Nature Is Full: Glacier National Park

“Wander here a whole summer, if you can. 

Thousands of God's wild blessings will search you 

and soak you as if your were a sponge,

 and the big days will go uncounted."

-- Naturalist John Muir

It appears the world has concluded that Muir knew what he was talking about. These days, visitors to Glacier need reservations for most of the park's most popular places.

During Covid, visitors flocked to national parks. It still gave people a place to travel, but they were able to accomplish social distancing. Evidently, the word got out that our nation's National Parks truly are national treasures. 

Glacier was the main attraction in our latest road trip, and neither of us had ever visited there. Randy is the family trip planner because he's the one with the travel bug. He thought he began the planning process fairly early, but by the time we made reservations, the reservation times available were limited. At Glacier, you must have a vehicle pass to enter the park from the west side between the hours of 6 AM and 3 PM. (You can enter the park before or after that time frame without a vehicle registration, but then parking is an issue in many of the more popular areas.) Things like boat rides and tours on the iconic Red Bus line also require reservations. Some vehicle passes are released the evening before, but they, too, are hard to get, especially when cell phone coverage is undependable. 

The first day, we entered the park on the Going to the Sun Road after 3 PM, so we didn't need a pass. We made a few stops along the way. 

 

True confessions: I am sure you see much more of Glacier and even more spectacular views if you are a hiker. We are not. And let's get real: I'm not sure I would have been a hiker even if we had been able to travel back in our full-time farming days when we were much younger and much more spry. I was the kid who sat inside and read my book, while one of my sisters was building her worm collection.

But, as advertised, Glacier is full of "multi-hued summits whittled by ancient glaciers into walls and horns - rising abruptly from gently rolling plains. Some 762 lakes, dozens of glaciers and innumerable waterfalls glisten in forested valleys."

The next day, we had tickets for a boat ride on Lake McDonald. It's Glacier's largest lake - 10 miles long and 472 feet deep. Kootenai Indians called the waters Sacred Dancing Lake. Because we'd driven through the parking lot the previous afternoon and had seen the lack of parking, we arrived early and enjoyed walking along the shore of the lake and sitting on a shaded bench nearby, enjoying the early morning cool and people watching. 

 

Montana's lakes and streams are so clear! The photo below was taken at Flathead Lake State Park before we arrived at Glacier. But it better illustrates how clear the water is and the multitude of colors along shorelines.

 

Randy says it's because of the rocks that line the bottom, rather than the mud found in Kansas waterways. The argillite in the park throughout its formation contained significant amounts of iron. The red and maroon rocks have more iron in them, while the blue and green rocks have less iron in them as they were formed in deeper waters. Iron is a reactive metal, so like metal on an old car, it will oxidize, or rust and turn reddish/orange when exposed to oxygen. That means lots of color variation!

 

We didn't attempt the paddle boards that were available to rent. 

 

 

We could also have rented boats. But we waited for our scheduled tour boat ride on the DeSmet tour boat.

 

 

Captain J.W. Swanson built the tour boat DeSmet in 1930 for the Glacier Park Transport Company. In 1938, Arthur J. Burch purchased the contract to provide boat services in Glacier National Park. The DeSmet was named after Father Pierre DeSmet, a prominent Jesuit missionary in the area. 

 

 

The DeSmet is a 57-foot boat built of cedar on an oak frame. The view definitely changed, depending on the direction you were looking.

The DeSmet was used to transport firefighters across the waters during a wildfire that was ignited by lightning in August 2018. The Lake McDonald complex had to be evacuated during that time. 

These days, the National Park Service handles the aftermath of forest fires differently. The dead trees are left in place and allowed to decompose into organic matter right where they fall. In the photo above, you can see where the fire went through. However, new plant growth is beginning to grow again - a natural evolution - just like here in Kansas where farmers and ranchers burn off pastures to encourage new, green growth.

After our cruise, we stopped at Apgar Village and tried our first huckleberry ice cream. Huckleberries seem to be the unofficial fruit of Montana. We were in Glacier during the peak season - which is from mid-July to mid-September.

Later that evening, we had another seasonal fruit on a pizza. There were cherries featured on a seasonal offering from MacKenzie River Pizza in Whitefish. Other ingredients were were goat cheese, mozzarella and prosciutto, then topped with arugula tossed in citrus-honey vinaigrette.

 

 

For lunch one day, I had a huckleberry salad.

I had a huckleberry sauce on salmon in Missoula as we were driving toward Glacier.

Yes, I was one of "those" people taking photos of my food.

Next time: Our Red Bus tour at Glacier.

By the Numbers: A Road Trip

Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park

Earth and sky, 

woods and fields, 

lakes and rivers, 

the mountains and the sea

are excellent schoolmasters, 

and teach some of us more

than we can ever learn from books.

– John Lubbock

 

Yellowstone - Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

 

 Summer Road Trip 2024: By the Numbers

• We left the morning of July 30 and returned home late afternoon August 10.
• We traveled 4,021 miles by car. 
• We spent about 76 hours in the car.
• We listened to 3 3/4 audio books.
• I took 800 photos - give or take.
  
• We traveled through six states (Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Colorado.)
• We took a brief foray into Canada and used our passports for the first time.
  
• We visited three National Parks - Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons - and points in between. 
• We ate several foods featuring huckleberries.
• It took five loads of laundry to get us back to our starting point.
  

Grand Tetons

 

  Stats for Randy

• True confessions: I don't pay attention to this stuff. But when I asked him about things he wanted to add to my notes, the subject kept coming up, so I finally relented. 
• Gas was $3.25 per gallon when we left home. It ranged from $3.50 to $4.25 a gallon along the way, the highest being in Jackson, Wyoming. 
• Our car averaged 27 miles per gallon. 

And while it's always an experience to travel, there's no place like home for me.

Stafford/Reno County line, Kansas

 

I'll have a lot more from our trip. But downloading photos and writing takes some time. My pledge to you: I promise I won't share every photo I took. 

Fair Weather

I didn't have any purple ribbons attached to my photos at this year's Stafford County Fair. I wasn't particularly surprised. In open class, it's only the Grand Champion and the Reserve Grand Champion who take home purple ribbons. After several successful years, I've certainly had my share of success, and I don't enter for the ribbon placing anyway ... though it is always fun to see what a judge thinks.

It's always good to know the people behind-the-scenes. One of the open class photography volunteers told me that two of my photos were considered in the champions conversation. One was the photo I took at dusk in my backyard. It was one of my favorites, too. I love the color and the glowing light of the yard light emanating off the swing and the freshly-fallen snow.

The other was a black and white version of a photo I took this spring during a cattle drive past our house.

But, in the end, two others were chosen. Both belonged to my friend and faithful fair competitor, Jennifer. The one the judge chose wasn't Jennifer's favorite of those she had personally entered. She and I have had the conversation before: It's just one person's opinion on one day. (The same volunteer who shared the information about the championship "drive" also had two photos under consideration.)

It wasn't a banner year for me. I had another couple of blues - one a black and white version of a photo I also took on a snowy January day ...

 

... and a black and white landscape scene taken just south of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge after a different snowfall. 

In open class, blues are ranked 1st in the class. I got five reds  - or photos ranked 2nd in their class - and three whites for photos ranked 3rd in their class. And I had several that didn't garner any ribbons at all. 

I also entered a couple of the travel books I made for Randy for Christmas last year. The Chicago trip book got a blue ...

And the other - documenting our trip to Kentucky and points between - was the second in the class for computer-produced scrapbooks.

The Stafford County Economic Development office sponsors a photo contest for pictures highlighting Stafford County. I was pleased to win first place in the Commerce category for a photo I took at the Stafford County Flour Mill during the tour with Kansas Master Farmers last spring.

I also got a runner up prize in the Places category for a photo I took at the Ritz Theater.

As I've said many times before, I don't enter at the fair for the ribbons or the premium money. Frankly, I come out behind when I consider how much I spend on photo enlargements and mat board every year. But entering in the fair helps keep this rural American tradition alive. Sure, it's fun to see how your artistic eye stacks up against your neighbors. But it's even better to have a place to wander around and reconnect with people from across the county who you don't see on a weekly basis. You can't beat that!

I wasn't the only photographer in the family. For the second year, Kinley and I worked together throughout the year. She also took some photos on trips with her family. While she didn't have any overall champions this year, four of her seven 4-H photos were starred, which meant they were considered in the championship drive. 

Three of her four photos considered in the championship drive were: left top, taken on a family trip to San Diego; the top middle, taken during a photo shoot with conversation heart candies with Grandma; and top right, sunflowers arranged like a heart in the wheat kernels, also a Kinley/Grandma photo shoot.

 

Another Valentine candy heart photo was the other 4-H photo considered.

Kinley's decorated cookies were the champion in that category.

They were amazing. She has more patience than I do. I should have taken a photo of the whole plate, but here are a few examples.

She also had a purple on an orange chiffon cake and a blue on a strawberry angel food cake. 

She and Summer also had a successful second year in the dog project.

She got a champion in arts and crafts on miniature vegetables fashioned from clay, along with a couple of other entries. (Again, that patience and attention to detail shine through!)

Brooke had a good fair, too. She earned a champion ribbon for her consultation about her casual outfit for the Shopping in Style project (formerly Clothing Buymanship).

She had a purple on her dressy outfit for the style show.

She earned a purple ribbon on a jewelry dish she made from clay. (She and I worked on the patriotic wreath when the girls were at the farm in late June. It got a blue.)

She got a purple ribbon on her jam-filled cookies. 

Thankfully, there were some leftovers at home and all the grandparents got to sample those. She also got a purple on her angel food cake and a blue on her yeast rolls.

Her Harry Potter display reviewing all the books in the series also received a purple ribbon.

Ribbons are fun. But 4-H is about much more than that. It's about learning by doing, exploring new interests, getting comfortable with public speaking, working with others and so much more. The 4-H program has been doing that since way back when - even back to the day when Kinley's and Brooke's great-grandparents were part of the program. That's a family tradition worth keeping. 

Newest Residents on the County Line

 

Taking photos of baby kittens is kind of like taking photos of multiple toddlers. It's next to impossible to get everyone looking in the same direction. I think I was as exhausted by my efforts as this kitty appeared to be.

One of our mama cats had five babies. They now have their eyes open and are getting cuter - and bigger - every day. We haven't had a surviving crop of kittens for awhile. This time, the mama had her babies in the Igloo near the house. The Cat Whisperer thought that required a change of bedding material. I concurred. I probably wouldn't have chosen white, but I wasn't the shopper. 

Then, after Randy had invested in a new pad, the mama moved them to the window well. 

I would have thought the accommodations in the Igloo were better, but I'm not a mama cat. Maybe she was trying to avoid the Big Man. She wasn't too wild about his attention at first. She'd hiss and claw. Randy may have had a battle wound or two. But, as I reminded him, a protective mama is better than one who moves them away - never to be seen again.

So far, she's kept them closer to the house, so Randy has been doing his part to tame them - even though we don't have a date that the girls (or Susan) will be here to play with them.

We try not to play favorites around here, BUT ... these are Randy's favorites.

But he does give them equal time. 

Yikes! We almost had an escapee!

They are pretty cute - favorites ... or not.