See the Full Eclipse Near Casper Wyoming

Two of the other images were taken while engaged in one of my favorite activities: bike riding.

The image of cyclers ascending Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park is a challenging 35-mile round trip ride and was made to reinforce the notion that after a difficult winter I’m good for a few more years, yet.  But more than that it’s obviously a beautiful setting, and made even more so because for a few days each spring bikers have Going-to-the-Sun Road all to themselves.  That’s worth documenting.

The image of the giant reptilian sculpt was made with a GoPro camera placed on the ground.  I synched the camera to my cell phone and composed so I’d appear to be a species of prey.

L to R:  Biking to Logan Pass; 100 year Flower Bloom.
GoPro camera synched with cell phone for composition

Next image was made in an area called East Jesus, an area in California associated with an abandoned Marine Base known as The Slabs.  The area and the evolving “Museum” is sought by those who have no place else to go.  But the image…  note the extended legs.  I had to wonder if the idea for this concept was based on imagination or on a horror actually realized?

Museum known as “East of Jesus”

Images of the road runner were made these past few weeks and were all taken in the backyard of a house we’ve been renting these past two months.  That comes to an end, however, in a few more days when we move back into our Airstream and on to a nearby campground. Several weeks after that we intend to travel.

Road Runner images

Finally, there is the image of the super moon from a spot in the Sonoran Desert.

Super Moon

Now… I’d like to suggest that if you’ve had experiences that excited you this past year — that you  provide a link. Thank you!

In the meantime I wish all a Happy New Year!

=======

THIS TIME TEN YEARS AGO:

Bay Bayou RV Resort (In Florida)

©Bert Gildart:  Last year Janie and I learned from Adam and Susan Maffei, our good friends from Vermont, that on August 21, 2017, the moon will move across the sun to completely eclipse the sun during the course of its 3-1/2 hour journey.

“Make reservations now,” they had encouraged, “and if you do we’ll meet you in Glenrock, Wyoming.  But we’ve got to make plans now. Hotel and campgrounds are already beginning to fill!”

Progression of solar eclipse which lasted for about three hours.

They weren’t exaggerating, and the word was spreading fast.  Six months later, hotels were charging $1000 a night.  But we got by cheap.  For a mere $55 we purchased the right to park our Airstream on a tiny spot of grass at the Platte River Campground in Glenrock, Wyoming.  And all this simply because it was predicted that the moon was going to blot out the sun for several minutes, and that we would be in the perfect path to experience this happening.

Though our small grass site was reserved, nevertheless, we arrived several days before the big event, and of course, we were not alone.  An hour after we arrived, a couple pulled into a site immediately adjacent to us.  He introduced himself as “Chip,” but as the day progressed we learned that “Chip” had a doctor’s degree and that he had been part of the team that placed the Rover on planet Mars!

Like us “Chip” (also known as Philip Good) had also made reservations months ago and he, too, was rendezvousing with a friend, Frank Nadell.  Though Frank worked as a fireman he was so knowledgeable about astronomy that we concluded Nadell qualified for an honorary doctor’s degree.  From them we learned about sun spots, Bailey’s beads, the ring, and the fiery red circle that should inscribe the sun to become the corona.  And so, with newly acquired knowledge we gathered together with the masses of “eclipse chasers” anxious for the event to begin.

Images of eclipse immediately before totality and shortly after.

Finally the morning arrived and the crowd grew silent and remained so until 10:22 at which time the moon began its journey over the sun, taking a bite in the upper right arc of the sun.  Then, the bite grew bigger and then yet bigger.

The improbability of this happening stirred a primordial reaction from the crowd and in sync, everyone began howling like packs of wolves.  But then the crowd grew silent again, content to watch and whisper.  How could two spheres separated by 100 million miles find an alignment that affects Earth’s inhabitants?

Over 1,500 “eclipse chasers” set up camp in Glenrock, Wyoming, for one of the most dramatic solar events of the century. 
Attendees included our friend Adam (broad brim hat) visiting with astronomy enthusiast Frank Nadell;
Janie, back dropped by my 800mm lens; and Philip “Chip” Good
who had been a member of the team responsible for placing the Rover on Mars.

At 11:42 the moon moved to cover the entire face of the sun, turning day into night and did so for almost four minutes. As anticipated birds settled into trees, planets and stars appeared, and temperatures dropped to the point where people dug out their coats and sweaters. To restate the obvious, we were experiencing a total eclipse of the sun.  But the world didn’t end as some doomsayers had predicted.

Frank Nadell and Philip Good demonstrate proper technique for viewing the eclipse;
Frank waving in front of our Airstream; Frank and telescopes.

At 1:09 the moon completed it journey across the face of the sun, which then brighten our world just as it always does, but the event had an impact that I’m still attending to.  Randomness, it seems, punctuates both our world and our universe – and that can be either good or bad, of which I’m not yet sure.  But I do know this was a providential event and that Janie and I were fortunate to see it on a day when the skies were clear, winds had diminished, and that our fellow attendees were gregarious.  And all these happenings occurred at a time when so many unanswered questions remain concerning mankind’s future in the universe.

————

Eleven Years Ago At This Time:

Kayaking to the Wreck of the Francisco Morazon

©Bert Gildart: Fifty years ago from yesterday (August 15, 1967), Leonard Landa and I shot the grizzly bear that killed Michele Koons, the fatally mauled young lady at Trout Lake, whom we had found three days earlier.  This then marks the end of the events that have conspired to create so much publicity for those of us involved in the episode now known as “Night of the Grizzlies.”  Approximately 10 different publications have related the story and used images for illustrations. I was particularly flattered two Sunday’s ago when the Great Falls Tribune featured an image of mine that ran horizontally across the entire  front page of the Sunday edition.  The Tribune is one of the state’s largest papers, and the accompanying story filled almost two full pages so extending my 15 minutes of fame to 17.

Most likely the Tribute selected this grizzly bear image as it tells the story not only of the animal’s magnificence but also
of its lethal capabilities. 
I photographed it about three years ago, and it quickly scurried on, as did I.

But now, speaking for myself, I hope this publicity soon winds down, but not before remarking that some good came from the two tragic maulings.  Most specifically David Shea, one of the rangers assigned to shoot the garbage-conditioned bears at Granite Park Chalet, says that prior to 1967 the park had been lax about separating people and bears.  “But not afterward,” emphasizes Shea.  Shea says those events precipitated a new Bear Management policy, and believes that for the most part “the plan has been working.”

Leonard Landa examines the bear that he and
I shot and that proved to be the bear responsible for the fatal mauling of Michele Koons

But Shea is now concerned because hordes of people are descending on Glacier subsequent to last year’s National Park Centennial, and the unprecedented advertisement associated with that event.  “The park,” says Shea, “was not set up to contend with a million visitors each of the park’s four summer months.”  Shea notes that back in 1967 the park averaged about 100,000 visitors throughout the entire year.

Proximity of bears and humans then is the immense problem with which the park must now contend, and if they don’t, the “conditioning” that results from the close proximity of bears and people could very well create two more “killer” bears.

Neither Leonard nor I want to hear that two young rangers have found a young mangled girl whom they must then roll into a body bag.  That’s an indelible memory Leonard and I share; but along with it we wonder that the parents have survived as well as reported.  We both think their grief has been pushed into the background.

———-

Night of the Grizzly, from a post I created about 10 years ago

©Bert Gildart:  Saturday, June 26th, I rode my bike through what is some of the world’s most spectacular country, and I did it on a day when it is safe to do so. Each year, the Glacier National Park road crew must plow the Going to the Sun Road (GTSR) before vehicular traffic can pass through. At a certain point park managers allow bikers to use the road but prohibit vehicles, and it is this period that so many of us look forward to. In fact, many of us wish the park would follow the lead of Grand Canyon and Zion. In those parks summer traffic had gotten so dense that they implemented shuttle service while simultaneously permitting bikers. I like the idea because summers in Glacier have become an absolute madhouse. Finding parking at the many pull overs and, too, at Logan Pass is an impossibility for traffic to Logan Pass is always bumper to bumper.

One of the best years for Weeping Wall, a Glacier Icon

I arrived at the Avalanche Creek parking lot — the spot along the (GTSR) where drivers must now stop — about 8 Saturday morning, and already that lot was getting full. But I quickly left that scene behind and began my 15 mile ascent to Logan Pass. Yes, there were lots of others riders but the distance between us increased as we began ascending the road. Most everyone passed me, and I told several who joked that, yes, I was ashamed to be left behind — because I probably had 50 years more experience than most other riders. But not all, and there were a number of oldermen and older women who were pumping right along.

Heavens Peak Overlook back dropped by its namesake,
a mountain I climbed many years ago; approaching Logan Pass

I stopped often to take photographs and sometimes, simply to marvel. Waterfalls were running hard and heavy and when I reach Weeping Wall I stopped and plopped down on the cement retaining wall and ate lunch, realizing that in several weeks such quiet pleasure would be impossible. Mounting my bike again I soon began encountering some of the huge snow banks created by this past winter’s heavy storms.

On Saturday, June 24, the most distant point a person can drive is Avalanche Lake parking lot,
shown in green arrow. From here one must ride, and what a pleasure it was to be free of
the mountain of summer traffic, which will follow in about a week.

I reached Logan Pass about four hours after departing Avalanche and was amazed by the amount of snow still remaining. Hard packed banks partially covered the Visitor Center, but even more impressive — except for two cars probably used by members of the road crew — the parking lot was completely empty.

I wandered about for well over an hour, then started the 15 mile return ride. I gripped the breaks hard to keep my speed down to about 30. Here, again, many zipped by me, and some were not using much sense. As I approached the Heaven’s Peak Overlook I saw an ambulance and several ranger cars surrounding a biker who was prostrate. I suspect his speed had gotten out of control and he had crashed.

All photos made at Logan Pass, laden with snow on June 24th, 2017

I continued riding and soon returned to Avalanche Campground dense now with people trying to find a space. Many were shouting and screaming and I thanked my lucky stars that there are still a few ways people can find sanity. All together I’d ridden about 31 miles, ascended over 3,000 feet and both my forearms and legs felt used. But it was joy to experience Glacier as I had once known it, and am absolutely convinced that if the Park Service wants to retain the spiritual quality of lands they administer they must find some way of controlling visitation. Biking would be a good fit.

—————————-

This Time Three Years Ago:

Logan Pass in June 2013

Biking the Going-to-the-Sun Road before it opens to vehicular traffic is an excellent way to see Glacier National Park.  But better make the ride just as soon as you can after the plows reach the pass (check the Internet), and that will be soon. A week or so after clearing the snow, the road will then be open for vehicular traffic transforming the area from a place of serenity to one that is so congested that impatient people will be blaring their horns — and parking at Logan Pass will quickly become a virtual impossibility.

Grand Canyon and Zion national parks have each made closures on a few roads, stipulating that during peak season only bikers and shuttle buses can enter.  Something like that may one day be necessary in Glacier to protect the resource.

LtoR: Riding through a tunnel just before approaching the West Side Loop;
Access to Hermit’s Rest in the Grand Canyon is by shuttle and bike only; 
Logan Pass shortly after pass opened last year.

WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE:

Make the ride and then write your representative asking that the middle portions of the Going-to-the-Sun Road be closed permanently to cars. Propose that Glacier follow the example of Zion and the Grand Canyon, which allow access to certain areas only by shuttle — and by bike. Last summer by 10 in the morning all parking had been taken at Logan Pass. Closure to vehicles might also eliminate visitors with shitty attitudes. The aged can still drive in these restricted areas, and so can the handicapped if they have a driver.

Here’s a repeat of a posting I made on Facebook serveral years ago that highlights the pleasure of BIKING TO LOGAN PASS. There could not have been a more perfect day for my daughter and son-in-law to make the 32-mile round-trip bike ride from the parking lot at Avalanche Campground to Logan Pass, an elevation gain of over 3,000 feet. At this time of year, the road is open for bicycle riders and emergency vehicles only.

In June waters cascade down the most
appropriately named “Weeping Wall.”

Though it was cool when we departed we quickly shed our windbreakers, then progressed along McDonald Creek. Almost immediately the Going-to-the-Sun Road began to climb, passing first through a tunnel, then to the West Side Loop where we took a few photos back dropped by majestic Heaven’s Peak, which I once climbed.

From the Loop our ride passed dozens of water falls and the climb was demanding. We stopped at Bird Woman Overlook where we had lunch, then rested, we continued up to Weeping Falls, which at this time of year was absolutely gushing with snowmelt.

An hour later I rode into the snow-cleared parking lot at Logan Pass. Leaning my bike against a towering snow bank I spent an hour or more photographing the incredible fields of snow still remaining. The Logan Pass Visitor Center was literally covered with snow and was certainly not yet ready to greet the summer hordes.

Angie and Will Friedner pause en-route to Logan Pass, backdropped by
Bird Woman Falls;
Return form Logan Pass for a total of abut 32 miles,
which makes for a day of fun and health-filled activities

Though it took me several hours to ascend to Logan Pass, from there it was all downhill, which I enjoyed — coasting along at about 30 mph. That seemed like a sane speed, but apparently not everyone agreed. On the way up we’d almost collided with some downhill riders who must have been cruising at dangerous speeds, perhaps 45mph.

And that may account for the day’s sad experience.  As Will and Angie approached the West Side Loop they encountered a small group gathered around a lady who had either crashed or been hit by as an out-of-control rider. Blood covered the road where she was laying and she was immobile.  Park ranger responded quickly. An emergency helicopter soon flew in and took her to the hospital. We have no idea what the outcome might have been.

BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE PARK:

Certainly that was a very unfortunate incident, but other than that our day was glorious, and later, WE AGREED THAT BIKING IS THE BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE PARK. By July, hordes of visitors have massed, and when that happens, numbers are so OVERWHELMING that in recent years parking spaces at Logan Pass are completely taken.  That’s when competition for parking gets mighty nasty.

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OTHER BIKING EXPERIENCES ON NATIONAL AND STATE LANDS:

Anza Borrego

Learning from Biking

©Bert Gildart:   Consider this an invitation to some of my good friends (and their good friends) who are global warming holdouts. Join me this July on a hike from the Many Glacier campground in GNP to Grinnell Glacier; and though I promise I won’t suggest you are a retarded baboon (chuckle??) if you don’t believe global warming is real, I will point out that back in the early 1900s Grinnell Glacier extended from its current location in Grinnell Lake about six miles down and back almost to our trailhead.

Trail to remnants of Upper Grinnell Glacier

Proof?  The B&W image shown here provides periodic comparison.  More proof?  If we’re lucky we’ll run into Dan Fagre (shown here in pointing toward his diagram).  He has a PhD in climatology, but, that doesn’t mean much to some.  Some will just say he’s educated beyond his intelligence.  Nevertheless, I must report that Mr. Fagre says that all park glaciers will be gone by 2030.

Chart that chronicles demise of Grinnell Glacier; Dr. Dan Fagre points to Salamander Glacier, which once was part of Grinnell;
view from Grinnell Overlook of what was and what now is.

More proof?  This month’s (April issue) National Geographic magazine employees the following subheadings to support the meat of their article about “Climate Change.”:

1 THE WORLD IS WARMING.  2 IT’S BECAUSE OF US. 3. WE’RE SURE.

Yet More Proof?  Contact me mid-July and we’ll make the trek to Grinnell Glacier.  My objective will be to make a slight dent in the steel armor of any “Flat Earthers” who join me, and if I can’t do that I’ll admit that it is I, in fact, who is the ineffectual, dim-witted baboon.  But that said, we’ll have fun.

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THIS TIME LAST YEAR:

Botanical Adaptations to Desert

©Bert Gildart: Yesterday (3-8-17),  photographer friend/Airstream owner Bill D and I hiked Moonlight Canyon Trail searching in part for the elusive Ghost Flower, a species that derives its name from the ghostly translucency of its flowers. Certainly, that’s appropriate, but Bill and I concluded the plant could also be named because it is so ephemeral.  “Here today, gone tomorrow,” is the way Bill expressed the condition, adding, “like a ghost.”  And that seems apt, for over the years Janie and I have visited Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, we’ve only seen but one example of this beautiful white flower.

But Bill and I lucked out, and during our hike we found a number of small clumps, and then, later, as we researched the species, discovered it has some characteristics that make Mohavea confertiflora unique.

Bill and I return to Moonlight Canyon, near Aqua Caliente. 
An excellent area in which to see bighorn sheep and to find the elusive Ghost Flower.

NO NECTAR

Mohavea confertiflora flowers March to April, and what is unique to the species is that it does not produce nectar.  Instead, the internet tells us [the species] “has adapted a morphology resembling the flower Mentzelia involucrata, which often grows in the same habitat. Mentzelia involucrata produces nectar to attract female bees of the genus Xeralictus.”

The explanation further says that our ghost flower attracts the same pollinators to its flowers through floral mimicry (an evolved act in which a species derives a benefit by mimicking some feature found in another species):  In this case the Mohavea flowers contain marks that resemble female Xeralictus; these marks operate as a sign stimulus to the male bee, which enters the flower and in doing so pollinates the Mohavea.”

These facts piqued our interest and we worked hard to capture the blood-red marks (located deep in the “bowl”) of the plant.

Note the blood-red splotch in the bowl
of these ghost flowers, another feature that makes them unique.

FIGWORT FAMILY

Because the species has some unique features that it shares with snapdragons and penstemons, the ghost flower is placed with them in the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae). But its appearance is decidedly different and can be recognized by the long, hairy, light-green leaves that are elliptical to lanceolate.  Plants we saw stood about 4 inches long.

We saw a number of plants on our hike through this beautiful canyon accessed from Agua Caliente, but had spent so much time photographing Ghost Flowers we figured we could dally no further, for Larry and my wife Janie were waiting for us so we could all to sit down beside Bill and Larry’s Airstream and enjoy the scrumptious mid-day dinner Larry had prepared.

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OTHER FLOWER POSTS:

Photographing Cacti — In Macro Mode

Strobes, Great for Photographing Flowers in Windy Weather

THIS TIME LAST YEAR:

Organ Pipe Water Issues

Bert Gildart: The day started here in Borrego Springs with a beautiful sunrise, which Janie captured with her cell phone camera. For me the day continued with a bike ride accompanied by Paul and Gareth Pritchard, a man I’ve teamed up with several times over the past few years. Gareth and I met while mountain biking the Ajo Mountain Loop in Organ Pipe National Monument. Subsequently we have made many other rides to include a challenging trip from Montezuma Pass to Tamarisk Campground.

Saturday (3-6-17) morning sunrise

Because those rides pass through such stunning country I’ve provide links to several blogs as well as a link to the data my Garmin collects about the ride I made yesterday, Saturday the 4th. Click and allow a moment or two for the map to load. Then, if you are ever in this area you’ll have directions for a route that passes through some very magnificent terrain.

FLOWERS

Because of massive amounts of rain at the perfect time, flowers are beginning
to bloom in profusion to include primrose, desert lily and sand verbena.

GARMIN DATA: The Garmin data also records length and time required to complete yesterday’s 18-mile journey.  Information says it took almost three hours to complete our trip… and that’s because my companions were kind and allowed for my pace, which was slower.  But the slow pace also allowed us to appreciate a spring flower bloom that promises to be magnificent.  Clumps are rearing their variegated heads.

Bike Ride takes us to Indian Head where flowers are blooming in profusion.

Garmin information also show temperature which pivoted around the 80º mark. Because snow storms are still raging in Montana Janie and I want to repeat that we are so happy we made 1400 mile trip from Montana to Borrego, where we acquired a rental using the VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) website, and we’re already thinking about next year. We have lots of good friends in Borrego and we like the opportunities provided in this the largest of state parks in America. Here we can hike and bike – and enjoy the vistas created when the sun sets – and when it rises.

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Ajo Mountain Loop

Adventure Biking in Borrego Springs:

Garmin Info:  (This takes about 30 seconds for all information — to include map to load. )

©Bert Gildart: Well, we made it, from Montana to Borrego Springs and to a house we’ve rented for a month. This is the first time in 20 years we’ve traveled without our Airstream, and it was a wise choice. Blizzards followed us from Bigfork and then on into Idaho. But we missed them all, and then had the good luck to run into a short stretch of Route 66, something for the future, when I’m ready to hoist hitches.

I didn’t realize how much strength I’d lost from over 35 days in the hospital where I was mostly bedridden. But I sure found out yesterday when I biked about 10 miles and had to push to complete the trip in less than two hours. Lots of stiff muscles this morning.