Bert Gildart: Writer and Photographer

©Bert Gildart:  For the past five days we’ve been hanging out in Glacier National Park reading books, listening to rain thumping on the roof of our Airstream, and then, when the spirit moved us, doing a bit of exploring by biking, hiking and driving.  As it turned out all the preplanning in the world could not have provided a better delegation of time.  For one thing, we managed to take in one of the most inspiring of times in Glacier National Park, and that’s when storms  lift over the park’s majestic mountains, easily seen at Glacier’s lofty Logan Pass.

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We made the drive to Logan Pass excited by information one of our neighbors in the park’s Apgar Campground provided.  He said he had driven through a violent snow storm among the mountains on Logan Pass.  He said it “was the season’s first blizzard,” and that tomorrow, the pass should still be covered with snow.  He said we should expect fog and “brilliant cloud formations.”

Next day we followed the man’s advice and discovered that he was right. About midway up Going-to-the-Sun Road, fog enveloped us.  But we kept driving and in due time reached the 6,646 foot-high pass.  We did a storm dance, celebrating as the clouds opened and closed, exposing as they did a dozen craggy snow-covered peaks.

L to R:  Signs along trail at Logan Pass; more signs at Logan Pass warn of bear danger (less we think than created by urban malcontents);
flags at half-mast, because of tragic shooting in Washington, D.C.

Logan Pass visitor center was still open, and as we walked up the stone steps to the fog-muted building we noticed that both the American and Canadian flags were flying at half-mast.  That prompted questions, which soon informed on the tragic shooting in Washington D.C.  Distant as the capitol city was, the overwhelming beauty of  fog and clouds swirling around Logan Pass helped mute the horror – and soon obscured it.

Departing the Visitor Center we hiked a short trail that warned us we were entering grizzly country. But we hiked on – for Janie and I are both inclined to believe we are safer among the bears than we are among the urban malcontents.

 

We hiked for an hour, and then returned to our truck.  Fog still drifted in and out, and it engulfed us.  Sometimes we slowed but before long we were back at our Airstream, building a fire, baking potatoes in aluminum wrap over a cozy fire.  Cooked in this manner they require about 45 minutes.  We then lighted a portable cooker and roasted a couple of steaks, which we synced for readiness with the potatoes.  We topped that off with a glass of wine, then retired to the trailer, where we continued reading our various books. My choice for the evening was Lawrence Sander’s Fourth Deadly Sin; and that, folks, has to do with Pride, the fourth cardinal sin.  It is good escape reading!

Tomorrow would be a different day, and we thought we’d hang around, simply to see what it might bring, perhaps more storms.  Whatever, the day would prove satisfying, and finding such glorious contentment represents our current mission in life.

AIRSTREAM TRAVELS THIS TIME LAST YEAR:

Grand Canyon

BOOKS TO HELP YOU TRAVEL IN MONTANA AND GNP

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 22nd, 2013 at 8:44 am and is filed under Glacier National Park, Photography, RV Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.