One day we decided to take a 1.5 hour trip from Grand Tetons to Dubois, WY to visit the Bighorn Sheep museum. Along the way we passed through the Shoshone National Forest and found Falls Campground, a fee ($20) camping spot that during the season has water, trash pickup, electric in some sites, and vault toilets. The fee station was wrapped in plastic and the water turned off, but when we called the forest service, they said we could camp for free and this last week the electric was still on! Not only that, but at the museum we learned about the Whiskey Mt. sheep herd and their critical habitat preserved nearby and found some great hiking in a beautiful spot. So we moved the RV here for 5 nights. One day, we decided to hike the Whiskey Mt. trail in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness area. I thought this trail might have some height (ironically a sheep hunter who had been scouting the area gave us his map) but skirt the mountain before reaching too high and end at a lake. It turned out to have an elevation gain of 2-3000 feet, and with my hyperthyroidism I've had trouble breathing on shorter ascents. But I was so happy to make this hike, even though I'm not my old self I trekked slowly and had minimal breathing issues. And the best part is we were rewarded twice. Near the top of Whiskey Mt. we saw a herd of ewes and lambs numbering 31!! Rocket, our border collie, was with us and he was alert, but obeyed us and didn't run off to herd them. Nearly all of the sheep were lying down, and we didn't want to disturb them, so I took photos from about 100 yards away. They watched us intently as they sat on the hillside with their backs to the wind. We enjoyed watching them for about a half hour, and then hiked on. From our vantage point we could see several distance glaciers, the lake at trail end but decided to turn back after 5 miles since we saw what we came for. Little did we know, we had another treat in store.... This time of year, the ewes and lambs herd up, and separately the rams will form small bands and travel together. Before we began our hike we saw 2 who were grazing together, We knew they were between 3.5-6 years old because their horns weren't formed in the circular formation of older rams. In November and December, the rams clash by head butting and hitting horns. Their back feet come off the ground so the force of the impact moves through their body (guess it saves them from getting concussions), making for a fascinating view. The winner is claimed the dominant male of a herd. These herds can number a dozen or a hundred, and together the population of Bighorn sheep using the Whisky Mountain wilderness area here is about 1,000. We learned at the museum that private landowners and various wilderness agencies and national forests are working together to preserve this critical winter migration path and spring calving area for the herd with an emphasis on managing the carrying capacity. You see there's only so much vegetation in the area and with harsh winters, sometimes there's not enough food. (See the photo below for how much a sheep eats in a day). But back to our second treat of the day...
We descended the mountain, thrilled that we had seen not only the herd of 31 but 2 Rams before the hike, plus deer, chipmunks, and Ruffed Grouse. Suddenly, Rocket who was in front, went down low to the ground in herding mode. Here was another herd on the trail amount only 50 yards in front of us. A few ewes spooked and crossed the trail into a wooded area. Then quite a few came down the top of the hillside from our left to join over a dozen who stood still on the hill or on the trail watching us. At one point, some from the woods and those on the trail ran quickly up the hill from our right, as though a predator was in the woods. We didn't want to disturb them, so we stayed put, and I shot photos while they calculated next moves. Since we didn't approach, and since no predator appeared, the sheep now on the hill to our left and on trail began to graze. But we couldn't be sure if there were more still in the woods to our right. It appeared as though the herd was split in two by the trail, and if we were to cross, we'd be dividing them. Each herd has a dominant female, and while I can't be sure, I believe in this herd it is the only one who wore a radio collar. She slowly moved down the hill and kept looking toward the woods, but she wouldn't cross the trail. After about 30 minutes, we decided to heel Rocket between me and Terry and hike down the trail while the herd seemed used to us. "Radio collar" stayed put, and we crossed without incident thinking some of the herd must still be in the woods but hoping now that we were out of the way, they would regroup. With some moving in and out of the woods, it was hard to know the count for sure but we definitely counted 24! We were so happy we picked this trail and that we were able to observe sheep behavior up close. If you are ever in the area and want to see these beautiful animals, in Spring the herds come down lower in the valley to graze with their calves. That must be wonderful to watch, and in Nov-Dec it must be incredible to see rams vying for dominance. But we're just happy that we got to see all that we did this time of year! 9/25/2015 I often wonder what my dog is thinking. I see the look of disappointment on his face when we try to bribe him with a bone and put him and Shady in the RV so we can go hiking. I know he doesn't understand that national parks don't allow him on trails but national forests do. When he does get to 'go for a hike' - which by the way he does understand those words, and many others - does he wonder why Shady isn't tagging along? She used to always go...but her arthritic body won't allow unless it's a short hike/walk. Rocket's a good heeler when we ask him to heel, but mostly we let him have free reign, and we pick trails less populated by humans. Yesterday when we hiked 5 miles, he probably hiked 10-12. As a border collie, it's easy to let him off leash because he always comes back and makes sure he knows where his sheep (us) are. But I wonder what he was thinking yesterday when we quickly called him back. I heard something and stopped..."Terry, did you hear that?" Then again... A low guttural growl somewhere ahead, or could it be to either side...a quick call: "Rocket, come!" We don't know if the growl was a bear or another animal growling at Rocket, growling at us, or whether it was Rocket growling at something (that's very unusual for him and didn't sound like him to me). We cautiously hiked on and for the next 10 minutes he heeled between me and Terry. We never saw bear, bobcat, mountain lion, wolverine or fisher and then Rocket run ahead. We have a lot of time to think when hiking 5-6 days a week. We often sing songs, or parts of songs since we can't remember all the words. We also talk about issues, where we'll go next or tell each other stories about childhood. Usually we're quiet in the beginning of a hike in anticipation of seeing wildlife in foreign surroundings...and usually by the last couple of hours we're quiet and wrapped in our individual worlds as we hike over now familiar terrain. In the quiet moments, I spend a lot of time wondering what Rocket and other animals are thinking. Like what does Rocket think whenever he gets to a lake or moving stream and begins to gulp and paw at waves, barking as though he can herd them. And does he wonder why in the Fall, we put the orange vest on him? And what on Earth is he thinking when we drive down the road in the RV every few days as he seemingly counts every car we pass. (He LOVES to be in a vehicle and "herd" traffic from the back seat). The day before we took Rocket on the Pinnacles trail in Shoshone National Forest, Terry and I hiked the Bonneville Pass. This forest is the nation's first national forest, established in 1891. While it's not on our map as such, the trailhead sign also has the name Wolf Head Trail. This hike, I spent a lot of time thinking about wolves. I am fascinated by wolves and pretty near obsessive about the wolf in your living room, dogs. I would love to see a wolf while hiking out here. I've been fortunate to see them quite a bit in Yellowstone, Alaska, and in NC. On this trail I saw a few old scats within the first couple of miles and then my mind wandered from thinking about wolves to thinking about bears, elk and Ruffed Grouse (which seem to make a hobby out of scaring us by noisily flapping up from the bushes when we get near). We were hiking 13 miles(rt) and this pass must go about 26 miles or more. It's hard packed dirt, narrow with some rocks but recent rain made it muddy enough for tracks to be obvious. Curiously, it hasn't rained here for about 5-6 days and the footprints of elk, pronghorn and eventually wolf were encased from when it was a muddy trail...no humans had walked over and covered them up until we came along. It's the kind of trail we love...we are most happy when we see no humans on a trail. I took photos of the wolf prints, and wondered where he was going and what he was looking for. The tracks revealed only one wolf. Did he have a pack or was he looking to find a lone female. Was he even male? My mind spent a lot of time contemplating his/her circumstances. There's a forest ranger district office in nearby Dubois, WY. In their office is a beautiful wolf specimen - a male wolf brought back to life by a taxidermist after he was killed by wildlife officials for killing livestock in the neighboring community. He was labeled 15m and was very special. He only lived 3.5 short years, but he was the first wolf captured in the Yellowstone Restoration Project, brought down from Alberta, Canada to build a legacy. He and his mate were the alphas of the Washakie pack - the first to raise pups in a den outside Yellowstone in the Wind River Ranger District, where we're hiking. In an effort to reintroduce wolves, both in Yellowstone, North Carolina (red wolves), and in New Mexico (Mexican wolves), the government had to agree that ranchers who's livestock is threatened or individuals who are threatened by wolves on their property, have the right to kill a wolf. Many have been shot, even when not threatening. But the wolves in Yellowstone have restored a balance to the ecosystem long missing after a hundred years of extirpation. It's thrilling to me to walk in the path of a wolf or my dog and wonder what's on his mind. We didn't see any wolves this day, but we had a glorious time hiking and thinking. The Bonneville Pass moves through forests, meadows, around streams and is surrounded by mountains. It affords a great vantage point to sit and watch animals come to a lake to drink or munch on the green grass in other seasons. If I lived nearby, I'd often walk a few miles in here and sit along the tree line waiting for glimpses of animals. Even though we didn't see the charismatic megafauna or uber predators, we did delight that day in seeing 7 chipmunks, 8 squirrels, 7 ducks, 7 Ruffed Grouse, 4 Gray Jays and 3 Mule deer!
The Aspens are twinkling a beautiful yellow with some tinted green and orange. The air is crisp and a foggy mist hangs over the Snake River when my blissful slumber is shattered by the crack of three shots fired. It's Autumn in the Tetons and the second day of elk season. Until this morning, this was one of my favorite campsites. It's a free site on Grassy Creek Rd that the national park service oversees. Altogether there are about 16 of these sites along the river, spread out along a three-mile stretch so you have lots of privacy, a fire ring, picnic table, vault toilet, bear-proof food lockers and bear-proof trash containers that are emptied by the park service. Rangers come by and make sure campers put out their fires properly and store their food to prevent bear problems, and they make sure hunters properly clean up after their kills. Boundaries are a funny thing. These campsites are within a section of the Grand Teton National Park know as the John D Rockefeller Parkway - a stretch of road and section of beautiful land that abuts Yellowstone's southern border. To me it's oddly named a parkway because there are 24,000 acres of land surrounding the roadway, and hunting is allowed here. A park ranger told us that also within the Grand Teton National Park, away from this "parkway," there is a special area for hunting in October - a concession made to locals when the park was established, a tradition still honored today. So as millions of people flock to this park and adjoining Yellowstone each year to gaze at the majestic elk herds, the mule deer and other creatures, there are a handful like the man Terry met yesterday scouting and planning where he'll make his next kill. When the air gets crisp, the Fall colors begin to arrive, and football season starts, I welcome those changes. But then I'm reminded of the change every year that brings a pit in my stomach. Hunting season encroaches on my joy. Most people who know me, know that I am strongly opposed to hunting. I'll never understand how someone can watch as life drains from the eye of another. I can't comprehend how something so violent and so final, and something where unwitting creatures are the participants can be called a sport. And while I can appreciate that there are people living on the margins who can feed their families with meat from a deer, turkey, etc through the winter; I know they can also feed their family with carrots, potatoes, or tomatoes grown from seed packets. Packets that cost a few dollars as opposed to the cost of camouflaged clothing, rifles and bullets. I don't eat meat and know that one can live without it. I've also heard the argument that hunters are some of the best conservationists. Perhaps so, but to what end? I read that argument as they conserve the land and resources so the wildlife will flourish, so they'll have more to kill! Sounds like veiled greed to me. And I strongly believe that nature can correct for our mistakes if a species is overpopulating
We enjoy hiking, through all seasons. But every year during hunting season (primarily deer rifle season), we don our orange vests and outfit the dogs with theirs and pick our hiking spots a little more carefully. This year, being in strange places and loving to camp and hike in National Forests we have a new conundrum - where are we safe? About 6% of Americans acquire hunting licenses each year, and to me that small percentage has plenty of land to hunt without it including parcels of our national parks. Every year I read about hunters shooting hunters or even shooting people in their homes by accident, shooting the wrong animals- out of season or the wrong gender. And I know bullets can travel over a mile, so I take little comfort from the park ranger who explained that hunters here can't shoot within 30 feet of a road! There is no other issue that grips my psyche more than hunting. I abhor seeing deer hanging lifeless from barns, their blood drained, or lying in the back of a flatbed as a proud killer shows off his 12 point buck... A 12- point buck in his sexual prime that could have passed on his genetic code to future generations. My blood pressure rises when I see a group of hunters walk through the fields in camo, or see a hunter, rifle in hand walking down the road. I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of sadness, an anxiety that I can't get a grip on. I see the deer gaze at me across a field and watch with awe and pray that he escapes the rifles tomorrow. I watch the turkeys scratch for food in the first snowfall and silently say, move away from the people before you're gracing someone's Thanksgiving table. Sometimes I wish I could be more accepting and just "move on." But I can't. The only thing I can do is look away, put myself in places where I won't hear the conversations about who shot what, and find a quiet spot outdoors that I can enjoy wildlife - a place where rifles aren't present. I grew up in the South - Southern Virginia, and I'll be the first to tell you - "some like it hot" and I'm one of them. Don't get me wrong, I love VT and skiing and snowshoeing, but I also love a hot fire and hot tub. The forecast last night was for 30 degrees F...when we woke up this morning, it was 41 in the RV! I turned on the propane, and by the time I took the above photo, about 10 minutes later, it was 47. While we were under the warm comforter with fleece pj's. and socks during the night, we weren't cold, but boy getting out of the bed in those temps is hard!The RV can be heated and cooled by propane or our generator - which gets charged while we drive or we can re-juice it by turning on the engine and using our gasoline. But we've learned that when heating with propane, our battery is used to run the fan so if we leave the heat on all night, it can drain the battery. Until this cold spell, our fridge has been the biggest power user and runs off of electric or propane. When we have electric and water hookups, we can use electric also to cool/heat, to run our DVD/TV, lights, microwave & fridge. But we try to do dry camping (boon docking) 7-10 days a month to save on camp fees which will help us stretch our trip longer. This is camping in free sites in national forests, state or private land which is sanctioned but has no hookups. We're currently in one of these free sites in Grand Teton National Park. We carry our water to these sites and have our shower & toilet, which is fine. And the propane has been keeping the fridge running on the dry camp days (or we run the generator for a bit). We find that we don't need electricity to watch TV every night or use lights - we read by headlamps and sit around a campfire or go to bed early. (And we don't even get TV stations in most of the places we want to go.) BUT I don't want to go through the winter being cold 1/3 of the time!
So it's time to get some solar panels. We budgeted this before we began our trip but wanted to test out the battery life, the propane usage and our daily lifestyle before making the investment. There are portable solar panels that connect to the battery (ours is under the front step) or panels you can mount on the roof, which are more expensive. So our decision has been which of those to get and how much energy do we want to be able to capture and generate which will dictate whether to get an 80 watt or 120 watt portable kit or several 100 watt mounted panels. Next decision is whether to have them installed or install the connectors and converter ourselves. The portable panels come as a kit (Go Power) and require minimal installation, but there is a mount and a hole needs to be driven through our house! Then the concerns are: will someone steal them while we're away from the site, where do you store them when traveling, and how easy is it to connect to battery under your front step at each campsite? The mounted panels go on the roof and require a bit more expertise to install. Apparently they will generate power even when parked in the shade, as long as there's some light in the sky, even with cloud cover. We've decided to get the roof mounted panels (3 x 100 watt) and have them installed - perhaps in 3 weeks in Salt Lake City. Although we haven't ordered yet, because we need Internet which we only have when we get out of the boonies, National Parks and national forests (usually). So for the next couple of weeks, I may wake up in a very cold RV, but then I'll get started a couple of hours later on a hike with my soulmate, and know my priorities are in order. 9/16/2015
They say in August the buffalo in Yellowstone are in 'rut' - meaning it's their mating season....this week we've had time to observe some interesting wildlife behavior, and we saw some are still stuck in a 'rut.' One day we watched 2 male buffalo in a herd of 75+ display their bravado and seek out females. One bull was extremely attentive to a female when we arrived on the scene. Apparently when a bull finds a female close to estrus, he stays by her side until she's ready to mate. Another bull marked the ground and then wallowed in the dirt, a sign of strength and vigor. He then proceeded to bellow and grunt and approach several females - sniffing each to determine whether they were in estrus. I took some video of both which I'll try to post to YouTube - here's one http://youtu.be/4SdOZAjLuc8 (or you can search amorous buffalo or my name if link doesn't work.) Another day we watched a huge male buffalo come over a hill, cross the Blacktail Plateau road (6 mile 1-way dirt road in the park), and move onto the next hill. There he commanded respect. He walked up to each female in a small herd. They were all resting in the grass but as he passed, each immediately rose. The bull sniffed to see if they were receptive and then moved through the herd. The next day we returned to the same area and saw the herd in the distance. All of a sudden, they bolted and began running very fast. We assumed there must be a predator behind so we glassed the area with our binoculars and found nothing. After some time we drove away and as we neared the main road where the Blacktail Plateau Rd intersects, we noticed in the trees on the hill leading down to the road, the running buffalo had gathered speed and numbers. We counted at least 350 and realized soon they would be on the Main Rd. We drove down to the Main Rd. and headed in their direction and watched this huge herd cross in front of stopped cars in both lanes. They came downhill, slid down a muddy slope and continued running down into a valley, leaving a clear game trail in their wake. At the tail end of the herd - a HUGE bull (perhaps the respected male from the day before). This behavior remains a mystery to us - if you know why the buffalo "stampede" like this, whether it's part of the rut season, and whether typically a strong bull brings up the rear, let us know! Very interesting to watch but we were grateful we weren't hiking when these 350+ took flight! In September here, the male elk begin bugling and demonstrating their strength as they search for receptive females. From our campsite at Mammoth Hot Springs in the park, we've watched bull elk gather their herd of females, or at least move them from area to area. We've heard the males bugling to the females which is a way to express dominance and attract cows. And we've watched a 12 point buck thrash his antlers in the bushes and trees. They do this during the rut to rid the antlers of the velvet, and this is a signal of changing testosterone levels. The cows tend to be attracted to bulls with the most impressive antlers, so the one we saw with 12 points is in his sexual prime. As a bull ages, his antlers decrease in size and quantity. Other behavior we've observed this week: a lone Redtail Hawk calling while in flight. When we returned to same spot on hike back, he was still calling in flight only to be reunited with his mate as we moved through the fields. A Bighorn Sheep vocalizing to his ewes and lambs when we approached them on a trail- the ewes and lambs crossed a ravine onto another hillside and waited for his signal. The lambs baa-ing and mewing, the ewes watching the ram and he seemed to indicate for them to move away from the trail when he grunted and then herded them into a safe place. We've also watched in a field as a dozen bluebirds flew among the low shrubs and sagebrush while we passed - not sure why so many were in the same place. Perhaps they were catching insects - we certainly saw and heard a lot of grasshoppers in the area. It's been great to be able to take time and observe what the wildlife here are doing. And Yellowstone affords this opportunity because of the abundance of wildlife and the open mountainsides and valleys from which to view. Tomorrow we leave the park and head back to Grand Teton National Park and parts south...as these animals remain stuck in a rut for perhaps another week or so! Glacier National Park, Montana Posted 9/11 (in park 8/29-9/9/15) For about 29 years, I've wanted to visit Glacier National Park, and after 10 full days there, I can say it exceeded my expectations. We stayed on the park's west side at Apgar Campground but visited the east side too. When we arrived, fires had closed the road from the west to the east and smoke hung in the clouds. We had come from Missoula where the air was extremely thick with smoke from fires in neighboring Idaho, Washington and the fires in Montana - so Glacier's skies were actually an improvement. Since then I've learned that about 42,000 acres have burned in Montana in a really busy fire season fueled by a drought that started last Winter when too little snow fell. Our first night in the park, rain fell and by the next day, the smoke had cleared. Our timing was perfect! I could type pages about our time here, but instead I'll try to give an overview and some anecdotes - an abridged version of my daily hand written journal. The first few days we had some fun hikes in spite of rushing through a thunderstorm as dead trees crashed around us and lightning flashed, but we were surprised by how few animals we saw. We kept track of every squirrel, chipmunk, deer, etc. And as we gathered intel from the rangers and campers and moved through various areas, we saw more and more variety of animals and found our favorite spots. For bear viewing this time of year, the Many Glaciers area was best. For moose, the Two Medicine area was best, and for wolf sightings the Polebridge area was claimed to be best by campers who heard them howling at night (although we didn't see any, we did see their signs). Here are some anecdotes about various hikes.... Having produced documentaries about bears and wolves before, these animals don't scare me, they excite me. We went searching for both species on the Quartz Creek Trail in a little-traveled area of the park. Within a few minutes, we saw a fresh bear scat (probably from the day before) loaded with berries, and we became very alert. We hiked this trail for seven miles fording the stream, heading through both woods and fields and saw no more bear scat but lots of wolf scats. Wolves typically mark on trails as a way of delineating their territory, and these scats were old. Their territories may range from 18-1000 square miles - which on average is about 200-500 miles. We were grateful to see sign of wolf activity, and now hopefully with pups big enough to travel, they've moved on to better hunting grounds. Along the Lake MacDonald trail one day we heard a distinct knocking sound coming from inside an old tree trunk. There was a hollowed out tree standing and beside it another dead tree fallen into a third tree which was holding it up. It was impossible to tell which tree the sounds came from, but in spite of an approaching storm, we stayed and used my phone to videotape the trees and audio. Upon playback, it sounded different, but it was fun to guess whether it was a porcupine, raccoon or pine marten moving furniture in his new home or just looking for food. One cloudy day, we drove to the Many Glaciers area and hiked to the Grinnell Glacier. This is s 5.3 hike one way and travels through a beautiful valley and up to the glacier with a lake full of icebergs below it. The day we hiked, we passed bighorn sheep sunning on the rocks about 50 yards away. After being in the park about 6 days and seeing none, I feared I wouldn't see them because they blend into the Rocky Mountains. We also got to see mountain goats and watch Hoary marmots scurry along the grassy hill foraging before heading for their underground dens. These were quite bigger than the Yellow Bellied marmots we saw in Colorado. Rain was expected that day and cloud cover was thick. At the picnic area before the final ascent to the glacier we heard many say they made the hike and never saw the glacier. We were lucky and the clouds broke for us to have a few minutes to enjoy it, even though it was quit a bit colder up there.
We had a magical day when we first set out to look for moose in the Two Medicine Lake area. We first hiked the Aster Park trail to Viewpoint which is a beautiful area that allowed us to glass hillsides all around us and watch a grizzly mom and cub from safe distance for over an hour while we lunched. On the next trail to Upper Two Medicine Lake we missed seeing moose by minutes, but when we got to the end of the 5 mile trek, we were in awe, moose or no moose. It's hard to describe or show photos that actually convey how magical this trail end was on that day. As we did a 360 and gazed at the snowy capped mountains, an Osprey flew about 30' over our heads toward us and the lake that sits below the mountains. In the distance the elk bugled in the Spruce trees, and the sun popped out of the clouds to light up one of the rocky ridges as a chipmunk came out to greet us. It was so glorious that it brought me to tears, and I will never forget this experience. Terry and I both agree, this is one of the most beautiful experiences we've had! One of our earliest hikes in the park was on the Highline Trail which is a fascinating adventure (this is the one I posted video on FB). To access it you drive to Logan Pass at 6600' along the Going to the Sun Road. The trail is 11.8 miles long and gains 1950 feet in elevation and at the highest point is 7280' - not much compared to many others we've hiked. BUT this trail is on a steep slope, with sheer drops hundreds of feet down, and narrow in spots; when the wind whips up this part can be scary. The day we were there the wind gusted to between 30-40mph. The park's web page hikinginglacier.com describes the spot one quarter of a mile in (where we saw people turn back) as "the famous ledge with a reputation for terrifying those with a fear of heights." However this section has a cable to hold onto and is just a few tenths of a mile long. The literature goes on to say not to let this deter you "as it is one of the most scenic trails in America." It was chilly and windy but the views were spectacular as you are surrounded by mountains and valleys. We hiked a few days before the snow arrived and were told bears were in the area but saw none. We did see an awful lot of intrepid Trekkers on the trail though! In all we hiked over 80 miles of trail in the park and enjoyed every bit of it! If anyone is planning a trip here, email me if you need info. I read in the Missoulan newspaper yesterday that the park is having a record year for visitation even though fires had shut down 2 popular campgrounds and increased bear activity in one campground shut down another this week! 9/5/2015
Glacier National Park in Montana was named after the many (150) glaciers that were here in 1850. Today, of those 150 only 25 remain, and scientists expect by 2030, those 25 will be gone. So what makes a glacier different from the snow pack we see up in the mountains? A glacier is moving, at least 25 aces in size, and at least 100 feet deep. Yesterday we hiked to Grinnel Glacier on the park's west side. This glacier is 300 acres large and after hiking about 6 miles with it blanketed under the clouds, when we approached, the clouds parted enough for views for about 20 minutes. The lake below the glacier had icebergs floating on it, and the huge cascading waterfall we witnessed on the hike up was the melting runoff. The temperature at the top was probably 10 degrees colder as we fished out hat and gloves from our packs. The hike up was gorgeous and we passed several glacial lakes, rocky terrains and some spruce and wooded areas below. We were excited to watch bighorn sheep, wild goats and hoary marmots foraging. And we were grateful that the expected rain waited the 6 hours our trek took before it poured! What a beautiful spot. But I wonder if in 2030 they'll have to rename the park. 8/29-9/2/2015
This week we've been hiking in Glacier National Park, MT which sits on the Canadian border. When we arrived it was shrouded in smoke from fires in MT, ID and WA. But overnight, rain came and a high pressure system moved out, revealing the park's majesty. Since the mid 1990's I've wanted to come here; it was the top of my list of places for this trip, and I love it here. In 4 days we've hiked about 44 miles, and while we're not seeing the number of animals we did in Yellowstone, the people are fewer and the hiking is awesome. We are seeing signs of the animals and we're enjoying the park's sounds. One day while hiking the Lake MacDonald trail, we heard very loud knocking in a dead tree, like someone was rearranging the furniture in their new home. Don't know if it was a raccoon, porcupine, or pine marten, but it was really loud and interesting. Also, the wind makes an eerie sound when it dances with the trees left standing from long ago fires. These leafless dead and often charred tall sticks line the hillsides towering over the pines and new growth, and when the angry winds come through, on several occasions we've heard the loud crack and crash as they fall. One day while trying to outrun thunder and lightning, a very large tree came crashing down about 30' feet from us, and another day we heard them crashing down when there was no storm - just high winds. Other sounds include the Pileated Woodpecker's pounding, the squirrel's chattering, the chipmunks' alarm calls, and the cooing sounds of a mother Ruffed Grouse telling her young to move away from the humans (one day on a 14 mile hike we counted 23 grouse!) We have yet to see a wolf, bear or moose here. However, one day on a 7-mile stretch, Terry counted 36 wolf scats. Sadly they weren't fresh, but someone had been vigorously marking and defending their turf this Spring/Summer. That same day we started a hike seeing a huge berry-filled bear scat, about a day old. We were excited at the possibilities, but no bear sighting. Yesterday, we didn't count the moose scats, but they were plentiful on the very little traveled Howe Fire trail (quite overgrown trail, and we saw no humans). But these scats were months old probably from Spring (or even Winter) when the moose were feeding on the forest bushes. We still have 6 days here and would love to see these animals and the Bighorn Sheep and Wild Goats that roam the rocky hillsides on the park's East side. Today we'll rest our feet and drive the "Going to the Sun" road to that side of the park. Oftentimes it seems you see more wildlife from the road; however, I wouldn't trade those days on foot for car-watching any day. One important note to dog owners, here, as in Yellowstone, dogs are not allowed on trails for obvious reasons. So we take Rocket and Shady outside the park onto National Forest lands and find a place in the woods they can jump in a stream and smell the forest. They are both such awesome travelers that they've put up with being trapped in the RV while we go off on hiking adventures, so we make time for them to have some fun too. |
AuthorFormer documentary film producer, wife and mother of one...I'm taking time off to see the US with my husband Terry. Here's where I'll write about our adventures RVing until the money runs out! Archives
August 2021
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