THIS IS MY FIRST BLOG POSTING IN OVER SIX WEEKS, ESSENTIALLY BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN HAVING TROUBLE WITH FLICKR.  I HAVE, HOWEVER, BEEN POSTING ON FACEBOOK.  BECAUSE BLOG POSTINGS REACH A DIFFERENT GROUP AND BECAUSE I USE MY BLOGS FOR REFERENCE, I’LL SUBSEQUENTLY BE POSTING HERE SOME OF MY FACEBOOK ENTRIES FROM THIS PAST MONTH.  THE POSTING BELOW COMES FROM ADVENTURES OF THIS PAST WEEKEND AT DUCK LAKE LOCATED  JUST EAST OF MONTANA’S GLACIER NATIONAL PARK.


©Bert Gildart:  Highlight for me this past weekend was seeing a sow grizzly and her two very-near-adult cubs on an open expanse of prairie near Duck Lake, which is located just east of Montana’s Glacier National Park.


Cattle At Base of Chief Mountain


Fritz and Ami had invited Janie and me to spend the weekend with them in their guest cabin, adjacent to their log home.  I’ve known Fritz since reporting for my first job in Glacier shortly after graduating from high school.

While at the cabin Fritz asked me if I wanted to patrol some of his pasture land and check the integrity of the fence line.  The offer was hard to pass up as the prairie was near the height of its flowering beauty, and it was all backed by the east slope of the Rocky Mountains to include Chief Mountain, which I’ve climbed several times.  As we topped a hill on Fritz’s four-wheeler we saw our three grizzlies ambling toward a grove of aspens.  They were about 100 yards away.



DuckLake-6 DuckLake-5 DuckLake-7

 

L to R:  Chief Mountain backdrops blanket flower and sticky geranium; Chief Mountain backdrops a variety of prairie
flowers; Fritz and Amy and their prairie log home.

The wind was blowing hard from them to us and Fritz stopped the four-wheeler.  We climbed off and marveled at their size and power, watching until they finally sauntered off and disappeared into the woods.  Bears have poor eye sight and we questioned whether they even saw us.

Our sighting topped a weekend of admiring flowers, photographing Chief Mountain, hiking and playing cribbage in the evening.  It is hard to envision a more perfect weekend.

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Books That May add to your travel pleasures


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