Wandering West Day 14 - Glacier to Spokane, WA

SPOKANE, WA - Purely a travel day, 370 miles in about 8 hours.

Wandering West Day 13 - Fire in the Park

GLACIER NP, WYOMING - On July 28, a forest fire started in the Eagle Lake area of Glacier NP. It was small, under 50 acres, and no we talked to at first seemed especially worried. But that all changed.
July 28 PM - Started in Eagle Lake Area 50 acres, On the way to our hotel we notice the smoke and observe a plane circling and dropping smoke jumbers in parachutes
July 29 AM – I see my friends off and begin a slow meander from one end of the park to another. The ranger at the St Mary's entrance (East) tells me the fire is 250 acres and the rumor has it its was started by boy scouts camping there. I believe it, I was a boy scout and I know what they are capable of. In the Eagle Lake Area there are no fires allowed since it is near a Native American lumber industry area.
July 29 PM – After traveling the Going-To-Sun Road all the way to the western end I am told that the road is closed at Logan pass and I will have to drive around. When I get to rt 89 on the eastern side near St Mary I can see the flames from the road, an awesome site but I don't stop to take pictures. When I get to Babb they are closing the road I just was on., areas of the where park evacuated along with St. Mary.
August 2 – From the website I learn that as of August 2 the evacuation was lifted.
August 5 – Just checked the web and it appears that the fire is still buring, 50% contained and encompasses 27,000 acres. The fire spread to Blackfeet Tribal Trust lands. Here is the incident report.

The fire on its first day.

The smoke from fire in its second day

Peaceful elsewhere in the park

Wandering West Day 12 - Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA – I've been to no small number of national parks and I have to admit that Glacier is in the running for the most gorgeous. In the central part of the park there are gorgeous views everywhere you look from the main road as well as hidden away in short and long hikes.

Today we took two short hikes, Avalanche Creek and Hidden Lake.

Avalanche Creek

Avalanche Lake

Hidden Lake

Wandering West Day 11 – Canada

GLACIER NP, MONTANA - On my third day in Glacier we traveled the to Canadian side of the park, Waterton National Park, for a boat ride on Waterton Lake. The boat ride was a welcome relief from that long hike yesterday. They took us back across the border into the US where we got our passport stamped at Goat Haunt. Also, I think we all came to the conclusion that the US side of the park, especially the northeastern end, is the most beautiful.

US/Canadian border gets a hair cut every 15 years

View into Canada from the US end of Waterton Lake

On the way back we caught a mother bear and her two cubs crossing the road. Here is what I got of it:

Baby bear negotiating guard rail

Wandering West Day 10 – Walk in the Clouds

GLACIER NP, MONTANA – Joining up with friends in Glacier, we had planned to hike the Highline Trail to the Loop trail. It was an 11 mile hike along the Garden Wall and up to Granite Chalet. Beautiful views every step of the way.

View from trail

The Garden Wall

Excuse me mr Mountain Goat, can you scooch your butt over so we can pass?

Wandering West Day 9 - On to Glacier NP

GLACIER NP, MONTANA - Drove the 510 miles from inside Yellowstone to Glacier National Park in about 10 hours with a long lunch.

Montana is big, sparsely populated and brown. Apparently they used to have unlimited speed limits on the highways but I only encountered 70mph signs.

Montana "Big Sky"

Arriving at Glacier National Park there were the typical (at least to me now) wildlife watchers out. There was a family of grizzlies foraging on the mountainside near the hotel and we spent an hour or two watching. Here's the best I could get with my 300mm.

Grizzly foraging for huckleberries

Wandering West Day 8 – Watching the Wolves

YELLOWSTONE NP, WYOMING – Today started overcast and gloomy but sure didn't end that way. I wanted to see the rest of the trail along the south of the canyon so I hiked from Artist's Point to Sublime Point and back. (I guess its called Sublime Point because why its important ain't obvious, the views are much better elsewhere.) The rest of the day I wandered through the park stopping at various places as it rained on and off. Mostly I was in the north west end of the park and spent time at Mammoth.

Mule deer buck in the morning

Lower Yellowstone Falls

Hot spring at Mammoth Springs

I had wanted to end a day at one of the pull offs overlooking Antelope Valley (between Canyon and Tower Fall). That was where you might see wildlife and the view alone was better than TV. So I found a pull-off all my own, made my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, set up my beach chair and relaxed. Soon a couple of the hardcore wildlife watchers showed up. They were very friendly and let me borrow one of there binoculars. Carl had a very nice scope and before long had spotted a group of wolves, 2 adults and 2 pups. I spent the rest of the evening watching them romp about. It was very satisfying even if they were only black and gray specks in the binoculars. Carl narrated with his better view and shared stories of other wildlife viewing experiences. All in all a perfect way to end my Yellowstone stay.

Wandering West Day 7 - Mt. Washburn

YELLOWSTONE NP, WYOMING - Woke up today to rain. Not very exciting but I was able to get my laundry done. By midday (usual for Yellowstone) the rain had stopped and I was determined to hike Mt Washburn. This had been described to me as a “must do” hike in Yellowstone and I knew Teri would never forgive me if I didn't at least try it. The weather obliged and I hiked the 2.8 miles up (grueling but beautiful) to the top. Along the way there were lots of wildflowers, great views, mountain goats and bighorn sheep.

This is my best side

Dead trees at top of Mt Washburn

I found that I liked the Roosevelt Lodge restaurant the best. It was away from the crowds and the food was excellent. On the way back it began to rain and I joined a bunch of parked cars overlooking Antelope Creek Valley oohing and aahing over the lightning. Yeah, that would have been a great picture, sorry...

Wandering West Day 6 - Rivers, Falls and Canyons

Hiking the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

YELLOWSTONE NP, WYOMING - I hadn't been hiking to get in shape for this trip due to a bruised toe so I needed a warm up hike. The Canyon rim hikes are right around the corner from me so I hiked from the Brink on the north side to the bottom of Uncle Tom's trail on the south side and back. I've been getting an early start (always at the cafeteria for breakfast when it opens at 6:30) and it was nice to have the trail and the fall overlooks almost all to myself. That area of the park gets real crowded but not until 9:30 or so.

Lower Yellowstone Falls with rainbow

Tower Fall Area

After this old man had a nap I drove up the road to the Tower Falls/Roosevelt area's. There are some beautiful views of the canyon along that way as well as some interesting rock formations. I also hiked along the north rim of the canyon on the Yellowstone River Picnic Area Trail. There I got more great views of the canyon and Yellowstone River. I found an elk antler that had be left along the trail. Small temptation to take it out but that is a big no no here so the pic is all I got.

Bob with elk antler

Connectivity

Finally, I must confess that I left the most magnificent piece on God's green earth to get connected to the internet, oh joy. At the North entrance there is a town called Gardiner right at the park gate. At “Flying Pigs”, an outdoor gear store, there are computers and wifi, blessed wifi. Apparently there is at least one other establishment in the town with public internet access. However, all in all, my connectivity at Yellowstone and Glacier is very limited or non-existent.