A bartender's guide to Glacier

Well, tell us how your trip went. We all want to hear about your special experience.

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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by PeteE »

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8)
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

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And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by TnTammy »

:arrow: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :arrow:
AWESOMENESS!
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

Pete, that's absolutely brilliant.

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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Badgerhiker »

I'm really enjoying your trip report. Love your B&W photos. They are striking and have so much contrast!
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Sue Z »

Thanks for the very entertaining trip report!
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

Thanks Badger. I'm enjoying your report too. Sue, thanks. Sometimes I wonder if I over do it.

6/23/18 Sat

Missed a picture from last night.

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Mocking the whole concept of selfies. From Julie’s phone.

Back on the Block

Pete’s back! Pete’s back! Woohoo…AND he has supplies from the Columbia Falls Fur Trading Post.

Back on the Block: New York City slang for being released from jail/prison and returning to the neighborhood.

I was looking through images of ghetto cars last night running through my brain the idea of writing that Pete was getting out of the big house and arriving at MG in a ghetto car with some big spinners. It was a fun idea, but you know, someone might take me serious.

What an Idiot

Of course it’s always better to make fun of yourself.

The guys with the spotting scopes were back pointing at the hill. I started talking with one guy and he said, “You should have seen this idiot yesterday. There was a cow moose and her calf right over there in that tent site. He walked right up to them with this huge lens on his camera.” I responded, “Yeah, I think that was me,” but it didn’t stop him. “What an idiot. I couldn’t believe it.” I finally had to convince him it was me and about my only defense was they were well camouflaged. I guess I was an idiot.

Julie’s living it up; I’m trying to live it down

The three of us discussed various for hikes ad nausium, but one stood out. We heard good reports from people walking Going to the Sun Road to the pass. It’s a unique hike since the road is closed to traffic, and the pitch is knee friendly. Ok, good hike on three. 1, 2, 3, “Good hike.”

We pile into the car and hit the entrance at St. Mary, where the ranger informs us that the road is open all the way to Logan Pass. It was probably the strangest thing the ranger saw all day. Three people disappointed that the road was open. (And who won the keg?) So, we drove the road to the pass while revisiting the ad nausium part about which hike to do. With no real plan, we got out the car at Logan and found heavy clouds and high winds. Abort mission, repeat, abort mission. Julie was saying, “If you want to hike, I can come back and pick you up,” but the weather was downright nasty.

Into the car again, and we stop at the Jackson Glacier turnout. Pete and I hop out…well, get out and take 15 minutes to get ready, and then Julie headed downhill to Rising Sun beach. Long story short, bears closed down the picnic area, so Julie went and bought some earrings and had breakfast at Rising Sun.

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Crossing the road

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Bear scooping Julie’s picnic/reading spot (area closed). Bear photos by Julie with that phone of her’s.


6/23/18 Sat, Florence Falls (not the hurricane)
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Florence Falls is one, out of the wind, and two, halfway to scenery. What I mean is that it’s a woods walk with a scenic stop at Deadwood Falls, a couple of open views of St. Mary River and Citadel Mountain, but no real views until Gunsight Lake, which is beyond today’s hike.

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Deadwood Falls

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St. Mary River

At the spur trail cutoff, we ran into a few hikers and had a 10 minute conversation. They said the hike to the falls was fine. The last time I did this hike, I hauled a 4x5 camera through head-high vegetation, and it felt like forever to get to the falls and I felt like I was going to run into a bear. This time the trail was open and we made quick work of the hike in.

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CrAzYtoWn. (Impressive water flow.)

The falls were roaring so strong that it was almost impossible to get a shot without getting the camera filter wet. So it was…face away from the falls and set up the camera, swing around shoot a few shots, swing back and check the filter. All the moisture made the ground slippery, and on a steep little downhill someone slipped, landed on their ass and lost 10 points of “cool.” A coworker did that last winter and landed on his foot (instep down) and ended up with metal holding his bones together. Fortunately, no was injured today and rain pants hid the evidence.

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On the way back, there was a loo calling and I must go. I was setting a fast pace, and Pete just didn’t see the point until I told him that I need to talk to a guy about his horse. “Well, go ahead. Don’t wait for me.” Fortunately, I walked through the backcountry site directly to the pit toilet without a misstep or things might have been, what’s the word, more fragrant.

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Citadel Mountain

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At the falls again.

I took a few more photos at the falls, and then we made the hike up. Yup, there’s a reason I always walk in from St. Mary rather than walk up to Jackson Glacier turnout. Pete was letting out a few complaints, but I set a pretty fast pace today so the final hill is more of an insult. So sorry about that Pete. As they say, try again tomorrow.

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This way to beer.

Today:

Hike: 1
Photos: 87 (a little low)
Moose: 0
Bear: 2
Orangutans: 0
Wildebeests: 0
Giraffes: 0

-Steps: 29,883

Todays Drink, Surly Furious

Surly was the brewery that pushed to have beer sales at breweries in MN and won. They put in a brewery/pub down by the U of M that is so busy, I’ve only gone there twice. With the door kicked open, many other breweries started selling beer in the Twin Cities. (Woo hoo.) Surly’s beer, particularly Furious, is excellent. I’ve read that they use a Scottish malt in Furious that is some of the same malt used to make great Scotch. Is that what makes it special? I don’t know, but I’m a Furious Fan Boy.

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Recently I was also a Two Hearted Ale fan boy and drank that one to staledom. But in the meantime, I’m enjoying my taste bud blast with Furious, while trying to sprinkle in other beers to avoid overindulgence.

If you don’t like IPAs, it’s just another damn IPA.

Jay

BTW, if you have a pile of shingles, maybe some wood, and an old antenna sitting in your backyard, the key is to clean up the pile at least a little bit each day so the neighbors have some hope the trash house will look ok before they invite some guests over this fall. Just sayin’.
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

6/24/18 Sun, Swiftcurrent Pass (sort of)

Moose in the Campsite

It’s hard to remember the details of what we did a solid three months ago, but I assume last night involved some form of three handed cribbage and maybe a visit to the Swiftcurrent lobby for some AC to download pictures. I also assume Julie continued to kick ass in cribbage. Julie has wings, while Pete and I have shoes.

The morning brought more moose to the campsite. Another set of neighbors had the same momma and youngster bedding down in their site (back by a ranger cabin). The kids playing in the tent were certainly not being being quiet. None the less, the moose were content hanging out. I believe they’re using the humans as protection against the bears and it works, sort of. This time, someone didn’t keep the secret, and the rangers came in and do what rangers do, and got rid of the moose.

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It’s not the size of the gun, but a big one helps

Today’s hike was simple, let’s head down Swiftcurrent valley and see what happens. There was some competition about who was going to log the shortest hike. Pete said, “I’m not hiking up Swiftcurrent Pass.” Julie upped the ante, “I’m not going past Red Rock Falls.” While I said, “Hey, that’s fine.”

Not a hundred feet into the hike, I saw a guy with a Nikon on a tripod and some frickin’ huge lens. An 800 maybe a 600mm, but certainly no less. Happy hunting. The three of us swung through Fishercap and no moose here. No, they’re back at our campsite, well they were back at our campsite until Mr Ranger sir came through.

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Not much further down the trail, I stopped to take a tree photo (I look at these trees each time I hike this trail), and Pete and Julie continued on.

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We ended up meeting up again near Red Rock Falls, and the two of them turned around and headed back to camp. Books need to be read and someone needs to read them. I continued the drunken sailor walk down the valley to nowhere in particular.

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Next stop, Swiftcurrent Creek

Not much to say except I did a little bushwhacking to get back here.

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There were some cool clouds rolling over the end of Swiftcurrent valley. They looked like a moving blanket that would roll down into the valley and then disappear.

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No running in the pool

After that, I stopped at Bullhead Lake and shot some photos looking east again.

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As I was tearing down the gear, I scanned the rest of the lake and spotted a couple moose at the west end. My attention got the attention of a couple woman sitting nearby, and as the moose disappeared behind some brush, they took off jogging down the trail. “Damn.”

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I knew a couple of joggers would chase off any moose within ear shot. About the time I got the tripod packed, they came running back up the trail and tried to peak around the lake side of the brush and gave up. The moose were gone.

I took a slow, quiet stroll down the trail and found the two moose grazing on a hillside. While setting up the camera, the cow moose took a long look at me, figured I was some Canadian hoser, and ignored me after that. (Being from Minnesota, I often get mistaken for Canadian.) As they moved around, I moved left and right to get a clear shot and continued to move a bit closer. I bet I spent 45 minutes shooting these two when I turned around and found a crowd of people on the trail a few hundred feet behind me.

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And another shot of the clouds.

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Swiftcurrent Pass?

I didn’t really want to climb all the way to Swiftcurrent Pass, but I took off my boots, wadded through the stream, and started uphill. I showed a couple the route through the stream since the boardwalks were not installed, and ran into a few others on climb. One guy had hiked to Granite Park and back, and had no problem with snow crossings.

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On the way down, I spotted another moose tucked into a snow bed out of sight between switchbacks. (A nice spot to hide).

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Bear me, beartender

Not far past Bullhead Lake, I ran into a couple of bear. This time a crowd on the trail (across the field) alerted me to “something” on the trail just around some trees on my side. I changed lenses and got set. As I crossed the field, it felt like I was a soldier with a camera to my eye shooting away at the bear. I gotta say, I like my big gun and I’m sure glad I brought this day.

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Finally, I swung by the trail heading to Shangri La and then did some bushwhacking along the stream. The going-got-tough pretty quick, so my little off trail hike didn’t last long.

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Hike: 1
-Steps: 29,665

Photos: 390 (I didn’t show a few)
Moose: 5
Bear: 2
Orangutans: 0
Wildebeests: 0
Giraffes: 0

Not a half bad day.

Jay
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Badgerhiker »

Outstanding pictures again Jay. The animal pics have so much detail in them and love the B&W's too. I would never have thought too take a B&W of those aspen trees but that's one of my favorite pics from the day. I feel like I can see the expansive landscape scenes but miss the up close details. That just proves I have a lot more too learn about photography. I'm curious, what kind of camera and lenses do you use? I bought a Nikon D5600 before my trip and am very happy with it. It's much lighter than a full frame camera which is perfect for the kind of hiking I like to do. LOL on people thinking your from Canada. I grew up in northern Wisconsin and people ask me if I'm from the upper peninsula of Michigan. Ugh! I'm not a uper!
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

Badger, thanks! There are certain themes that I return to over and over.

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I tend to think of it as a fault that I keep shooting the same things, so I try to look for things I haven’t shot. That was part of the reason I was wandering off trail. I’m pretty sure that the first one was shot with 4x5 on the way into Many Glacier and the second near the Grinnell Glacier trailhead, but both were many years ago.

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As for equipment, I shot with a Canon 5Dii for years. I was unhappy with the focusing for sports and even for stills with long telephotos. This year I picked up the 5Div. One of the things I like about the camera is that it has an electronic level. Wow, I never knew I was off on the horizon so often. Often than that and the focusing, everything has another level of refinement.

Lenses, well, the main one I used for the day was a 100-400 version 2, but I also have the 70-200 (4) which is much lighter. I also really like the 16-35 F4. For tripod work, I’ve been playing with some old manual focus lenses: Contax 28mm, Contax 50mm (1.7) and a Nikkor 105 (2.5). All are sharp and light. I have a few others, but those are my favorites. BTW, the photo is of a lens someone found by Sexton Glacier and handed to me. I dried it out and it works fine. (I should sell it since Julie owns the same lens.)

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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

Oh, and the first and last "tree shots" were likely with the 28mm Contax.

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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Carol Lynn »

Jay, I really love that photo of Swiftcurrent Creek with the mountain behind in. A different composition than I've seen before, probably because most people aren't into bushwacking.
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by PeteE »

Badger,
You mentioned the detail in Jay's images.
You have no idea how good it is. I watched over Jay's shoulder while he was reviewing the raw images of "Alice" and her calf on his lap top.
Alice's eyelashes were tack sharp. I have no doubt that a poster size print would be just as sharp.

I have a Sony A77II which has a chopped frame like your Nikon; Sony's A7 was well beyond my means.
I can still get pretty good detail, IF I take my time, use a tripod, and make use of the image magnifier, etc.

When I wasn't wimping out in camp reading.... 8)
I spent a good deal of time watching and learning while watching Jay take his photos.
Weather be damned, Jay has remarkable patience. He takes his time moving around to get exactly what he wants.
If it's a tripod shot, again, Jay takes whatever time he needs to get the shot he wants.
One of my biggest "faults" is I lack patience, and not just with my photography :(

A couple of notes:
I LOVE the "artificial horizon" on my A77II. I always hated having to crop an image to get the horizon squared up.
The artificial horizon makes getting your lake shorelines level dirt simple. Great for panographic shots too.
The image magnifier in combination with Sony's "peaking feature" make very precise focusing possible.
It takes time to use these features. That's ok though since landscape images should take time setting up.

So NICE photography Jay!
I feel I learned a lot following you around, mostly that I need to be more patient with my photography.
A camera is just a "tool". The old saying about rifle shooting applies here: It ain't the gun, it's the gunner.

And...I really, really enjoyed that 2 weeks in spite of the weather and getting my ass pounded by you and Julie playing 3 handed cribbage :arrow:
Carol Lynn wrote:Jay, I really love that photo of Swiftcurrent Creek with the mountain behind in. A different composition than I've seen before, probably because most people aren't into bushwacking.
Hi Carol:
I'll tell you a lil secret :)
If you like that image, It's not much of a bushwhack.
There's a "social trail" of sorts a short way above the falls. It heads out into some pines, but it's all on that hard red rock.
No underbrush, just ducking under a few limbs occasionally. It's only about 50-75 yards off the main Swiftcurrent trail.
It's easy to miss if you aren't looking for it though.
I'm not sure this spot is the same one that Jay took. There are several "paths" leading back to the creek.

I took this one September 10th on the way back from Granite Park Chalet.
You can see the "weather" just starting to come over the Continental Divide.
An hour later it was pouring rain 8)

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Jay:
I was fascinated by those clouds coming over the divide as well.
Since I was trying to catch up with Julie, I didn't stop for long here to get pics.
The video really shows how interesting this cloud phenomena is.

video clip 45 seconds
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-XKX ... t-1920.mp4
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by tibber »

First Pete, that cloud action is really so cool. I've not had the privilege of seeing that kind of cloud action at Glacier. The best cloud action I've encountered was up at Logan Pass in 2013 I think it was. I too like to follow other photographers around to see how and what they shoot. I feel like I learn a lot.

Anyway Jay, I too was really moved by that shot of Swiftcurrent Creek. It has the European painting look. My parents had lots of European paintings so I know of what I speak; that and spending some time in museums, ha!

And how incredible to get all those wildlife pictures; how awesome!
This past week down here in AZ one of our ranger/HAZers got a great photo of a mountain lion right above her in a tree https://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ID=724241.

Love all the wildlife shots you all get in the field.
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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

On the Canadian thing, I just tell people I’m sub-Canadian. So Badger, you’re sub….well maybe not.

Carol, Pete, yeah, the creek is accessible by a little animal/human trails that go 5 feet, turn, go another 5 feet and turn, branches snag the clothing here and there, but nothing like really being off trial as it was for the last shot off Shangri La trail. I just started following a little trail and ended up at the creek. I don’t remember it being on rock. Seemed like dirt so it might be a little further up the trail than you’re thinking, but it’s fairly easy and similar to what you’re thinking.

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A random old photo with similar clouds. Your video really shows the clouds better than my stills. It was amazing to watch. Thanks for posting and thanks for the comments.

You’re right about it being the gunner. A lot of times artists use really cheap gear and come up with great photos.

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Re: A bartender's guide to Glacier

Post by Jay w »

6/25/18 Mon, Appikuni

They Call it Stormy Monday
But Tuesday’s Just as Bad

Pete and I talked about hikes. An obvious candidate was Shangri La.

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This is what we imagined, but with today’s wind, it will probably be more like this.

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(Not my image.)

We nixed that one because we didn’t know if the climb would be open, and the lake area would probably be really wet (between melting snow and all the rain).

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When I was hiking to Cracker Lake, I took a long look at the peak on the far right. I believe this is an unnamed peak in the Apikuni cirque, and I relayed to Pete that this peak was a walk up, and probably had a great view of a few valleys in the area. Contrary to how climbers talk about a walk up, to me, a walk up means it doesn’t require the use of hands. Deal. We’re off.

If you haven’t been on this hike, it’s pretty simple. You go uphill. I think it gains 700 ft from the parking lot to the bottom of the falls, and then falls are 600 ft tall.

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After that it’s a little scrambling to get into the valley above the falls. Once up there, the wind was so strong that we were hiking through the low scrub brush just to find some shelter. It became clear pretty quick that the hike up to the peak was not happening today. At one point, we sat and grabbed a little snack and I found a wood tick on my leg. Pete popped up like bread in a toaster. “I hate wood ticks,” and he was 50 ft away in a New York minute. So we mulled around like cattle and took pictures.

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At one point, we heard what sounded like an avalanche. We looked around and couldn’t figure out what the hell that was. As we worked our way downhill, we heard it again and thought the noise was a rock slide. A while later it happened again and we finally figured out that the wind was ripping over the mountain so fast that the noise must have been wind related…wind shear or something like that. As I look at a map, there some clefts in the rock face that might funnel the wind.

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We took a different, more direct route down, which leads into a “white rock garden.” If you’ve been there you’ll probably recognize what I mean. There’s some cool trees in this area, and I happened to capture one with just the right light. One of my favorites from the trip.

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Wino-saur

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(We actually have a glass like that. Grin.)

Julie’s the wine drinker, but for the trip I bought the wine. I don’t really remember what I bought, but I remember that I picked up a Malbec, and probably three Cabs. Not much of a drinking report, but

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here’s a couple that we tend to like.

Farwell to Pete

We always enjoy Pete’s company, and we were fortunate to have spent a number of days with Pete this trip. Even with an Outback packed to the rafters, he still rescued us with a tarp, and brought a number of things we didn’t have, and of course made that resupply run. It still seems like we owe him. Of course it's his company that we enjoy. He has endless great stories, and not just Glacier stories. This isn’t the last we saw of him this trip. Hopefully this trip report will go long enough to include our last meeting.

-Steps: 21,070
-Wildlife: 0

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