Big Bend’s Hundred Year Bloom
©Bert Gildart: It’s not too late, but you had better hurry. Right now Big Bend National Park is experiencing what naturalists say is a once in a hundred year bloom. Dominating the landscape are Texas Blue Bonnets, Desert Marigold, and Bicolor Mustard. Interspersed among these fields are Prickly Poppy, Blind Prickly Pear and the very patriotic Texas Rainbow Cactus. Yucca is also in bloom and these tall stately agave look like so many candelabra lighting up the desert.
Janie, blue bonnets and Airstream
One of the above is presenting itself in numbers we never thought possible. On a single specimen of the Blind Prickly Pear we counted over 100 blossoms.
L to R: Texas Rainbow Cactus, perhaps a verbena (anyone know for sure?), Blind Prickly Pear.
Here are a few images we’ve taken the past few days, and it feels as though this incredible spectacle is just starting to come alive and that there may be much more to come. If you want to see what is quite possibly a once in a lifetime event, better pack your bags.
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THIS TIME LAST YEAR:
The Wave — Where Time Stood Still
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.
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
