Out West Adventure: Part 2--Final entry

Thu. July 4—Sun. July 7: HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA!! We got an early start on the road, had a bit of fog as we traveled over the bay on the way to Saint Ignace, and then had clear sailing all the way to the cottage. There were 34 all told there for the get-together, although Stephanie and Nick’s family didn’t join us until Saturday, when Linda and Laurel and their families had already left. It was a nice weekend with sunny, hot weather, Ken's exciting fireworks, and lots of good food and good times. But we were eager to return home on Sunday. We left late afternoon and took Thelma back to East Lansing with us. We dropped her off and then dropped off the camper at home and opened up the house before returning to pick Thelma up to go to Coral Gables for dinner. This part of our trip had taken us 7700 miles and to see 11 National Parks. We averaged just over 17 miles per gallon and never had any trouble with the truck or the camper. We were so grateful for the opportunity to have this amazing two-part trip to discover the wonders of the western National Parks and will carry the memories forever. It will be nice to be home for a while until our big trip next winter to camp and do some volunteering in Florida.  Check back then for more of the adventures of The Savage Traveler.

Most of our time was spent lakeside

Analyn enjoys a popsicle

Nick and Uncle Denny driving the boat for tubers

Jordan, Craig and Eli getting a ride

The traditional tractor ride through the propery

An outdoor Talent Show with the next generation

Out West Adventure: Part 2--Going home 4

Tue. July 2: We took down the camper in record time in the morning to avoid the mosquitoes and hit the road. After a stop in Escanaba for lunch at one of our favorite places, The Hereford and Hops Brewpub, we did some shopping for staying at Ross and Pat’s and for the cottage. We made it to Naubinway by about 4:30 and Ross and I immediately took a joy ride into town the long way through the woods on their 4-wheeler to buy bread. We all enjoyed a stuffed cabbage casserole Pat had ready for dinner and then drove more sedately into town for ice cream for dessert and spent the rest of the evening catching up on each other.

Wed. July 3: Today was the perfect day, at least for Pat and me. Ross and Marv took his bike to Sault Ste. Marie to get welded, have lunch and visit the locks. Pat spent the whole time they were gone watching men’s Wimbledon Tennis matches. I did laundry, caught up on the blog, read in the sunshine on their deck, took a shower in their outdoor shower stall, and made big salads for our lunches. We couldn't have been happier! We had grilled hamburgers and potato salad for dinner and then played cards until bedtime.

Out West Adventure: Part 2--Going home 3

Mon. July 1: We took a bit more time today to get going and only intended to go about 250 miles. We stopped at the Great Lakes Visitors Center in Wisconsin nearly to the Michigan border and had our picnic sitting in the sun where the temperature off Lake Superior was about 58°. Most of the drive was sunny and in the low to mid-seventies. We chose to camp at Golden Lake, a US Forest Service campground near Iron Mountain but as we unhitched we had second thoughts because of the horrible mosquitoes. But we found that in the sun and breeze at the shore of the lake, which our campsite overlooked, they weren’t a problem. So we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and relaxing. In the camper for dinner and dishes we found we had to wear insect repellent and never did find out where the little buggers were getting in. But as the evening cooled off the mosquitoes calmed down and we were able to get a good night’s sleep.

Out West Adventure: Part 2--Going home 2

Sun. June 30: In the morning we closed up quickly, intending to have breakfast at “Louisa’s” where we had eaten a memorable breakfast 4 years ago. Unfortunately, she wasn't open on Sunday’s so we just got on the road. At Minot we stopped at a McDonald’s for breakfast burritos so we could use their WiFi to download things to read and listen to as we drove. We drove 444 miles and made it to ten miles west of Grand Rapids, Minnesota where we stopped at the Sportsman’s Grill for a real “diner-type” meal. We drove a bit further and found an Army Corp of Engineers campground on the banks of the Mississippi that had two sites left. With Marv’s senior pass it only cost us $13 and we have electricity and showers in the restrooms. The dam here is one of six near the headwaters of the Mississippi, put in to control the river as it flows to St. Paul and Minneapolis. We stretched our legs by walking over to and across the dam and then spent the evening inside after the sunset. 

Mississippi River Dam

Working on the blog at our campsite on the banks of the Mississippi

Out West Adventure: Part 2--Going home 1

Sat. June 29: We all got up early, more in keeping with Aaron’s usual scheduling than ours. Marv made lots of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal pancakes and, after eating our fill, there were two big ones leftover that Aaron took with him for a snack. We also found a few lightweight foods like mac & cheese and ramon noodles to give him. He packed up his bike and with big hugs we wished him God Speed and sent him on his way before finishing up closing the camper. We got some pictures of him far below us as he peddled up the hill across the river on US2. Then we began our long drives. We crossed Montana, stopping only for quick breaks and to eat our picnic lunch. As we entered North Dakota we were in the heart of the big oil boom area that has taken the state by storm. Everything was so new and different from four years ago when we were here to visit Teddy Roosevelt National Park. There are malls and temporary housing and hasty road improvements to US2 and miles upon miles of refineries and fracking stations with giant hydraulic pumps. It was pretty disheartening to see and we were satisfied to just get through it.  We drove 450 miles and went back to the little town of Stanley and found that the “free” city camping park was still there, now charging $15 for their electrical sites. We hooked up and warmed up the leftover chili with salad for dinner. We had limited luck with the 3G signal and then went to bed.

Sending Aaron on his way before we leave

Out West Adventure: Part 2--East Glacier, Day 3

Fri. June 28: Today really felt like the last day of our trip in a lot of ways. While we had much to look forward to today, the drive home was going to be a slog. We wanted to take the 11:30 Ranger-led boat trip and hike to Upper Two Medicine Lake so we had plenty of time before hand. For the first time we walked with our coffee down to the end of the lake and enjoyed the view looking the length of it with the mountain we were calling The Matterhorn beyond it. While it was less windy than the last few days, it was still pretty cool with the breeze in our faces so after finishing our coffee we went back to the camper and made breakfast and packed up the camper. We were ready with time to spare but needed to use dump station, which was unfortunately being used by two women who seemed not to know what they were doing and had to empty their trailer’s water tank before refilling it, which all took a very, very long time. In fact, we started to get a little worried about time so I walked over to the boat dock and bought our tickets while Marv waited, took care of the camper and finally joined me, just in time to get aboard. We took one of the historic 89 year old launches that are on at least four of the bigger lakes in Glacier. It took about twenty minutes to go the length of Two Medicine Lake (There is also a Lower Two Medicine Lake so this one could have been called Middle) . Ranger Dan Hagan was very entertaining and knowledgeable. He had taught several years on the Blackfeet Reservation so his talk included many Blackfeet words and names for the mountains, animals and plants. His emphasis for the hike was on traditional medicinal uses of the plants as we hiked up 200+ft in elevation over the 2.2 miles up to the Upper Lake. He also showed us signs of animal activity along the way (but he missed the large pile of mountain lion scat on the side of the trail!) He sadly told us that in his last training session they had been told that experts now think that all the glaciers will be gone from Glacier National Park by 2020. 

Our first stop was at Twin Falls, a really beautiful pair of waterfalls tumbling down from the mountain we faced at the campsite. 

Twin Falls

Right side of Twin Falls

Right side of Twin Falls

After several other short stops for Dan to explain things to us we arrived at the beautiful glacier cirque lake. The shoreline was very steep around most of the lake but where our group accessed it, it was low and swampy. A few weeks ago Dan said it was over a foot deep and we wouldn’t have been able to get to the shoreline. There were places where the snow still came down to the water and lots of snow on the banks and the mountains surrounding the lake. We lingered about an hour there, eating our lunches and chatting and looking for wildlife. Some of the group saw a mother grizzly bear with two cubs far above us on the mountainside but Marv and I didn't see it. One man looking for grizzly saw some mountain goats, which Marv did see but I couldn’t find. Dan encouraged us to make our way back down the trail at our leisure so Marv and I went back a quarter of a mile or so to sit on a big rock in the sunshine and watch the beaver pond there for a moose but we didn't see any. As we continued descending I was scanning the peaks and near the top of one I saw a big mountain goat with a small one behind it. It’s amazing how they cling to the side of the rocky peaks!! The boat returned for us at 4:00 and we hopped into the truck at 4:30 to begin driving east and, ultimately, home to Michigan. 

Avalanche snow mounds

Hiking with Ranger Dan

Upper Two Medicine Lake

Another view of Upper Two Medicine Lake

The two white dots just up and left of center are my Mountain Goats

Our historic launch

For tonight we drove only about an hour to Cut Bank, where we met Aaron at an RV Park high above the Cut Bank River, where he had already been swimming. After quickly setting up the camper we drove him to the Big Sky Café in town, where we all had a big dinner. We were back at the campsite in time to watch the sunset, eventually all going in our camper to get away from the mosquitoes. There was quite a good firework display to the west from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation that we were able to enjoy. We stayed up longer than we should have sharing stories of our travels. It was really good to see him and know how well he was doing and hearing about the interesting people he had run into on his way to Seattle by bike. 

Freight trail silhouetted by the setting sun 

Peggy, Marv & Aaron

Out West ADventure: Part 2--East Glacier, Day 2

Thu. June 27: We saw a moose! We saw a moose!! We saw a moose!!! We made it to Saint Mary in time for the 9:30 Beaver Pond loop trail hike with volunteer Ranger Chondra. She is a recent geology major from UNC and she did a nice job on the hike. The group started by going past the 1913 Ranger Cabin which has been renovated for its hundredth birthday and Chondra talked about how the early Rangers had to do everything in the park. We continued climbing gradually higher, passing through a spruce forest that is being killed by a beetle and then into part of the area that was burned by a forest fire in 2006. Chandra highlighted how both areas are recovering and we reveled in all the amazing wildflowers blooming including Mouse-ear chickweed  lupine, sticky marigold, mariposa, feldspar, forget-me-not, roses, balsamroot, and many, many more. Sometimes the wildflowers were nearly as tall as my shoulder and the path was very narrow because of their opulent growth. Chandra said that when she took the hike last week there was a different array and if we were to return next week they will have changed again. All of this was with a backdrop of the jagged peaks of Glacier. There was a stiff breeze but lots of sunshine and the temperature warmed into the sixties so it was a perfect day for the hike. 

Crossing a subalpine meadow full of wildflowers

Swallowtail butterfly

When we arrived at the Beaver Pond I was third in line but looking ahead because it seemed a perfect place to see a moose. And sure enough, I was the first to see the large female feeding in the shallow water next to the opposite shore. When I looked closer I realized that she had twin calves standing near her in the tall weeds. The group became hushed and we stood and watched her for about fifteen minutes while she calmly continued eating. We walked on without disturbing the little family and continued our hike through more meadows and forest land. It was a really wonderful 3 mile hike that took us through banks of blooming thimbleberries that must be a huge bear attraction when they ripen in a few weeks. 

The loop took us back to our truck where there was a bench overlooking Lake Saint Mary with the mountains behind so Marv and I sat there to enjoy our picnic lunch. From there we drove into the Park and stopped at their Visitors Center to get our fifth Glacier Passport stamp and watch their film about the park. Then we drove to the Sunrift Gorge parking area to walk a short ways up to see the narrow dark gorge through which pours Bering Creek. Then we took the 4.4 trail that took us to Bering Falls and then Saint Mary Falls. There was some up and down to the trail but it was another path lined with wildflowers in abundance. We exchanged pictures with a family at Saint Mary Falls. Both walking to and from the falls we were passed by several people who told us they had seen bears along the way but we never saw one. However on the way back a couple called us over to see a big deer or a small elk with a medium sized rack of antlers covered in velvet that was browsing beside the path without concern for us watching it. At the top of the hill overlooking the lake a man commented on my MSU hat, saying that he was a Spartan too. His name was Doug and he had done his Ph.D. work in the College of Education in the nineties and had supervised student teacher at Okemos High School. He knew several people that I knew and then mentioned Ed Smith. When he learned we were friends with Ed he gave us his card to give to Ed with his regards. When we ran into him later when we returned to Bering Falls he asked if we knew Mildred Allen, who is his aunt. We knew her from Edgewood Church and we asked him to give her our regards when he sees her next Monday. Small World! 

Bering Falls

Saint Mary Lake with the peaks behind
(The panorama setting makes it look like it bends more than it does.)

Saint Mary Falls behind us

Wildflowers along the trail

It was about 4:00 when we got back to the truck so we drove up to Logan Pass on the Going-To-The-Sun Road, this time from the east which is much more gradual and not nearly so harrowing, and took pictures of the classic U-shaped glacial Saint Mary’s Valley. We also were able to see the Jackson Glacier, or what’s left of it, from the road. We both took showers at the Rising Sun campground before leaving the Park. On the way out we talked to Aaron Kabodian and made arrangements to camp together with him Friday night near Cut Bank. We also talked to Marv’s mom for awhile and got back to the campground around 7:00. Before attending our last Ranger-talk (this one on Winter Heroes) we took our chairs and a light snack down to sit by the water, enjoying the warmer temperatures and lighter winds. Dinner was fashionably late after the talk, brauts and Mediterranean pasta salad at about 9:00! Marv worked on pictures and then I wrote this before we tumbled gratefully in bed, tired but happy after hiking about 7.5 miles. 

Jackson Glacier and many snowmelt waterfalls

Going-to-the-Sun Road just below Logan Pass on the east side

Out West Adventure: Part 2--East Glacier National Park, Day 1

Wed. June 26: The wind continued to howl overnight and it got into the forties but we didn't hear it rain much. As the day started out the same, it seemed a good day to drive north the hour and a half or so to the “Many Glacier” part of the park. The road there was windy and rough but it opened to wonderful vistas of rolling plains to the east and jagged, snowy peaks to the west. Most of the way we had the National Park on our left and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation on our right. As we passed through St. Mary’s I had enough phone signal to get a voicemail message from Aaron Kabodian telling us a new phone number to reach him (but not actually saying it), post a picture of West Glacier on Facebook, and get a phone call from Aram Kabodian, wondering if we realized that we were close to Aaron. We let him know that we had exchanged phone messages and texts and he gave us the correct number for Aaron. We really hope something works out so we can see him on Friday evening.

Entering the park at Many Glacier we drove the length of Sherburne Lake and then climbed the hill behind the Many Glacier Lodge to the parking lot. We explored the hundred year old Lodge, built by the Great Northern Railway on the shore of Swiftcurrent Lake, for a bit, including the wonderful display they have showing century old pictures of many of the glaciers in the area alongside pictures taken recently showing the shocking and dramatic recession or complete disappearance of them. Of the hundred or more glaciers that were here in the eighteen hundreds only 25 remain. Computer models a few years ago predicted that there would be no more active (moving) glaciers by 2030. Recent activity suggests they won't last that long. All this shows that, though the earth has had colder and warmer periods for millions of years, human activity has drastically accelerated global warming and is taking us to the warmest global temperatures ever. We had already learned that the Grinnell Glacier trail was still closed because of dangerous snow conditions which left only the Swiftcurrent Lake Trail around the lake for us to do in the time we had. It was an easy, level 2½ mile walk but a light drizzle became heavier and continued most of the way around the lake before the sun came out near the end. Once again we were passed by people who said they had seen wildlife, this time a moose, but we never saw him. By the time we completed the circle we felt we had earned our lunch, which we ate in the Dining Room of the Lodge. The menu included lots of information of the building of the Lodge as well as the complete restoration which was done in 2010. Afterwards we drove to the end of the road to get our Passport stamped at the Ranger Station before driving back to Two Medicine Lake. 

Snowy mountainside across from Swiftcurrent Lake

Grinnell Glacier then...

...and now

Grinnell Glacier from beyond the Grinnell Lake then...

...and now

Swiftcurrent Lake

Swiftcurrent River

Many Glacier Lodge from the other side of the lake

Many Glacier Lodge from the parking lot

Just beyond the gate there is a short hike to the Running Eagle Falls, named for a famous Blackfeet woman warrior. The falls is interesting because most of the water comes from behind the water that comes over the edge of the falls. That is why it is also called Trick Falls. We found out that by the end of the summer there will be no water coming over the top, only out of the lower falls. We're glad we saw this more interesting phase. The other part of the trail has interpretive signs explaining how the Blackfeet used the indigenous plants for healing. Before dinner we had time to sit by the lake and chatted with a fisherwoman from Las Vegas. The wind was still blowing really hard but we were somewhat protected in our little cove. After our nice lunch we were satisfied with soup and half a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. The evening program was “Native America Speaks” for which a Black Feet elder named Ernie Heavy Runner talked about how important animals are and have always been in their culture. After dishes and making lunch for tomorrow we went to bed early so we can get up early to drive to the Saint Mary’s part of the park tomorrow.

Running Eagle Falls