Cratering on the Moon

I have spent almost the entire month of August meandering my way through western Montana and central Idaho. I hiked, camped, and poked around. It was great. There are lots of pictures and stories to share, especially from my time in the Sawtooth Mountains, but those will wait until another time. Today, instead, I want to tell about my time last weekend at Craters of the Moon in Idaho.

As some of you already know, I have been traveling with some small friends. My nieces and nephews graciously loaned them to me, and the friends appear in pictures every now and then. Aside from one friend going missing (I really am sorry, Sonia), they have been problem-free and fun to have around. As I explored different places, they cooperated beautifully as I took pictures, and even offered a helping hand from time to time.

On top of a pass at the MT-ID border, Bitterroot National Forest

Cooling off at a mountain stream

Giraffe, Bulldozer, Nick Fury & Pikachu posing nicely at the remains of mill in an old ghost town

Pikachu checking out an old chain (and a temporary friend for Sonia!)

Giraffe liked how her voice echoed.

Bulldozer putting his digging skills to good use while backpacking.

Nick Fury volunteered to guard the food all night.

See, they are friendly and pleasant group. A constant joy to be around.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Upon arriving at Craters of the Moon Saturday afternoon, everyone was excited to see such a strange place. Due to blistery abrasions along my Achilles tendons, I was moving much. slower than usual, but the friends were in good spirits. They even insisted on taking a picture of the campsite.

The next morning, everyone was cheerful and eager to explore the park. Our first stop was a large cinder cone. The friends, especially Pikachu and Nick Fury, were ready to race to the top. Still wincing, I determined the climb was too steep for me. I wanted to save my limited steps for things I really wanted to see. In light of this, Nick and Pikachu reluctantly agreed it was best to pass. However, some of the cheerfulness left the group.

At the base of a cinder cone. Not being able to climb it led to some disgruntled feelings.

Our next stop brought us to the a large crater. Curious to see inside an extinct volcano, we carefully made our way up the steep path to the rim. Nick Fury got excited thinking about the amount of fire power it took to blow a hole in the earth that size. Pikachu claimed it wasn't that big of a deal because he could create a crater that size all on his own. Nick didn't believe Pikachu.

The pair debated this for quite some time.

Nick Fury expounding upon the violence that made this crater.
(Yes, he is in this picture).

Pikachu bragging about a time he made a crater twice this size.

Meanwhile, Giraffe and Bulldozer wandered off separately. In their own ways, they had trouble following the "Please Stay On Trails" signage. Enticed by all the new and different plants, Giraffe continually tasted the local flora. On the other hand, Bulldozer saw many ways he felt he could improve the terrain. He kept leaving the path in order to do so.

Giraffe sampling a bitter brush.

Despite the sign, Bulldozer wanted to make a path that circled the top of the entire crater.
It took me several minutes to chase him down.

Giraffe munching on some past-their-prime wildflowers, while Nick Fury yells at her to stop.

Leaving the crater, we made our way to the splatter cones. Splatter cones are small volcanic cones made when thick clumps of spurting lava stuck together. Bulldozer liked how they looked and wanted to make more. He didn't believe there were enough.

In an attempt to build more splatter cones, Bulldozer left the path again.

Pikachu did not appreciate the aesthetics of the spatter cones in the same way as Bulldozer. He declared they looked like piles of poop. He was amused by this joke longer than the rest of us.

"It's poop!"

All four on the side of a splatter cone. Pikachu said it smelled like a toilet. Nick told him to shut up. He was ruining the splatter cones.
Pikachu replied, "if you don't shove it, I'll splatter your cones!"
Bulldozer and Giraffe just rolled their eyes.

Leaving the splatter cones, my heels were sore but I wasn't ready to call it quits yet. When would I have a chance to come back? Finding a trail that was both short and level, we decided to give it a try.

This may or may not have been a good idea.

First, Giraffe's desire for snacks reached new heights. Every time I turned around, she was off eating another plant.

Giraffe sampling the sage.

Eating the dwarf buckwheat.

Second, Bulldozer insisted that various rocks and features need to moved, cleared, filled in, or rearranged. He just could not grasp the concept of Leave No Trace.

I caught Bulldozer trying to fill in the entrance to a lava tube.

Here he is rearranging the rocks.
Also notice that Giraffe is eating the bitter brush again.

Thirdly, Pikachu's poop jokes continued...

"Know what this looks like?!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" -Pikachu

Fourth and lastly, Nick Fury wouldn't leave anyone else in the group, infuriating everyone with his bossy comments. He and Pikachu were especially snarky with each other.

Nick stands on the rock that Bulldozer is trying to move, yelling at him to stop.
Giraffe wandered off to try the rabbit brush, while Pikachu announced to anyone who was
listening that at least he knew how to behave.

Here I was trying to determine if the plants to the left were a kipuka. Kipukas are islands of vegetation
surrounded by lava flows. Pikachu was convinced the word "kipuka" was coined to make fun of his name.'
For the rest of the afternoon, Nick would whisper "kipuka" then deny speaking.

Nick stood straddling this crack, claiming his powerful strength had created it.
Pikachu called him out for being a liar.
Giraffe ignored them and ate another bush.
Bulldozer just tried to fill in the crack.

Bulldozer took off, determined to fill in the cave up ahead.
Both Nick Fury and Pikachu yelled at him to stop.
Giraffe dramatically collapsed. It had been over five minutes since her last snack.

It may have been the longest two mile hike of my life. When I passed the entrance to the wilderness area, I was tempted to leave them all and just go.

After all the bickering, it took all my strength not to leave everything wander out into the wilderness.

Instead, back at the campsite, I accepted an invitation to have dinner with a couple from Colorado. I left the "friends" to fend for themselves.

Five Animal Tails

Several people have asked me whether or not I've see any animals. The answer is YES, quite a lot, actually. Rather than listing them out, however, I will limit to telling you about just a few. The ones with the most interesting stories.

#1 - The Tragic Journey of a Song Bird

My first evening on Michigan's Upper Penninsula, I made the discovery of a new hood ornament. I'd hit a small, gray songbird mid-flight, most likely while driving through protected land (it's all protected land). It was quite pretty, with a little yellow on its chest. Unable to locate a handy bird-removing stick, I decided to leave it for the night. I imagined some local critter would take care of the situation for me.

No such luck. The bird stayed.

 For the next several days, whenever I noticed the bird, I was usually in a parking lot or some other location devoid of sticks. As time passed, I began to worry about what I might find if I were to fling it out. There were no bothersome smells or other consequences I could see, so I just left it.

I drove with that bird stuck in the grill of my car for over a week, through most of my trip through Canada. This may have violated a few wildlife and wilderness protection laws.

It eventually fell out somewhere between Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat. When I noticed it was gone, I was unexpectedly sad. 

Farewell, little buddy. You deserved better than me.

Poor little guy slid right in!

#2 - Be Bear Smart

The afternoon I arrived at Glacier, I saw a black bear!

I was driving a narrow dirt road. I came around the corner and there he was! (I think it was male because I've seen black bears before and this one was fairly large). Chilling in middle of the road, there was no way for me to get around him. After a few moments of watching, fascinated, I honked my horn a few times. He looked at me as if to say, "Ugh. Fine. I'll move." He then meandered off into the forest. No more than 10 seconds passed before I drove up to the spot where he left the road, but I wasn't able to see him among the trees. His ability to disappear fascinated me.

I didn't get any pictures because I was too enthralled to think about my camera.

#3 - Vault Toilet Rescue

While taking a pre-hike restroom break in the Bitterroot National Forest, I found that I wasn't alone in vault toilet. Over to the side, trying to climb the wall, was a small lizard. Its body was black with thin green stripes, but it's tail was bright blue. I now know it to be a Western Skink.

Since it looked like it was trying to find its way out, I held the door open and gently shooed it along. Once outside, it stopped moving as if it was thinking "now what?"

It occurred to me later, that instead of saving its life, I may have left it vulnerable to predators. Either way, I improved the day of some critter.

#4 - Snack Time with a Moose

During a trail run in the Bitterroot Mountains, I came across a female moose. Standing near the trail, munching the shrubbery, it took me a moment to figure out what I was looking at because she blended in so well. She kept one eye on me and kept eating. I told her I was just going to stand here in the shade and wait until she was done before I passed. 

After a few minutes of watching her eat, I figured I might as well do the same and got out my pretzels and almond M&Ms. Something about this triggered her curiosity. She stopped eating, moved a few steps closer, and just stared.

Then, for reasons I cannot explain, I bellowed, "MOOOOOOOSE!"

She blew heavily out her nostrils, clearly annoyed. I quickly apologized. Disgusted, she walked off without giving me another look.

#5 Never Mess with an Angry Grouse

Not long after my moose encounter, I suddenly had a bird appear in front of me. It was a grouse and it was ANGRY. Its feathers were all puffed up and it was holding its wings out to make itself look large. Its beak was open and it was hissing. Clearly it had a nest nearby.

Before I had a chance to comprehend what I was seeing, it started running towards me. Without hesitation, I turned and sprinted back down the trail. After several yards, I glanced back and IT WAS STILL BEHIND ME!

A few moments later, I heard it stop, and turned to see it headed back to where we first me. It lept up on a fallen log and did a dance that reminded me of something you'd see in an NFL end zone. Eventually, it hopped off and disappeared from sight.

Since I had to walk past that spot to get out, and knowing the grouse was still on the ready, I started clapped my hands loudly as I walked towards the fallen log. Once I got close, I took off running. I heard it jump out and follow me, but I did not slow down or turn around until I was well clear of that area.

There was too much going on to take a picture, but this video will give you an idea of what I experienced.

Epilogue: About 5 minutes later, I had the pants scared off me by a large black lab. I apologized to both the dog and the owner for shrieking so ridiculously, and told them about the grouse. Both were very friendly and forgiving. We swapped animal encounter stories for a few minutes before going our separate ways.

Bonus: Pikachu, I Choose You!

I saw a pika in the Sawtooth Mountains! There's really not much else to say except that they really are super cute.

Glacier: Two stories and some pictures

Although I know I have the time to take my time, I keep feeling like I'm in a rush. Consequence of spending the last couple decades on such a time crunch, I suppose. Whatever the reason, Glacier was the first place I felt myself beginning to slow down.

I started my stay in the northwest corner, around Lake Bowman. While there, I hiked up to a lookout and had the good fortune to fall in with a hiking buddy. It'd been over a week since my last actual face-to-face conversation. I don't think I was too awkward.

Bowman Lake

The opposite end, as seen from the overlook

Learning about the circle of life

Story One

My last morning on the west side, I got up to watch the sunrise over the lake. Several other people were there, but everyone was quiet, talking in whispers. Occasionally folks would giggle at the mama loon teaching her 12 little loonnettes how to dive.

Suddenly, there came some loud talking from the left side of the lake. There's a bridge over there, and while it is out of sight of the beach, the terrain apparently acts as a natural amphitheater.

It started with a guy talking about how he'd "dreamt of this moment and prayed for this moment" followed by a girl shrieking, "Oh my God! I've never seen anything so beautiful!"

Yep. It was a marriage proposal.

For the next 15 minutes, the peacefulness of the beach was interrupted with exclamations of "I can't believe I'm engaged!" and "It's just so beautiful!" Then friends who were evidently in on the plan arrived, and the girl repeated the whole story in loud, gushing tones.

I suppose the the guy was still there. After his "dreaming and praying" speech, I didn't hear him speak again.

Meanwhile, those of us on the beach continued to quietly watch the loons and the sunrise, only occasionally exchanging sideways glances.

Help with dinner

Story Two

After leaving the west side of the park, I wanted to hike the Triple Divide Pass trail, which leads to spot the Continental Divide meets the Hudson Divide. Arriving early at the trailhead, I found it crowded with a large group of maybe 30 men. Their packs only seemed big enough for a day hike, at the same time, they carried a lot of equipment. A couple of them even had satellite antennas.

I was grateful I still needed to eat breakfast and could give them a lengthy head start.

Triple Divide Peak is the pointy one on the right

For the first couple hours, I only saw one other person. That changed when I had about an hour left before I reached the pass. In groups of 2 to 4, the men from the trailhead were jogging down the mountain. The first 3 or 4 groups seemed to be in some sort of a race. It was odd though. Between their clothes, clunky boots, and bulky packs, they didn't seemed dressed for the race. Also, the later groups didn't seem competitive at all. I asked one of the slower guys what kind of race was taking place. He looked confused, saying, "Race? No. No race. This is just for fun."

Huh.

They were all really friendly, however, so I didn't sweat it much.

When I reached the pass, there were already several people up there. I was greeted enthusiastically by an older lady who exclaimed, "Finally! Another woman! I was overwhelmed by all that masculine energy up there and it's a relief to see another female!"

By this time, most of the men from the large group had left, but a few remained. While eating snacks and avoiding marmots, they told me that they were all ex-military who'd served in Afghanistan. On August 6, 2011, the deadliest day of the fighting, their units lost a lot of men. Since then, they all get together on the anniversary to "commemorate and get their asses kicked."

I told them about my initial guess about the race. They laughed, saying, "yeah, those younger guys were definitely racing."

Towards the Mississippi, and hazy from smoke

Triple Divide Peak
Mississippi to the left, Hudson to the right, Pacific to the back

To Hudson Bay!

Tried to get a marmot in this one but it didn't cooperate since I wouldn't share my pretzels

Other pictures

Near Two Medicine

Another waterfall near Two Medicine 

To Grinnell Glacier (center back), one of the most popular trails.
If you can zoom in, you'll see the path is loaded with people.

Battered toes and glacial water

Canada Part 2: Saskatchewan and Alberta

I drove into Saskatchewan early Monday afternoon and soon learned the correct way to pronounce Regina. I spent the evening in Moose Jaw, solely because it is called Moose Jaw, and it turned out to be the city I liked most. It had a great downtown (actually, a lot of the towns I saw in Canada had thriving downtowns) and seemed to be a place that takes its community seriously without taking itself too seriously. I mean, just look at their crosswalk signs:

The rest of the Province wasn’t so inviting. Rest stops aren’t as prevalent as in Ontario and I spent the night in a field next to a salt mine.

Tuesday morning, I rolled into Alberta! At the visitor center, I learned that I was officially cleared to start working at HMH (yay!) and that I had a bunch training videos and tutorials to complete (boo!). On the advice of the helpful lady at visitor center, I stopped in nearby Medicine Hat, because they have a thriving coffee shop culture and lots of things for travelers to do.

After an hour or so of working, I wandered around downtown Medicine Hat. It was no Moose Jaw, but that’s not its fault. I ate lunch at a place called The Olive Tap. Its walls were lined with barrels and bottles of oils and vinegars. While I ate, I got the free entertainment of watching half a dozen retirees being walked through an olive oil tasting. They took it very seriously.

That evening, I borrowed a free bike from the Visitors Center and rode around a few hours. I'd only been on a bike once since finishing that 100 mile ride last September and I really enjoyed getting back on.

 Prairie and the Saamis Teepee

 Where's Sonia?! 

The moment I realized My Little Pony was MIA

I was really amazed by this lush, green valley.

Then I realized it's a golf course...

That night, I found a hotel and watched a few more training videos. The next day I'd be turning south to Montana and Glacier National Park.