Sunday, October 31, 2010

Five Great Things About Traveling with Alex

  1. A coffee break is never far away.
  2. You attain an intimate knowledge of the music of Paul Simon, including all of the words to all of the songs on the album “Graceland”.
  3. He is happy to carry heavy objects long distances.
  4. His enthusiasm for new experiences never wanes.
  5. Interesting costume pieces make an appearance from time to time, for example a raccoon skin hat, cowboy boots, hobo jackets, Nelson Mandela style shirt...

Alex at Ptarmigan Tunnel, Glacier National Park

Yellowstone National Park, MT/WY/ID

General Information
Yellowstone is an exceptionally good park to visit if you want to see different types of natural features in one place. The geysers and other hydrothermal features set Yellowstone apart from other parks, but it also has pine forests, mountains, the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, bison and elk herds, bears, waterfalls, loads of rivers and lakes, plus trout fishing. Yellowstone is an absolute mecca for geology nuts like you, dear reader, as it is perched on the plateau of a massive volcano (called the Yellowstone Caldera) and also forms part of the Rocky Mountain chain. Unfortunately, a lot of people seemed to have figured this out. Even in October, when half of the park's services are shut down in preparation for winter, the park was teeming with people (well so it seemed after the wilds of Glacier NP). All of the campgrounds that remained open (including one with 277 sites) were full, so we stayed at motels – one night in Gardiner on the north of the park, and one night in West Yellowstone on the west. Both Gardiner and West Yellowstone are in Montana (State Motto: “Gold and Silver”), but Yellowstone itself is primarily located in Wyoming (State Motto: “Equal Rights”), with small sections in Montana and Idaho (State Motto: “Let It Be Perpetual).

Geysers in the distance

History
Yellowstone National Park was the first national park created in America. It is said to also be the world's first national park, but we have not yet verified this fact. (We suspect that colonial governments in Africa may have set aside nature reserves prior to the creation of Yellowstone, but need to dig up some history books to determine if this is correct). Either way, when Yellowstone was set aside in 1872 during the presidency of Ulysses Grant, the national park was a new concept to the American people and the government had not yet determined how national parks should be governed or what their purpose should be. When the park was first created, people still hunted animals and grazed their stock within its boundaries . Eventually the army had to be sent in to keep poachers out of the park. The National Parks Service was created by the US Congress as an agency of the Department of the Interior in in 1916 and it took over the governance of Yellowstone upon its creation. Under the guidance of the National Parks Service conservation and preservation has taken primacy over other interests.

Coyote stalking its prey

What We Did
Perhaps we started off on the wrong foot with Yellowstone, as we drove directly into the town of Mammoth when we first got there. We intended to visit the famous Mammoth Hot Springs not realizing that there is a small town at this sight as well (actually within the park), with a very large lodge, campground, gas stop, grocery store, 10 or so houses, souvenir stores, restaurant/cafeteria, the visitor center and a herd of resident elk. This town site appeared to be a similar size to Gardiner, where we'd stayed the night before.

The Mammoth Hot Springs themselves were very interesting, although at a low ebb in terms of water flow when we saw them. They consist of white terrace-like formations over an area of approximately 100 square meters. These terraces are formed when scalding water and steam, heated by the volcano, are pushed upwards through layers of limestone. Some of the limestone dissolves in the hot water and is deposited when the water cools as it flows from springs distributed throughout the terraces. In this way, it is exactly the reverse of the usual erosion of limestone, whereby rain water flowing over exposed limestone wears it down by dissolving. Because the water is hot, lots of limestone is absorbed by the water, and so the process of terrace-building is relatively fast. People visiting Mammoth Hot Springs year to year can appreciate its changing shape as the terraces sometimes form large ponds that change the pressure in the plumbing under the terraces and force new springs that create new terraces.

 
The hot springs water contain types of colourful bacteria creating interesting patterns in the water trickling out of the terraces. A boardwalk has been constructed so you can walk up, down and around the terraces, which is nifty, but you feel kind of foolish walking from terrace to terrace, bumping into the same 30 people at each stop.

A “thing” about Yellowstone, which is a little bit frustrating, is that it really a “driving” park, as opposed to a “hiking” or “cycling” or “horse riding” or “kayaking”, etc, park. You get in your car, drive from one miracle of creation to another, getting out of your car for a quick stroll (usually no more than 100 meters) to inspect the miracle, then back to your car and on to the next one. At times it feels a lot like a circus show or a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of a foreign city. This was no doubt exaggerated by the immediate contrast to our experiences in Glacier, which was very much the “do-it-yourself” type of wilderness park. Most people visit Yellowstone for one or two days, driving either the Upper Loop, or the Lower Loop, or both. There are certainly parts of Yellowstone that are remote and secluded. For example, I'm sure the back-country hiking in Yellowstone would be awesome amongst the secluded geysers and bison herds. However, because of our lack of preparation and time, we just joined the loops tours and saw the miracles of creation surrounded by day-trippers, with their big cameras and ice-cream cones.

At the Mammoth Hot Springs, we met a very nice couple from Montana. It was their wedding anniversary and they asked us to take a picture of them with the Mammoth Hot Springs in the background. They noticed our Glacier National Park t-shirts and being from Montana themselves wanted to know how we enjoyed ourselves there. (They actually got married in Glacier National Park). We spoke for a while about all manner of things. Our conversation culminated when the lady of the couple asked us - “So, tell us, what is Perth really like?” Having previously told them Perth has a very nice beach, I wasn't sure what to add. We smiled at each other a little bit and then moved on. People from Montana are nice.

Next we drove on to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The Yellowstone Grand Canyon is obviously not as grand as the regular Grand Canyon, but it's still worth a look. Running through soft sediments heated and reduced to a chalky, porous yellow-stained rock, by fermaroles, the Yellowstone River, which drains into Yellowstone Lake , thunders over a 94 meter fall and then into the canyon it has carved, said to be 1000 meters deep. Like other hydrothermal features at Yellowstone, the canyon is an unearthly sight to experience. The only sound is the heavy rumble of the waterfall, the place reeks of sulfur coming from vents in the side of the canyon, which is an even, smooth, tree-less yellow and white slope. We drove along the North Rim, stopping at the overlooks, taking pictures at each. Another “thing” about Yellowstone, for some reason whenever you get out of your car to marvel at a miracle of creation, it starts to rain. It's uncanny, actually.


Lower Falls and Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

After the canyon we went on to Norris Geyser Basin, which is actually very cool. We did the boardwalk hike over the geyser field. We were out of our car, so it was raining, and there was something very surreal about walking through hot steam with rain falling on you. The Steamboat Geyser is probably the most impressive geyser in this basin. It shoots boiling water about 6 feet into their air every now and again and apparently every few years it goes bananas and send the water up a 100 feet or so. Besides the geysers, there are hot pools and fermaroles (which sound like factory steam vents). The clear hot pools look very inviting, bubbling away cheerfully through all weather and ringed with multi-coloured thermaphile bacteria.


 
Another “thing” about Yellowstone, is that there are a lot of rules. Probably for good reason since there are many things in this park that will kill you if given half the chance. Here is an extract from a typical warning sign (signs like this are placed all over the park):
Hydrothermal Areas: The thin ground in these areas breaks easily, and often overlies scalding water. Stay on the trail.
Bears: Although your chance of an encounter is low, your safety is not guaranteed. Minimize your risk by making loud noises, shouting or singing. Hike in groups and use caution where vision is obstructed. Do not hike after dark. Avoid carcasses; bears often defend this source of food. Obtained detailed bear information from a ranger at the Visitor Education Center.
All Wildlife: You must stay at least 100 yards (91 m) away from bears and wolves; and at least 25 yards (23 m) away from all other animals – including birds. Do not feed the wildlife. It is illegal to disturb animals from any distance.


 
The following day we visited the famous Old Faithful Geyser and a collection of lesser thermal hot-spots. Old Faithful is thus named because it erupts on or about every 90 minutes. The geyser is created by a build-up of pressure in a reservoir beneath the geyser. Water is super-heated by the volcano, producing small bubbles of water vapour which grow as they rise through the reservoir. Some of this steam finds its way through a network of gaps in the rock and eventually out the geyser. However, because more steam is produced than is let off, pressure builds in the geyser, which increases the boiling point of the water in the reservoir. Eventually, the pressure is so high that water expands and is pushed through the gaps in the rock and through the geyser. When it reaches the open air, where the pressure is far less, it expands suddenly, forming the huge plumes of steam and water that is the geyser eruption. Because the heat from the volcano and the size of the reservoir and geyser are constant, the timing of the eruptions can be predicted. We watched the eruption with about 200 other tourists. The infrastructure around this geyser is stupendous. They recently opened a new, $27m visitor center there, which is surrounded by car parks that could accommodate more than 1000 cars. In addition there are souvenir shops, a cafe, hotels and a petrol station.


Old Faithful errupting

Conclusion
As alluded to above, Yellowstone is a popular park and upwards of three million people visit it each year. Because of its popularity and its history, it is said to have informed many Americans' perception of nature. At the time of its creation, the concept of setting aside a piece of land merely for its scenic beauty was a controversial idea. Many considered it absurd to prevent hunting, logging and other commercial uses of a piece of land. Fast forward 138 years to today, most Americans celebrate the conservation principals by which human activity in the national parks is governed. Obviously in Yellowstone commercial interests play a big role in the form of tourism, but if the place wasn't a national park, no doubt there'd be an Old Faithful Casino and hot springs spas left, right and center.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Photo of the Day - Cut Bank, Coldest Place in the USA


Montana the Marvelous

The next passage in my journey is a love affair. I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and its difficult to analyze love when your in it... It seems to me that Montana is a great splash of grandeur. The scale is huge but not overpowering. The land is rich with grass and color, and the mountains are the kind I would create if mountains were ever put on my agenda.” ~ John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley.


In case you couldn't tell from our previous post on Glacier National Park, Montana is probably our favourite state so far. Cowboys, Indians, mountains, crystal clear rivers and big ol' skies. It is true the sky is bigger in Montana. I don't know why this is. Perhaps there is a scientific reason for it, but the horizon seems to be 10% land and 90% blue blue skies in Montana.

On our way from Theodore Roosevelt NP to Glacier NP, we drove along Montana Highway 2, which runs about 50 miles south and parallel to the Canadian border. Most towns we passed through on Highway 2 have roadsigns with an arrow pointing right (since we were heading west) directing you to Canada. Along this road are a number of Indian Reservations – Fort Peck, Fort Belknap, Rocky Boy's (actually just south of Highway 2) and Blackfeet. Most of the reservations seem to be utilized as cattle ranches and include a couple of small towns.

After our glorious week in Glacier, we drove to Whitefish, a mid-sized town on the southwest side of the park, for a night at The Garden Wall Inn, hosted by probably the nicest guy in America – Chris Schustrom. Provider of gourmet beers and gourmet breakfasts, Chris didn't even complain about our body odour when we arrived, which was heady given that we had not showered for a week while engaging in extreme physical activities. The inn is furnished completely in the art deco style, right down to the claw foot bath and light switches. Very impressive attention to detail. This place is the full 5 stars. Probably too nice for us, given that we are meant to be roughing it a bit. But after that Swiftcurrent Lookout hike, we both felt we needed a bit of TLC. 


The next day we drove through the Swan River Valley on our way to Yellowstone. This drive, designated scenic by our road atlas, was particularly lovely. It passes through a number of notable scenic monuments, probably each worth a week camping without a shower - the Flathead National Forest, Mission Mountain Range, Garnet Mountain Range, Swan Mountain Range, Flint Creek Mountain Range, Lolo National Forest, Helena National Forest, Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, and, obviously, the Swan Lake and Swan River. Once we hit the Interstate Highway 90 to Bozeman, we continued to pass through similarly beautiful scenery noted by unique names - the Tobacco Root Mountains, Gallatin National Forest (not that I want to freak anyone out, but this is the scene of that nasty bear attack earlier this year: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_21d02556-9a58-11df-b1f3-001cc4c03286.html), Absaroka Mountains (where the documentary “Sweetgrass” was film – this is a great little doco. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbF_8e151ds), Gallatin Mountain Range. By the time we got to Gardiner, the Gateway to Yellowstone National Park, we were on full sensory overload with beauty bursting out of our ears.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Glacier National Park, Montana ~ The Greatest of Them All

Do yourself a favour, dear reader. Go to http://www.kayak.com/, book yourself a flight to Helena, Billings, Missoula, Boseman, Kalispell or Butte (any one of these will do). Once you get off the plane, hire a car, drive to Glacier National Park, Montana (State Motto: “Gold and Silver”) and get into it! This park is phenomenal – beautiful, terrifying, majestic and evocative all in one. It is the kind of scenery that overwhelms you and makes your heart swell with that strange feeling of joy and sadness at the same time, which our grasp of the English language sadly doesn't have a word for. We can only portray to you in our poor words its effect on us: we were immediately smiling and craning forward in the seats; each bend in the road brought more marvels on all sides and we both experienced that frustratingly ticklish sensation of being torn between rushing forward into the mountains and stopping beside the road to take in – and pay adequate homage to – the spectacular vistas surrounding us. We drove slowly, and drank spiritually from the deep, violently yellow colours of the quivering aspens, felt the power of the brutal mountains seeping into us.


Impressions
From about 50 miles out from the park we could see the dark, flat ridge of the Rocky Mountains on the horizon. The native Blackfeet Indians considered this area the “backbone of the World” – and it is, indeed, the backbone of the continent - the transcontinental divide runs through Glacier National Park.

We arrived at Glacier in glory, with fall foliage flanking the roadside like a golden, heavenly choir. A corner turned and majestic, rugged, historic, living peaks were revealed to create a splendid scenery unlike any we had previously encountered on this trip. It is the type of splendor that draws emotion, takes one's breath away literally and brings a swelling of tears to the eye's corner. We were in God's country now. And like God, it is to be feared. Bears, wolves, uncompromising weather, clinically vertical cliffs and uncaring distances. We were terrified, but drawn by the dramatic beauty before us and could not turn away.



History
The Blackfeet people inhabited the region to the east of the continental divide in what is now Glacier National Park and norther Montana. They believe that the mountains are home to spirits and Chief Mountain, in particular, is most important mountain because it is the home of medicine. As is becoming “old hat” to seasoned readers of this blog, French and English trappers were the first Europeans through the area, but it wasn't until the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806 – which was commissioned by President Jefferson to map the extent of the Louisiana Purchase – that the area entered permanently into the European record in the USA. In fact, Lewis and Clarke missed the lowest pass through the Rockies between Canada and Mexico – the Marias Pass – and it wasn't until 1889 that an explorer for the Great Northern Railway found it and ushered in the modern era of Glacier, and the near destruction of the Blackfeet (primarily due to the decimation of their main food source, the bison).


Glacier was declared a national park in 1910 after a decade of intense lobbying by George Bird Grinnell, who was the editor of the Forest and Stream magazine – and also, incidentally, the founder of the National Audubon Society in 1905. Today the Audubon Society has nearly 550,000 members around the world and is dedicated to restore and conserve natural ecosystems. The society manages 160,000 acres of wildlife habitat in the Americas and publishes the authoritative guides to birds and mammals of Northern America (For more see: www.audubon.org).

Ansel Adams was dispatched in 1941 by the National Park Service to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, D.C. that featured the U.S. National Parks. Adams was particularly taken by the dramatic peaks and huge skies of Glacier National Park, and his pictures generated a great deal of interest in the park. Because of the park's propinquity to its existing line, at a time when each of the three great American railways were promoting a National Park, the Great Northern Railway championed Glacier National Park as a tourist destination (Santa Fe chose Grand Canyon and Union Pacific chose Yellowstone). As part of this promotion, the railway hired men from the Blackfeet tribe to travel the country in their full ceremonial regalia, dancing and inviting wealthy easterners to visit Glacier National Park. Members of the tribe were also hired to greet people at the station.


Geology
Now for a little on the geology of the Rockies (by popular demand after the reception to the Algonquin entry). The Rockies are not actually a single mountain range, but rather a collection of many individual mountain ranges that trend generally north-south from northern British Columbia to northern New Mexico. The Canadian Rockies are the largest of these mountain ranges, stretching 1450 kilometers from Liard River through to Helena, Montana (so Glacier National Park forms the southern extent of the Canadian Rockies). This mountain range makes an orderly line of sedimentary strata, formed when the continental shelf of North America collided with the Pacific plate and was pushed up and eastward. Accordingly, these mountains generally have sloping western slopes and sharp, broken eastern faces.


The sedimentary lines of these mountains are clearly evident in Glacier National Park, both as bands of different coloured rock in the cliff-faces of many mountains, and also in the shape of the mountains themselves, through the erosion pattern of their different composite rocks. Softer sediments – shale – erode quicker than harder sediments – carbonates. So where the shelf is pushed up diagonally, the peaks of the mountains are very sharp and the slopes stepped, because the shale is more exposed to erosion and over time causes the hard carbonates above them to collapse. Where the shelf is resting more horizontally, the hard rock protects the softer rock and the peaks are flatter.


Heading further south into southern Montana and Idaho, the Rockies balloon east and west across 500 kilometers with the Salmon River Mountains in Idaho to the Yellowstone Plateau and the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. Some of these mountain ranges were formed by the same continental shelf collision as the Canadian Rockies, but others, such as the Yellowstone Plateau and the Absaroka Range were formed by (different) volcanoes. Heading south you get the Tetons, Beartooth, Bighorn, Owl Creek and Wind River ranges that are the oldest in the Rocky Mountains. The tallest mountain ranges in the Rockies are in Colorado, where the Front Range, Park Range and Sawatch Mountains contain the famous 14-ers (peaks over 14,000 ft), which rise from the already mile-high Great Plains. The southern extent of the Rockies are the San Juan Mountains and Sangre de Cristo Mountains, whose snow-melt feeds the Rio Grande.

Finally, it should be noted that the Rocky Mountains form the continental divide of North America, which means that on one side the waters flow to the Pacific and on the other to the Atlantic. There are two places, however, where water flows to three oceans. The great Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park send water to the Pacific via the Columbia River, to the Arctic Ocean via the Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers, and to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saskatchewan River and Hudson Bay. Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park sends waters to the Pacific, Atlantic and Mexican Gulf via the Columbia, Saskatchewan and Missouri rivers, respectively.

Obviously, we could go on at length, because the geology of the Rockies is a fascinating and fertile subject, but to avoid alienating one of our seven loyal followers – if any of you are still reading at this point you'll get another postcard – we'll move on.

The Birds and the Trees
Glacier is famous for Grizzlies. And rightly so – after believed to be close to extinct in the area, a recent survey found far more than they were anticipating. We were advised to carry bear mace at all times, and read copious pamphlets, warning signs and websites explaining what to do in the event of an encounter with the big guy. Unfortunately, these various sources give alarmingly varied advice, although all tend to end with the bear on top and you, well, grizzly. These pamphlets are so grim about your chances of warding off an attack that their universal number one best tip to avoid bears: sing as loud as you can while walking. In addition, Glacier boasts big herds of mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk and – apparently – our old nemesis, the moose.


Glacier is also famous for its spring wildflowers and, the rest of the year, for pine varieties – fir, spruce, ponderosa, whitebark – but most notably for our visit, the trembling aspens. There are glades as well as whole mountains full of aspen trees. Aspens favour areas with more sunlight and wetter soils (keen readers will recall from the Algonquin article), but the odd frisky sapling will grow up in the middle of a bad old pine forest, and these guys are even more spectacular in the fall for their efforts. In autumn there are also huckleberries (like blueberries), which are a favourite desert of the Grizzly, and much is made of this association in advertising for huckleberry products from bakery treats to muesli bars and even martinis.


What we did
As anyone who has visited Alex' old office during the fall/autumn will know, he's a pretty keen follower of the fall foliage, and we've been on our fair share of foliage frolics through New England. In fact, during that season he will often, embarrassingly, be caught with a, internet explorer window open to the fall foliage website (www.foliagenetwork.com). So it will come as some surprise to learn that we were not expecting any fall foliage action as far west as Glacier. Imagine then, dear reader, our excitement as we neared the end of our long schlep across the Midwest and were greeted by an absolute cacophony of bright yellow Aspens – each outdoing the last in depth and brilliance – but presenting whole hillsides in unending cloaks of gold. Their yellows are a most unnatural tone, and in the middle of a stand, the sunlight is completely filtered so that even the bare ground seems to glow yellow.


As we neared the St Mary's visitor center an almighty wind started to blow down the valley over St Mary's lake and we were forced into the lodge for lunch. Shortly thereafter, emboldened by the hearty Indian Taco and Rainbow Trout Sandwich, we set up camp at Many Glaciers at the inspired recommendation of new friends and National Parks veterans Coleen and John. (A big thank you to both for their excellent tips and recommendations). Many Glaciers could accommodate 109 tents or RVs, but was in “primitive” condition when we arrived – which means there is no running water, only one long-drop toilet, and half of the campsites are fenced off. Even in primitive condition, the situation of the campsite is inspired. Our site – 101 – was just above Swiftcurrent Creek, which is just below Grinnell Point, which rises sheer for about 200 meters. As we sat down to a cup of tea after setting up the tent a friendly local pointed out a mountain goat perched miraculously on the cliff, standing out white against the warm, autumnal tones of the cliff.


Our first morning was crispy clear and we were treated to a light-show from the comfort of our tent as the first sun on the tops of the mountains painted them a dull bronze and seemed to bring them closer. Filled with the exhilaration of the clear air, muscular mountains, bouncing streams and shimmering foliage, we gulped down our tea and coffee and verily skipped off on the Grinnell Glacier walk – 11 miles return, elevation gain 1600 ft. This is a walk up one side of a valley, gradually ascending the valley wall up onto a hanging valley at the back of which rests the Grinnell Glacier, and above it, the Salamander Glacier.

I imagine it's a beautiful walk at the worst of times, but we were walking through the full riot of fall colours, and there was literally never a dull moment. Probably the least dull moment came near the start of the trail, we were busily chatting and singing away – to warn the bears that we were coming – rounded a bend and nearly walked into a big old chocolate moose cow, right next to the path. At first all we could see was the head, but we mistook that for its side. The moose is massive, but it's head is ridiculous – twice as long as a horse's face with a mouth like a camel and eyelashes that would make a giraffe blush. She munched away at the fall foliage, hopped over the path – she had lovely long, shapely legs – and wandered off into the forest. So the myth is busted, they do exist, and she was worth the wait.


Most of the Grinnell Glacier walk is above the regular tree line so the views up and down the valley are outstanding. The valley floor is graced with a string of small lakes created by the morrains (piles of rocks left behind by glaciers as they commence their retreat back up the valley) of the various glaciers that have marched down the main valley. These lakes are a very pale blue colour (all glacial lakes are this colour) due to the presence of very fine silts (known as glacial flour) suspended in the water. This glacial flour indicates that the glacier which feeds the lakes is still actively grinding up the rocks beneath it and in so doing, widening and deepening the valley. It's great when there is a clearly defined objective at the end of a walk, and with this walk, it's the glacier. You end up at a lake in which the glacier is partly submerged. The rock surrounding the lake looks raw, and you can easily imagine the grinding forces of the glacier gouging them out. There is almost no vegetation and the only sound is the wind in the peaks above and the crystalline trickle of that cold, hard meltwater as it runs over the newly-exposed rocks.


Day two was a rest day, which we spent in a small town called Babb, which is in the Blackfeet Reservation and boasts about 6 buildings, 2 of them churches, 2 of them pubs, a general store and a cafe called Fire Horse Cafe. Fire Horse Cafe makes an awesome breakfast burrito – see food section below for deets. We also fitted in a short hike to Apikuni Falls and much vain searching of the mountain sides for bears.


Day three we did the Ptarmigan Tunnel walk (10.4 miles return, elevation gain 2300 ft), which is through a valley of pines and aspens, gradually ascending towards the Ptarmigan Wall, which is a broad, sheer cliff face joining some magnificent peaks. At one end of the wall is Iceberg Lake and at the other Ptarmigan Lake and above it, the tunnel. This is another great example of a wonderful objective at the end of the walk. From the lake to the tunnel, the trail goes up a sharp, steep slope of scree through a series of switchbacks that you can see from the lake. The entrance to the tunnel, which is about 15 meters from the top of the Ptarmigan Wall, looks like the door to the mines of Moria, and so we both wished we had Gimly with us. Fortunately it's actually a short tunnel through to the next valley, which is graced by Lake Elizabeth. Immediately through the tunnel, the trail creeps along the edge of a cliff made of a shale that has a rich burgundy colour, which we learned later is called Grinnell Shale.


Day four was another rest day, this time featuring a drive up the famous Going to the Sun road. This road will forever be remembered for us in the song “Going to the Sun” by local artist David Walburn, which tells the story of how the road was built between 1921 and 1932 to join St Mary's Lake in the east with Lake MacDonald in the west via Logan Pass. (You can check this song out at: http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.artistalbum&albumid=montana-life-under-the-big-sky-16732831&artistid=45228473 ).

It is a spectacular drive along St Mary's Lake which is flanked on both sides by those massive cliffed mountains and craggy peaks for which Glacier is renowned. The road was closed for construction after Logan Pass on the west side, so we didn't get to drive right through, but as you can imagine in one of the snowiest parts of the Rockies, the road building window is pretty brief and we were glad to see some Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars being used on such a worthy bit of blacktop. Another drawback of the impending winter season was that the visitor center cafe was closed, and we were forced back down from Logan Pass before we could do the scenic trail to Hidden Lake by hunger and a burning desire for another Fire Horse Cafe breakfast burrito (available all times of day).


Day five was the big kahoona. In a momentary lapse of judgment, that she was to rue time and time again throughout the long weary hours of day five, Lish allowed Alex to pick the final hike, and he chose Swiftcurrent Lookout (15.8 mile return, elevation gain of 3500 ft). As the name would suggest, this is a walk to the top of the mountain at the end of Switcurrent valley, a no-fuss, direct trail up the valley to the rock wall, and then an endless array of zig-zags across pretty much sheer cliffs onto a saddle, and then another array of zig-zags to the lookout atop the peak. We knew it would be tough, and one of us couldn't believe his luck at being able (by successfully tricking his wife into the belief that it wouldn't be that hard) to do this trail, so we got an early start (for us) and at 8.30 we were singing our way up the valley. At the head of the valley, proud that we'd knocked off almost half the miles in two hours, we came across an ol' mountain man who was finishing off a 5-day loop that included many river crossings and an international boundary. He described the view from the top as “360 Degree Mountains” and the trail down as “very picturesque.” That's when we started the long trek up the zig-zags which lasted about three hours. We did a lot of singing, sweating and soul-searching in that time, but were rewarded with the ultimate prize – 360 degree mountains as far as the eye could see. Our trail guide boasts that the vista includes nine lakes, 48 peaks and four glaciers but really, at that stage of the hike it's better described as 360 degree mountains. The vista included mountains, glaciers, glacial lakes, waterfalls, streams, rivers, ridges, valleys, pines, scars of forest fires, a small lodge built out of granite, thin trails marked through parts of the mountains. We spent an hour recuperating and drinking tea and coffee at the top, along with a serve of Campfire Carbonara – see below for recipe – and listening to the tales of fellow climbers who had abandoned their camp on the saddle the previous night when it was invaded by six hungry grizzlies.



Predictably enough, as these things go, our descent featured the best animal spotting of our entire trip. Near the summit we saw a mountain cottontail (aka rabbit) and at the start of the valley we spotted a bull moose across the lake. We then happened across another bull moose in the midst of his bizzaro mating routine. He starts out by pacing his territory and letting off this deep, nasal call every few seconds that sounds like he's trying to suck down a booger the size of his brain – the Mizzy Lake Trail guide from Algonquin describes it as “gawunk.” Then he digs a rutting pit with his big antlers and pees in it. Then he wallows in the pit and starts pacing again, all the time gawunking his big ol' heart out. Eventually, if he's in good form, a cow will be unable to resist his smooth-talking and heady perfume, and will follow his trail of urine down to his pit. I guess we arrived on the scene pretty close to the end, because the bull was literally drooling and gawunking about every second. He crossed the path ahead of us and then set about smashing up the trees near the river to make ready his boudoir. We could hear her up off the trail a short time later and soon enough she too crossed the trail and followed him down to the river, which is when we took our cue and headed home.



With about 30 minutes of light left we spotted a beaver couple building their dam just above Redrock Falls. Goodness gracious! The beaver is a rodent, and looks like a rat the size of a dog. In fact, it is a very highly adapted animal with some very strange features such as two layers of fur, eye-lids which are actually lenses for aquatic sight, lips that close inside their two front teeth so they can chew underwater without drinking and ears that can close underwater. We finally tripped into camp at 8pm for a hearty meal before a roaring fire. Who could ask for anything more?


Food
We mentioned the excellent breakfast burrito above. It was nothing new or fancy, but hot damn, it was good! Potato hash, sausage or ham, egg, salsa, hot sauce, sprinkle of cheddar.

Indian Taco – This is a bread dough shaped into a thick pancake and fried, topped with bison chilli and shredded salad.

Bison Burgers – same as a regular burger but with Bison. Low fat meat, little gamey tasting. They get a mixed reception from us, but because of the novelty, you have to try one if you get the chance.

Campfire Carbonara – this is a recipe stolen from my brother James. It's a simple carbonara – onions, bacon, eggs and herbs – but because the eggs are only partially cooked in the sauce, they are still in fluid form when the sauce joins the spaghetti and so each strand is coated with the flavour-giving sauce before it hardens. Undoubtedly our views are tempered by circumstance, but at the top of that mountain, even cold and a day old, this was the best damn carbonara we ever ate – and we've both been to Babbo twice!


Conclusion
Get out to Glacier, my friends! The remaining glaciers are expected to finish melting and cease to be in the next 20 years, so the earlier the better.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Teddy Roosevelt is fast becoming one of our favourite American presidents. Not only was he instrumental in the development of several US national parks and national monuments, plus the creation of government departments for the national forests and wildlife refuges, but he also owned an awesome ranch in the badland wilds of North Dakota. He spent some time working cattle on this ranch when he was a young man in an effort to toughen himself up and loose his New York pretty boy image. This ranch has now been made into a national park itself, aptly named, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in honor of the big man.


These badlands are bad lands to be sure, but they are not as dramatic as the Badlands, which we described in an earlier blog entry. Instead of whites and pinks, these badlands are more green, yellow and rust. This national park is made up of two units, north and south. We camped the night in the southern section not far from the town of Medora. Medora is the home of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame and I really, really wish we visited that, but alas it was closed by the time we reached town. Next time.

The badlands landscape of the southern part of this park is stark and gentle at once. Rolling buttes mix with deep crevices and grassland prairies. Our campsite was magnificent, perched on the edge of the Little Missouri River. It was the most scenic spot we'd had since Acheray in Algonquin. It was a shame that we were passing through, as we both felt that we could have spent a week here, hiking and reading our books by the banks of the Little Missouri River. Perhaps we might have even taken a horse ride through the prairie. Nonetheless the tug of Glacier National Park won out and we headed off along Highway 2 for northern Montana the next morning.




The Enchanted Highway, North Dakota

Somethings need to be seen to be believed...

The Enchanted Highway in western North Dakota (State Motto: “Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable) is the type of man-made anomaly that could only exist in America. Well perhaps this isn't entirely true. There is a chance that it could exist in Australia, but it definitely would never be found in Europe. It is an improbable phenomena and one wonders when driving along this highway - “Why?”

This stretch of highway found between two very small country towns, Regent and Gladstone, in the middle of hay, corn and sunflower crops, is home to seven enormous roadside sculptures. The sculptures were created by Mr. Gary Greff, a local resident of the area, in an effort to diversify the economy of this predominately agricultural region. Intrigued by Greff's thoughts on this issue, we decided to take a drive along The Enchanted Highway. This is what we found:

Tin Family and Alex

Geese In Flight

Ellisha and the Grasshoppers

Alex and Fisherman's Dream

Prairie Birds and Us

Teddy Rides Again!
Deer Crossing

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Black Hills Region, South Dakota

Surprisingly, there is quite a bit to see and do in the southwest region of South Dakota. After spending two days in the Badlands National Park, we made our way to nearby Custer State Park and based ourselves there for three days as we explored this area.


Custer State Park
We managed to nab ourselves a spot at the Blue Bell Campground, which was not easy given that we were visiting during the week of the annual “Round-Up”. During this time, the bison in Custer State Park are herded into corrals and then a certain percentage are sold off. The park aims to keep the herd to around 1000 head, so that its grasslands are maintained. For those who are in the market, the going rate for a bison bull these days is $1600. Female bison and calves typically go for an amount between $500 to $1000. Blue Bell Campground is also home to a horse camp, so if you're into swaggering cowboys and cowgirls, this is the place for you. “A Western experience that's sure to charm the boots right off 'ya!” ~ Description from Custer State Park Guide.

Our campsite at Blue Bells
Whilst staying in Custer State Park, we did a hike to the top of Little Devils Tower (not the Devil's Tower, which is in Wyoming, but just Custer's own Little Devil's Tower). The view from the top was impressive, but the walk up was a little depressing as much of the pine forest along the trail has been decimated by pine beetle. Pine beetle has become the scourge of the American West and is responsible for the decimation of several pine forests in the region. The beetles are able in infect a tree by boring holes into the tree and laying lava. The beetle then sends signals to other beetles to come join it in its quest to destroy the tree. Once it becomes evident to the beetles that the tree has no chance of surviving, it sends a signal to the other beetles not already in the tree to not come to this tree, but to look for another tree to destroy. Apparently this process is a natural one and it appears not too much is being done to stop the progress of the beetles. It seems that the current plan is to wait for a cold snap in the weather, which historically has been known to wipe out the beetles for a couple of years. Unfortunately, with global warming, such a cold snap is unlikely and some estimate that more than 80% of all pine forests in the western part of the continent will be wiped out by the accursed beetle. For more on pine beetles see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pine_beetle

Alex at the top of Little Devil's Tower

Custer State Park is also home to the Needles Highway. The “Needles” are thin, oddly shaped, granite rocks which stand atop the rugged Black Hills. The rocks are skinny, tall and stand on such an angle that you might say they look a bit like a series of needles standing together.


The Wilderness Drive is another popular drive in Custer and is pretty cool for animal aficionados like ourselves. On this drive we saw bison, pronghorn deer, prairie dogs, feral donkeys (called “begging burros”) and mule deers all from the comfort of our car.

Crazy Horse Memorial

"When the Legends Die
The Dreams End
When the Dreams End
There is No More Greatness."
~ Korczak Ziolkowski

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a work in progress and a sizable one at that. At present it is an incomplete mountain carving of Crazy Horse, a famous Oglala Lakota Chief, that honors all Native Americans. The carving was designed and initiated – at the request of Oglala Lakota Chief Standing Bear - by Korczak Ziolkowski, an American sculptor of Polish descent, in 1948 using a single jackhammer. The movie shown in the memorial's information center tells the story of how Korczak first built a wooden ladder all the way up the face of the mountain, then a long pipe to connect the compressor to the jackhammer. The compressor would often break down and he'd have to make the long climb down his ladder to get it going again. Fortunately for Korczak, he had eleven children, and seven of them, together with his wife, continue to manage and execute the project today. Unfortunately, Korczak passed away in 1982. He is buried in a tomb which he designed on the Crazy Horse site.


Crazy Horse is the Oglala Lakota chief who led the defeat of General Custer's army at the Battle of Little Bighorn (aka “Custer's Last Stand”). According to Wikipedia, Crazy Horse took up arms against the U.S. Federal government to fight against its encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people. This makes him sound like he'd fit right in with the modern day Tea Party movement, but it's arguable whether Crazy Horse' rhetoric is more or less militant than Sarah Palin's and company. When asked “Where are your lands now”, by an obnoxious reporter, Crazy Horse responded “My lands are where my dead lie buried”. This quote is plastered all over the memorial, and will be carved into the mountain immediately under the statue.

We both left Crazy Horse memorial felling a little bit overwhelmed by the work that has been carried out so far and the work that is still required to complete this mountain carving. The finished carving is projected to be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. So far only the face has been complete, and some work has been done to the outstretched arm. In the “Legends of Light” laser show, which is shown every evening in summer, the outline of the finished sculpture is projected onto the mountain, so you can get a good idea of what the complete project will look like. We both also felt sad and despondent by the plight of Native Americans. The information center at the memorial also plasters this quote around - “They made us many promises, more than I can remember – They never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it!” ~ Red Cloud. Obviously, we could go on further about this topic, but its not really in keeping with the upbeat/lighthearted tempo/happy trails mentality of this blog, so we'll leave it at that for now.

Wind Cave National Park
We drove through this national park a couple of times (it's right next door to Custer State Park). We saw their bison herd and 2 coyotes but we didn't see the massive cave itself – currently the third biggest cave system in the world and it is thought that as much as 95% of it has not yet been explored. This was due to mere laziness. Sorry readers, we spent the afternoon allotted to the cave visit reading our books in front of the campfire, drinking Irish Coffees. Wish you were here...

Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc.
Just south of Custer State Park, there is a prehistoric sinkhole which contains mammoth bones and tusks. So far the remains of some 58 odd teenage male mammoths have been recovered from the site, both of the Woolly and Columbian varieties. It is odd that all of the remains have been identified as teenage males. Our guide speculated that this was because teenage male mammoths were as stupid as human teenage males are today (sorry to our teenage male readers, but we're just delivering the facts here). It is thought that the mammoths fell into the sinkhole some 20,000 plus years ago, right here in South Dakota. Their bones are stacked on top of each other in an area approximately 100 meters in circumference and paleontologists are currently in the process of removing the bones and tusks. You can sign up to be part of the dig crew each July if you're that way inclined as well.

Mammoth Skulls

Mount Rushmore National Monument
Mount Rushmore is the crown jewel of Roadside Americana. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum first began work on this mountain carving in 1927. Interestingly Korczak Ziolkowski, sculptor of Crazy Horse, worked on this mountain carving as well, as one of Borglum's assistants.
This well known symbol of America displays four of the most revered American presidents – George Washington (the first), Thomas Jefferson (the prettiest), Theodore Roosevelt (the most likable) and Abraham Lincoln (the tallest).


I would love to see Barack's face carved up there someday (the coolest), but unfortunately I think you'd struggle to find an American who agrees with me these days. Sigh...


If you ever do make the pilgrimage to this American icon, think about taking the Iron Mountain Road to Mount Rushmore. This road is a hairpin extravaganza! Sets you up nicely for the Monumental Breakfast which is served in the Mount Rushmore cafeteria – Scrambled Eggs, Biscuit and Gravy, Sausage and Bacon, all for $5.00.