Favorite Travel Quotes

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts."
-- Mark Twain
Innocents Abroad

"Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey." -- Fitzhugh Mullan

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." -- Lao Tzu

Hottest Place in the World

©Bert Gildart: Dateline Death Valley — specifically a southern point in this huge desert park known as  Badwater, which has just recorded its hottest average temperatures for June, peaking at 129ºF.  Average day time temperatures for that month were 109º, and at nearby Furnace Creek ground temperatures were 201º. The torrid temperatures  have prompted some to speculate that this may be the year that yet another heat record is created.  Typically, July in Death Valley is always hotter than June, and that was true on July 10th 1909 when the mercury at Badwater soared to 134º, making Badwater the hottest place in the world.

Location has something to do with temperatures and at 282 feet below sea level, Badwater has the distinction of being the lowest place in North America.


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L to R: Janie hikes across Devil’s Golf Course located just past Badwater; intense sun and low elevation create brutal conditions; Badwater, lowest
place in North America and hottest place in the world.


Despite the torrid conditions Janie and I camp in Death Valley every chance we get, just not in the summer!  It is the austerity that intrigues us and is the reason we’ve spent entire winters in this huge desert national park, once creating an exploring guide for Falcon Press.  Though we have no desire to return right now, we might very well head there this winter.  In the meantime, we’ll be watching the weather map, curious to see if the mercury soars just a few degrees higher.  If so, it may surpass the previous record set at Badwater, long the world’s hottest place.


AIRSTREAM TRAVELS THREE YEARS AGO:

*A Montana Sleazy Saloon? Standards Must Be High


BOOKS THAT WILL HELP YOU APPRECIATE MONTANA AND GLACIER NATIONAL PARK:

4th ed. Autographed by the Authors

Hiking Shenandoah National Park

Hiking Shenandoah National Park is the 4th edition of a favorite guide book, created by Bert & Janie, a professional husband-wife journalism team. Lots of updates including more waterfall trails, updated descriptions of confusing trail junctions, and new color photographs. New text describes more of the park’s compelling natural history. Often the descriptions are personal as the Gildarts have hiked virtually every single park trail, sometimes repeatedly.

$18.95 + Autographed Copy


Big Sky Country is beautiful

Montana Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Treasure State

Montana Icons is a book for lovers of the western vista. Features photographs of fifty famous landmarks from what many call the “Last Best Place.” The book will make you feel homesick for Montana even if you already live here. Bert Gildart’s varied careers in Montana (Bus driver on an Indian reservation, a teacher, backcountry ranger, as well as a newspaper reporter, and photographer) have given him a special view of Montana, which he shares in this book. Share the view; click here.

$16.95 + Autographed Copy


What makes Glacier, Glacier?

Glacier Icons: 50 Classic Views of the Crown of the Continent

Glacier Icons: What makes Glacier Park so special? In this book you can discover the story behind fifty of this park’s most amazing features. With this entertaining collection of photos, anecdotes and little known facts, Bert Gildart will be your backcountry guide. A former Glacier backcountry ranger turned writer/photographer, his hundreds of stories and images have appeared in literally dozens of periodicals including Time/Life, Smithsonian, and Field & Stream. Take a look at Glacier Icons

$16.95 + Autographed Copy






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