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

Archive for August, 2013

Oil Development on The Chief? Almost!

posted: August 16th, 2013 | by:Bert

©Bert Gildart: The spectacular and regionally-recognized monolith known as Chief Mountain has the distinction of straddling the border between Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.  Just recently The Chief has been in the news, but for all the wrong reasons.  Though the Blackfeet say the mountain is a spiritual mountain, Nations Energy LLC convinced some members of the tribe’s Business Council that it should be allowed to plow up the land around the chief and drill for oil.  According to some, authorization enraged so many members of the tribe at large that duly elected members of the council cancelled the lease.  Cancellation occurred three days ago and that is significant as devotees of The Chief had scheduled an anti-drilling protest for this Saturday, August 17.

The gathering was to be held at the base of this historic and scenic mountain, and its purpose was not to stop nation-wide oil exploration, rather it was to stop explorations that would have undermined lands most tribal members consider to be spiritual.  The gathering intended to call attention to the area’s immense beauty and to its history.  It intended to point out that the lofty escarpments contained by The Chief are administered by Glacier National Park, and explorations would have compromised this spectacular Montana national park.


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Despite spiritual significance to the majority of Blackfeet Indians and its proximity to Glacier, Nations Energy LLC wanted to plow up the land and drill here for oil. Until just a few days ago that was the intent. (File photo)

 


Because the mountain assumes such classic proportions, it attracts climbers who respectfully approach The Chief from the park side rather than from across the tribe’s spiritual lands.  Over the years I have climbed the Chief on four separate occasions and reported on my climbs for the Parade Section of the Great Falls Tribune.  As well, my relatively new book Glacier Icons, contains an essay on The Chief.

Though the lease has been cancelled for now, greed always looms large, and down the road you can be assured oil companies will attempt to wheedle their way back to the tribal council.  I hope my book entry will encourage you to follow the ways of the Chief and help the tribe’s majority who serve as watchdogs for The Chief.  I hope it will acquaint you with area history.  And now an excerpt from that essay.

xxx

©Bert Gildart: It is weather patterns that help make Chief Mountain—that giant monolith located along the park’s northeastern flanks—appear to be such an imposing and intriguing structure.  On some days the mountain is back-dropped by robin-blue skies while on others it is shrouded in clouds and then swirled by winds that screech like a predatory bird.

Despite its challenging appearance, many have climbed the mountain, but the first was an Indian who was lured to the mountain for his vision quest.  Though he knew others before him had not returned, the warrior dragged himself and a bison skull to the Chief’s summit and began fasting.


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Lands surrounding The Chief are of spiritual significance to most Blackfeet. Up until a few days ago, the plan was to tear up the land and drill here for oil. (File photo)

 

He remained for four nights, using the skull for his pillow, pacing the rocky pinnacle, chanting warrior songs while attempting to make peace with the gods who were to decide his destiny.

The Spirit of the Mountain attempted to drive him off the peak but, at last, on the fourth night, it yielded.  The Mountain Spirit assured the brave that no peril of battle or of the hunt could overcome him.  He died of old age, the greatest of Flathead warriors.  But just before his death he told the young men of the tribe the source of his powerful medicine.

No white man climbed the peak until 1891, when Henry L. Stimpson (Secretary of State under President Hoover and Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt) and two friends, one a full-blooded Blackfeet Indian, made the second documented ascent.  Stimpson found the weathered remains of an old bison skull, which he left on the very summit where his party found it, wedged among the rocks.

Today, many have come to realize that there remain reasons other than the chance discovery of an aged skull to make the very long-day’s climb to the mountain’s peak. There are the incredible views and the immensity of geological time. But there is also a sense of accomplishments, knowing you have followed in the path of a great chief.


AIRSTREAM TRAVELS TWO YEARS AGO:

Fall Beauty Means Glacier is Still Packing Them In


BOOKS THAT WILL HELP YOU ENJOY YOUR TRAVELS

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




Read Comments | 1 Comment »

Birth of a Bee

posted: August 14th, 2013 | by:Bert

©Bert Gildart: (Note: see comment below about the difference between bees and wasps.  As a novice “bee” watcher I mistakenly called the insects pictured here bees when in fact they are wasps. However, the story line still holds as does the drama of watching — AND PHOTOGRAPHING — a wasp (!!) as it emerges from its cell.)

Because of the immense dry spell we are currently experiencing in Montana’s Flathead Valley, our property has been infested with bees and wasps.  During our one month stay in Seattle (see last couple of posts), bees have built many nests around our house.  But the most troublesome nest was one they built right over the door of my tool shed, and if I wanted access to the lawn mower I had to eliminate it.

I sprayed the nest then left it, but several days later read an article in Time Magazine about the decline in bees.  The story explained the absolute necessity of living with bees — if we wanted to continue enjoying vegetables such as avocado, watermelon, celery, cotton, and onions.


Bees-7

Having just emerged from its cell, a bee prepares to take wing.

 


Hoping to better understand the  biology of bees, yesterday I removed the seemingly inert nest.  I then opened it, discovering life in the nest was still emerging.  It was an incredible opportunity to photograph a complex biological event that has taken millions of years to perfect.

Though my spray had killed the active bees inside the nest there remained a number of cells covered with wax that had apparently escaped the chemical’s toxic effect.  Several new bees were emerging and I watched as this aspect of their lives played out, discovering that although they have a complex life cycle its essence could be summarized.


Bees-9 Bees-12 Bees (7 of 7)


One bee has just emerged from cell, another is about to emerge.  Emergence is not head first, rather it is tail first. Completely
free from its cell, a bee prepares to take flight. This struggle to emerge from the cell takes hours.


Queen bees lay eggs in each of the cells (white spots in accompanying photos) which soon hatch to become larva.  Worker bees feed the larva, which, soon  develop into  mature larva.  Again worker bees enter the picture covering each cell with wax.

Yet another stage plays out, and over a 13-day period  larva are  transformed into pupa — then into to recognizable bees, but ones that must soon confront an immense challenge.

Here’s where I entered the picture, watching as these, now,  fully recognizable bees began to eat away the wax that covered the cell.  But more dramatically, I watched as these bees struggled to emerge.

Only a few of the cells remained viable, but for my purposes, that was all I needed.  Of course I needed lots of time – about three hours – to create the pictures shown here, for the only thing instant about bee biology is their sting.


Bees (2 of 7)

Worker bees cover each of the cells with a wax shortly after queen lays her eggs.  Subsequently, the larva inside the cell
develops into a pupa then to a recognizable bee which must literally eat its way free of the cap over the cell. 
Bee on left has just completed the task.

To gain freedom from the cell each of the bees would eat — push and prod; eat –  push and prod until, finally, its tail would start to appear.  The bees struggled some more until a fully formed bee  emerged to rest on the lip of the cell.  Here, they would swirl their wings.

But, one bee, apparently not liking its new environment, crawled back into the cell.  Moments later a second struggle ensued and eventually the bee returned to the lip of the cell where it again fluttered its wings — apparently practicing for life outside the nest.

Thirty minutes later, the bee lifted itself and took off, but just where it went, I know not.

I made this sequence of photographs using a macro lens and two electronic flash units.  Though I am not sorry I destroyed the nest on the door of my shed, I do wish the bee population at large good health.  They are fascinating creatures and any interested in learning about the prospect of a world devoid of bees should pick up a copy of the August 19th issue of Time Magazine.  You’ll recognize the issue by its cover, which features a photograph of a bee in flight.


AIRSTREAM TRAVELS LAST YEAR:

*Sexton Glacier, One of Glacier National Park’s Last?


BOOKS TO ENHANCE YOUR TRAVELS


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




Read Comments | 7 Comments »