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 November, 2015

Veteran’s Day Commemoration — A Personal Note

posted: November 11th, 2015 | by:Bert

30 YEARS OF SERVICE: Today, I’m remembering American service men and that certainly includes my dad, whose military career was eventful. During his 30 years of service he witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor and then, years later, served in Korea as a general. Other stations included command of the Army’s first Redstone Missile Unit, responsible for helping place America’s first satellite into orbit.

His honors were many and included the Army Commendation Medal; the Bronze Star Medal with “V” for valor, the Legion of Merit. Finally, he received The Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award given during Peace Time. Wrote then-Secretary of the Army in a warm letter to Dad, “I do not believe it within our capability to give the full recognition due a man who has devoted his life to hard work, high responsibility and the performance of duty…” Today, a small section of the West Point library is dedicated to my dad.


Dad400

Note, the image included here depicts my dad at West Point, which seemed to have defined him. He was active until he was 90, at which time he needed a wheel chair following a bad fall. It was, however, only temporary.

 



Partly because of him, Janie and I make periodic contribution to the Wounded Warriors Project. All of these outstanding men deserve the accolades of a nation.


ABOUT This Time Last Year:

West Point’s Historic Cemetery — Where Our Parents Now Reside


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 | Comments Off

Fiddle Festival Starts Today

posted: November 6th, 2015 | by:Bert

©Bert Gildart:  Fixed forever in my mind is the image of Trimble Gilbert, a Gwich’in Indian, sitting proud, feet beating up and down in a rhythmic manner, drawing his bow across the strings of his fiddle, creating a sweet, sweet sound that only a handful of skilled musicians can yet produce…


12151

At Christmas, Trimble Gilbert of Arctic Village has written this author asking,
“Bert, have you learned yet to jig?”   The answer is:  “I’m still trying.”


FESTIVAL STARTS TODAY:

For me, these memories remain as exhilarating as helping my friend Kenneth Frank of Arctic Village, extract dozens of arctic grayling, cod and lake trout from a fishnet in –33°F.  The difference is that fiddle playing is intended to offset—perhaps even celebrate—the rigors of life in the “bush.” (My opening paragraphs as appeared in Native Peoples Magazine.)

Today, I am reminded of these experiences because 10 years ago Janie and I covered the Athabascan Fiddle Festival in Fairbanks – and the annual four-day event BEGINS TODAY.

Images here are mostly from the Fiddle Festival as used in Native People Magazine.  One, however (three young ladies) is from National Wildlife magazine and was used to illustrate my story “Hunting For Their Future.”  The purpose of that story was to call attention to the dependency of the Gwich’in Indians on the Porcupine Caribou herd – and to the herds dependency on the Arctic Refuge.


10349 90965 12348


L to R Image of three chldren has appeared widely;  Trimble Gilbert and sons widely admired for musical skills; Kenneth Frank ice fishing at
Old John Lake, about 20 miles by snowmobile from Arctic in brutal -30 temperatures.

 

Initially, we meet this wonderful group of people through four years of summer school teaching.  We’ve remained in contact with many through Facebook and occasional telephone calls.  Gwich’in villages number about a dozen and most are small number but several hundred inhabitants.  They flank the Yukon and tributaries of the Yukon.

The pictures also remind us that we are overdue for another visit to the Arctic.  We’re hoping that everyone there is still hale and hearty.


————


OTHER GWICH’IN POSTS:

Alaskan Boating Adventure

Gwich’in and the Arctic Refuge

Power of One


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 | Comments Off

Dark Skies and Chief Joseph

posted: November 3rd, 2015 | by:Bert

©Bert Gildart: Yesterday, for the month of November, the Northwest Outdoor Writer’s Association newsletter included my image of the Chief Joseph Battlefield.  In the past, the image has been used in a number of publications to include my book, MONTANA ICONS.

I think the image addresses several issues. With the North Star positioned at the top of the teepee poles (for other stars to circle around it), I hope the image suggests that after Chief Joseph’s desperate and near-successful struggle to escape the confinement of reservation life, the spirit of this famous Indian chief remains free.


Night-1

Tragically, this is the only place he might be free, for the U.S. government did not live up to any promises they made to him.

Joseph outmaneuvered the Army for several thousand miles, and though their numbers were few and the opposing forces many, Joseph proved himself to be a superior general.  Sadly, he was stopped just short of Canada, his destination, where he was hoping to join Chief Sitting Bull.  But the telegraph defeated him, bringing in General Miles at the Bear Paw Mountains. Sitting Bull, of course, had just defeated Custer, a man who graduated at the very bottom of his class at West Point.

The image also tells a story of Night Skies and asks a question, tacit though it may be.  How many places are left in the world where light pollution allows such clarity?

The answer is:  Few, very few!


—————–


LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME:

West Point, Where Our Parents Now Rest


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 | Comments Off