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Your Basic National Park Trip

Started by stromboli, September 03, 2014, 09:29:42 PM

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stromboli



Virginia Falls. Another long lens shot.

Not bad for a point and shoot, all things considered.

stromboli



This is why you drag your ass out of the tent before dawn to drive up the road. For that one shot.

Solitary

So glad you could take that trip! Really great pictures, one is so good it would make a terrific painting. Thanks so much for showing them, I love nature, it makes life worth living.  :super: Solitary
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

stromboli



The Going To The Sun Road is as much a marvel as the glaciers and lakes. It took years to build. What makes it remarkabke is as much what you don't see as what you see- there are all manner of small waterfalls and runoff along the upper part, and there are drains and unseen channels all up and down the road. This is one of 2 tunnels.

stromboli



These small waterfalls are all up and down the road. You don't see the drains that ducts the water away. The road was never wet from any run off.

stromboli

#20


Another example of the construction. It was built using native stone and you can see why it took years. There are no guard rails for many sections because the snow gets so deep it just wipes them out. The park is closed after Labor Day and only opens when the roads are cleared in spring, which can take as late as mid June.

stromboli



The iconic now rebuilt fancy shmancy tour buses with convertible tops, way too expensive for us. Like $40 a pop for 1 day. All the passengers were Japanese.

stromboli



Logan Pass, the high point of the park. This is looking North. It actually sits on the Continental Divide. What is unique is that this picure, aimed at Canada, is the only spot where the Divide drains in 3 directions. Water from here goes to the Pacific, the Altlantic, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Another reason why Glacier has been called the crown of the continent.

stromboli

Just a pause to make a statement. The parks are as big a part of our history as any other aspect. If you have not seen Ken Burn's "National Parks: America's Best Idea."  Do so. It shows all of the blood, sweat and political drama around the development and building of the parks and national monuments. I have been to 12 parks and 9 national monuments, and plan to keep doing so until I am physically unable to. We founded the idea of national parks, beginning with Yellowstone. Now they are worldwide, and many nations have taken up the cause of preserving nature for the future for our great grandchildren to enjoy. Some things humans do right.

There is nothing more amazing and beautiful on this planet, and it is a testimony to the wisdom and courage of human beings that we have had the wherewithal to preserve nature in a way where it can be viewed by millions. Nothing quite like sitting and enjoying an evening meal while a cow Elk is grazing 20 feet away. And yes, I have pics.

Next year Yosemite and the Redwoods, etc.  I'll post more pics tomorrow.

stromboli



In case you thought I was lying about the cow Elk. This was last summer at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Poison Tree

Looks like you had a pleasant trip.

Must have been about '98 last time I was up at glacier. Beautiful park. Personally I liked it better than Yellowstone* but not as much as Baff, both of which we also did on the same trip.

*Yellowstone had more to see but also more driving around with nothing to see and much more of it is on TV/post cards more often so less of it  seemed new, even though I'd never been there.
"Observe that noses were made to wear spectacles; and so we have spectacles. Legs were visibly instituted to be breeched, and we have breeches" Voltaire�s Candide

stromboli

#26
Quote from: Poison Tree on September 04, 2014, 02:34:44 AM
Looks like you had a pleasant trip.

Must have been about '98 last time I was up at glacier. Beautiful park. Personally I liked it better than Yellowstone* but not as much as Baff, both of which we also did on the same trip.

*Yellowstone had more to see but also more driving around with nothing to see and much more of it is on TV/post cards more often so less of it  seemed new, even though I'd never been there.

We came back through West Yellowstone, becuase it was more or less on the way. Quirks of the highway system. I actually live almost straight South of Jackson. We've driven there a few times, and I've been through Yellowstone twice with family. This was our third time. We didn't stop anywhere, just drove through.

Got some good pictures of the Tetons which will be on here. Next summer will be the big trip, at least 3 weeks and seeing as much of California's national forests as we can squeeze in.

The ones i would go to again are Monte Verde- didn't spend enough time there- and the North side of Grand Canyon. I have some good pics of both.

PopeyesPappy

Gorgeous Strom. Bet your ass was dragging by the time you got home. Best kind of dragging though...
Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

stromboli

#28
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on September 04, 2014, 04:59:57 AM
Gorgeous Strom. Bet your ass was dragging by the time you got home. Best kind of dragging though...

Not really. We plan out where and when we stop, and have a lot of leeway in how we travel. The wife gets cramped up after a a couple of hours, so we make regular stops. The tent is an instant tent so we can set up camp and be gone in well under an hour. We've been doing this awhile. We came back through Yellowstone, so there will be a couple of pictures of that and the Tetons. I live an easy days' drive from Jackson Hole, so its not that bad. Saw a lot of Montana on this trip. Pretty state.

stromboli

                   

           

Just for information purposes:

1. Implements of destruction. Include axe, Corona saw (the only saw worth owning)  small knife is an Ontario Canadian Air Force survival knife, the big one is a Cold Steel Trailmaster Bowie given to me by an ex-Marine Vietnam vet buddy, shingling hatchet and a tool I created I call Big Max.  :biggrin: Oh yeah. My smoker in the background. Construction stuff visible. Always working on shit. The tree stump is the remains of a Cherry tree I cut down 7 years ago. It gets smaller as I take wood from it for the smoker.

2. Big Max is a large brush clearing blade cut down to be a firewood splitter with a branch hook. My idea. This is the shit you do when you retire. The scar on my arm is one of my "industrial accident" scars. I have a few. I can categorize my scars by what I was doing and how stupid/unlucky I was at the time.     

3. The stuff I always carry with me, including safety gear, first aid, tools, air pumps, battery jump starter, etc. The legacy of my 3.5 years as a firefighter.

4. Additional camping gear.