A trip to Glacier National Park inspired this incredible painting by my dear friend, Ellen Brenneman. |
Regardless of how you feel about the management of our National Parks the fact that they even exist should give those of us who love the wilderness and support conservation at least a little hope. I get it, it's frustrating to go visit a park only to find you can't take your dog with you on hike (Nellie's not too happy about that) but Mr. & Mrs. Tourist-For-a-Day can bring their children who, like quite a few adult visitors, have no concept of sacred spaces, leave-no-trace or "Don't Feed the Animals". (You can't blame the kids though.) And yea, they really screwed the pooch (pun not intended) when they paved the way to so many of the main features in places like Arches National Park that you don't even have to exit your vehicle to snap photos these amazing formations.“This is an exercise in civics as much as it is in conservation, or the environment, or anything. This was this unique compact that we are all co-owners of some of the most beautiful places in the world. And ownership suggests only modest, in this case, responsibilities. Go out and visit your property. Make sure it’s being taken care of. That is, be a good constituent of them, and make sure they’re being taken care of for future generations.” (From A Conversation with Ken Burns on the National Parks: Americas Best Idea by Kurt Repanshek.)
Still, I am in love with our National Parks and visiting them has done more for my appreciation and defense of our public lands then I ever imagined. So when my sister-from-another-mister, Ellen, and her husband, Craig, wanted to meet at Glacier National Park during their summer vacation we got out the map and planned pretty much our whole year around this get-together (they're worth it).“Industrial tourism is a threat to the national parks. But the chief victims of the system are the motorized tourists. They are being robbed and robbing themselves. So long as they are unwilling to crawl out of their cars they will not discover the treasures of the national parks and will never escape the stress and turmoil of the urban-suburban complexes which they had hoped, presumably, to leave behind for a while.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Craig, Ellen, me and Clark. |
Going to the Sun Road |
The infamous foot picture at one of the Going to the Sun Road overlooks. |
View from our hike at Bowman Lake in West Glacier NP. |
Non-stop beauty... |
Making our way to Beaver Pond in the St. Mary area in East Glacier. That's Ellen!! |
Fields of wildflowers welcomed us on the Beaver Pond Loop. |
Right down the road from our RV park we found Glacier Distilling Company (West Glacier). |
So we sampled several of their fancy libations...as a reward for our exhausting hikes, of course. |
On top of Going to the Sun Road... |
More wildflowers from the Red Eagle Fire area. |
Bald Eagle near Polebridge (West Glacier). |
Huckleberry Coolers at Northern Lights Saloon. The Saloon is also a cafe which serves fantastic food including vegetarian and vegan options. |
View from Going the the Sun Road. |
One of the Hidden Ponds along Swiftcurrent Trail in Many Glacier (East Glacier) is a feeding ground for moose. |
As if our cow moose encounter wasn't "close enough" this guy (or girl) met us a few minutes later on the trail. |
The big horn sheep never got close enough for a close up... |
This hiker, however, DID get his close-up on the Highline Trail. |
But don't fret, the mountain goats will happily pose for photos near Logan Pass which is about halfway along the Going to the Sun Road. |
Hiking Grinnel Lake in Many Glacier (East Glacier). |
Ellen's mixed media Mule Deer was inspired by our encounter with the deer on the trail (see photo above). Check out her Etsy store for prints as well as her stunning series of Spirit Animals. |
Bitter sweet. Spending our last night together watching the sun disappear. |
Watching Ellen and Craig head on down the road. Til next time my friends... |
Labels: Glacier National Park, Going To the Sun Road, National Parks, Public Lands