Story Aunt Gus & Little Bear's Great Adventure Book 1 (Complete)
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
My understanding is a slime, bacteria, whatever it is can build up in the various tanks. Can really stink. I know I hate the smell of old dishwater. I have an old enamelware pan that I do dishes in when we are camping. The plastic dishpans just develop the worst smell to me. Gag.
July 23rd – Brain Hamster Managed
Weather:90s/50s
Loving the weather. And I think I’ve even accepted “it’s a dry heat,” though it isn’t exactly dry tonight. Woke up feeling a little hung over, not that I know exactly what that feeling is since I’ve chosen not to drink, but the feeling after the hamster gets too in control must be something like that.
Benny was putting the garbage in the bag for me after breakfast when he spotted the can from the water I had to drink last night.
“Aunt Gus?” I turned and he was holding it and looking worried. “Do you have a … a … sick headache?”
Uh oh. Penny used to use that phrase too often. “Absolutely not. At least not the way you’re thinking Little Bear.”
“But you only drink this stuff when …” He scrunched up his face unable to find the words that covered all the emotions he was feeling.
“The brain hamster tried to go rodeo on me last night.” My joke didn’t distract him, in fact it made him more uncomfortable since he knew I was trying to distract him. I sighed. I took the can from him and tossed it back into the garbage bag and then sat him down in my lap and tried to fix what I had unintentionally caused. “Benny, you … you know that I’m different.”
“Like me.”
“Yes. Sorta. At the same time … look, you can have problems when you eat stuff you shouldn’t.”
“Gluten and red dye.”
“That’s correct. But sometimes my … thinking … just …”
“You call it the brain hamster because of that silly hamster dance toy Stella used to have on her desk.”
I forced myself to chuckle. “Yeah. Pretty much. I used to be a lot worse than you and likely worse than you’ve ever thought about me being. But I’ve learned how to get through my days in a different way. I’m healthier. I do things more constructively. I have rules and so long as I can follow those rules, I keep the brain hamster under control. But sometimes … I let it get away from me and occasionally …”
“Is that why you went outside when it was dark and was exercising again last night?”
“Did that bother you?” I asked in concern, not realizing he hadn’t been completely asleep when I would occasionally need to do it.
“No. ‘Cause when you come back in you are all better. I thought you were all better last night. Was I bad? Is that why the exercising didn’t help?”
“Absolutely not. Don’t even think that. Please Benny. Just don’t. The way I am is my responsibility, not yours.”
“Not even a little bit?”
“Not even a little bit. I just started thinking and … it got away from me.”
“Sometimes when I think about stuff … it makes my head go in circles. Like … like …”
“Like what?”
“Sometimes … I mean I know you said it wasn’t like that … but sometimes … I mean … if I hadn’t gotten sick or been different … if Momma … if she …”
I hugged him. “As often as you need me to, I’ll explain it Little Bear. Your mother had problems before you came along. She had problems before she and your dad met. Lawrence was only able to help her a little bit but even … even if he had come home … your mother …” This was always a difficult subject. I never knew where it was safe to draw the line. I didn’t want to criticize Penny and hurt Benny, but there were some things that Benny just needed to know for his own sake. “Your mother was fragile. That’s the best word I’ve been able to find that explains it. She was that way before she met your dad, and she was that way when he wasn’t able to come home. Not all of that was her fault but … but she could have helped herself, allowed other people to help her, a lot more than she did. Lawrence wouldn’t have been able to stop her. You could never stop her. Groucho couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t either. We all tried to help her but … but she just refused to be helped enough. I’m not like that Benny. I won’t ever make the choice to leave you. You come first.”
“But you still drank your funny water.”
“I did. Because I looked at my thinking and I knew I needed to fix it. The first thing I always do is try and stop the hamster dance. If giving myself a talking to doesn’t put my brain back in the right gear I do chores or exercise, something constructive that works off some of the excess energy. As a last resort I take a medicinal. Last night the caffeine water helped me chill out enough to get my brain to rest. Rarely that doesn’t help, and when it doesn’t, I try chamomile tea or something along those lines but that doesn’t happen very often at all these days. When I first came to live with Lawrence the doctors put me on a medication that I could take as a last resort, but I haven’t had to do that since before you were born. The doctors think that I started growing up, and my brain was growing up too. And I was learning to create the structure I needed to not need medicine and stuff like that.”
“Will I need medicine? Uncle Groucho used to say Momma should have taken medicine.”
“We tried the medicine route with your mom, but she wouldn’t cooperate. I’m not too sure it would have helped anyway. I had a counselor tell me once that medicine could give me a door to walk through but if I didn’t open that door and walk through on my own, no one could make me, so the medicine would never have helped. As for you? I don’t think that is going to be your problem. You’re going to be like Lawrence, you just need to find a passion to expend your energy on. For now, our Adventure is our passion. You think?”
“Yeah! And we’re together.”
“Exactly.”
“But then why did the hamster get you last night?”
Sigh. Full circle. “I’ll be honest Little Bear. Sometimes being an adult, being the one in charge, can be a little … overwhelming. That doesn’t make being an adult bad. It is a good thing to grow up when it is time. Sometimes I just worry about not doing the job of being the adult right and I just can’t stand that thought. You’re everything I have Benny, every one I have. I want to do this right so that you can grow up and be better than me. Lawrence was my brother and I know he’d want you to have all of that too.”
“You got scared?”
Geez, he is so empathetic. “Yeah. I guess. A little bit. The future is out there and … and I just want to do it right.”
“I love you Aunt Gus. Forever an’ ever.”
I’m not an emotional person, at least not in the drama momma kind of way that some people are. As a matter of fact, I detest drama. There’s too much noise in it, physical and metaphysical. But I suppose I can admit there are some emotional things about me. I love my nephew and being loved in return is the absolute best “medicine” for me. Ever.
Fortunately, Benny isn’t one of those kids that needs to talk things to death. Even at five he seemed to grasp the concept that sometimes you simply need to stop talking and move forward. Moving forward this morning meant heading out on some new trails.
We warmed up with a stop that barely qualified as a trail. It was an easy, tenth of a mile. We drove to the Afterbay Campground and past the sign that said “No Camping Beyond this Point,” to the pit toilet at the end of the road. Not your prettiest trail head marker. From there it was a short hike down a gravel path to a quiet area near what remains of the Bighorn Head Gate. The Bighorn Head Gate was part of the original irrigation system used in the upper Bighorn Valley in the early 1900’s before the dam was built in 1965. The best time of year to view the head gate is during the winter since most of the head gate is underwater during the summer months, but oh well, sometimes you can only go when you can go. It was a great place for bird watching and Benny “collected” a few for one of his Junior Ranger activities. He was a little behind and we needed to turn it in before the ranger station closed for the day.
Our next trail was called Beaver Pond Nature Trail, just like the one at Yellowstone but I must say the two trails looked nothing alike. It was a moderate, 2.6-mile trail that began at the west end of the sidewalk at the Afterbay Contact Station. This trail was across yucca flats to the ridge above Lime Kiln Creek. Below, the creek is covered with gnawed on trees and other building materials. Beavers. Seriously. In this dry-ish canyon area. Hard to believe but it is true. To get a closer look at the beavers’ construction site the trail began to wind down the steep hillside to the bottom. There was a fallen tree, and after checking for snakes and other irritable bitey things, we sat for a few minutes to talk about how this beaver pond and the one in Yellowstone were different and maybe why. For example, the trees the beavers had to work with are different.
After eating a midmorning snack and making sure we didn’t leave any trash it was back to the van and on to our last hike of the day. For whatever reason it was called Three Mile Access Trail, but it was only two miles round trip. Go figure. At the west end of the trail’s parking area, near another pit toilet, we followed the gravel path along the Bighorn River. The trail ended in a grove of cottonwoods with giant downed logs perfect for sitting on … after checking for snakes. We watched the fly fisherman that were there. Not much was biting but usually you can catch something if you are patient. The Bighorn River is a world class fish hatchery.
Benny didn’t mind that I wanted to sit and soak up the quiet. My tank of quiet was running low after last night but I didn’t allow the hamster to trick me into thinking about it and wear ruts in my psyche. I didn’t let it spoil my better mood. The spot was a tranquil setting to watch the ducks floating by or just listen to the sounds of nature. Benny seemed to enjoy it as well and drew a picture of what he was seeing in a sketch pad I haul around in my backpack to give Benny’s hands something to do just in case. He doesn’t have a hamster but like any kid he can get the fidgets and discovery toys and a drawing pad are what helps him with his.
When we got tired of slapping mosquitoes we headed back to the van and rather than doing chores – we weren’t that behind on them – I offered to take out the kayak one last time. Benny was thrilled so that’s what we did. We even ran into one of those free kayak tours, this one full of a Scout troop on their way to summer camp, and I followed behind to help out a couple of younger scouts get a hang at working together when you are in a tandem kayak.
When the adult leaders found out I had been a Sea Scout things got interesting. Some of them wanted to know what the different between the various scouting groups were, why I hadn’t been a venture scout instead of a sea scout, what was it like being a Naval Cadette, what it was like living in Florida, etc. etc. my ears were getting tired. Then one of the adults pulled along beside me and asked quietly, “Aunt Gus and Little Bear?”
“Depend on if I am in some kind of trouble.”
The man chuckled. “Not at all. Your blog was mentioned at our Order of the Arrow meeting. And I noticed you were very careful about not letting your nephew be in any pictures.”
“Sorry about that. I just have rules.”
“No, completely understandable. The only reason any of the Scouts have photography equipment at the moment is so they can send messages to their parents tonight. Tomorrow the phones get taken away until we hit the airport two weeks from now.”
I grinned. “I remember those days. I understand the rules are much stricter since that … er … incident two years ago.”
He nodded. “That was unfortunate. You screen the adults the best you can but it is difficult to do the same level of screening with the Scouts. You can mandate training but …”
“But sometimes you can’t catch someone that refuses to follow the rules until it is too late.”
He nodded as we both remembered the criminal case against a scout that was blackmailing fellow scouts with inappropriate pictures that had been taken, ostensibly as a joke but in reality it went much further than that. And that is just one of the many reasons I am so careful with Benny.
We left the Scouts at the marina but continued for an hour longer until I spotted thunderclouds coming up fast on the horizon. I told Benny to get his paddle out of the water and let me get us back to shore. I was putting the kayak up on the van when I heard the first roll of thunder and was glad I’d turned around when I had.
The rain and wind hit when we pulled into our campsite and grilling out was no longer possible so there went the kabobs I had meant to cook. This evening was one of those times that the camp meals proved their value even if they could get expensive. I plugged in my new tea kettle to heat the water and turned to find Benny scratching at a mosquito bite.
“Whoa, where did that sunburn come from? It wasn’t there earlier. I sprayed you down several times today, including before we got on the water.”
“It itches.”
“Hop in the shower and rinse off and I’ll put some aloe on your arms, neck, and ears after you clean up and before dinner. That way you can eat in peace.”
I looked at my own arms and they were just brown. I always get just brown. It is why I prefer the tan-through t-shirts so I get brown without having it look like a bad spray-on tan. I did note my nose and lips were a little pink. Sigh. Grandma Barry always called me her Butternut Baby because even when I was little I could look like a baked spud but rarely burned. I refused to give into any self-flagellation over Benny getting more than pink. It happens. Better to make sure it didn’t happen anymore than necessary in the future.
Dinner was Pad Thai (Backpacker’s Pantry brand), fruit cocktail for dessert, and for second dessert (ha ha) we had popcorn left over from yesterday’s snack bag. I would have added hot cocoa to that but it was too warm for it. Instead I fixed Honeyed Milk for Benny and then when he said it was okay if I needed another “funny water” I fixed a short glass for me as well.
Being stuck in the van wasn’t grand, I’d been hoping to get a good work out in, but it did give me time to go over plans for the next few days. I also went over the budget. I’m kinda done trying to keep up with the mileage. I know what we started with, and I’ll know what we’ll end with. That should be good enough. The price of fuel is what it is, and I don’t have any choice but to pay it since that’s what makes the wheels go round and round. I will keep up with the accommodation expense amount since I’m running stricter on that with a thinner margin. I’m not pushed quite as hard since the blog income is staying up there. Not making much more each month but we aren’t dropping either, it has leveled off to a point I can count on it to be there.
So, let’s see. Accommodations reached $2371 when we left Yellowstone, then it was $23 at the KOA thanks to our discount, then add another $24 for the three nights of camping here. That’s a total of $2418. We’ve been on the road nearly four months. If you break it down into four equal amounts as if we were paying rent, that would be just over $600/month. Even an efficiency would be a heck of a lot more than that. Even adding fuel we’re still doing better. If we hadn’t stayed in any hotels or only boondocked we’d be even better off.
We have some added expenses coming up but we are due. And if we don’t take a break now, it will be weeks before we have the opportunity again. We don’t have a long way to drive tomorrow but I think Benny and I should just hit the hay early anyway. Ran is still coming down, just lightly, and hopefully the sound will be calming for both of us.
Resources:
https://www.nps.gov/bica/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Jrranger booklet for web.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/bica/planyourvisit/upload/Bighorn-Canyon-NRA-Hiking-Guide.pdf
https://home.nps.gov/bica/planyourvisit/upload/Bighorn-Canyon-NRA-Hiking-Guide.pdf
Weather:90s/50s
Loving the weather. And I think I’ve even accepted “it’s a dry heat,” though it isn’t exactly dry tonight. Woke up feeling a little hung over, not that I know exactly what that feeling is since I’ve chosen not to drink, but the feeling after the hamster gets too in control must be something like that.
Benny was putting the garbage in the bag for me after breakfast when he spotted the can from the water I had to drink last night.
“Aunt Gus?” I turned and he was holding it and looking worried. “Do you have a … a … sick headache?”
Uh oh. Penny used to use that phrase too often. “Absolutely not. At least not the way you’re thinking Little Bear.”
“But you only drink this stuff when …” He scrunched up his face unable to find the words that covered all the emotions he was feeling.
“The brain hamster tried to go rodeo on me last night.” My joke didn’t distract him, in fact it made him more uncomfortable since he knew I was trying to distract him. I sighed. I took the can from him and tossed it back into the garbage bag and then sat him down in my lap and tried to fix what I had unintentionally caused. “Benny, you … you know that I’m different.”
“Like me.”
“Yes. Sorta. At the same time … look, you can have problems when you eat stuff you shouldn’t.”
“Gluten and red dye.”
“That’s correct. But sometimes my … thinking … just …”
“You call it the brain hamster because of that silly hamster dance toy Stella used to have on her desk.”
I forced myself to chuckle. “Yeah. Pretty much. I used to be a lot worse than you and likely worse than you’ve ever thought about me being. But I’ve learned how to get through my days in a different way. I’m healthier. I do things more constructively. I have rules and so long as I can follow those rules, I keep the brain hamster under control. But sometimes … I let it get away from me and occasionally …”
“Is that why you went outside when it was dark and was exercising again last night?”
“Did that bother you?” I asked in concern, not realizing he hadn’t been completely asleep when I would occasionally need to do it.
“No. ‘Cause when you come back in you are all better. I thought you were all better last night. Was I bad? Is that why the exercising didn’t help?”
“Absolutely not. Don’t even think that. Please Benny. Just don’t. The way I am is my responsibility, not yours.”
“Not even a little bit?”
“Not even a little bit. I just started thinking and … it got away from me.”
“Sometimes when I think about stuff … it makes my head go in circles. Like … like …”
“Like what?”
“Sometimes … I mean I know you said it wasn’t like that … but sometimes … I mean … if I hadn’t gotten sick or been different … if Momma … if she …”
I hugged him. “As often as you need me to, I’ll explain it Little Bear. Your mother had problems before you came along. She had problems before she and your dad met. Lawrence was only able to help her a little bit but even … even if he had come home … your mother …” This was always a difficult subject. I never knew where it was safe to draw the line. I didn’t want to criticize Penny and hurt Benny, but there were some things that Benny just needed to know for his own sake. “Your mother was fragile. That’s the best word I’ve been able to find that explains it. She was that way before she met your dad, and she was that way when he wasn’t able to come home. Not all of that was her fault but … but she could have helped herself, allowed other people to help her, a lot more than she did. Lawrence wouldn’t have been able to stop her. You could never stop her. Groucho couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t either. We all tried to help her but … but she just refused to be helped enough. I’m not like that Benny. I won’t ever make the choice to leave you. You come first.”
“But you still drank your funny water.”
“I did. Because I looked at my thinking and I knew I needed to fix it. The first thing I always do is try and stop the hamster dance. If giving myself a talking to doesn’t put my brain back in the right gear I do chores or exercise, something constructive that works off some of the excess energy. As a last resort I take a medicinal. Last night the caffeine water helped me chill out enough to get my brain to rest. Rarely that doesn’t help, and when it doesn’t, I try chamomile tea or something along those lines but that doesn’t happen very often at all these days. When I first came to live with Lawrence the doctors put me on a medication that I could take as a last resort, but I haven’t had to do that since before you were born. The doctors think that I started growing up, and my brain was growing up too. And I was learning to create the structure I needed to not need medicine and stuff like that.”
“Will I need medicine? Uncle Groucho used to say Momma should have taken medicine.”
“We tried the medicine route with your mom, but she wouldn’t cooperate. I’m not too sure it would have helped anyway. I had a counselor tell me once that medicine could give me a door to walk through but if I didn’t open that door and walk through on my own, no one could make me, so the medicine would never have helped. As for you? I don’t think that is going to be your problem. You’re going to be like Lawrence, you just need to find a passion to expend your energy on. For now, our Adventure is our passion. You think?”
“Yeah! And we’re together.”
“Exactly.”
“But then why did the hamster get you last night?”
Sigh. Full circle. “I’ll be honest Little Bear. Sometimes being an adult, being the one in charge, can be a little … overwhelming. That doesn’t make being an adult bad. It is a good thing to grow up when it is time. Sometimes I just worry about not doing the job of being the adult right and I just can’t stand that thought. You’re everything I have Benny, every one I have. I want to do this right so that you can grow up and be better than me. Lawrence was my brother and I know he’d want you to have all of that too.”
“You got scared?”
Geez, he is so empathetic. “Yeah. I guess. A little bit. The future is out there and … and I just want to do it right.”
“I love you Aunt Gus. Forever an’ ever.”
I’m not an emotional person, at least not in the drama momma kind of way that some people are. As a matter of fact, I detest drama. There’s too much noise in it, physical and metaphysical. But I suppose I can admit there are some emotional things about me. I love my nephew and being loved in return is the absolute best “medicine” for me. Ever.
Fortunately, Benny isn’t one of those kids that needs to talk things to death. Even at five he seemed to grasp the concept that sometimes you simply need to stop talking and move forward. Moving forward this morning meant heading out on some new trails.
We warmed up with a stop that barely qualified as a trail. It was an easy, tenth of a mile. We drove to the Afterbay Campground and past the sign that said “No Camping Beyond this Point,” to the pit toilet at the end of the road. Not your prettiest trail head marker. From there it was a short hike down a gravel path to a quiet area near what remains of the Bighorn Head Gate. The Bighorn Head Gate was part of the original irrigation system used in the upper Bighorn Valley in the early 1900’s before the dam was built in 1965. The best time of year to view the head gate is during the winter since most of the head gate is underwater during the summer months, but oh well, sometimes you can only go when you can go. It was a great place for bird watching and Benny “collected” a few for one of his Junior Ranger activities. He was a little behind and we needed to turn it in before the ranger station closed for the day.
Our next trail was called Beaver Pond Nature Trail, just like the one at Yellowstone but I must say the two trails looked nothing alike. It was a moderate, 2.6-mile trail that began at the west end of the sidewalk at the Afterbay Contact Station. This trail was across yucca flats to the ridge above Lime Kiln Creek. Below, the creek is covered with gnawed on trees and other building materials. Beavers. Seriously. In this dry-ish canyon area. Hard to believe but it is true. To get a closer look at the beavers’ construction site the trail began to wind down the steep hillside to the bottom. There was a fallen tree, and after checking for snakes and other irritable bitey things, we sat for a few minutes to talk about how this beaver pond and the one in Yellowstone were different and maybe why. For example, the trees the beavers had to work with are different.
After eating a midmorning snack and making sure we didn’t leave any trash it was back to the van and on to our last hike of the day. For whatever reason it was called Three Mile Access Trail, but it was only two miles round trip. Go figure. At the west end of the trail’s parking area, near another pit toilet, we followed the gravel path along the Bighorn River. The trail ended in a grove of cottonwoods with giant downed logs perfect for sitting on … after checking for snakes. We watched the fly fisherman that were there. Not much was biting but usually you can catch something if you are patient. The Bighorn River is a world class fish hatchery.
Benny didn’t mind that I wanted to sit and soak up the quiet. My tank of quiet was running low after last night but I didn’t allow the hamster to trick me into thinking about it and wear ruts in my psyche. I didn’t let it spoil my better mood. The spot was a tranquil setting to watch the ducks floating by or just listen to the sounds of nature. Benny seemed to enjoy it as well and drew a picture of what he was seeing in a sketch pad I haul around in my backpack to give Benny’s hands something to do just in case. He doesn’t have a hamster but like any kid he can get the fidgets and discovery toys and a drawing pad are what helps him with his.
When we got tired of slapping mosquitoes we headed back to the van and rather than doing chores – we weren’t that behind on them – I offered to take out the kayak one last time. Benny was thrilled so that’s what we did. We even ran into one of those free kayak tours, this one full of a Scout troop on their way to summer camp, and I followed behind to help out a couple of younger scouts get a hang at working together when you are in a tandem kayak.
When the adult leaders found out I had been a Sea Scout things got interesting. Some of them wanted to know what the different between the various scouting groups were, why I hadn’t been a venture scout instead of a sea scout, what was it like being a Naval Cadette, what it was like living in Florida, etc. etc. my ears were getting tired. Then one of the adults pulled along beside me and asked quietly, “Aunt Gus and Little Bear?”
“Depend on if I am in some kind of trouble.”
The man chuckled. “Not at all. Your blog was mentioned at our Order of the Arrow meeting. And I noticed you were very careful about not letting your nephew be in any pictures.”
“Sorry about that. I just have rules.”
“No, completely understandable. The only reason any of the Scouts have photography equipment at the moment is so they can send messages to their parents tonight. Tomorrow the phones get taken away until we hit the airport two weeks from now.”
I grinned. “I remember those days. I understand the rules are much stricter since that … er … incident two years ago.”
He nodded. “That was unfortunate. You screen the adults the best you can but it is difficult to do the same level of screening with the Scouts. You can mandate training but …”
“But sometimes you can’t catch someone that refuses to follow the rules until it is too late.”
He nodded as we both remembered the criminal case against a scout that was blackmailing fellow scouts with inappropriate pictures that had been taken, ostensibly as a joke but in reality it went much further than that. And that is just one of the many reasons I am so careful with Benny.
We left the Scouts at the marina but continued for an hour longer until I spotted thunderclouds coming up fast on the horizon. I told Benny to get his paddle out of the water and let me get us back to shore. I was putting the kayak up on the van when I heard the first roll of thunder and was glad I’d turned around when I had.
The rain and wind hit when we pulled into our campsite and grilling out was no longer possible so there went the kabobs I had meant to cook. This evening was one of those times that the camp meals proved their value even if they could get expensive. I plugged in my new tea kettle to heat the water and turned to find Benny scratching at a mosquito bite.
“Whoa, where did that sunburn come from? It wasn’t there earlier. I sprayed you down several times today, including before we got on the water.”
“It itches.”
“Hop in the shower and rinse off and I’ll put some aloe on your arms, neck, and ears after you clean up and before dinner. That way you can eat in peace.”
I looked at my own arms and they were just brown. I always get just brown. It is why I prefer the tan-through t-shirts so I get brown without having it look like a bad spray-on tan. I did note my nose and lips were a little pink. Sigh. Grandma Barry always called me her Butternut Baby because even when I was little I could look like a baked spud but rarely burned. I refused to give into any self-flagellation over Benny getting more than pink. It happens. Better to make sure it didn’t happen anymore than necessary in the future.
Dinner was Pad Thai (Backpacker’s Pantry brand), fruit cocktail for dessert, and for second dessert (ha ha) we had popcorn left over from yesterday’s snack bag. I would have added hot cocoa to that but it was too warm for it. Instead I fixed Honeyed Milk for Benny and then when he said it was okay if I needed another “funny water” I fixed a short glass for me as well.
Being stuck in the van wasn’t grand, I’d been hoping to get a good work out in, but it did give me time to go over plans for the next few days. I also went over the budget. I’m kinda done trying to keep up with the mileage. I know what we started with, and I’ll know what we’ll end with. That should be good enough. The price of fuel is what it is, and I don’t have any choice but to pay it since that’s what makes the wheels go round and round. I will keep up with the accommodation expense amount since I’m running stricter on that with a thinner margin. I’m not pushed quite as hard since the blog income is staying up there. Not making much more each month but we aren’t dropping either, it has leveled off to a point I can count on it to be there.
So, let’s see. Accommodations reached $2371 when we left Yellowstone, then it was $23 at the KOA thanks to our discount, then add another $24 for the three nights of camping here. That’s a total of $2418. We’ve been on the road nearly four months. If you break it down into four equal amounts as if we were paying rent, that would be just over $600/month. Even an efficiency would be a heck of a lot more than that. Even adding fuel we’re still doing better. If we hadn’t stayed in any hotels or only boondocked we’d be even better off.
We have some added expenses coming up but we are due. And if we don’t take a break now, it will be weeks before we have the opportunity again. We don’t have a long way to drive tomorrow but I think Benny and I should just hit the hay early anyway. Ran is still coming down, just lightly, and hopefully the sound will be calming for both of us.
Resources:
https://www.nps.gov/bica/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Jrranger booklet for web.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/bica/planyourvisit/upload/Bighorn-Canyon-NRA-Hiking-Guide.pdf
https://home.nps.gov/bica/planyourvisit/upload/Bighorn-Canyon-NRA-Hiking-Guide.pdf
I do love pad thai. I make mine with spaghetti squash.
Recipe: Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai
Recipe: Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai
Jul 24 – 25: Billings, MT
Driving Route:
July 24th
Haven’t had a hotel room since June 25th – a month – right before we headed into Grand Teton National Park. We were due; to get off the road if nothing else.
We drove straight through to Billings, MT, about an hour and 45 minutes and 100 miles, after a hearty breakfast of omelet with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in there. First thing after the two-hour drive into Billings is take the van to a shop owned by a guy that Groucho knows for a three-month checkup. He owed Groucho big time for some special-order parts and this was the way that Groucho was collecting. It was an ATV repair shop at the same exit as the hotel.
The hotel is unique. It is the Bighorn Resort and it is connected to the Reef Indoor Water Park. After putting the van in for its check up I took the bike – Benny is really too big for the carrier, but it is what we have – and cycled over to the hotel for an early check in. The room wasn’t ready, it was still being cleaned by housekeeping. I told them that is okay, just wanted to sign in and get the room paid for. They were very nice and gave me the room number we’d been assigned (ground floor) and told me I could come back after 12 o’clock instead of three and it would be ready. Excellent.
As we were walking away Benny asked me, “Do I get to swim here Aunt Gus?”
“Sure do, but not until after we check in ‘K?” We have a few things to do first.”
“Is the van okay?” Benny asked with worry.
“Pretty sure. It is just getting a check up from the wheels up. Like when you go for your doctor’s appointments.”
He made a face but understood and relaxed.
I was trying to decide whether to try to go to Walmart for our shopping but wasn’t loving the idea. First it was three miles further along the road and two, I planned on picking up more than what would fit in the saddlebags. Instead, while we did bike nearly that far, it was to go to a Goodwill Store and a Dollar Tree. The Goodwill Thrift Store provided some new clothing items for both Benny and myself, not a lot but the prices couldn’t be beat for what we did get as it was a clearance day and each item cost less than a buck if we paid in cash (their digital card readers were down). At the same time I donated his “too small” clothes to get them out of the van and save some space. Similar to an old “Five-and-Dime” of generations ago, nothing in the Dollar Tree still cost a dollar. But it was still cheaper than most places. I filled up on the seasonings that were low as well as some hygiene items like tooth floss, toothpaste, and toothbrushes.
I had just gone through the cashier stand when I got a call that told me the van was almost ready if I wanted to head back.
“This thing is a beast,” Roggo said smiling after I got back.
“Yeah, it is. Does anything stand out as needing more attention or repair?”
The man shook his head. “Nope. You’re good to go. Just keep a check on the tires and fluids. I changed out the air filters, they needed it.”
“Filters? There’s more than one?”
“Yeah. You got your engine air filter, that one wasn’t too bad; you musta been knocking it out for it to be so clean. Since I had the hood up I just went ahead and changed it. The other one is the cabin filter. That one looked like a factory install and was dirty and on the edge, just better to go ahead and do it. Groucho would have had he seen it. The oil filter was good. You did a fine job on the oil change. Not my favorite brand but reckon it was the one that Groucho told you to use. Tires are sound and should hold for the remainder of the trip, but they’ll definitely be showing some wear if you do any off-roading. Try and keep stones from getting left in the treads if you pick any up. I put a jug of antifreeze in the back for just in case, this isn’t the time of year to take a chance, especially on the backroads. You have a small chip in the windshield but it ain’t going anywhere and isn’t in the line of sight so I wouldn’t mess with it. Just keep an eye on it.” He showed me a little optimizing I could do with the solar set up when I got so inclined, but beyond that I was good to go and since the shop was busy I headed out after thanking him.
I emailed Groucho a copy of the Maintenance Sheet, then put the original in the binder I keep on the van maintenance. It might have been my imagination, but the air conditioning did seem to be struggling less in the heat. I stopped briefly at the hotel to make sure the room was ready and to drop off the supplies I’d already purchased. The plan was to reorganize and get rid of some of the packaging before I packed things away. I then headed to wallyworld to replenish our food supplies.
I still find it funny as heck to compare the camping sections of the wallyworlds in Florida with the ones we’ve been in out west. Out here they have a much wider selection of freeze-dried meals and some of them are even gluten-free. They also had freeze-dried staple items in the big cans like everyday food. I picked up more of the meals for just in case. I debated the other freeze-dried stuff but there didn’t seem to be much in there compared to the price. Those boogers are too handy, and a person could get too reliant on them … that person being me. Better to be careful and only use them rarely, but keep them on hand all the same.
I had a list and stuck to it … mostly. I did double the amount of popcorn kernels I purchased, same for the rice I have been purchasing and added some lentils, added a few shakers of popcorn flavoring, I tripled my feminine hygiene supplies since I found coupons on my favored brand, and had to replace a couple of drinking water jugs because one is developing a crack in the lid and the other has a dent in it that will leak sooner rather than later. I had to force myself to take it easy on the volume of fresh and frozen items that I purchased but I did get enough to satisfy the cravings I’ve had for the last two weeks.
Back at the hotel I put into the van frig what needed it, put the shelf stable items in the hotel room, put some drinks and deli food in the hotel room frig, and then let Benny use the pool area for $10 while I worked with the free internet to take care of correspondence and all other adulting tasks that needed it.
While I was sitting at the table working and watching Benny – the water park required all users to wear a life vest – I found out that the hotel has a breakfast buffet every morning and tonight they have a nacho buffet for guests staying more than one night. That would be us; we are staying here again tomorrow night.
When a large group of older kids took over the water park, Benny was quickly ready to go. I got him dried off and wrapped in a warm robe and we headed to pick up a selection from the nacho bar. The chips were suspect but that was no problem since I had a bag of gluten-free corn chips in the room. I also had a bagged salad for Benny and I to share as well.
Despite spending a couple of hours in a pool I had Benny take a bath and scrub top to bottom. When he got out, I winced; there was noticeable a ring around the tub when the water drained out. According to Grandma Barry, dirt is good for kids so I’m not too worried, but I need to make sure the Benny is cleaning all his bits and pieces more thoroughly.
I found a local travel channel for Benny to watch with his dinner and then jumped in the shower myself, leaving the door cracked just in case he called out. It took several washes and rinses to get my hair as clean as I wanted it. I also had to take a pumice stone to my heels despite keeping lotion on them. Looks like I need to put in more time where hygiene is concerned myself.
Benny had fun watching the travel channel with his stuffie crew and imagining what our activity tomorrow is going to be like, but he didn’t last long and was asleep not long after sunset. I had a ways to go, turned off the boob tube, and got busy. I think I’m mostly caught up now. Staying in the hotel room has felt odd, the space feels almost too big. I’m going to use the microwave and make me some warm milk and hopefully that will help me relax.
Driving Route:
July 24th
Haven’t had a hotel room since June 25th – a month – right before we headed into Grand Teton National Park. We were due; to get off the road if nothing else.
We drove straight through to Billings, MT, about an hour and 45 minutes and 100 miles, after a hearty breakfast of omelet with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in there. First thing after the two-hour drive into Billings is take the van to a shop owned by a guy that Groucho knows for a three-month checkup. He owed Groucho big time for some special-order parts and this was the way that Groucho was collecting. It was an ATV repair shop at the same exit as the hotel.
The hotel is unique. It is the Bighorn Resort and it is connected to the Reef Indoor Water Park. After putting the van in for its check up I took the bike – Benny is really too big for the carrier, but it is what we have – and cycled over to the hotel for an early check in. The room wasn’t ready, it was still being cleaned by housekeeping. I told them that is okay, just wanted to sign in and get the room paid for. They were very nice and gave me the room number we’d been assigned (ground floor) and told me I could come back after 12 o’clock instead of three and it would be ready. Excellent.
As we were walking away Benny asked me, “Do I get to swim here Aunt Gus?”
“Sure do, but not until after we check in ‘K?” We have a few things to do first.”
“Is the van okay?” Benny asked with worry.
“Pretty sure. It is just getting a check up from the wheels up. Like when you go for your doctor’s appointments.”
He made a face but understood and relaxed.
I was trying to decide whether to try to go to Walmart for our shopping but wasn’t loving the idea. First it was three miles further along the road and two, I planned on picking up more than what would fit in the saddlebags. Instead, while we did bike nearly that far, it was to go to a Goodwill Store and a Dollar Tree. The Goodwill Thrift Store provided some new clothing items for both Benny and myself, not a lot but the prices couldn’t be beat for what we did get as it was a clearance day and each item cost less than a buck if we paid in cash (their digital card readers were down). At the same time I donated his “too small” clothes to get them out of the van and save some space. Similar to an old “Five-and-Dime” of generations ago, nothing in the Dollar Tree still cost a dollar. But it was still cheaper than most places. I filled up on the seasonings that were low as well as some hygiene items like tooth floss, toothpaste, and toothbrushes.
I had just gone through the cashier stand when I got a call that told me the van was almost ready if I wanted to head back.
“This thing is a beast,” Roggo said smiling after I got back.
“Yeah, it is. Does anything stand out as needing more attention or repair?”
The man shook his head. “Nope. You’re good to go. Just keep a check on the tires and fluids. I changed out the air filters, they needed it.”
“Filters? There’s more than one?”
“Yeah. You got your engine air filter, that one wasn’t too bad; you musta been knocking it out for it to be so clean. Since I had the hood up I just went ahead and changed it. The other one is the cabin filter. That one looked like a factory install and was dirty and on the edge, just better to go ahead and do it. Groucho would have had he seen it. The oil filter was good. You did a fine job on the oil change. Not my favorite brand but reckon it was the one that Groucho told you to use. Tires are sound and should hold for the remainder of the trip, but they’ll definitely be showing some wear if you do any off-roading. Try and keep stones from getting left in the treads if you pick any up. I put a jug of antifreeze in the back for just in case, this isn’t the time of year to take a chance, especially on the backroads. You have a small chip in the windshield but it ain’t going anywhere and isn’t in the line of sight so I wouldn’t mess with it. Just keep an eye on it.” He showed me a little optimizing I could do with the solar set up when I got so inclined, but beyond that I was good to go and since the shop was busy I headed out after thanking him.
I emailed Groucho a copy of the Maintenance Sheet, then put the original in the binder I keep on the van maintenance. It might have been my imagination, but the air conditioning did seem to be struggling less in the heat. I stopped briefly at the hotel to make sure the room was ready and to drop off the supplies I’d already purchased. The plan was to reorganize and get rid of some of the packaging before I packed things away. I then headed to wallyworld to replenish our food supplies.
I still find it funny as heck to compare the camping sections of the wallyworlds in Florida with the ones we’ve been in out west. Out here they have a much wider selection of freeze-dried meals and some of them are even gluten-free. They also had freeze-dried staple items in the big cans like everyday food. I picked up more of the meals for just in case. I debated the other freeze-dried stuff but there didn’t seem to be much in there compared to the price. Those boogers are too handy, and a person could get too reliant on them … that person being me. Better to be careful and only use them rarely, but keep them on hand all the same.
I had a list and stuck to it … mostly. I did double the amount of popcorn kernels I purchased, same for the rice I have been purchasing and added some lentils, added a few shakers of popcorn flavoring, I tripled my feminine hygiene supplies since I found coupons on my favored brand, and had to replace a couple of drinking water jugs because one is developing a crack in the lid and the other has a dent in it that will leak sooner rather than later. I had to force myself to take it easy on the volume of fresh and frozen items that I purchased but I did get enough to satisfy the cravings I’ve had for the last two weeks.
Back at the hotel I put into the van frig what needed it, put the shelf stable items in the hotel room, put some drinks and deli food in the hotel room frig, and then let Benny use the pool area for $10 while I worked with the free internet to take care of correspondence and all other adulting tasks that needed it.
While I was sitting at the table working and watching Benny – the water park required all users to wear a life vest – I found out that the hotel has a breakfast buffet every morning and tonight they have a nacho buffet for guests staying more than one night. That would be us; we are staying here again tomorrow night.
When a large group of older kids took over the water park, Benny was quickly ready to go. I got him dried off and wrapped in a warm robe and we headed to pick up a selection from the nacho bar. The chips were suspect but that was no problem since I had a bag of gluten-free corn chips in the room. I also had a bagged salad for Benny and I to share as well.
Despite spending a couple of hours in a pool I had Benny take a bath and scrub top to bottom. When he got out, I winced; there was noticeable a ring around the tub when the water drained out. According to Grandma Barry, dirt is good for kids so I’m not too worried, but I need to make sure the Benny is cleaning all his bits and pieces more thoroughly.
I found a local travel channel for Benny to watch with his dinner and then jumped in the shower myself, leaving the door cracked just in case he called out. It took several washes and rinses to get my hair as clean as I wanted it. I also had to take a pumice stone to my heels despite keeping lotion on them. Looks like I need to put in more time where hygiene is concerned myself.
Benny had fun watching the travel channel with his stuffie crew and imagining what our activity tomorrow is going to be like, but he didn’t last long and was asleep not long after sunset. I had a ways to go, turned off the boob tube, and got busy. I think I’m mostly caught up now. Staying in the hotel room has felt odd, the space feels almost too big. I’m going to use the microwave and make me some warm milk and hopefully that will help me relax.
July 25th
Today we did something different. I wouldn’t want to do this all the time but one day out of how many was nice. It was also nice not to have to do the driving for once. It was an all-day tour around Billings, MT. It wasn’t cheap but it covered some of the biggies in the area, we didn’t have to pay for gas, including admission tickets, and lunch was included as well. They picked us up at the hotel @ 8am and it was 6 pm before we got back.
Our first stop was Moss Mansion. When I think of Montana I mostly think of wide-open spaces and cowboy and Wild West type things. Moss Mansion gave me a different perspective on Montana History. It is a beautiful mansion from an era gone by, and it has also been used in movies and television. The tour company packed a lot into the 45 minutes we were there.
Built in 1903, it was a marvel of its time. The home’s amenities included heated indoor plumbing on each floor, an electric bell system for the servants, and an early rotary telephone among other impressive feats of technology for the period. To me the place looked like “old New York City” and not “Montana.” The family of the man who built it lived there until the 1980s when it was gifted to the Billings Preservation Society and turned into a museum, so all the original furniture and fixtures are still there to look at.
It was a really nice place. Benny didn’t really get much out of it, but I have to admit I like doing things like that. It reminds me of the places that Grandma Barry and Meemo used to take me to do and call it a fieldtrip. Dad didn’t mind because he was on the road so much. So long as I was home when he was then it was fine. Grandfather Barry and Judge Phelps didn’t mind because that meant they didn’t have to “entertain the wives” and could hang out fishing or BSing with their male friends. I must remember to tell Benny about some of those trips and the kind of mischief grandmotherly type ladies can get up to when their husbands aren’t around.
The next three places we went were much more to Benny’s liking.
Pictograph Cave State Park was the first of the three and we were there an hour. I think all of us in the passenger van could have spent more time there, but we had what we had. There are three caves: Pictograph, Middle and Ghost caves. Excavation of the three caves began in 1937, and they were the site of some of Montana's first professional archeological studies. The caves were discovered to be home to generations of prehistoric hunters. Prehistoric hunters who camped in Pictograph Cave left behind artifacts and over 100 pictographs, or rock paintings. The oldest cave paintings are dated at 2,000 years old. There was a neat, ¾-mile, loop trail with lots of sign-thingies to explain all about area. We started at the visitor center for an overview of the 23-acre park.
Pictograph Cave is the deepest of the three caves and it is approximately 160 feet wide and 45 feet deep. Visitors were advised to bring binoculars to get a better view of the rock art. The tour company gave everyone a plastic spyglass with their company logo on it. It looked like something out of a prize box when you went to the dentist but it had enough magnification that we were able to see into the back of the cave where the paintings were located. And they didn’t just find the paintings during excavation. Approximately 30,000 artifacts, ranging from stone tools, weapons, and paintings instruments were excavated from the site. No one has definitely determined what the paintings mean. The images are of animals, warriors. and even rifles. They tell a story, unfortunately no one is left that can read it with complete certainty.
Before we left, I quickly ran back into the gift shop and got some postcards and a patch for Benny. He was beyond thrilled.
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument was a real thrill for both Benny and I. They had a junior ranger program but it was going to be tough to finish, or so I thought.
“I did this one.”
“Benny we haven’t been here yet.”
“I know! This is one you put on my tablet. The digi-tally ones. I know it Aunt Gus!”
And then a male voice. “Aunt Gus? And you would be Little Bear?”
Benny immediately got quiet. He knows he isn’t to talk to strangers. He wasn’t scared though. The man was in a ranger uniform.
“How do you do,” I said. “And yes, that’s us. Er … if I pull his Junior Ranger booklet up on my phone – we don’t have his tablet, we’re on a tour … would it be possible …”
I didn’t even have to finish. “Absolutely,” he told Benny with a smile.
Well, that was nice of the man. And as Benny was the only kid on the tour the guide was thrilled for him and let us catch up while we took care of the rest of it.
The national monument memorializes the US Army's 7th Cavalry and the Lakotas and Cheyennes in one of The Native Americans last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. In June of 1876, 263 soldiers including the famous Colonel George Custer, died while fighting the superior force of the Native Americans. Unfortunately for all concerned, the battle didn’t end anything and only made it that much harder for everyone. Many Native Americans paid for the victory at Little Bighorn, whether they fought there or not. Retaliation was swift and brutal, even against other tribes. That one battle and its result colored relations with Native American peoples for generations.
I’m not sure I explained things very well to Benny. To a five-year-old boy, it all seemed unnecessary. To him both sides, since they were grownups, should have figured out how to get along. I’m not sure I disagree with him. But it seems that as you grow up you lose that bit of commonsense, and everything becomes about rationalization and justification and that’s coming from someone that wanted to be a naval officer where fighting was going to be almost assured. Maybe growing up isn’t all that great when it comes to some things in life.
I am glad that I brought extra Benny snacks. We’d eaten the hotel’s included breakfast – and really not bad at all for something included for free – but the included lunch was more snack than lunch. I wasn’t going to complain because I should have read the fine print. It was more like the Lunchables (Grandfather Barry used to call them my MREs) I used to eat as a kid when I wasn’t with Grandma Barry. There was enough to stop hunger pangs, but not much more than that.
We ate it on the way to our next and final stop, Pompeys Pillar National Monument, site of the only visible physical evidence of the passage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. And our tour guide was very nice. He’d called ahead and had gotten Benny the equivalent of the junior ranger packet for the Bureau of Land Management as well as the Junior Ranger booklet from the national park service. The BLM is who manages that particular national monument so there is some overlap. The BLM program is called Agents of Discovery and is as interesting in its own way as the Junior Ranger program is. We stopped for an hour and Benny was able to complete enough of the activities to earn both of them. He was ecstatic. He, nor I, had expected him to be able to add those to his ever-growing collection. We’ve also been getting stamps from the parks, etc that offer them in our National Park Passports. To be honest we are running out of space but it will be a great keepsake for both of us in the future with our grand adventure is over with.
The Pillar is a sandstone butte and covers about two acres at its base and stands about 150 feet high. Because it is the only sandstone outcrop on the south side of the Yellowstone River for several miles in either direction, it has been a landmark for centuries. While we were there, stairs and a boardwalk allowed us to see the view that William Clark stopped to see and recorded in his journal.
“Like you Aunt Gus!” Benny said excitedly.
“Well, I guess. Sorta. But my doodling isn’t nearly as important as what Lewis and Clark were doing.”
“But we’re adventuring and exploring too,” he insisted.
“Yeppers Little Bear. Let’s go explore a little more.”
He laughed and we followed the boardwalk up the Pillar where there is an honest-to-gawd signature left by William Clark – freaking unreal and had Benny and I hunting documentaries tonight. We continued the stairs to the top.
Combined, the boardwalk and stairs are approximately 1,000 feet long and contain about 200 steps. Hiking trails and access to the gravel bars of the Yellowstone River could have made the Monument more than a quick stop but we didn’t have that long. If we ever come back, the hikes will be something nice to do. There is also a nice picnic area adjacent to the Yellowstone River and shaded by large cottonwood trees.
Archaeological evidence of past occupation of the Pillar area by Native Americans has been discovered at various depths below ground. The artifacts found appear to be the remains of hunting and living camps, probably occupied by relatively small groups of people for short periods of time.
Benny was fascinated by the exhibits in Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center. Exhibits in the center related tp the journey of Captain William Clark and his detachment, including Sacagawea and her son Pomp, down the Yellowstone River Valley in 1806. The center also had exhibits on native culture, flora and fauna of the area, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the historical legacy of Pompeys Pillar.
We were back at the hotel by 6 pm. It was over three hours of driving to see the sites that we did, plus the little bit of sightseeing in Billings itself. Benny and I would have probably skipped Moss Mansion and the city sightseeing and just stuck to the state park and the two national sites. I’m not sure we would have gotten them all done in one day, but I still say it was nice not to have to do all the driving myself. And Benny was treated royally. There was an older couple who didn’t speak English very well but what they could say meant a lot to me. They pointed at Benny and said, “Very good boy. Very good. Special to the heart.” I’ll treasure those words as much as, if not more than, the post cards I’ve been collecting.
I checked the van before we even went to the room. Benny had a full day but I’d promised him some time in the pool. Yeah, I know it was another ten bucks, but he hadn’t asked for a single “toy” or anything else while we were on the tour. Not even when I bought a stack of post cards. He was too busy “investigating” with his still much-loved discovery toys that I’d been smart enough to tuck into the backpack I brought. I did get him a Little Bighorn hiking medallion in addition to the patch from Pictograph. There hadn’t been time to do much at Pompeys but get the stamp in the passports but I took a ton of pictures.
Actually for the rest of the evening I am going to spend time on digital housekeeping. My phone needs to be backed up and email box cleaned up. I need to back up our photos and then back up the back ups. I need to deal with some stuff on the blog. And all of the other techie stuff that is just part of life. While I’m doing that, I’ve found an old documentary on Lewis & Clark by Ken Burns and it will be running in the background while Benny draws or whatever holds his attention.
Resources:
Moss Mansion | Historic House Museum
Pictograph Cave State Park | Montana FWP
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/MTDAKs PPNM_JuniorRangerActivityBook_Final.pdf
Today we did something different. I wouldn’t want to do this all the time but one day out of how many was nice. It was also nice not to have to do the driving for once. It was an all-day tour around Billings, MT. It wasn’t cheap but it covered some of the biggies in the area, we didn’t have to pay for gas, including admission tickets, and lunch was included as well. They picked us up at the hotel @ 8am and it was 6 pm before we got back.
Our first stop was Moss Mansion. When I think of Montana I mostly think of wide-open spaces and cowboy and Wild West type things. Moss Mansion gave me a different perspective on Montana History. It is a beautiful mansion from an era gone by, and it has also been used in movies and television. The tour company packed a lot into the 45 minutes we were there.
Built in 1903, it was a marvel of its time. The home’s amenities included heated indoor plumbing on each floor, an electric bell system for the servants, and an early rotary telephone among other impressive feats of technology for the period. To me the place looked like “old New York City” and not “Montana.” The family of the man who built it lived there until the 1980s when it was gifted to the Billings Preservation Society and turned into a museum, so all the original furniture and fixtures are still there to look at.
It was a really nice place. Benny didn’t really get much out of it, but I have to admit I like doing things like that. It reminds me of the places that Grandma Barry and Meemo used to take me to do and call it a fieldtrip. Dad didn’t mind because he was on the road so much. So long as I was home when he was then it was fine. Grandfather Barry and Judge Phelps didn’t mind because that meant they didn’t have to “entertain the wives” and could hang out fishing or BSing with their male friends. I must remember to tell Benny about some of those trips and the kind of mischief grandmotherly type ladies can get up to when their husbands aren’t around.
The next three places we went were much more to Benny’s liking.
Pictograph Cave State Park was the first of the three and we were there an hour. I think all of us in the passenger van could have spent more time there, but we had what we had. There are three caves: Pictograph, Middle and Ghost caves. Excavation of the three caves began in 1937, and they were the site of some of Montana's first professional archeological studies. The caves were discovered to be home to generations of prehistoric hunters. Prehistoric hunters who camped in Pictograph Cave left behind artifacts and over 100 pictographs, or rock paintings. The oldest cave paintings are dated at 2,000 years old. There was a neat, ¾-mile, loop trail with lots of sign-thingies to explain all about area. We started at the visitor center for an overview of the 23-acre park.
Pictograph Cave is the deepest of the three caves and it is approximately 160 feet wide and 45 feet deep. Visitors were advised to bring binoculars to get a better view of the rock art. The tour company gave everyone a plastic spyglass with their company logo on it. It looked like something out of a prize box when you went to the dentist but it had enough magnification that we were able to see into the back of the cave where the paintings were located. And they didn’t just find the paintings during excavation. Approximately 30,000 artifacts, ranging from stone tools, weapons, and paintings instruments were excavated from the site. No one has definitely determined what the paintings mean. The images are of animals, warriors. and even rifles. They tell a story, unfortunately no one is left that can read it with complete certainty.
Before we left, I quickly ran back into the gift shop and got some postcards and a patch for Benny. He was beyond thrilled.
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument was a real thrill for both Benny and I. They had a junior ranger program but it was going to be tough to finish, or so I thought.
“I did this one.”
“Benny we haven’t been here yet.”
“I know! This is one you put on my tablet. The digi-tally ones. I know it Aunt Gus!”
And then a male voice. “Aunt Gus? And you would be Little Bear?”
Benny immediately got quiet. He knows he isn’t to talk to strangers. He wasn’t scared though. The man was in a ranger uniform.
“How do you do,” I said. “And yes, that’s us. Er … if I pull his Junior Ranger booklet up on my phone – we don’t have his tablet, we’re on a tour … would it be possible …”
I didn’t even have to finish. “Absolutely,” he told Benny with a smile.
Well, that was nice of the man. And as Benny was the only kid on the tour the guide was thrilled for him and let us catch up while we took care of the rest of it.
The national monument memorializes the US Army's 7th Cavalry and the Lakotas and Cheyennes in one of The Native Americans last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. In June of 1876, 263 soldiers including the famous Colonel George Custer, died while fighting the superior force of the Native Americans. Unfortunately for all concerned, the battle didn’t end anything and only made it that much harder for everyone. Many Native Americans paid for the victory at Little Bighorn, whether they fought there or not. Retaliation was swift and brutal, even against other tribes. That one battle and its result colored relations with Native American peoples for generations.
I’m not sure I explained things very well to Benny. To a five-year-old boy, it all seemed unnecessary. To him both sides, since they were grownups, should have figured out how to get along. I’m not sure I disagree with him. But it seems that as you grow up you lose that bit of commonsense, and everything becomes about rationalization and justification and that’s coming from someone that wanted to be a naval officer where fighting was going to be almost assured. Maybe growing up isn’t all that great when it comes to some things in life.
I am glad that I brought extra Benny snacks. We’d eaten the hotel’s included breakfast – and really not bad at all for something included for free – but the included lunch was more snack than lunch. I wasn’t going to complain because I should have read the fine print. It was more like the Lunchables (Grandfather Barry used to call them my MREs) I used to eat as a kid when I wasn’t with Grandma Barry. There was enough to stop hunger pangs, but not much more than that.
We ate it on the way to our next and final stop, Pompeys Pillar National Monument, site of the only visible physical evidence of the passage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. And our tour guide was very nice. He’d called ahead and had gotten Benny the equivalent of the junior ranger packet for the Bureau of Land Management as well as the Junior Ranger booklet from the national park service. The BLM is who manages that particular national monument so there is some overlap. The BLM program is called Agents of Discovery and is as interesting in its own way as the Junior Ranger program is. We stopped for an hour and Benny was able to complete enough of the activities to earn both of them. He was ecstatic. He, nor I, had expected him to be able to add those to his ever-growing collection. We’ve also been getting stamps from the parks, etc that offer them in our National Park Passports. To be honest we are running out of space but it will be a great keepsake for both of us in the future with our grand adventure is over with.
The Pillar is a sandstone butte and covers about two acres at its base and stands about 150 feet high. Because it is the only sandstone outcrop on the south side of the Yellowstone River for several miles in either direction, it has been a landmark for centuries. While we were there, stairs and a boardwalk allowed us to see the view that William Clark stopped to see and recorded in his journal.
“Like you Aunt Gus!” Benny said excitedly.
“Well, I guess. Sorta. But my doodling isn’t nearly as important as what Lewis and Clark were doing.”
“But we’re adventuring and exploring too,” he insisted.
“Yeppers Little Bear. Let’s go explore a little more.”
He laughed and we followed the boardwalk up the Pillar where there is an honest-to-gawd signature left by William Clark – freaking unreal and had Benny and I hunting documentaries tonight. We continued the stairs to the top.
Combined, the boardwalk and stairs are approximately 1,000 feet long and contain about 200 steps. Hiking trails and access to the gravel bars of the Yellowstone River could have made the Monument more than a quick stop but we didn’t have that long. If we ever come back, the hikes will be something nice to do. There is also a nice picnic area adjacent to the Yellowstone River and shaded by large cottonwood trees.
Archaeological evidence of past occupation of the Pillar area by Native Americans has been discovered at various depths below ground. The artifacts found appear to be the remains of hunting and living camps, probably occupied by relatively small groups of people for short periods of time.
Benny was fascinated by the exhibits in Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center. Exhibits in the center related tp the journey of Captain William Clark and his detachment, including Sacagawea and her son Pomp, down the Yellowstone River Valley in 1806. The center also had exhibits on native culture, flora and fauna of the area, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the historical legacy of Pompeys Pillar.
We were back at the hotel by 6 pm. It was over three hours of driving to see the sites that we did, plus the little bit of sightseeing in Billings itself. Benny and I would have probably skipped Moss Mansion and the city sightseeing and just stuck to the state park and the two national sites. I’m not sure we would have gotten them all done in one day, but I still say it was nice not to have to do all the driving myself. And Benny was treated royally. There was an older couple who didn’t speak English very well but what they could say meant a lot to me. They pointed at Benny and said, “Very good boy. Very good. Special to the heart.” I’ll treasure those words as much as, if not more than, the post cards I’ve been collecting.
I checked the van before we even went to the room. Benny had a full day but I’d promised him some time in the pool. Yeah, I know it was another ten bucks, but he hadn’t asked for a single “toy” or anything else while we were on the tour. Not even when I bought a stack of post cards. He was too busy “investigating” with his still much-loved discovery toys that I’d been smart enough to tuck into the backpack I brought. I did get him a Little Bighorn hiking medallion in addition to the patch from Pictograph. There hadn’t been time to do much at Pompeys but get the stamp in the passports but I took a ton of pictures.
Actually for the rest of the evening I am going to spend time on digital housekeeping. My phone needs to be backed up and email box cleaned up. I need to back up our photos and then back up the back ups. I need to deal with some stuff on the blog. And all of the other techie stuff that is just part of life. While I’m doing that, I’ve found an old documentary on Lewis & Clark by Ken Burns and it will be running in the background while Benny draws or whatever holds his attention.
Resources:
Moss Mansion | Historic House Museum
Pictograph Cave State Park | Montana FWP
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/MTDAKs PPNM_JuniorRangerActivityBook_Final.pdf
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Wonderful, so glad I checked in. Thank you.
Jul 26 - 27: Livingston, MT
Weather: 98F/50F
Driving Route:
Woke up to a big problem this morning, something I had hoped wouldn’t happen again for a while. Wrong. Our camping site outside of Bozeman had to cancel at the last second due to a shigella outbreak on site which really threw things off. Lucky for me I was able to get a couple of surprises for Benny and a new camping area without the world coming to an end or us sleeping in a grocery store parking lot someplace – aka wallydocking. And we started heading west and I was hopeful that this time there would be no disasters or near-disasters.
July 26th
First surprise for Benny was stopping at Prairie Dog Town State park. It was just after sunrise and we didn’t stay long, just long enough for Benny to get tickled by several prairie dogs that seemed to be checking him out.
Then it was on towards Livingston, MT before 9am. For? An hour of horseback riding. The horses were therapy horses and they served Benny’s age which I found most horseback companies do not. The youngest I found other than this one, and the one in Yellowstone, were for 8-year-olds and older. One of the other riders at first objected to Benny’s age because she didn’t want to be on a “baby ride.” But Benny won her over, the charming little stinker. He saw her t-shirt that she had been to rodeos and Benny asked if she rode horses. When she told him yes, he asked if she would show him. The girl was demonstrably on the autism spectrum, but she was quite good at showing Benny the best way to mount, all the safety rules, how helmets might sound stupid but for little kids they were like having a helmet to ride a bike, and the rules with the horses.
Afterwards Benny asked if they could take a picture together with their horses and promised that I would blur out their faces because that was the “social media rules” I have, but he wanted to tell everyone how she had helped him ride a horse the right way.
I asked her parents and when they saw the blog, they approved the picture that we were allowed to use. Similar to Benny, viewers would only see them with their faces turned away. It was actually a very good picture and I got permission from the ranch to include a picture of their sign and referral information.
Next, we had a picnic in the parking lot with the last of the deli food from Billings that we hadn’t had to use because of the free meals we’d accessed.
At 1:30 in the same area we went on a hike to Chimney Rock with a guide and group of eight other people. Their advertisement was nearly irresistible when I was scrambling to come up with a replacement itinerary.
Attention photographers, nature lovers, and explorers! Looking for a beautiful guided hike on private land where you can enjoy the beauty, peace and quiet of Big Sky country with minimal distractions and maximum views? Then you are in luck. Our enthusiastic tour guides are members of Erik’s Ranch, which provides people on the autism spectrum with first-of-its-kind living, working, and social environments. They will lead you on this gorgeous trek to Chimney Rock and back. What is Chimney Rock? A distinctive giant piece of rock on a hill visible from the ranch peeking out of the landscape, Chimney Rock is almost calling for visitors.
Benny was one of the younger participants as most were young adults. Some were obviously challenged with buddies to help them, but most were there on their own and couldn’t be told apart from anyone else except they were in general more intentionally friendly or at least not intentionally unfriendly.
I gotta say I wish there had been people like this when I was trying to figure life out. I mean there was my family, but in general most people thought I was odd. I had some that thought I was a lot worse than odd. Lawrence finally told me to stop letting other people tell me what I was and to simply be the best me I was capable of being. When he wouldn’t allow me to be labeled, not even by myself, other people stopping trying to. I was simply Gus Barrymore.
Along the hike, the guides made sure to get us to listen to the birdsong in the area. We also saw deer and a lone male elk as well. Benny got a kick out of the guides calling it the elk’s yard. Everyone had a camera and our guides helped everyone to get the access to the best scenery, including a few beautiful panoramas of mountain ranges. Some of the hike went through some beautiful, forested acres. During that part they set a good pace on the incline telling all of us it was a great way to work our quads. We also got some trivia such as the names of the movies that were filmed in the valley such as “A River Runs Through It” and “The Horse Whisperer”. We hiked for three hours. We had one participant that was struggling towards the end, but the rest of us hated for it to be over.
Back at our starting point at 4:30 pm we headed out to a place called Tom Miner Basin. It took an hour to get there despite being on good highway until the last few miles. We checked in at 6 pm and had to go over a lot of rules, and with good reason. The activity started at 6:30 pm … a grizzly bear excursion tour.
I had called ahead to make sure everything was still kosher due to Benny’s age and after passing along the “Aunt Gus and Little Bear” blog they were agreeable. I still had to sign a waiver but then again, so did everyone else.
Right after everyone introduced themselves we were given some very specific pieces of information. Grizzly bears once roamed throughout the entire western United States, through the Great Plains, into Mexico, and along rivers in desert habitats. Unfortunately control actions and habitat loss has eliminated them from 98 percent of their original domain in the US, but they are still found in Montana and Alaska.
Grizzlies tend to be solitary animals, so while that is what we were there for, there was no guarantee that we would. However, even if we didn’t see a grizzly we were guaranteed to see one or more other animals. In addition to grizzly bears, we might see black bears, mule deer, elk, raptors, etc. We weren’t just going to go blundering around in the forest and meadows. We had experienced guides who would keep us to a distance that was safe for both us and the animals by using spotting scopes and binoculars. Benny had a pair that were Lawrence's, and I had my own pair as well as a scope that looked like a pirate spyglass that I’d won at the completion of one my Sea Scout ranks.
It was evening but not dark when we set off. By the time we returned at 8:30 pm I thought all of us were going to bust from trying to stay quiet despite being extremely excited. We didn’t see just one grizzly but four. A young male that had probably only been on his own a year and a mother with two cubs though they weren’t little, just smaller than the sow (a female bear) and the boar (a male bear). We saw all of the other animals on the list as well, even a black bear though it was far in the distance and could only be seen with binoculars.
When w got back to the van it was not a quick drive to get to our final destination of the night. We headed back towards Livingston to stop at the KOA there. Benny was nodding off before we pulled in. Mistake on my part trying to put so much into one day, and I was glad that I had booked a second night at the KOA because it was nearly 10 pm before I was backed in and had gotten us both to bed.
Benny is in bed after a snack of handful of popcorn, and I need to get there myself. I just had to log the expenses and clean up tomorrow’s itinerary a bit. I’m going to give my feet one more slather of lotion and then I’m done adulting and I’m hitting the hay.
July 27th
Weather: 98F/52F
I’m going to make sure that this KOA gets a double thumbs up during my review. It was built in 1967, and while it has obviously been through multiple renovations, it has managed to hang onto some old-fashioned charm. It may not have all the bells and whistles some of the newer KOAs and other RV camps do, but what it lacks is far and away made up for with great staff, clean facilities, and gorgeous views.
First, it has 500 feet of Yellowstone River frontage. That alone is worth some stars. It is also just nine miles south of I-90 and 40 miles north of Yellowstone making it a great base camp for exploring this part of Montana and nearby Wyoming. They also have cabins right on the river if you’d rather do that than tent camp, or you just need to exit the moving vehicle for a few nights. If you don’t get a river side camping spot, the RV sites aren’t too shabby either with their mountain views. Then add to that there is hiking, biking, and horseback riding nearby. Amenities include free wifi which I used to do some adulting and catch up on correspondence. There was also laundry and showers, and a store where we could get firewood and propane if needed. I had activities planned for the morning, but we spent the rest of the day back at the KOA.
First off, we hit a farmer’s market that was well-advertised in the area. There were food trucks and booths of fresh produce and souvenirs for sale. There was also live music and some children’s activities that Benny willingly participated in and came away with some things like coloring sheets and some colored feathers as prizes. Seemed a lot like busy work, the kind of stuff I would have hated at his age, but he seemed to enjoy himself and I watched him put the feathers in his “treasure box” when we got to the van. He is very choosy about what goes in there so hopefully he wasn’t faking it just to appease me.
A couple of the food trucks were overtly serving gluten-free customers and I surprised Benny with a corn dog, cheese curds, and a strawberry and cream funnel cake that we could share. The funnel cake might have been a mistake, boy did he get wound up and I could have used a leash to keep him from running off.
At the farmer’s market area I picked up a little too much telling me the funnel cake might not have been the best idea for me either. Apples, apricots, fresh beans, beets, boysenberries, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cherries, cucumbers, gooseberries, grapes, nectarines, peas, green peppers, potatoes, raspberries, summer squash, saskatoons, and strawberries. I knew I was in trouble but quickly formulated a plan but that was for later. First, we were going on a short hike.
The KOA is just four miles from the Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness area with miles of hiking trails. I drove to the Pine Creek Falls trailhead where it was just a a mile and a half hike to the beautiful waterfall.
It is an easy hike, with no large hills or obstacles. As a result, there were more than just a few people doing it. Starting at the trailhead, the trail wound through a lodgepole forest and slowly gained elevation. The scenery was impressive, with Black Mountain in the distance. Several bridges cross the trail, and I saw several people refilling water bottles. Ugh. They were using filters but I’m pretty sure a couple of them only filtered out sediment. Giardia is ever present on popular trails and in the more sparsely travelled back country. If you are going to drink the water, make sure to properly treat it before it gets anywhere near your face. Continuing down the trail, there was a final bridge directly beneath Pine Creek Falls.
The falls were impressive. While we were there, there were a couple of rockhounds nice enough to take the time out of their day and show Benny the collection of different kinds of rocks that were swept down from the falls.
After we got back to the KOA I did some laundry, including the bedding, and in general let Benny and I have a break from the go-go-go, since the next few days we are going to be back in a national park. I mean I did get a lot done, but it was a stationary kind of activity. I prepped a lot of the fresh items for the dehydrator and what I didn’t dehydrate I prepped so that they would last as long as possible … like cleaning and cutting the carrots into “sticks” and storing them in water in the frig.
Benny took for-ev-er to wind down from the funnel cake. I will not be doing that again any time soon. I think he finally carb crashed. I’m going to go make sure he is all the way on his bed and then I’m crashing myself.
Weather: 98F/50F
Driving Route:
Woke up to a big problem this morning, something I had hoped wouldn’t happen again for a while. Wrong. Our camping site outside of Bozeman had to cancel at the last second due to a shigella outbreak on site which really threw things off. Lucky for me I was able to get a couple of surprises for Benny and a new camping area without the world coming to an end or us sleeping in a grocery store parking lot someplace – aka wallydocking. And we started heading west and I was hopeful that this time there would be no disasters or near-disasters.
July 26th
First surprise for Benny was stopping at Prairie Dog Town State park. It was just after sunrise and we didn’t stay long, just long enough for Benny to get tickled by several prairie dogs that seemed to be checking him out.
Then it was on towards Livingston, MT before 9am. For? An hour of horseback riding. The horses were therapy horses and they served Benny’s age which I found most horseback companies do not. The youngest I found other than this one, and the one in Yellowstone, were for 8-year-olds and older. One of the other riders at first objected to Benny’s age because she didn’t want to be on a “baby ride.” But Benny won her over, the charming little stinker. He saw her t-shirt that she had been to rodeos and Benny asked if she rode horses. When she told him yes, he asked if she would show him. The girl was demonstrably on the autism spectrum, but she was quite good at showing Benny the best way to mount, all the safety rules, how helmets might sound stupid but for little kids they were like having a helmet to ride a bike, and the rules with the horses.
Afterwards Benny asked if they could take a picture together with their horses and promised that I would blur out their faces because that was the “social media rules” I have, but he wanted to tell everyone how she had helped him ride a horse the right way.
I asked her parents and when they saw the blog, they approved the picture that we were allowed to use. Similar to Benny, viewers would only see them with their faces turned away. It was actually a very good picture and I got permission from the ranch to include a picture of their sign and referral information.
Next, we had a picnic in the parking lot with the last of the deli food from Billings that we hadn’t had to use because of the free meals we’d accessed.
At 1:30 in the same area we went on a hike to Chimney Rock with a guide and group of eight other people. Their advertisement was nearly irresistible when I was scrambling to come up with a replacement itinerary.
Attention photographers, nature lovers, and explorers! Looking for a beautiful guided hike on private land where you can enjoy the beauty, peace and quiet of Big Sky country with minimal distractions and maximum views? Then you are in luck. Our enthusiastic tour guides are members of Erik’s Ranch, which provides people on the autism spectrum with first-of-its-kind living, working, and social environments. They will lead you on this gorgeous trek to Chimney Rock and back. What is Chimney Rock? A distinctive giant piece of rock on a hill visible from the ranch peeking out of the landscape, Chimney Rock is almost calling for visitors.
Benny was one of the younger participants as most were young adults. Some were obviously challenged with buddies to help them, but most were there on their own and couldn’t be told apart from anyone else except they were in general more intentionally friendly or at least not intentionally unfriendly.
I gotta say I wish there had been people like this when I was trying to figure life out. I mean there was my family, but in general most people thought I was odd. I had some that thought I was a lot worse than odd. Lawrence finally told me to stop letting other people tell me what I was and to simply be the best me I was capable of being. When he wouldn’t allow me to be labeled, not even by myself, other people stopping trying to. I was simply Gus Barrymore.
Along the hike, the guides made sure to get us to listen to the birdsong in the area. We also saw deer and a lone male elk as well. Benny got a kick out of the guides calling it the elk’s yard. Everyone had a camera and our guides helped everyone to get the access to the best scenery, including a few beautiful panoramas of mountain ranges. Some of the hike went through some beautiful, forested acres. During that part they set a good pace on the incline telling all of us it was a great way to work our quads. We also got some trivia such as the names of the movies that were filmed in the valley such as “A River Runs Through It” and “The Horse Whisperer”. We hiked for three hours. We had one participant that was struggling towards the end, but the rest of us hated for it to be over.
Back at our starting point at 4:30 pm we headed out to a place called Tom Miner Basin. It took an hour to get there despite being on good highway until the last few miles. We checked in at 6 pm and had to go over a lot of rules, and with good reason. The activity started at 6:30 pm … a grizzly bear excursion tour.
I had called ahead to make sure everything was still kosher due to Benny’s age and after passing along the “Aunt Gus and Little Bear” blog they were agreeable. I still had to sign a waiver but then again, so did everyone else.
Right after everyone introduced themselves we were given some very specific pieces of information. Grizzly bears once roamed throughout the entire western United States, through the Great Plains, into Mexico, and along rivers in desert habitats. Unfortunately control actions and habitat loss has eliminated them from 98 percent of their original domain in the US, but they are still found in Montana and Alaska.
Grizzlies tend to be solitary animals, so while that is what we were there for, there was no guarantee that we would. However, even if we didn’t see a grizzly we were guaranteed to see one or more other animals. In addition to grizzly bears, we might see black bears, mule deer, elk, raptors, etc. We weren’t just going to go blundering around in the forest and meadows. We had experienced guides who would keep us to a distance that was safe for both us and the animals by using spotting scopes and binoculars. Benny had a pair that were Lawrence's, and I had my own pair as well as a scope that looked like a pirate spyglass that I’d won at the completion of one my Sea Scout ranks.
It was evening but not dark when we set off. By the time we returned at 8:30 pm I thought all of us were going to bust from trying to stay quiet despite being extremely excited. We didn’t see just one grizzly but four. A young male that had probably only been on his own a year and a mother with two cubs though they weren’t little, just smaller than the sow (a female bear) and the boar (a male bear). We saw all of the other animals on the list as well, even a black bear though it was far in the distance and could only be seen with binoculars.
When w got back to the van it was not a quick drive to get to our final destination of the night. We headed back towards Livingston to stop at the KOA there. Benny was nodding off before we pulled in. Mistake on my part trying to put so much into one day, and I was glad that I had booked a second night at the KOA because it was nearly 10 pm before I was backed in and had gotten us both to bed.
Benny is in bed after a snack of handful of popcorn, and I need to get there myself. I just had to log the expenses and clean up tomorrow’s itinerary a bit. I’m going to give my feet one more slather of lotion and then I’m done adulting and I’m hitting the hay.
July 27th
Weather: 98F/52F
I’m going to make sure that this KOA gets a double thumbs up during my review. It was built in 1967, and while it has obviously been through multiple renovations, it has managed to hang onto some old-fashioned charm. It may not have all the bells and whistles some of the newer KOAs and other RV camps do, but what it lacks is far and away made up for with great staff, clean facilities, and gorgeous views.
First, it has 500 feet of Yellowstone River frontage. That alone is worth some stars. It is also just nine miles south of I-90 and 40 miles north of Yellowstone making it a great base camp for exploring this part of Montana and nearby Wyoming. They also have cabins right on the river if you’d rather do that than tent camp, or you just need to exit the moving vehicle for a few nights. If you don’t get a river side camping spot, the RV sites aren’t too shabby either with their mountain views. Then add to that there is hiking, biking, and horseback riding nearby. Amenities include free wifi which I used to do some adulting and catch up on correspondence. There was also laundry and showers, and a store where we could get firewood and propane if needed. I had activities planned for the morning, but we spent the rest of the day back at the KOA.
First off, we hit a farmer’s market that was well-advertised in the area. There were food trucks and booths of fresh produce and souvenirs for sale. There was also live music and some children’s activities that Benny willingly participated in and came away with some things like coloring sheets and some colored feathers as prizes. Seemed a lot like busy work, the kind of stuff I would have hated at his age, but he seemed to enjoy himself and I watched him put the feathers in his “treasure box” when we got to the van. He is very choosy about what goes in there so hopefully he wasn’t faking it just to appease me.
A couple of the food trucks were overtly serving gluten-free customers and I surprised Benny with a corn dog, cheese curds, and a strawberry and cream funnel cake that we could share. The funnel cake might have been a mistake, boy did he get wound up and I could have used a leash to keep him from running off.
At the farmer’s market area I picked up a little too much telling me the funnel cake might not have been the best idea for me either. Apples, apricots, fresh beans, beets, boysenberries, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cherries, cucumbers, gooseberries, grapes, nectarines, peas, green peppers, potatoes, raspberries, summer squash, saskatoons, and strawberries. I knew I was in trouble but quickly formulated a plan but that was for later. First, we were going on a short hike.
The KOA is just four miles from the Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness area with miles of hiking trails. I drove to the Pine Creek Falls trailhead where it was just a a mile and a half hike to the beautiful waterfall.
It is an easy hike, with no large hills or obstacles. As a result, there were more than just a few people doing it. Starting at the trailhead, the trail wound through a lodgepole forest and slowly gained elevation. The scenery was impressive, with Black Mountain in the distance. Several bridges cross the trail, and I saw several people refilling water bottles. Ugh. They were using filters but I’m pretty sure a couple of them only filtered out sediment. Giardia is ever present on popular trails and in the more sparsely travelled back country. If you are going to drink the water, make sure to properly treat it before it gets anywhere near your face. Continuing down the trail, there was a final bridge directly beneath Pine Creek Falls.
The falls were impressive. While we were there, there were a couple of rockhounds nice enough to take the time out of their day and show Benny the collection of different kinds of rocks that were swept down from the falls.
After we got back to the KOA I did some laundry, including the bedding, and in general let Benny and I have a break from the go-go-go, since the next few days we are going to be back in a national park. I mean I did get a lot done, but it was a stationary kind of activity. I prepped a lot of the fresh items for the dehydrator and what I didn’t dehydrate I prepped so that they would last as long as possible … like cleaning and cutting the carrots into “sticks” and storing them in water in the frig.
Benny took for-ev-er to wind down from the funnel cake. I will not be doing that again any time soon. I think he finally carb crashed. I’m going to go make sure he is all the way on his bed and then I’m crashing myself.
beaglemama
Contributing Member
Thank you very much!
Jul 28 – Aug 2nd - Glacier National Park, Montana
Driving Route:
We had to give up Grant-Kohrs because of our reservations. Might have been a good thing anyway. Weather was funky from out that way from what I heard.
July 28th
Weather: 82F/61F
Drove straight through to Glacier National Park. Took about six hours to drive 333 miles to get to St. Mary. Drove through the St. Mary entrance and directly to the Rising Sun Campground. Got one of the last spots to be had. Thank goodness because I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. I made some assumptions I shouldn’t have. Grandma Barry used to say God looks out for children and fools. I remember thinking not too long ago that I might still be a little of both. Before we leave Glacier I’m going to really have to dig down in our plans and review miles covered and all of that. We cannot afford to keep having these kinds of near disasters. My worry over it is starting to hinder my ability to control the brain hamster. And it is triggering some serious OCD. I’m looking at my watch every few minutes like I’ve got a tick. And I find myself writing the same note down over and over. Not good. That is a bad sign that I need to figure out how to get out of the hamster wheel.
The Rising Sun Campground is located just west of St. Mary and halfway along St. Mary Lake. When I checked in I was told we would enjoy beautiful sunrises in the morning with Red Eagle Mountain as a backdrop, and that the campground serves as a convenient base camp to many day hikes located east of Logan Pass. I was lucky that the site we got was open rather than tree’d over. It meant that since I must park the van for most of our stay, the solar batteries will be charging constantly, which should allow me to run the fan and other gizmos as necessary.
Why will I need to run the fan at the end of the day? Because while this park might be called “Glacier,” the weather is supposed to turn anything but glacial. Today was nice; high of 82F and tonight’s low will be 61F. Over the next couple of days however, I’ve been warned that the temps are expected to get into the upper 80s which means we’ll come back to a stuffy van. I’ll be honest and say I’m a little worried about the stuff in the frig and freezer but I’ve not had any problems up to this point so I should stop borrowing trouble. I’ll just focus on using that stuff up before I get into any of the longer storage foods.
Another worry that is pinging my nerves is that the ranger and camp hosts are making a point to remind everyone about the safety rules for bear and mountain lion country. I’ve grown used to bear safety, but freaking mountain lions?! Okay, deep breath Gus. You sailed into the Atlantic on your own, why are you losing it here on land? Probably because … mountain lion! A bear I can see being able to defend Benny from but a freakin’ frackin’ lion?! I’m doing a little extra research tonight and seeing what I need to do. Maybe the bear spray will work on them too.
Calm down girl. You are leading with your chin and the hamster is taking full advantage. Stop it. Get back on track.
After six hours on the road and nearly another two for sign in and camp set up, both Benny and I were ready to get out of the van and work off some wiggles. And lucky us it was mandatory that we get rid of the four wheels we were riding. Similar to some other national parks, the only way to get around this time of year in Glacier is to use their shuttle system. But we didn’t even need to do that for the only thing I had scheduled.
Right from camp we took the day hike to Otokomi Lake (~5.5 miles one way); the trailhead was right next to the camp-store. Going was strenuous because of the constant increase in elevation; coming back was not. Elevation gain was 1,900 feet.
The first third-of-a-mile along the Rose Creek Trail skirted around the rental cabins at Rising Sun. The noise coming from the cabins despite it being the middle of the day was off-putting. I hoped the noise settled down at night and I have to admit that so far so good.
We listened to pieces of an audio tour that I found when I was researching the trail when we would stop to catch our breath and enjoy the scenery. After construction began in 1940, that area of the park was originally known as the "East Glacier Auto Camp". Because there were two locations using the name "East Glacier" at that time, the citizens of Glacier Park Station, where Glacier Park Lodge is located, successfully petitioned the National Park Service in 1950 to have the name officially changed to East Glacier Park. In the fall of that same year the East Glacier Auto Camp was renamed Rising Sun, I assume to cut down on confusion.
Beyond the cabins the trail began making a relatively steep climb over the course of the next half-mile. It didn’t bother Benny and I, not my Little Bear, but I did make sure we stopped to rest every little bit or so. While passing through a fairly dense conifer forest, I pointed out to Benny some berries, otherwise known as a bear buffet (without telling him I was watching for said bears). It made him laugh which is what I was after.
As we went higher along the southern slopes of 7935-foot Otokomi Mountain, we started traveling high above a gorge in the Rose Creek valley below. We had intermittent vantage points along the way that gave us some impressive views of both the canyon and the mountains around us.
At roughly 2.25 miles from the trailhead we reached a series of five waterfalls that flow down Rose Creek. We didn’t actually pass next to the falls, but did get a nice view of them from the trail. Beyond this point the trail passed several more waterfalls and cascades, some we could see and some we could only hear. After hiking another three-quarters of a mile we reached ye another sizeable waterfall, one that dropped at least 30 feet or so. There was a spur trail that we took that gave us a much better vantage point.
Round about that same point, the trail began to pass through some relatively tall vegetation. According to the trail guide for this hike, this was a good place to make a lot of noise in order to avoid a surprise encounter with a bear. Idiots from up the trail were trying to scare each other and when I finally hiked beyond them I nearly took my hiking staff and whacked them in the head. They hadn’t just been scaring each other, they’d upset Benny as well. We weren’t the only other hikers they startled. I heard some trail gossip when we started back down that a ranger had “corrected their behavior.” Whether that is what happened or not I’m not sure. All I know is that we didn’t run into them when we should have.
At 4.3 miles the trail began to open up, allowing us to see our destination towards the left. There were deep red rocks in the heart of the cirque at the end of the valley. Sitting in the basin just below that cirque was Otokomi Lake. At 4.8 miles we emerged from the forest and into a wide-open area. From there the path crossed a large talus field, as well as a couple of avalanche chutes. We knew what those were because I had already downloaded a printed copy of the Junior Ranger booklet for Glacier National Park and Benny had dutifully been working on it while we drove earlier today.
At roughly 5.3 miles from the trailhead we finally arrived at the Otokomi Lake, near the backcountry campground. All three campsites were full. The lake itself was another tenth-of-a-mile. There is more tall vegetation but this time it isn’t bears to watch for but moose. Oh my Lord there was one tall fella that I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to startle.
There isn't much of a beach area at the end of the trail, but there is a narrow side trail that veers off towards the right. The views weren’t any better so I stuck closer to a clearing that made it easier for Benny to look around without having to worry about bears, moose, or stupid people my age that act Benny’s age. Correction. Even Benny behaved better than some people I saw on the trail. The trail is popular so you get all types, I just wasn’t in the mood for some of them.
Trivia factoid: The lake is named after Otokomi, a part Blackfoot Indian who accompanied George Bird Grinnell on his early expeditions in the Glacier region. Otokomi in the Blackfeet language means "Yellow Fish". Otokomi's English name was Rose, from which the names Rose Basin and Rose Creek are derived.
I’m not saying the screwballs ruined the hike, but we didn’t stay up at the lake very long before deciding to head back down and stop near a couple of the waterfalls instead. Which we did and that’s where we ate our dinner that I’d packed using some of the fresh stuff from the farmer’s market and a pile of other finger foods as well.
Despite getting here little after mid-day we still managed to put in about eleven miles of hiking. Benny is getting so tall that a fifteen-to-twenty-minute mile is very much within his range which is a comfortable stroll given how longs are legs are and that I make sure we take lots of breaks to enjoy ourselves. Benny was super happy and relaxed and went to bed with a smile on his face.
As soon as I heard his kid-snores the smile fell off my face. Someone tried to hack my online accounts again though they didn’t go after Benny’s. The money I’m paying to the digital security company is proving to be worth it even if it is an added expense. They set their digital dogs after whoever it was and none of my personal stuff was infiltrated. I don’t know if this is leftover from the previous incident or if this is a completely new one. The rep reminded me to read the newsletters they send out on financial trends. When I did, I realized a lot more of that stuff is going on than I was aware of. I’m not unusual. I used to laugh when Dad would yell at the news people on the radio and say things like, “It’s the economy you idiot! Try walking in my boots!” I’m not laughing now. Even Florida’s economy is getting trashed despite having had it better than average for so long.
I did not need this on top of the other stress I’m feeling. There’s a lot I can’t do anything about but one thing I do know is that I need to start pushing the blog a little more. Not advertising it, but making it more useful for people and putting commission links in there that will increase the income producing potential. I’m going to have to make the time for that even at the risk of taking time away from the Adventure and Benny. I’ll try and do it at night but that might not always be possible.
Not loving one of our “neighbors” either. They’ve got three obnoxious kids – all boys – and a ranger has been over there twice that I know of to remind the adults that the kids aren’t allowed to roam all over the campground without supervision. They were also a distraction for people at this evening’s ranger program. Now given my own issues as a kid (and adult) I try and give a lot of grace when it comes to kids misbehaving. That said? If the kid can’t or won’t behave, the adult in their equation needs to step up and help. I saw the dad pop one of the kids on the back of the head once, otherwise both parents just ignored the fact they not only weren’t paying attention but were making it difficult for the people sitting near them to enjoy the program. When that happens you just calmly take the kid and walk away. Sigh. I’m not even a parent and I know doing that is better than just ignoring what is going on right in front of you.
I didn’t make any friends when earlier in the afternoon the third time the boys kicked their ball into our space nearly tripping Benny (that wasn’t intentional, they were just careless) I didn’t tell them where it went, which was under the van. The boys were finally sent to bed for the night after the parents let them get all jacked up on a sugary drink. That’s when I dug it out and rolled it to the adults where were sitting around a smokey campfire. Boy did they give me sour looks. Apparently they are friends or family with the campsite on the other side of them and those adults were there as well. They all had a few things to say though they were passive aggressive and never say anything to me directly. There is a baby in that group, but the poor exhausted mom disappeared early and – despite the attempt at avoiding their loud TMI – I heard she was sleeping in the cab of the truck with the baby so everyone else in their group could sleep.
I’ve cleaned up our site and put a bike chain and lock on the fire grate as a way of making sure people know we are coming back. I mean the van is going to be sitting right here but better safe than sorry. I also put packing tape over the camp registration that is clipped to our site so no one could change it while we are out tomorrow. The rangers know who has paid and I paid for all six nights up front. I just don’t want to come back and have to fight for the site.
I get the feeling that one or more of the rangers are wanting to ask if we are “those people” – Aunt Gus and Little Bear – but I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to be some kinda celebrity so I’ll let them come to me. Who knows? I might just have a big head or something.
I would have had Benny take a shower tonight but the camp has two showers. Count them. One. Two. One for men, one for women. As in a single shower for each gender. You do not want to know how long the line was. But we can’t just use the head shower in the van all willy-nilly either because there are no hook ups here. Meaning keeping the freshwater tank filled is a priority that isn’t easy to keep up with. I used the collapsible bucket to refill it tonight and I also topped off all our potable water containers. If it is going to get as warm as they forecast, we will need it.
Last constructive thing I’m going to do before hitting the hay is prep breakfast and lunch and take the meat out of the freezer that I plan on cooking on the biolite for dinner tomorrow. Grilled chicken breast. Yum. I have us booked on a fun morning adventure, just wished it started a little earlier than it does. I’ll use the time to make a good breakfast of omelets and home fries. Double yum.
Driving Route:
We had to give up Grant-Kohrs because of our reservations. Might have been a good thing anyway. Weather was funky from out that way from what I heard.
July 28th
Weather: 82F/61F
Drove straight through to Glacier National Park. Took about six hours to drive 333 miles to get to St. Mary. Drove through the St. Mary entrance and directly to the Rising Sun Campground. Got one of the last spots to be had. Thank goodness because I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. I made some assumptions I shouldn’t have. Grandma Barry used to say God looks out for children and fools. I remember thinking not too long ago that I might still be a little of both. Before we leave Glacier I’m going to really have to dig down in our plans and review miles covered and all of that. We cannot afford to keep having these kinds of near disasters. My worry over it is starting to hinder my ability to control the brain hamster. And it is triggering some serious OCD. I’m looking at my watch every few minutes like I’ve got a tick. And I find myself writing the same note down over and over. Not good. That is a bad sign that I need to figure out how to get out of the hamster wheel.
The Rising Sun Campground is located just west of St. Mary and halfway along St. Mary Lake. When I checked in I was told we would enjoy beautiful sunrises in the morning with Red Eagle Mountain as a backdrop, and that the campground serves as a convenient base camp to many day hikes located east of Logan Pass. I was lucky that the site we got was open rather than tree’d over. It meant that since I must park the van for most of our stay, the solar batteries will be charging constantly, which should allow me to run the fan and other gizmos as necessary.
Why will I need to run the fan at the end of the day? Because while this park might be called “Glacier,” the weather is supposed to turn anything but glacial. Today was nice; high of 82F and tonight’s low will be 61F. Over the next couple of days however, I’ve been warned that the temps are expected to get into the upper 80s which means we’ll come back to a stuffy van. I’ll be honest and say I’m a little worried about the stuff in the frig and freezer but I’ve not had any problems up to this point so I should stop borrowing trouble. I’ll just focus on using that stuff up before I get into any of the longer storage foods.
Another worry that is pinging my nerves is that the ranger and camp hosts are making a point to remind everyone about the safety rules for bear and mountain lion country. I’ve grown used to bear safety, but freaking mountain lions?! Okay, deep breath Gus. You sailed into the Atlantic on your own, why are you losing it here on land? Probably because … mountain lion! A bear I can see being able to defend Benny from but a freakin’ frackin’ lion?! I’m doing a little extra research tonight and seeing what I need to do. Maybe the bear spray will work on them too.
Calm down girl. You are leading with your chin and the hamster is taking full advantage. Stop it. Get back on track.
After six hours on the road and nearly another two for sign in and camp set up, both Benny and I were ready to get out of the van and work off some wiggles. And lucky us it was mandatory that we get rid of the four wheels we were riding. Similar to some other national parks, the only way to get around this time of year in Glacier is to use their shuttle system. But we didn’t even need to do that for the only thing I had scheduled.
Right from camp we took the day hike to Otokomi Lake (~5.5 miles one way); the trailhead was right next to the camp-store. Going was strenuous because of the constant increase in elevation; coming back was not. Elevation gain was 1,900 feet.
The first third-of-a-mile along the Rose Creek Trail skirted around the rental cabins at Rising Sun. The noise coming from the cabins despite it being the middle of the day was off-putting. I hoped the noise settled down at night and I have to admit that so far so good.
We listened to pieces of an audio tour that I found when I was researching the trail when we would stop to catch our breath and enjoy the scenery. After construction began in 1940, that area of the park was originally known as the "East Glacier Auto Camp". Because there were two locations using the name "East Glacier" at that time, the citizens of Glacier Park Station, where Glacier Park Lodge is located, successfully petitioned the National Park Service in 1950 to have the name officially changed to East Glacier Park. In the fall of that same year the East Glacier Auto Camp was renamed Rising Sun, I assume to cut down on confusion.
Beyond the cabins the trail began making a relatively steep climb over the course of the next half-mile. It didn’t bother Benny and I, not my Little Bear, but I did make sure we stopped to rest every little bit or so. While passing through a fairly dense conifer forest, I pointed out to Benny some berries, otherwise known as a bear buffet (without telling him I was watching for said bears). It made him laugh which is what I was after.
As we went higher along the southern slopes of 7935-foot Otokomi Mountain, we started traveling high above a gorge in the Rose Creek valley below. We had intermittent vantage points along the way that gave us some impressive views of both the canyon and the mountains around us.
At roughly 2.25 miles from the trailhead we reached a series of five waterfalls that flow down Rose Creek. We didn’t actually pass next to the falls, but did get a nice view of them from the trail. Beyond this point the trail passed several more waterfalls and cascades, some we could see and some we could only hear. After hiking another three-quarters of a mile we reached ye another sizeable waterfall, one that dropped at least 30 feet or so. There was a spur trail that we took that gave us a much better vantage point.
Round about that same point, the trail began to pass through some relatively tall vegetation. According to the trail guide for this hike, this was a good place to make a lot of noise in order to avoid a surprise encounter with a bear. Idiots from up the trail were trying to scare each other and when I finally hiked beyond them I nearly took my hiking staff and whacked them in the head. They hadn’t just been scaring each other, they’d upset Benny as well. We weren’t the only other hikers they startled. I heard some trail gossip when we started back down that a ranger had “corrected their behavior.” Whether that is what happened or not I’m not sure. All I know is that we didn’t run into them when we should have.
At 4.3 miles the trail began to open up, allowing us to see our destination towards the left. There were deep red rocks in the heart of the cirque at the end of the valley. Sitting in the basin just below that cirque was Otokomi Lake. At 4.8 miles we emerged from the forest and into a wide-open area. From there the path crossed a large talus field, as well as a couple of avalanche chutes. We knew what those were because I had already downloaded a printed copy of the Junior Ranger booklet for Glacier National Park and Benny had dutifully been working on it while we drove earlier today.
At roughly 5.3 miles from the trailhead we finally arrived at the Otokomi Lake, near the backcountry campground. All three campsites were full. The lake itself was another tenth-of-a-mile. There is more tall vegetation but this time it isn’t bears to watch for but moose. Oh my Lord there was one tall fella that I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to startle.
There isn't much of a beach area at the end of the trail, but there is a narrow side trail that veers off towards the right. The views weren’t any better so I stuck closer to a clearing that made it easier for Benny to look around without having to worry about bears, moose, or stupid people my age that act Benny’s age. Correction. Even Benny behaved better than some people I saw on the trail. The trail is popular so you get all types, I just wasn’t in the mood for some of them.
Trivia factoid: The lake is named after Otokomi, a part Blackfoot Indian who accompanied George Bird Grinnell on his early expeditions in the Glacier region. Otokomi in the Blackfeet language means "Yellow Fish". Otokomi's English name was Rose, from which the names Rose Basin and Rose Creek are derived.
I’m not saying the screwballs ruined the hike, but we didn’t stay up at the lake very long before deciding to head back down and stop near a couple of the waterfalls instead. Which we did and that’s where we ate our dinner that I’d packed using some of the fresh stuff from the farmer’s market and a pile of other finger foods as well.
Despite getting here little after mid-day we still managed to put in about eleven miles of hiking. Benny is getting so tall that a fifteen-to-twenty-minute mile is very much within his range which is a comfortable stroll given how longs are legs are and that I make sure we take lots of breaks to enjoy ourselves. Benny was super happy and relaxed and went to bed with a smile on his face.
As soon as I heard his kid-snores the smile fell off my face. Someone tried to hack my online accounts again though they didn’t go after Benny’s. The money I’m paying to the digital security company is proving to be worth it even if it is an added expense. They set their digital dogs after whoever it was and none of my personal stuff was infiltrated. I don’t know if this is leftover from the previous incident or if this is a completely new one. The rep reminded me to read the newsletters they send out on financial trends. When I did, I realized a lot more of that stuff is going on than I was aware of. I’m not unusual. I used to laugh when Dad would yell at the news people on the radio and say things like, “It’s the economy you idiot! Try walking in my boots!” I’m not laughing now. Even Florida’s economy is getting trashed despite having had it better than average for so long.
I did not need this on top of the other stress I’m feeling. There’s a lot I can’t do anything about but one thing I do know is that I need to start pushing the blog a little more. Not advertising it, but making it more useful for people and putting commission links in there that will increase the income producing potential. I’m going to have to make the time for that even at the risk of taking time away from the Adventure and Benny. I’ll try and do it at night but that might not always be possible.
Not loving one of our “neighbors” either. They’ve got three obnoxious kids – all boys – and a ranger has been over there twice that I know of to remind the adults that the kids aren’t allowed to roam all over the campground without supervision. They were also a distraction for people at this evening’s ranger program. Now given my own issues as a kid (and adult) I try and give a lot of grace when it comes to kids misbehaving. That said? If the kid can’t or won’t behave, the adult in their equation needs to step up and help. I saw the dad pop one of the kids on the back of the head once, otherwise both parents just ignored the fact they not only weren’t paying attention but were making it difficult for the people sitting near them to enjoy the program. When that happens you just calmly take the kid and walk away. Sigh. I’m not even a parent and I know doing that is better than just ignoring what is going on right in front of you.
I didn’t make any friends when earlier in the afternoon the third time the boys kicked their ball into our space nearly tripping Benny (that wasn’t intentional, they were just careless) I didn’t tell them where it went, which was under the van. The boys were finally sent to bed for the night after the parents let them get all jacked up on a sugary drink. That’s when I dug it out and rolled it to the adults where were sitting around a smokey campfire. Boy did they give me sour looks. Apparently they are friends or family with the campsite on the other side of them and those adults were there as well. They all had a few things to say though they were passive aggressive and never say anything to me directly. There is a baby in that group, but the poor exhausted mom disappeared early and – despite the attempt at avoiding their loud TMI – I heard she was sleeping in the cab of the truck with the baby so everyone else in their group could sleep.
I’ve cleaned up our site and put a bike chain and lock on the fire grate as a way of making sure people know we are coming back. I mean the van is going to be sitting right here but better safe than sorry. I also put packing tape over the camp registration that is clipped to our site so no one could change it while we are out tomorrow. The rangers know who has paid and I paid for all six nights up front. I just don’t want to come back and have to fight for the site.
I get the feeling that one or more of the rangers are wanting to ask if we are “those people” – Aunt Gus and Little Bear – but I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to be some kinda celebrity so I’ll let them come to me. Who knows? I might just have a big head or something.
I would have had Benny take a shower tonight but the camp has two showers. Count them. One. Two. One for men, one for women. As in a single shower for each gender. You do not want to know how long the line was. But we can’t just use the head shower in the van all willy-nilly either because there are no hook ups here. Meaning keeping the freshwater tank filled is a priority that isn’t easy to keep up with. I used the collapsible bucket to refill it tonight and I also topped off all our potable water containers. If it is going to get as warm as they forecast, we will need it.
Last constructive thing I’m going to do before hitting the hay is prep breakfast and lunch and take the meat out of the freezer that I plan on cooking on the biolite for dinner tomorrow. Grilled chicken breast. Yum. I have us booked on a fun morning adventure, just wished it started a little earlier than it does. I’ll use the time to make a good breakfast of omelets and home fries. Double yum.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Very enjoyable, thank you. I like the little more interaction.
Sportsman
Veteran Member
Thank you.
I've noticed that in a convenient, easily accessed campground, there's always one family that should have stayed home.
After one disgusting experience, I tried to stay out of campgrounds that were close to cities, highly advertised, or popular with the college party crowd. More rustic, less populated suits us better... and having drop toilets instead of flush toilets seems to keep the party people away.
I've noticed that in a convenient, easily accessed campground, there's always one family that should have stayed home.
After one disgusting experience, I tried to stay out of campgrounds that were close to cities, highly advertised, or popular with the college party crowd. More rustic, less populated suits us better... and having drop toilets instead of flush toilets seems to keep the party people away.
July 29th – Scenic Boat Ride and St. Mary Falls Hike
Weather: 86/57
I gave myself a good talking to last night before bed. I am not queen of the universe, and I can’t control everything. I don’t need to either, and it won’t break my sould. Nor am I center of the universe where everything must be done my way. We’ll see how long that lasts. If nothing else, it made for a less stressed morning. And I’m not doing too shabby now.
Made breakfast and omelets and home fries hit the spot for both Benny and I.
“Wow Aunt Gus!”
I laughed. “What? Did you forget I could cook?”
“Uh uh. I know you can cook. You just don’t always cook like this. Yummmmm.”
Well, he’s right. I’ve been going for speed at breakfast so there’s more time in the evening for me to cook before we go to whatever ranger program is on. Maybe every so often I can switch that up, or have breakfast for dinner which is something Dad did a lot of.
Clean up accomplished and we were getting out of the van only to run face first into the “neighbors” grousing that they’d been woken in the middle of the night by a ranger that said they either got the cooler down off the camper top and secure it properly or face a $100 fine. Alrighty then. They take bear proof containers downright seriously in these parts. I gave Benny a glance that told him not to comment until we were away from the area.
Thankfully he understood and it wasn’t until we were waiting in line at the store for the shuttle bus that he asked in a whisper, “Why didn’t they follow the rules?”
“Because some people are like that … or maybe they didn’t know the rules.”
He sighed. And would have said more but he spotted one of the mothers stomping towards the store and moved to stand behind me. General comments between her and the kids with her were that the milk they’d brought had spoiled and they needed more for their cereal. I guess they’d been in the park a few days already. The kids wanted to know why they had to eat cereal when the fathers were getting eggs and bacon. And there was more whining going on that Benny and I were able to ignore as the shuttle thankfully chose that moment to show up.
We got to the boat dock just in time to sign in at 9:30 am for the 10 am tour that I had booked back in March. It was basically an all-day activity broken up by a nice hike in the middle. The problem for me is that 10 am is a late start for Benny and I. We normally are on our second or third hike by then, depending on how long they are and how early we start. Here that isn’t really possible because the shuttle system doesn’t start at the campground until 9 am. And then it just putts along at barely 10-15 mph because that is the kind of shuttle it is; an ancient looking “short school bus” where you are lucky if you can get two full-sized adults to each bench seat. They have a fleet of bigger shuttle buses like Yosemite but they’ve been restricted the exterior of the park due to “environmental impact”. I’m trying not to let it get to me but I’ll be honest and say it is. But onto the boat ride.
Conveniently located right off the Going-to-the-Sun Road – the main road that crosses the park – the boat ride provided vastly different views on the water that were not visible from the road. The boat took us close by Wild Goose Island and provided epic, 360 degree views of the surrounding peaks. We saw Sexton Glacier, tiny islands, the remnants of the Great Northern Railway President Louis Hill’s private cabin, and brightly colored mountainsides. The boat tour was basically over at 1:30 and we disembarked at the upper dock. At 2:00 we started the guided hike to St. Mary Falls.
The hike to St. Mary Falls took us through a mix of old and new growth forest that was affected by the olds Reynolds Creek forest fire in 2015 and several other forest fires since then. The rapid regrowth of wildflowers and the large fir and spruce that were unaffected by the fire. Was pretty amazing. There were also views of the mountains at the head of the lake that got better with every step.
It didn’t take long before we realized the noise we were hearing was the thunder of the waterfalls, and then we were there and could see it as well. The round trip distance was three miles of easy walking. Everyone that was doing the guided hike was in top shape except for one couple who turned around at the half-mile mark. They had good intentions but That meant we got there fast and was able to spend time at the falls, take photos, and even have a snack before needing to turn around and head back. We had one short rainstorm right as we got back to the dock, luckily without any thunder or lightning in it which I understand is common. The rain made everything steamy in the unseasonable warm weather.
We got picked up at by the boat at 4:40 pm and then it was back to the lower dock. I was trying to be more mindful of Benny’s needs and limitation so hadn’t scheduled anything else for the remainder of the day but just sitting around camp didn’t thrill either one of us because of our “neighbors” so we rode the shuttle a little bit before returning. Man is this park busy.
When we got back to the camp shuttle stop we hopped off and I spent a little more time on our dinner making BBQ grilled chicken on the biolite, rice pilaf with some peas and corn added in, and then I pulled down the surprise and showed Benny I’d made some sun tea while. We drink it unsweet but with lemon-lime flavoring and I’d managed to squeeze in an ice cube tray in the freezer and boy did we both enjoy our food.
We capped off the night by going to a ranger program and immediately after that to a star gazing activity.
Weather: 86/57
I gave myself a good talking to last night before bed. I am not queen of the universe, and I can’t control everything. I don’t need to either, and it won’t break my sould. Nor am I center of the universe where everything must be done my way. We’ll see how long that lasts. If nothing else, it made for a less stressed morning. And I’m not doing too shabby now.
Made breakfast and omelets and home fries hit the spot for both Benny and I.
“Wow Aunt Gus!”
I laughed. “What? Did you forget I could cook?”
“Uh uh. I know you can cook. You just don’t always cook like this. Yummmmm.”
Well, he’s right. I’ve been going for speed at breakfast so there’s more time in the evening for me to cook before we go to whatever ranger program is on. Maybe every so often I can switch that up, or have breakfast for dinner which is something Dad did a lot of.
Clean up accomplished and we were getting out of the van only to run face first into the “neighbors” grousing that they’d been woken in the middle of the night by a ranger that said they either got the cooler down off the camper top and secure it properly or face a $100 fine. Alrighty then. They take bear proof containers downright seriously in these parts. I gave Benny a glance that told him not to comment until we were away from the area.
Thankfully he understood and it wasn’t until we were waiting in line at the store for the shuttle bus that he asked in a whisper, “Why didn’t they follow the rules?”
“Because some people are like that … or maybe they didn’t know the rules.”
He sighed. And would have said more but he spotted one of the mothers stomping towards the store and moved to stand behind me. General comments between her and the kids with her were that the milk they’d brought had spoiled and they needed more for their cereal. I guess they’d been in the park a few days already. The kids wanted to know why they had to eat cereal when the fathers were getting eggs and bacon. And there was more whining going on that Benny and I were able to ignore as the shuttle thankfully chose that moment to show up.
We got to the boat dock just in time to sign in at 9:30 am for the 10 am tour that I had booked back in March. It was basically an all-day activity broken up by a nice hike in the middle. The problem for me is that 10 am is a late start for Benny and I. We normally are on our second or third hike by then, depending on how long they are and how early we start. Here that isn’t really possible because the shuttle system doesn’t start at the campground until 9 am. And then it just putts along at barely 10-15 mph because that is the kind of shuttle it is; an ancient looking “short school bus” where you are lucky if you can get two full-sized adults to each bench seat. They have a fleet of bigger shuttle buses like Yosemite but they’ve been restricted the exterior of the park due to “environmental impact”. I’m trying not to let it get to me but I’ll be honest and say it is. But onto the boat ride.
Conveniently located right off the Going-to-the-Sun Road – the main road that crosses the park – the boat ride provided vastly different views on the water that were not visible from the road. The boat took us close by Wild Goose Island and provided epic, 360 degree views of the surrounding peaks. We saw Sexton Glacier, tiny islands, the remnants of the Great Northern Railway President Louis Hill’s private cabin, and brightly colored mountainsides. The boat tour was basically over at 1:30 and we disembarked at the upper dock. At 2:00 we started the guided hike to St. Mary Falls.
The hike to St. Mary Falls took us through a mix of old and new growth forest that was affected by the olds Reynolds Creek forest fire in 2015 and several other forest fires since then. The rapid regrowth of wildflowers and the large fir and spruce that were unaffected by the fire. Was pretty amazing. There were also views of the mountains at the head of the lake that got better with every step.
It didn’t take long before we realized the noise we were hearing was the thunder of the waterfalls, and then we were there and could see it as well. The round trip distance was three miles of easy walking. Everyone that was doing the guided hike was in top shape except for one couple who turned around at the half-mile mark. They had good intentions but That meant we got there fast and was able to spend time at the falls, take photos, and even have a snack before needing to turn around and head back. We had one short rainstorm right as we got back to the dock, luckily without any thunder or lightning in it which I understand is common. The rain made everything steamy in the unseasonable warm weather.
We got picked up at by the boat at 4:40 pm and then it was back to the lower dock. I was trying to be more mindful of Benny’s needs and limitation so hadn’t scheduled anything else for the remainder of the day but just sitting around camp didn’t thrill either one of us because of our “neighbors” so we rode the shuttle a little bit before returning. Man is this park busy.
When we got back to the camp shuttle stop we hopped off and I spent a little more time on our dinner making BBQ grilled chicken on the biolite, rice pilaf with some peas and corn added in, and then I pulled down the surprise and showed Benny I’d made some sun tea while. We drink it unsweet but with lemon-lime flavoring and I’d managed to squeeze in an ice cube tray in the freezer and boy did we both enjoy our food.
We capped off the night by going to a ranger program and immediately after that to a star gazing activity.
July 30th – Hidden Lake, Irritation, and an Offer I Couldn’t Refuse
Weather: 85/60
The insanity of Glacier National Park is getting to me. You must have a pass for this and a pass for that and … ugh. You must use the free shuttle service, so it is crowded and sometimes you have to wait for the next shuttle. And you can’t start until the first shuttle runs to your stop which is way late in the day for some of the all-day hikes. Well, got an offer I couldn’t refuse. But I’ll explain that after I explain the one hike we were able to do.
We were only scheduled for the hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook, but since we were there we decided to try hiking all the way to Hidden Lake. The trail begins on the west side of the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Let me tell you, everything was conspiring against us, or so it felt. I kept a good face on for Benny’s sake but inside I was having a serious bad attitude build up. The first shuttle at 9 am was full so we had to wait for the second one. The reason why the first shuttle filled up is because, contrary to posted rules, one of our neighbors was holding the place for their entire party who was in the store and cut in line at the last moment. I wasn’t the only one hacked off about that let me tell you.
Then it started raining which slowed the entire shuttle line down even further. Then we had to transfer shuttles after only two stops to take the one that went to the Logan Pass Visitor Center. It was almost 11 am before we started hiking. I was very annoyed. I figure I am also a good actor because Benny didn’t notice. I’m sure he didn’t because he can’t hide when he thinks I am upset. But we started and that was good.
Once on the back side of the visitor center, after climbing the stairway, the field guide said to stay towards the right and look for the Hanging Gardens Trailhead, aka Hidden Lake Nature Trail.
The entire length of this hike was completely open and exposed as you proceed through the alpine meadows known as the Hanging Gardens. It kept raining off and on which meant it was a good thing that Aunt Gus came prepared with the rain ponchos for just in case. Normally there is a lot of sun and wind, for the first little bit it was rain and wind, but then it let up for the remainder of the hike.
I had been prepared for crowds but these were extreme crowds as it is one of the most popular hikes in Glacier. Ugh. And who do we see? The “neighbors” but we passed them and didn’t see them again. I don’t mean to be rude but those people get on my nerves.
The trail began as a paved surface, but soon turned into a raised boardwalk after only a short distance. I was surprised but guess I shouldn’t have been. At that elevation snow tends to linger around well into the summer according to Benny’s junior ranger book. The boardwalk helped to keep hikers above the snow, slush, mud and rivulets. Downslope, the Hanging Gardens was a beautiful carpet of wildflowers. During the early portions of the hike, 8760-foot Clements Mountain dominated the view directly in front of us. On our right were outstanding views of the Garden Wall. Standing towards the northwest is 8180-foot Mt. Oberlin.
“Look Aunt Gus!”
“Pretty cool,” I told him, trying to fake myself into actually having a good attitude.
“It looks just like what is in my junior ranger book!”
“Let me see,” told him with a pretended interest. “Well, it sure does. Are there any activities you need to do here?”
He chattered on about the things he needed to work on, and the stress slowly started leaving me. It was hard to hang on to the mullygrubs when there was so much beauty surrounding us.
A little more than a half-mile from the visitor center, after climbing a series of steps, we reached the end of the first boardwalk section. From here the trail shifted to a more southwesterly course, and began heading in the direction of 8684-foot Bearhat Mountain. Both 9125-foot Mt. Reynolds and 8016-foot Heavy Runner Mountain were on our left.
The snow that we had to cross, even though it was just a patch here and there, was fascinating to Benny and I. It is rare for it to snow in Florida … as in decades between such incidences … and even when it does, it melts as soon as it hits the ground. To see it piled up and still hanging around even in the middle of summer was a hoot. I took some pictures of Benny playing with it a bit and you can see just how fascinated he is by the texture.
At just over a mile from the trailhead we reached a small rise, then passed a couple of small ponds on the left. Just beyond this section, roughly 1.2 miles from the trailhead, we reached the Continental Divide where runoff from snow and rain begins flowing towards the Pacific Ocean. Benny and I took a short break so we could take some pictures and be a little silly. I mean why call this our Adventure if we aren’t going to do things like that? I want him to have lots of good memories. And I told him so.
“My photo frame is almost out of room for good memories.”
I snorted. “Then we’ll just have to put more memory in there.”
“Can we?!” he asked excitedly.
“Yeppers. I have a few spare memory dots that should work.”
That made Benny happy and we continued on. At 1.35 miles we arrived at the Hidden Lake Overlook. There is almost no describing the panoramic views of the lake and surrounding mountains. From this vantage point Bearhat Mountain is the dominating feature above Hidden Lake. Looking directly towards the west is 8952-foot Mount Cannon. Towards the south is 8750-foot Fusillade Mountain, and towards the southwest we were able to see Gunsight Mountain and Sperry Glacier in the far off distance.
A funny thing happened. Benny had been looking so hard at the mountains that he missed that he was being spied on from under a nearby tree. Until Momma Mountain Goat came over to see what the racket was about.
“Aunt Gus!” Benny whispered, caught between wonder and fear.
“Relax. She’s just making sure you aren’t a kid of the goat variety. Just be still.”
I’d read that mountain goats are fairly common in the area surrounding the overlook and was hoping we’d get to see some. There was a whole pack of them, or whatever you call a bunch of mountain goats in the same location. I took a lot of pictures and videos. They are obviously used to humans as as soon as they figured out that Benny and I weren’t one of them, they grew bored and returned to their own goat business. We also got glimpses of bighorn sheep, some fussy marmots, and even saw a wolverine cross the trail. That one didn’t thrill me but everyone else that saw it was. I read that Grizzly bears are also occasionally seen in the area but thankfully not today.
Soon after passing the overlook the trail began descending along the southern slopes of Clements Mountain. As we hiked downward we enjoyed fantastic views of the lake, as well as Mt. Brown, Mt. Stanton and the upper portions of the Lake McDonald valley towards the west.
The trail became progressively steeper the closer we got to the lake, and eventually began traveling down a series of switchbacks. In all, the trail dropped roughly 770 feet from the overlook to the lakeshore.
At roughly 2.7 miles we finally reach the northwest corner of Hidden Lake. There's a small beach area that extends in either direction, and offered the opportunity to do a little exploring around the glacially carved lake. I also decided it was lunch time and we spread out a plastic tablecloth after visiting the surprise pit toilets near the end of the trail.
Dominating the views from the shoreline were Bearhat Mountain on our right and Reynolds Mountain towards the left, while Fusillade Mountain and the Dragon's Tail lie directly across the lake. Benny loved the named “Dragon’s Tail” and I may try and switch around some of our itinerary, it depends on how things go.
Lunch was good but we couldn’t stay there forever. I noted clouds coming up over the mountains and I knew it was time to head back or risk missing the shuttle back to camp.
Interesting Factoid: Hidden Lake is a popular destination for anglers. Perhaps the most famous fisherman to ever visit the lake was George H. W. Bush. In 1983 the then-Vice President hiked to the shores of Hidden Lake to fish for trout for several hours. The man was known for doing adventuresome things and when he was 90 years old he took his last skydive.
I was feeling good when we got back from the hike. I let Benny spend a little time in the Logan Pass Visitor center but my mood soured as we waited for the shuttle. We made it back to camp, finally and that’s when we got an offer I couldn’t refuse. Well, I could have but it kinda suits my mood with this park. And it had nothing to do with being Aunt Gus and Little Bear, though I did get a bit of a hint that they knew who we were and figured we were “nice” and would accommodate them.
A ranger came up to me and asked if I was willing to give up the remainder of the registered days in exchange for a Big Sky Circle Tour, three nights at Glacier Park Lodge, and $300 cash. I’m thinking what? My suspicious bone had definitely been activated but it has turned out to be a good thing.
Apparently some film company doing work for the national park service needed another space for some of their crew and my reservation was the only one that worked without too much inconvenience for everyone else. Well la-te-da. And yeah, I took it. It fits the rest of the trip and the crazy rude “neighbors” who have started acting like I am a serial child abuser bound and determined to turn Benny into some Stepford Child that will ultimately be caught with a rifle in some tower someplace expressing himself because I don’t have him running wild and untamed now. No. I don’t understand it either but that’s what I overheard the two women saying in the row behind us at the ranger program.
I mean I get that people have different ways of raising kids and what works for one might not work for another. But stay out of my business. Benny and I get along just fine. What the heck, we are pulling out early in the AM so the crew can take the spot and heading to Glacier Lodge. I’ll be glad to get away from those people. My opinion is they should be paying more attention to their household and keep their stinking noses out of mine.
Weather: 85/60
The insanity of Glacier National Park is getting to me. You must have a pass for this and a pass for that and … ugh. You must use the free shuttle service, so it is crowded and sometimes you have to wait for the next shuttle. And you can’t start until the first shuttle runs to your stop which is way late in the day for some of the all-day hikes. Well, got an offer I couldn’t refuse. But I’ll explain that after I explain the one hike we were able to do.
We were only scheduled for the hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook, but since we were there we decided to try hiking all the way to Hidden Lake. The trail begins on the west side of the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Let me tell you, everything was conspiring against us, or so it felt. I kept a good face on for Benny’s sake but inside I was having a serious bad attitude build up. The first shuttle at 9 am was full so we had to wait for the second one. The reason why the first shuttle filled up is because, contrary to posted rules, one of our neighbors was holding the place for their entire party who was in the store and cut in line at the last moment. I wasn’t the only one hacked off about that let me tell you.
Then it started raining which slowed the entire shuttle line down even further. Then we had to transfer shuttles after only two stops to take the one that went to the Logan Pass Visitor Center. It was almost 11 am before we started hiking. I was very annoyed. I figure I am also a good actor because Benny didn’t notice. I’m sure he didn’t because he can’t hide when he thinks I am upset. But we started and that was good.
Once on the back side of the visitor center, after climbing the stairway, the field guide said to stay towards the right and look for the Hanging Gardens Trailhead, aka Hidden Lake Nature Trail.
The entire length of this hike was completely open and exposed as you proceed through the alpine meadows known as the Hanging Gardens. It kept raining off and on which meant it was a good thing that Aunt Gus came prepared with the rain ponchos for just in case. Normally there is a lot of sun and wind, for the first little bit it was rain and wind, but then it let up for the remainder of the hike.
I had been prepared for crowds but these were extreme crowds as it is one of the most popular hikes in Glacier. Ugh. And who do we see? The “neighbors” but we passed them and didn’t see them again. I don’t mean to be rude but those people get on my nerves.
The trail began as a paved surface, but soon turned into a raised boardwalk after only a short distance. I was surprised but guess I shouldn’t have been. At that elevation snow tends to linger around well into the summer according to Benny’s junior ranger book. The boardwalk helped to keep hikers above the snow, slush, mud and rivulets. Downslope, the Hanging Gardens was a beautiful carpet of wildflowers. During the early portions of the hike, 8760-foot Clements Mountain dominated the view directly in front of us. On our right were outstanding views of the Garden Wall. Standing towards the northwest is 8180-foot Mt. Oberlin.
“Look Aunt Gus!”
“Pretty cool,” I told him, trying to fake myself into actually having a good attitude.
“It looks just like what is in my junior ranger book!”
“Let me see,” told him with a pretended interest. “Well, it sure does. Are there any activities you need to do here?”
He chattered on about the things he needed to work on, and the stress slowly started leaving me. It was hard to hang on to the mullygrubs when there was so much beauty surrounding us.
A little more than a half-mile from the visitor center, after climbing a series of steps, we reached the end of the first boardwalk section. From here the trail shifted to a more southwesterly course, and began heading in the direction of 8684-foot Bearhat Mountain. Both 9125-foot Mt. Reynolds and 8016-foot Heavy Runner Mountain were on our left.
The snow that we had to cross, even though it was just a patch here and there, was fascinating to Benny and I. It is rare for it to snow in Florida … as in decades between such incidences … and even when it does, it melts as soon as it hits the ground. To see it piled up and still hanging around even in the middle of summer was a hoot. I took some pictures of Benny playing with it a bit and you can see just how fascinated he is by the texture.
At just over a mile from the trailhead we reached a small rise, then passed a couple of small ponds on the left. Just beyond this section, roughly 1.2 miles from the trailhead, we reached the Continental Divide where runoff from snow and rain begins flowing towards the Pacific Ocean. Benny and I took a short break so we could take some pictures and be a little silly. I mean why call this our Adventure if we aren’t going to do things like that? I want him to have lots of good memories. And I told him so.
“My photo frame is almost out of room for good memories.”
I snorted. “Then we’ll just have to put more memory in there.”
“Can we?!” he asked excitedly.
“Yeppers. I have a few spare memory dots that should work.”
That made Benny happy and we continued on. At 1.35 miles we arrived at the Hidden Lake Overlook. There is almost no describing the panoramic views of the lake and surrounding mountains. From this vantage point Bearhat Mountain is the dominating feature above Hidden Lake. Looking directly towards the west is 8952-foot Mount Cannon. Towards the south is 8750-foot Fusillade Mountain, and towards the southwest we were able to see Gunsight Mountain and Sperry Glacier in the far off distance.
A funny thing happened. Benny had been looking so hard at the mountains that he missed that he was being spied on from under a nearby tree. Until Momma Mountain Goat came over to see what the racket was about.
“Aunt Gus!” Benny whispered, caught between wonder and fear.
“Relax. She’s just making sure you aren’t a kid of the goat variety. Just be still.”
I’d read that mountain goats are fairly common in the area surrounding the overlook and was hoping we’d get to see some. There was a whole pack of them, or whatever you call a bunch of mountain goats in the same location. I took a lot of pictures and videos. They are obviously used to humans as as soon as they figured out that Benny and I weren’t one of them, they grew bored and returned to their own goat business. We also got glimpses of bighorn sheep, some fussy marmots, and even saw a wolverine cross the trail. That one didn’t thrill me but everyone else that saw it was. I read that Grizzly bears are also occasionally seen in the area but thankfully not today.
Soon after passing the overlook the trail began descending along the southern slopes of Clements Mountain. As we hiked downward we enjoyed fantastic views of the lake, as well as Mt. Brown, Mt. Stanton and the upper portions of the Lake McDonald valley towards the west.
The trail became progressively steeper the closer we got to the lake, and eventually began traveling down a series of switchbacks. In all, the trail dropped roughly 770 feet from the overlook to the lakeshore.
At roughly 2.7 miles we finally reach the northwest corner of Hidden Lake. There's a small beach area that extends in either direction, and offered the opportunity to do a little exploring around the glacially carved lake. I also decided it was lunch time and we spread out a plastic tablecloth after visiting the surprise pit toilets near the end of the trail.
Dominating the views from the shoreline were Bearhat Mountain on our right and Reynolds Mountain towards the left, while Fusillade Mountain and the Dragon's Tail lie directly across the lake. Benny loved the named “Dragon’s Tail” and I may try and switch around some of our itinerary, it depends on how things go.
Lunch was good but we couldn’t stay there forever. I noted clouds coming up over the mountains and I knew it was time to head back or risk missing the shuttle back to camp.
Interesting Factoid: Hidden Lake is a popular destination for anglers. Perhaps the most famous fisherman to ever visit the lake was George H. W. Bush. In 1983 the then-Vice President hiked to the shores of Hidden Lake to fish for trout for several hours. The man was known for doing adventuresome things and when he was 90 years old he took his last skydive.
I was feeling good when we got back from the hike. I let Benny spend a little time in the Logan Pass Visitor center but my mood soured as we waited for the shuttle. We made it back to camp, finally and that’s when we got an offer I couldn’t refuse. Well, I could have but it kinda suits my mood with this park. And it had nothing to do with being Aunt Gus and Little Bear, though I did get a bit of a hint that they knew who we were and figured we were “nice” and would accommodate them.
A ranger came up to me and asked if I was willing to give up the remainder of the registered days in exchange for a Big Sky Circle Tour, three nights at Glacier Park Lodge, and $300 cash. I’m thinking what? My suspicious bone had definitely been activated but it has turned out to be a good thing.
Apparently some film company doing work for the national park service needed another space for some of their crew and my reservation was the only one that worked without too much inconvenience for everyone else. Well la-te-da. And yeah, I took it. It fits the rest of the trip and the crazy rude “neighbors” who have started acting like I am a serial child abuser bound and determined to turn Benny into some Stepford Child that will ultimately be caught with a rifle in some tower someplace expressing himself because I don’t have him running wild and untamed now. No. I don’t understand it either but that’s what I overheard the two women saying in the row behind us at the ranger program.
I mean I get that people have different ways of raising kids and what works for one might not work for another. But stay out of my business. Benny and I get along just fine. What the heck, we are pulling out early in the AM so the crew can take the spot and heading to Glacier Lodge. I’ll be glad to get away from those people. My opinion is they should be paying more attention to their household and keep their stinking noses out of mine.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you very much. Loved more.
Siskiyoumom
Veteran Member
Thank you so very much.
July 31st – Big Sky Circle
Weather: 88F/58F
I am writing tonight, sitting at a little miniscule desk, at a room in the Glacier Park Lodge. Not bad. It’s not the Hilton, but it is definitely not bad. People don’t stay here for the room décor but for the proximity to Glacier National Park. And for the amenities in the resort area. Of course, you pay for those amenities but at least I’m not having to pay for the lodge. I kept doubting myself all night long last night. Ugh, not a good rest that’s for sure. But I think I picked the correct door to walk through after all.
Glacier Park Lodge is located just outside the boundaries of Glacier National Park in the village of East Glacier Park, Montana. It is on the southeast side of the park at the intersection of US 2 and MT-49. The Amtrak Station is located right across the street from the Lodge and many of the early visitors to the park traveled here via the railway. Amtrak has kept the tradition alive with their Great Northern Route stretching from Chicago to Seattle/Portland. It is only a seasonal route but that’s kinda the catch that gets the tourists interested … limited availability.
One of the reasons I was doubting myself about the change in accommodations is because it meant a radical change to the itinerary I had worked out. Then again, nothing I had planned for this park had been working out in full because of the dat blasted shuttle service. It wasn’t like this in other parks that required you park and ride.
I need to chill out. Everything has worked out and today was actually really nice. But Gus doesn’t like it when her plans go kaflooey even when kaflooey winds up not being awful. And Gus needs to stop talking in third person before the men in the white jackets come. I supposed my control issues are getting to me. No. I know they are getting to me. The brain hamster is having a field day, or trying to. Stuff it, hamster. I am going to record the day and prove things went okay.
First off, when I agreed to the switch and all the other stuff that came with it I didn’t realize that I couldn’t just pick a day to go on the Big Sky Circle Tour; it had to be today. So I scrapped the plans I had made and we scooted out of the site early so we could make it to the lodge, check in, and then get to our assigned spot for sign in.
I was thinking, “Meh, just another shuttle.” But no. We were going on one of those cool old fashioned red buses. We were told that the vintage 1930’s buses are part of the human history and heritage of the park. And, as much of the park’s scenery is vertically oriented, the roll-back tops are perfect for providing full views of the stunning mountains, and the area’s signature Big Sky. Also found out, as opposed to the dour drivers of the “short bus shuttles,” the guides for the vintage busses are seasoned park veterans who are here because they love the park and enjoy sharing the park with visitors. In other words, no crankies to be seen.
The Big Sky Circle tour is the most inclusive tour that is offered in the park and started with a morning drive over Marias Pass, with wildlife viewing at Goat Lick. From the lodge we were staying at, it went a full circle, counter clockwise, around the entire park. I hadn’t expected to be able to do that and we stopped in many places I didn’t think we would get to.
Our driver was named Ben, which tickled Benny to no end. The man had a great sense of humor and knew a lot about the park. First, we travelled on the unique and rugged eastern side of Glacier which looks like the southern part except they bisect the park using the Going-to-the-Sun Road … therefore eastern and western rather than northern and southern. That is the kind of craziness that makes me glad we had a good Navigator in the Cadets.
I couldn’t believe how fast time was passing. We stopped at the Lake MacDonald Lodge to eat. Built in 1913, the historic lodge is located on the eastern shore of Lake McDonald. I picked up a brochure and the place has eight-two guest rooms split between the three-story main lodge and a row of cabins. The main lodge rooms are located on the second and third floors and there is no elevator, at least not that I could see.
We had vouchers that gave us the option of three places to eat; Russell’s Fireside Dining Room, Jammer Joe’s Grill and Pizzeria, and Lucke’s Lounge. Jammer Joe’s was out as they didn’t have any gluten-free options. Lucke’s was more of a bar, with bar food, and while some of the offerings might have worked, we wound up getting take out boxes from Russell’s. We got an elk burger with a gluten free bun, a venison brat with onions and peppers (also with a gluten free bun), an order of french fries, and a side salad all of which we split.
“Look at you eat, people are going to think I don’t feed you,” I told Benny with a laugh.
He laughed and said, “I’m a growing boy!”
“Yeah, and if you keep growing this way you are going to be taller than me before you know it. Slow down will ya? You won’t be my Little Bear for much longer as it is.”
He didn’t think that was funny at all. “I’ll always be your Little Bear. And you’ll always be my Aunt Gus.”
Ooops, hit a sore spot so I backpedaled a bit. “Hey now, I was just funning. I’d like to see anyone try and take you from me. I’ll go Barrymore all over them.”
“Me too,” he said reminding me so much of Lawrence it gave me an ouch.
“Well relax, that won’t be happening, and I didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s just keep enjoying the day. You are enjoying it? Right?”
Sunny Benny returned, and he told me about how all the things we were doing was helping him finish his Junior Ranger papers.
We were there about an hour before climbing back on the Red Bus and travelling up the Going-to-the-Sun Road to the Continental Divide and Logan Pass. A location we had already been to but with a guide it gave us a different perspective. Ben made a big deal out of Benny going on the hike all the way to Hidden Lake. From the pass we ventured further back through flowering valleys and open prairies along the eastern slopes of the park. We rode with Ben stopping numerous times so we could take photos. Sometimes we were able to get off the bus, others we had a stand up opportunity to take photos. Ben made sure that we all were able to enjoy the tour by pulling over and letting faster vehicles go through.
On the way back to the lodge, we visited the St. Mary Lake area and historic Rising Sun Motor Inn. Yeah, laugh all you want but with someone else doing the driving, and that someone with a sunny disposition, Benny and I enjoyed it even if we had already been there.
I could create an entire album of pictures we got today alone. And I have an idea for some potential additional income. I can sell “best of …” photo packets that can be used as screen savers, slide shows, and digital back drops. It won’t bring in a lot of money but then again it won’t cost me anything either because I’ll make it a digital download. We did something similar to raise money one year for a homeschool project. I think I still have the format. I donated pictures that I took out on the water. Yeah, maybe that can be another stream of income.
We were back at the lodge just in time for Benny to declare that he was hungry again. We had the extra three hundred bucks, but I didn’t want to spend it on the food prices at the lodge. Instead we walked down to the souvenir shop area and ate at Two Medicine Grill. I wouldn’t say it was a cheap place to eat but it was as close to “budget” to be found in the area. We split a Cadillac Buffalo Burger minus the bun (bison burger with ham and swiss cheese), some sour cream and chives fries, and I grabbed a bag o’ salad out of the van’s frig to keep all the fresh stuff I had from spoiling. Rather than take the food to the room we ate in the van and I looked over what might spoil in the next couple of days and then fixed it so that I can come out in the morning and throw it on the dehydrated and let it go from the solar batteries while we are out for the day. I also prepped food to take on the hikes we plan to do tomorrow.
“Aunt Gus?”
“Yeppers?”
“If we aren’t driving the Ark, how are we gonna get to the park?”
“Good question, glad you asked,” I told him like a silly car salesman. “They have a free shuttle from the Lodge to St. Mary’s Visitor Center. Then we’ll pick up the in-park shuttle and go from there.”
“Do we have to?”
“You don’t want to go to the park?”
“I want to go to the park,” he said. “I just don’t like riding in the little bus. People smell.”
I tried not to laugh an encourage that kind of thing but I had to be honest. “Some people smell. But unfortunately they only let people on the road in shuttles and it is too far to walk to get to the trailheads.”
He sighed but accepted the inevitable and we grabbed our night gear and stuff we needed and were willing to leave in the room for a couple of days – like the Crew and the electronics – headed up to the room. And speaking of body odor I deemed we needed to take care of our personal stink and took turns doing that. Benny has been working on Junior Ranger stuff with the remainder of the Lewis & Clark documentary playing in the background. I’ve been “adulting” with the free wifi. But I’m going to get us both to bed chop-chop because I want to be up early to start the dehydrator, eat breakfast, and catch the first shuttle to St. Mary’s.
Weather: 88F/58F
I am writing tonight, sitting at a little miniscule desk, at a room in the Glacier Park Lodge. Not bad. It’s not the Hilton, but it is definitely not bad. People don’t stay here for the room décor but for the proximity to Glacier National Park. And for the amenities in the resort area. Of course, you pay for those amenities but at least I’m not having to pay for the lodge. I kept doubting myself all night long last night. Ugh, not a good rest that’s for sure. But I think I picked the correct door to walk through after all.
Glacier Park Lodge is located just outside the boundaries of Glacier National Park in the village of East Glacier Park, Montana. It is on the southeast side of the park at the intersection of US 2 and MT-49. The Amtrak Station is located right across the street from the Lodge and many of the early visitors to the park traveled here via the railway. Amtrak has kept the tradition alive with their Great Northern Route stretching from Chicago to Seattle/Portland. It is only a seasonal route but that’s kinda the catch that gets the tourists interested … limited availability.
One of the reasons I was doubting myself about the change in accommodations is because it meant a radical change to the itinerary I had worked out. Then again, nothing I had planned for this park had been working out in full because of the dat blasted shuttle service. It wasn’t like this in other parks that required you park and ride.
I need to chill out. Everything has worked out and today was actually really nice. But Gus doesn’t like it when her plans go kaflooey even when kaflooey winds up not being awful. And Gus needs to stop talking in third person before the men in the white jackets come. I supposed my control issues are getting to me. No. I know they are getting to me. The brain hamster is having a field day, or trying to. Stuff it, hamster. I am going to record the day and prove things went okay.
First off, when I agreed to the switch and all the other stuff that came with it I didn’t realize that I couldn’t just pick a day to go on the Big Sky Circle Tour; it had to be today. So I scrapped the plans I had made and we scooted out of the site early so we could make it to the lodge, check in, and then get to our assigned spot for sign in.
I was thinking, “Meh, just another shuttle.” But no. We were going on one of those cool old fashioned red buses. We were told that the vintage 1930’s buses are part of the human history and heritage of the park. And, as much of the park’s scenery is vertically oriented, the roll-back tops are perfect for providing full views of the stunning mountains, and the area’s signature Big Sky. Also found out, as opposed to the dour drivers of the “short bus shuttles,” the guides for the vintage busses are seasoned park veterans who are here because they love the park and enjoy sharing the park with visitors. In other words, no crankies to be seen.
The Big Sky Circle tour is the most inclusive tour that is offered in the park and started with a morning drive over Marias Pass, with wildlife viewing at Goat Lick. From the lodge we were staying at, it went a full circle, counter clockwise, around the entire park. I hadn’t expected to be able to do that and we stopped in many places I didn’t think we would get to.
Our driver was named Ben, which tickled Benny to no end. The man had a great sense of humor and knew a lot about the park. First, we travelled on the unique and rugged eastern side of Glacier which looks like the southern part except they bisect the park using the Going-to-the-Sun Road … therefore eastern and western rather than northern and southern. That is the kind of craziness that makes me glad we had a good Navigator in the Cadets.
I couldn’t believe how fast time was passing. We stopped at the Lake MacDonald Lodge to eat. Built in 1913, the historic lodge is located on the eastern shore of Lake McDonald. I picked up a brochure and the place has eight-two guest rooms split between the three-story main lodge and a row of cabins. The main lodge rooms are located on the second and third floors and there is no elevator, at least not that I could see.
We had vouchers that gave us the option of three places to eat; Russell’s Fireside Dining Room, Jammer Joe’s Grill and Pizzeria, and Lucke’s Lounge. Jammer Joe’s was out as they didn’t have any gluten-free options. Lucke’s was more of a bar, with bar food, and while some of the offerings might have worked, we wound up getting take out boxes from Russell’s. We got an elk burger with a gluten free bun, a venison brat with onions and peppers (also with a gluten free bun), an order of french fries, and a side salad all of which we split.
“Look at you eat, people are going to think I don’t feed you,” I told Benny with a laugh.
He laughed and said, “I’m a growing boy!”
“Yeah, and if you keep growing this way you are going to be taller than me before you know it. Slow down will ya? You won’t be my Little Bear for much longer as it is.”
He didn’t think that was funny at all. “I’ll always be your Little Bear. And you’ll always be my Aunt Gus.”
Ooops, hit a sore spot so I backpedaled a bit. “Hey now, I was just funning. I’d like to see anyone try and take you from me. I’ll go Barrymore all over them.”
“Me too,” he said reminding me so much of Lawrence it gave me an ouch.
“Well relax, that won’t be happening, and I didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s just keep enjoying the day. You are enjoying it? Right?”
Sunny Benny returned, and he told me about how all the things we were doing was helping him finish his Junior Ranger papers.
We were there about an hour before climbing back on the Red Bus and travelling up the Going-to-the-Sun Road to the Continental Divide and Logan Pass. A location we had already been to but with a guide it gave us a different perspective. Ben made a big deal out of Benny going on the hike all the way to Hidden Lake. From the pass we ventured further back through flowering valleys and open prairies along the eastern slopes of the park. We rode with Ben stopping numerous times so we could take photos. Sometimes we were able to get off the bus, others we had a stand up opportunity to take photos. Ben made sure that we all were able to enjoy the tour by pulling over and letting faster vehicles go through.
On the way back to the lodge, we visited the St. Mary Lake area and historic Rising Sun Motor Inn. Yeah, laugh all you want but with someone else doing the driving, and that someone with a sunny disposition, Benny and I enjoyed it even if we had already been there.
I could create an entire album of pictures we got today alone. And I have an idea for some potential additional income. I can sell “best of …” photo packets that can be used as screen savers, slide shows, and digital back drops. It won’t bring in a lot of money but then again it won’t cost me anything either because I’ll make it a digital download. We did something similar to raise money one year for a homeschool project. I think I still have the format. I donated pictures that I took out on the water. Yeah, maybe that can be another stream of income.
We were back at the lodge just in time for Benny to declare that he was hungry again. We had the extra three hundred bucks, but I didn’t want to spend it on the food prices at the lodge. Instead we walked down to the souvenir shop area and ate at Two Medicine Grill. I wouldn’t say it was a cheap place to eat but it was as close to “budget” to be found in the area. We split a Cadillac Buffalo Burger minus the bun (bison burger with ham and swiss cheese), some sour cream and chives fries, and I grabbed a bag o’ salad out of the van’s frig to keep all the fresh stuff I had from spoiling. Rather than take the food to the room we ate in the van and I looked over what might spoil in the next couple of days and then fixed it so that I can come out in the morning and throw it on the dehydrated and let it go from the solar batteries while we are out for the day. I also prepped food to take on the hikes we plan to do tomorrow.
“Aunt Gus?”
“Yeppers?”
“If we aren’t driving the Ark, how are we gonna get to the park?”
“Good question, glad you asked,” I told him like a silly car salesman. “They have a free shuttle from the Lodge to St. Mary’s Visitor Center. Then we’ll pick up the in-park shuttle and go from there.”
“Do we have to?”
“You don’t want to go to the park?”
“I want to go to the park,” he said. “I just don’t like riding in the little bus. People smell.”
I tried not to laugh an encourage that kind of thing but I had to be honest. “Some people smell. But unfortunately they only let people on the road in shuttles and it is too far to walk to get to the trailheads.”
He sighed but accepted the inevitable and we grabbed our night gear and stuff we needed and were willing to leave in the room for a couple of days – like the Crew and the electronics – headed up to the room. And speaking of body odor I deemed we needed to take care of our personal stink and took turns doing that. Benny has been working on Junior Ranger stuff with the remainder of the Lewis & Clark documentary playing in the background. I’ve been “adulting” with the free wifi. But I’m going to get us both to bed chop-chop because I want to be up early to start the dehydrator, eat breakfast, and catch the first shuttle to St. Mary’s.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
thank you for the chapter! pictures are Great!
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you 
August 1st – Avalanches, Lakes, and Waterfalls
Weather: 89/56
Wow was it warm today. A high of 89F. I heard there were even cases of heat exhaustion within the park and there were signs up all over to make sure to stay hydrated. At this rate they need to change the name of this place to The Park Formerly Known As Glacier. Yeah, I know, at best my sense of humor is weird. At worst, many people used to wonder if I had one. Oh well. In the words of one of my friends, “A bad sense of humor is still better than no sense of humor.” She should know. Pei Shin’s mother had zero sense of humor. If you look up Tiger Mom in the dictionary her picture is going to be there. Heard from the grapevine that Pei Shin moved to the West Coast to live with her brother and go to college just to get out from under. Good for her.
I took care of breakfast and the other food prep early and then decided to do the crazy and overpack my backpack. I carried a couple gallons of water and kept Benny’s camelbak filled all day today which while it made the pack heavy in the beginning, I’m still glad I did it. And Benny hadn’t been exaggerating. There was some serious BO rolling off the people we shared the shuttle bus with. Whew.
After multiple transfers … from lodge to St. Mary Visitor Center, from St. Mary Visitor Center to Sun Point, from Sun Point to Logan Pass, and finally from Logan Pass to Avalanche Creek … we got off the shuttle system and did our first hike.
The Avalanche Lake trail didn’t spare us the crowds, but it was a worthwhile view on a totally doable trail. The hike began at the Trail of the Cedars Trailhead, located 5.5 miles east of the Lake McDonald Lodge.
The Trail of the Cedars is a loop trail that begins and ends along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Although the western segment of the loop was slightly shorter, in my opinion the eastern side was far more scenic. On the eastern portion of the loop, we travelled along a raised boardwalk that passed through a forest of old western hemlocks and red cedars. The humidity in the valley allows the cedars to grow to heights of 100 feet, and diameters of 4 to 7 feet. Some of the trees in the area are more than 500 years old.
Roughly one-half mile from the trailhead we reached a footbridge that spans Avalanche Creek and provided a great view of the lower Avalanche Gorge, one of the highlights along that stretch of the trail. Just past this point was the Avalanche Lake Trail junction.
After turning left onto the Avalanche Lake Trail, we immediately encountered a short, but steep climb. As we proceeded up the rise, we could see on our a very dense forest. In less than a tenth-of-a-mile after that we arrived at the banks of Avalanche Creek with an up-close view of the power of glacially melted water as it rushed through the narrow gorge.
At roughly 1.1 miles the trail left Avalanche Creek. Although we could no longer see the creek, we could still hear it, and the trail continued to loosely follow the creek up to the lake. About 1.6 miles from the trailhead we found hundreds of downed trees, the result of recent avalanches that thundered down the southern slopes of Mt. Cannon. There was a particularly destructive one in 2011 which destroyed parts of several trails in the area.
At 2.3 miles we finally reached the foot of Avalanche Lake. A short distance away was a large beach area that provided plenty of space to sit and soak-in the scenery. There were also several make-shift benches to rest on as well. Benny and I chose to put a plastic tarp down and sit and left the “benches” to the less flexible hikers, or those with babies. I was surprised at how many of them there were. I swear it was like KinderCare; kids were running all over the place, happy to finally be let down from the kid-carrier type backpacks most of them had been shoved into. I remember those days, and some of the strange looks I used to get. It is how I took care of Benny while still taking care of everything else. I look at him now and wonder how I ever did it. Sometimes I look at him and even though I’m not even twenty-one, I feel old. Or at least older. He’ll always be my Little Bear, but he isn’t nearly as little as he used to be. Part of me is proud, and part of me knows that there will come a time when I have to let go. All good things come to an end. But enough of that; it makes me sad and triggers memories I’d rather not think about.
Avalanche Lake sits at the base of 8694-foot Bearhat Mountain, which rises almost 4800 feet above the lake towards the northeast. The mountain that dominated the view towards the south was 7886-foot Little Matterhorn. Benny spotted several long waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet as they made their way towards the shore from the mountains that surrounded us. Many of the waterfalls originate from Sperry Glacier, which is beyond Little Matterhorn and can't be seen from the lake.
We didn’t just sit on the beach. Benny and I continued on the trail as it followed along the western shoreline to the head of the lake. The scenery was amazing. Benny asked me to read a couple of paragraphs out of the trail guide I had for the park. He needed to include something he learned on a page of his junior ranger book.
This area of Glacier National Park was named by Dr. Lyman Sperry. While exploring the basin in June of 1895, Sperry saw and heard multiple avalanches roaring down the surrounding mountains and agreed with his exploring party "that Avalanche Basin would be a most appropriate name for the place". On a return trip later that summer Sperry would discover the glacier that now bears his name.
Paraphrasing the rest of it, basically between Sperry's two visits that summer, an unnamed local resident cut a path to Avalanche Lake, making it the first trail to be constructed for tourists in the Glacier Park area.
Also in the guidebook was info on other trails in the park. I had considered adding the Dragon Tail trail to our itinerary but that’s a be nope on that. The pictures of the trail were amazing, but I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it with Benny. In places the trail looks about six inches wide with sheer drop offs on one or both sides. Plus, we’d have to re-travel the Hidden Lake Trail to reach it. At least for this adventure, pictures will have to be enough. Maybe when he is older, assuming he is still inclined.
After getting back to the trailhead we had to wait through two shuttles before we would fit on one going the direction we wanted to go, and then it took a bit to get to what locals call the “Two Med” area. Two Medicine. Cool name but I never did find out why it is called that. I did appreciate that it was less crowded, but not by much. We also took the shuttle boat (yes, another shuttle) across Two Medicine Lake to cut a little bit of hassle out of the trek.
After arriving at the boat landing of the other side of the lake our hike began with a walk along a short section of boardwalk that passes over a sensitive, boggy area. We heard from fellow hikers that you can spot moose if you come in the early morning or early evening. We didn’t see one as it was the wrong time of day. A short distance later we arrived at the South Shore Trail junction, which connects with the Two Medicine Pass Trail. We continued straight.
The early portions of this hike passed through an area full of ferns, thimbleberries and huckleberries. While the ferns were easy enough to identify, the only reason I know the berries is because of Grandma Barry and Meemo who both loved blackberry picking – they called it Zen or something like that. They cultivated some that ran down the fence row between their properties. Huckleberries Grandma Barry would also grow in raised beds out in the woods and “thimbleberries” is something she tried to grow a couple of times but turned out they weren’t a good variety for Florida.
Roughly three-quarters of a mile from the boat landing the trail crossed a footbridge. A short distance later we reached the North Shore Trail, which connects hikers to the Dawson Pass Trail. We continued straight ahead at this juncture, which now becomes the Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail.
Just past the junction and directly in front of us was the 7620-foot Pumpelly Pillar. The glacially carved, cone-shaped rock is named after Raphael Pumpelly, is named after the leader of the Northern Transcontinental Railway Survey party that crossed Pitamakan Pass in 1883.
Roughly one mile from the trailhead we reached another creek crossing. Just beyond this point is the side trail that leads to Twin Falls. From the junction it's an easy walk of less than a tenth-of-a-mile to reach the base of the falls. As we made our way up to the falls we passed several huckleberry patches along the way. Definitely bear countries with all of those berries around, no pun intended.
Twin Falls is a beautiful set of cascades flowing off the eastern slopes of Pumpelly Pillar. The two falls are separated by roughly 50 feet before converging again near the trail. To continue on towards Upper Two Medicine Lake, we proceeded straight ahead.
Roughly 1.5 miles from the trailhead we emerged from the forest and into what naturalists call a transition zone between small meadows and small groves of trees. After walking another third-of-a-mile we entered a large open meadow. From this point forward the trail passed through open terrain with numerous wildflowers and more berry patches.
Before reaching a small beach area on the east side of the lake, we had to first pass through the Upper Two Medicine Lake backcountry campground. The campground contained four individual campsites. Unfortunately an argument was underway. One couple said they’d reserved one of the campsites in advance … and had paper to prove it … but another couple said first come, first serve. None of our business so I hustled Benny along before we got pulled in as witnesses as the “argument” looked like it was about to devolved into a “physical confrontation.”
We hung out at the lake for a little while and then headed back so we wouldn’t miss the last shuttle stop of the day. The people who’d been arguing must have worked something out because there were five tents rather than four. Or maybe they were simply ignoring each other. I’m not a ranger but I have a feeling that if one shows up, someone is going to have to hit the trail.
A couple of long shuttle rides later we made it back to the van. The stuff on the dehydrator was finished and I set it to cool while I made our dinner before heading back to the room for the night. I had thought about hitting a restaurant for our meal but that would run the risk of stuff spoiling that I’d already purchased. And we were both sweaty and filthy. I’m also trying to save most of the “found” money and set it aside for a slush fund.
“Boy I don’t need to see your uvula dancing in the breeze. Please cover your mouth when you yawn.”
“My what?” he giggled.
“That thing that hangs down in the back of your throat like the clapper on a bell.”
“Oh. What’s that thing for anyway?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. I swear he is as easily distracted as I was at that age. “It has glands in it that help keep your throat from drying out. And it also acts like a sink strainer to keep stuff from getting stuck in your throat. Now let’s get this mess cleaned up, prep our food for tomorrow, and head up to the room since someone paid for it so we could use it. And then you can hop in the shower and scrub up and then climb into the bed with the crew.”
“I’m not tired.”
“Well if you aren’t, I am. And we have an all-day hike tomorrow.”
“All day?!” No, he wasn’t upset, he was happy. Very happy and excited.
“Yes, you stinky Little Bear that needs a shower poste haste. All. Day. That means we need to pack a lot of water and plenty of snacks. And I need to remember to throw some dry socks in my pack and a couple of t-shirts for you and me because rain might be in the forecast according to the board on the lodge porch. So scoot your boots.”
All was accomplished as I’d wanted and contrary to a certain someone’s disclaimer of not being tired, he is already asleep with crew members all over the bed with him. I’ll need to do a head count before we check out on the third. We leave no stuffie behind.
Weather: 89/56
Wow was it warm today. A high of 89F. I heard there were even cases of heat exhaustion within the park and there were signs up all over to make sure to stay hydrated. At this rate they need to change the name of this place to The Park Formerly Known As Glacier. Yeah, I know, at best my sense of humor is weird. At worst, many people used to wonder if I had one. Oh well. In the words of one of my friends, “A bad sense of humor is still better than no sense of humor.” She should know. Pei Shin’s mother had zero sense of humor. If you look up Tiger Mom in the dictionary her picture is going to be there. Heard from the grapevine that Pei Shin moved to the West Coast to live with her brother and go to college just to get out from under. Good for her.
I took care of breakfast and the other food prep early and then decided to do the crazy and overpack my backpack. I carried a couple gallons of water and kept Benny’s camelbak filled all day today which while it made the pack heavy in the beginning, I’m still glad I did it. And Benny hadn’t been exaggerating. There was some serious BO rolling off the people we shared the shuttle bus with. Whew.
After multiple transfers … from lodge to St. Mary Visitor Center, from St. Mary Visitor Center to Sun Point, from Sun Point to Logan Pass, and finally from Logan Pass to Avalanche Creek … we got off the shuttle system and did our first hike.
The Avalanche Lake trail didn’t spare us the crowds, but it was a worthwhile view on a totally doable trail. The hike began at the Trail of the Cedars Trailhead, located 5.5 miles east of the Lake McDonald Lodge.
The Trail of the Cedars is a loop trail that begins and ends along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Although the western segment of the loop was slightly shorter, in my opinion the eastern side was far more scenic. On the eastern portion of the loop, we travelled along a raised boardwalk that passed through a forest of old western hemlocks and red cedars. The humidity in the valley allows the cedars to grow to heights of 100 feet, and diameters of 4 to 7 feet. Some of the trees in the area are more than 500 years old.
Roughly one-half mile from the trailhead we reached a footbridge that spans Avalanche Creek and provided a great view of the lower Avalanche Gorge, one of the highlights along that stretch of the trail. Just past this point was the Avalanche Lake Trail junction.
After turning left onto the Avalanche Lake Trail, we immediately encountered a short, but steep climb. As we proceeded up the rise, we could see on our a very dense forest. In less than a tenth-of-a-mile after that we arrived at the banks of Avalanche Creek with an up-close view of the power of glacially melted water as it rushed through the narrow gorge.
At roughly 1.1 miles the trail left Avalanche Creek. Although we could no longer see the creek, we could still hear it, and the trail continued to loosely follow the creek up to the lake. About 1.6 miles from the trailhead we found hundreds of downed trees, the result of recent avalanches that thundered down the southern slopes of Mt. Cannon. There was a particularly destructive one in 2011 which destroyed parts of several trails in the area.
At 2.3 miles we finally reached the foot of Avalanche Lake. A short distance away was a large beach area that provided plenty of space to sit and soak-in the scenery. There were also several make-shift benches to rest on as well. Benny and I chose to put a plastic tarp down and sit and left the “benches” to the less flexible hikers, or those with babies. I was surprised at how many of them there were. I swear it was like KinderCare; kids were running all over the place, happy to finally be let down from the kid-carrier type backpacks most of them had been shoved into. I remember those days, and some of the strange looks I used to get. It is how I took care of Benny while still taking care of everything else. I look at him now and wonder how I ever did it. Sometimes I look at him and even though I’m not even twenty-one, I feel old. Or at least older. He’ll always be my Little Bear, but he isn’t nearly as little as he used to be. Part of me is proud, and part of me knows that there will come a time when I have to let go. All good things come to an end. But enough of that; it makes me sad and triggers memories I’d rather not think about.
Avalanche Lake sits at the base of 8694-foot Bearhat Mountain, which rises almost 4800 feet above the lake towards the northeast. The mountain that dominated the view towards the south was 7886-foot Little Matterhorn. Benny spotted several long waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet as they made their way towards the shore from the mountains that surrounded us. Many of the waterfalls originate from Sperry Glacier, which is beyond Little Matterhorn and can't be seen from the lake.
We didn’t just sit on the beach. Benny and I continued on the trail as it followed along the western shoreline to the head of the lake. The scenery was amazing. Benny asked me to read a couple of paragraphs out of the trail guide I had for the park. He needed to include something he learned on a page of his junior ranger book.
This area of Glacier National Park was named by Dr. Lyman Sperry. While exploring the basin in June of 1895, Sperry saw and heard multiple avalanches roaring down the surrounding mountains and agreed with his exploring party "that Avalanche Basin would be a most appropriate name for the place". On a return trip later that summer Sperry would discover the glacier that now bears his name.
Paraphrasing the rest of it, basically between Sperry's two visits that summer, an unnamed local resident cut a path to Avalanche Lake, making it the first trail to be constructed for tourists in the Glacier Park area.
Also in the guidebook was info on other trails in the park. I had considered adding the Dragon Tail trail to our itinerary but that’s a be nope on that. The pictures of the trail were amazing, but I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it with Benny. In places the trail looks about six inches wide with sheer drop offs on one or both sides. Plus, we’d have to re-travel the Hidden Lake Trail to reach it. At least for this adventure, pictures will have to be enough. Maybe when he is older, assuming he is still inclined.
After getting back to the trailhead we had to wait through two shuttles before we would fit on one going the direction we wanted to go, and then it took a bit to get to what locals call the “Two Med” area. Two Medicine. Cool name but I never did find out why it is called that. I did appreciate that it was less crowded, but not by much. We also took the shuttle boat (yes, another shuttle) across Two Medicine Lake to cut a little bit of hassle out of the trek.
After arriving at the boat landing of the other side of the lake our hike began with a walk along a short section of boardwalk that passes over a sensitive, boggy area. We heard from fellow hikers that you can spot moose if you come in the early morning or early evening. We didn’t see one as it was the wrong time of day. A short distance later we arrived at the South Shore Trail junction, which connects with the Two Medicine Pass Trail. We continued straight.
The early portions of this hike passed through an area full of ferns, thimbleberries and huckleberries. While the ferns were easy enough to identify, the only reason I know the berries is because of Grandma Barry and Meemo who both loved blackberry picking – they called it Zen or something like that. They cultivated some that ran down the fence row between their properties. Huckleberries Grandma Barry would also grow in raised beds out in the woods and “thimbleberries” is something she tried to grow a couple of times but turned out they weren’t a good variety for Florida.
Roughly three-quarters of a mile from the boat landing the trail crossed a footbridge. A short distance later we reached the North Shore Trail, which connects hikers to the Dawson Pass Trail. We continued straight ahead at this juncture, which now becomes the Upper Two Medicine Lake Trail.
Just past the junction and directly in front of us was the 7620-foot Pumpelly Pillar. The glacially carved, cone-shaped rock is named after Raphael Pumpelly, is named after the leader of the Northern Transcontinental Railway Survey party that crossed Pitamakan Pass in 1883.
Roughly one mile from the trailhead we reached another creek crossing. Just beyond this point is the side trail that leads to Twin Falls. From the junction it's an easy walk of less than a tenth-of-a-mile to reach the base of the falls. As we made our way up to the falls we passed several huckleberry patches along the way. Definitely bear countries with all of those berries around, no pun intended.
Twin Falls is a beautiful set of cascades flowing off the eastern slopes of Pumpelly Pillar. The two falls are separated by roughly 50 feet before converging again near the trail. To continue on towards Upper Two Medicine Lake, we proceeded straight ahead.
Roughly 1.5 miles from the trailhead we emerged from the forest and into what naturalists call a transition zone between small meadows and small groves of trees. After walking another third-of-a-mile we entered a large open meadow. From this point forward the trail passed through open terrain with numerous wildflowers and more berry patches.
Before reaching a small beach area on the east side of the lake, we had to first pass through the Upper Two Medicine Lake backcountry campground. The campground contained four individual campsites. Unfortunately an argument was underway. One couple said they’d reserved one of the campsites in advance … and had paper to prove it … but another couple said first come, first serve. None of our business so I hustled Benny along before we got pulled in as witnesses as the “argument” looked like it was about to devolved into a “physical confrontation.”
We hung out at the lake for a little while and then headed back so we wouldn’t miss the last shuttle stop of the day. The people who’d been arguing must have worked something out because there were five tents rather than four. Or maybe they were simply ignoring each other. I’m not a ranger but I have a feeling that if one shows up, someone is going to have to hit the trail.
A couple of long shuttle rides later we made it back to the van. The stuff on the dehydrator was finished and I set it to cool while I made our dinner before heading back to the room for the night. I had thought about hitting a restaurant for our meal but that would run the risk of stuff spoiling that I’d already purchased. And we were both sweaty and filthy. I’m also trying to save most of the “found” money and set it aside for a slush fund.
“Boy I don’t need to see your uvula dancing in the breeze. Please cover your mouth when you yawn.”
“My what?” he giggled.
“That thing that hangs down in the back of your throat like the clapper on a bell.”
“Oh. What’s that thing for anyway?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. I swear he is as easily distracted as I was at that age. “It has glands in it that help keep your throat from drying out. And it also acts like a sink strainer to keep stuff from getting stuck in your throat. Now let’s get this mess cleaned up, prep our food for tomorrow, and head up to the room since someone paid for it so we could use it. And then you can hop in the shower and scrub up and then climb into the bed with the crew.”
“I’m not tired.”
“Well if you aren’t, I am. And we have an all-day hike tomorrow.”
“All day?!” No, he wasn’t upset, he was happy. Very happy and excited.
“Yes, you stinky Little Bear that needs a shower poste haste. All. Day. That means we need to pack a lot of water and plenty of snacks. And I need to remember to throw some dry socks in my pack and a couple of t-shirts for you and me because rain might be in the forecast according to the board on the lodge porch. So scoot your boots.”
All was accomplished as I’d wanted and contrary to a certain someone’s disclaimer of not being tired, he is already asleep with crew members all over the bed with him. I’ll need to do a head count before we check out on the third. We leave no stuffie behind.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Thanks for the new pictures and the chapter!
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you
Sportsman
Veteran Member
Thank you. I'm really saddened by the way our National Parks have evolved with the influx of visitors.
Even down to the COE reservoirs and campgrounds. I remember back in the 1960s when you'd just enter the reservoir area, drive around (roads or not), find a nice wooded area and set up camp, build a latrine, and get with enjoying nature. Clean up after yourself when you leave so no one could tell you were there. No more... now it's designated camp spots (and few of them), and "no driving on the grass". If you saw a ranger, it was a friendly visit and he explained that if you needed firewood-there was a downed tree down the road, if you needed to call him- where the closest phone was, etc. I understand it, but from what I see, those days are gone; and it's sad.
I've relived a few trips from this story. Keep it up!
Even down to the COE reservoirs and campgrounds. I remember back in the 1960s when you'd just enter the reservoir area, drive around (roads or not), find a nice wooded area and set up camp, build a latrine, and get with enjoying nature. Clean up after yourself when you leave so no one could tell you were there. No more... now it's designated camp spots (and few of them), and "no driving on the grass". If you saw a ranger, it was a friendly visit and he explained that if you needed firewood-there was a downed tree down the road, if you needed to call him- where the closest phone was, etc. I understand it, but from what I see, those days are gone; and it's sad.
I've relived a few trips from this story. Keep it up!
August 2nd – Cracker Lake (Part 1)
Weather: 79/66
Today was our last day in Glacier National Park. I wanted to end it with something special. It was special all right. I sitting here with all sorts of triple antibiotic goo on my knees, shin, and elbow to prove it.
I had us eat oatmeal and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We needed both protein and carbs and something that would stick to our ribs since we were going to be on an all-day hike to Cracker Lake. It’s just over twelve miles roundtrip. That was well within our range and
I was told the trail wasn’t quite as busy as some of the others in the park. Pictures of our destination was just icing on the cake … an azure body of water set against dramatically tall mountains. Yee haw.
The trailhead for the out-and-back trail is behind the Many Glacier Lodge on the east shore of Swiftcurrent Lake. I wanted to get Benny into the backcountry and away from the crowds. I was seeing the signs in both of us. Too many people being too emotional. I’ve learned to tune people like that out, I had to or Penny would have sent me into the stratosphere just breathing, but Benny isn’t proof against a prolonged “psyche attack” like that, not yet though he is tons better than he used to be. I doubled checked trail conditions with a ranger and also left a note on the trailhead for just in case. Ha.
The first 1.7 miles of the trail is a shared horse path through the woods. How can you tell it is a shared trail? Well aside from the multiple signs warning hikers to give way to trail riders, there were several messy and odiferous sections. Pee-yousa. Luckily it's a short section and the trail began to climb using switchbacks, eventually following Canyon Creek. There were a few shallow creek crossings but it was easy to keep your feet dry. There were also openings in the forest canopy that provided provide stunning views of mountain on both sides of the creek.
I already knew this was bear country so we had to be diligent about making noise as there were several tight bends and limited sight sections of the trail. All we needed was to run up on a bear and startle it. Nope. Didn’t want that to happen. I put a bear bell on the back of Benny’s day pack and I attached one to my walking staff as well as my hiker. It had started out on my hiking vest but the sound so close to my ears was beyond annoying and after the third time I had to ask Benny to repeat himself I nearly threw it into the brush on the side of the trail.
We probably didn’t have to wear them because dang it all, what was supposed to be a secluded trail was covered in other hikers. I’ll admit that there were near as many as on some of the other trails in the park but I was more than a little disappointed to find as many as we did. As much noise as some of them were making the bears would have had to wear sound-cancelling head phones to escape that there were humans in the area.
At 4.75 miles, according to the GPS, we left the forest and could see down the deep canyon. We also saw a few high elevation waterfalls flowing from melting ice packs. We experienced our first full view of the lake at a clearing 5.8 miles in.
At that point the trail followed the ridge of the lake to a backcountry camping area and continued down to the main beach located at the back of the canyon. Along the ridge there were several paths leading down to small rocky beach areas, which would have been more private, but I didn’t want to risk adding to the erosion problem that was visible … or breaking our necks as they were steep and not maintained. Not to mention, the beach at the end of the trail was something not to be missed. Its color is derived from where gray silty sand meets ice cold turquoise blue water.
It was a hot enough day where a quick swim was in order but first we took a quick hike up to an old mine site. There was some abandoned mining equipment to look at but something about the area was giving me the willies. I thought my imagination was taking off … ghosts and all that because there was an atmosphere to the place that was off-putting.
There was a sign-thingie at the beach area that gave an explanation of the mine. The mine was established in 1897 after copper was discovered on the south shore of the lake. According to legend the mine received its name when two prospectors, L. C. Emmonds and Hank Norris, had a lunch of cheese and crackers on the site after staking their claim.
Although miners dug a thirteen-hundred-foot tunnel into the mountain, and the vein looked fairly promising, a mining expert from Helena eventually determined that the site wouldn't be profitable and discouraged further development. In addition to the tunnel the miners built a sawmill and erected a 16,000-pound steam driven concentrator to process the ore. Modern day explorers can still find mine tailings and some of the abandoned machinery around the old mine site today. Entering the mine, however, is strictly prohibited.
Benny was positively thrilled to play in the lake water. I told him no putting his face in the water … that bears and deer pee’d in it. Boy did he start giggling but he also understood that I meant I did not want him to get the water in his mouth just in case.
We weren’t the only ones at the lake but we were one of the few in the water. It was cold. We’d come out and were drying off. I’d just finished helping Benny get dressed when this guys comes hurtling down the trail yelling his girlfriend had fallen in and he couldn’t reach her. He was really panicking.
Weather: 79/66
Today was our last day in Glacier National Park. I wanted to end it with something special. It was special all right. I sitting here with all sorts of triple antibiotic goo on my knees, shin, and elbow to prove it.
I had us eat oatmeal and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We needed both protein and carbs and something that would stick to our ribs since we were going to be on an all-day hike to Cracker Lake. It’s just over twelve miles roundtrip. That was well within our range and
I was told the trail wasn’t quite as busy as some of the others in the park. Pictures of our destination was just icing on the cake … an azure body of water set against dramatically tall mountains. Yee haw.
The trailhead for the out-and-back trail is behind the Many Glacier Lodge on the east shore of Swiftcurrent Lake. I wanted to get Benny into the backcountry and away from the crowds. I was seeing the signs in both of us. Too many people being too emotional. I’ve learned to tune people like that out, I had to or Penny would have sent me into the stratosphere just breathing, but Benny isn’t proof against a prolonged “psyche attack” like that, not yet though he is tons better than he used to be. I doubled checked trail conditions with a ranger and also left a note on the trailhead for just in case. Ha.
The first 1.7 miles of the trail is a shared horse path through the woods. How can you tell it is a shared trail? Well aside from the multiple signs warning hikers to give way to trail riders, there were several messy and odiferous sections. Pee-yousa. Luckily it's a short section and the trail began to climb using switchbacks, eventually following Canyon Creek. There were a few shallow creek crossings but it was easy to keep your feet dry. There were also openings in the forest canopy that provided provide stunning views of mountain on both sides of the creek.
I already knew this was bear country so we had to be diligent about making noise as there were several tight bends and limited sight sections of the trail. All we needed was to run up on a bear and startle it. Nope. Didn’t want that to happen. I put a bear bell on the back of Benny’s day pack and I attached one to my walking staff as well as my hiker. It had started out on my hiking vest but the sound so close to my ears was beyond annoying and after the third time I had to ask Benny to repeat himself I nearly threw it into the brush on the side of the trail.
We probably didn’t have to wear them because dang it all, what was supposed to be a secluded trail was covered in other hikers. I’ll admit that there were near as many as on some of the other trails in the park but I was more than a little disappointed to find as many as we did. As much noise as some of them were making the bears would have had to wear sound-cancelling head phones to escape that there were humans in the area.
At 4.75 miles, according to the GPS, we left the forest and could see down the deep canyon. We also saw a few high elevation waterfalls flowing from melting ice packs. We experienced our first full view of the lake at a clearing 5.8 miles in.
At that point the trail followed the ridge of the lake to a backcountry camping area and continued down to the main beach located at the back of the canyon. Along the ridge there were several paths leading down to small rocky beach areas, which would have been more private, but I didn’t want to risk adding to the erosion problem that was visible … or breaking our necks as they were steep and not maintained. Not to mention, the beach at the end of the trail was something not to be missed. Its color is derived from where gray silty sand meets ice cold turquoise blue water.
It was a hot enough day where a quick swim was in order but first we took a quick hike up to an old mine site. There was some abandoned mining equipment to look at but something about the area was giving me the willies. I thought my imagination was taking off … ghosts and all that because there was an atmosphere to the place that was off-putting.
There was a sign-thingie at the beach area that gave an explanation of the mine. The mine was established in 1897 after copper was discovered on the south shore of the lake. According to legend the mine received its name when two prospectors, L. C. Emmonds and Hank Norris, had a lunch of cheese and crackers on the site after staking their claim.
Although miners dug a thirteen-hundred-foot tunnel into the mountain, and the vein looked fairly promising, a mining expert from Helena eventually determined that the site wouldn't be profitable and discouraged further development. In addition to the tunnel the miners built a sawmill and erected a 16,000-pound steam driven concentrator to process the ore. Modern day explorers can still find mine tailings and some of the abandoned machinery around the old mine site today. Entering the mine, however, is strictly prohibited.
Benny was positively thrilled to play in the lake water. I told him no putting his face in the water … that bears and deer pee’d in it. Boy did he start giggling but he also understood that I meant I did not want him to get the water in his mouth just in case.
We weren’t the only ones at the lake but we were one of the few in the water. It was cold. We’d come out and were drying off. I’d just finished helping Benny get dressed when this guys comes hurtling down the trail yelling his girlfriend had fallen in and he couldn’t reach her. He was really panicking.
August 2nd – Cracker Lake (Part 2)
I always carry paracord and nylon braided rope. I just do. It came in handy too many times when I was in Scouts and Naval Cadettes. Not to mention it has been dead useful plenty of other times as well. I grabbed Benny and my pack and we started running up the trail, me still wet from the lake.
I skidded to a stop when I got there and realized what had happened. They hadn’t gone into the mine, the mine had come to them. There was a cave in and that was confirmed by the guy babbling to another guy that had run up with me.
“Benny, I don’t want you going any further than this tree. Understand?”
He nodded, then said, “Yes Aunt Gus.”
“You don’t leave with anyone no matter how they try to help.”
“I won’t move from this tree and won’t go away with anyone but you.”
“Good deal Lucille. Keep your pack on and keep an eye on mine,” I told him as I finished lacing my boots and throwing a dry t-shirt on.
I looked around. I’m no small girl but none of the guys that looked willing or able would have fit. That’s right, I was going to edge down the hole and try and at least secure her before she slid any further down. She wasn’t far but she said she could feel the ground around her shifting.
Just my luck that there wasn’t a tree close enough. I turned to the guy with the flat top and said, “I need some muscle. Can you organize a team to hold the end of the rope while I go down?”
“Ayup,” he said and soon as I’d tied off around my waist he had a couple of other men grab the rope’s other end. I saw he’d had them wrap bandanas or rags or t-shirts around their hands. That’s one less worry I had and I gave him a nod while I slowly edged over to the hole.
“Look, my name is Gus. Your’s is Suzanne, right?”
She squeaked out, “Yes.”
“I know it seems like you are far down in this hole but not as far as your imagination is telling you. I need you to stay calm. Control your breathing. Can you feel anything under your feet?”
“One of them. I think … I think I’m standing on a rock or a root. I can’t feel anything under my other foot.”
“Okay. Are you holding onto something?”
“A big root.”
“Right side or left?”
“Right.”
“Okay, I’m coming down slowly. Don’t look up because I don’t want to knock dirt into your face.”
Good thing I am not claustrophobic. The hole made three of me but I could still just barely maneuver.
It was slow going and in hindsight I should have had my head examined but in all honesty … no, I’m not going there. It didn’t happen and that’s that.
Everything was going well. I was just above her and had managed to get into a squat position and had run a triple length of paracord around her under her arms. I was just about to tie it off when the dirt beneath her started to shift. I only had time to hear her whimper when there was a rumble. The dirt around me was shifting as well. I heard the men at ground level yell.
“Hold the line! Hold the line!!”
I didn’t free fall but my knees slid at least a yard. The girl, Suzanne, never even screamed though I wanted to as my arm was nearly sent numb when my funny bone connected with a large rock. But I hadn’t let go of the paracord loops.
“I … I’m not dead,” I heard her whisper in disbelief.
I also heard a cry. “Aunt Gus! Aunt Gus!!”
“Benjamin Lawrence,” I yelled. “You better not have moved from that tree!”
“No! But please come up. Come up now!”
“That’s the plan Little Bear.”
“Gus?”
“Er … who’s that?”
“Grissom. We’ve got the line. You ready for us to pull? The ground around the hole is eroding.”
“Yeah. But make it slow and steady. I have Suzanne and we are both going to have to come up together. There’s nothing to tie her off to. There’s some roots down here I can use but you guys are probably going to have to take most of our weight. Understand?”
“Ayup. And my wife is standing over near your boy. If the ground gets any more unstable she’ll run him down the trail. You’re gonna need to give him permission. He’s refusing to budge.”
I yelled up and the plan was made but Benny wasn’t happy about it. But he wasn’t acting hysterical which was a load off my mind.
Suzanne was shaken up pretty badly. And she was cold making me worry she was going into shock. It took long but was safer for me to help her climb up and I would boost her every couple of steps, making sure she never slid back down. They’d just gotten her out and pulled away when I heard rocks falling beneath me. Crappity crap crap.
I started climbing at the same time the men started pulling; they’d seen another hole open up not far from the first. I was waving them to go, go, go but they wouldn’t leave until they were sure I could move on my own. I crawled and Grissom gave me a hand up and I ran to Benny and grabbed him and my pack and started running back down the trail towards the lake.
You know how adrenaline is, you don’t feel the ouch until the fight or flight need is controlled. I knew my elbow hurt but that is the only thing that registered as I was too busy holding Benny where he was pressed against my side, hiding his face against me and shaking.
“C’mon Little Bear. Aunt Gus is right here and she’s fine and dandy. Help me find that lady Suzanne in case she needs us to give her some first aid.”
Me including him by saying “we” helped. And it helped me when I heard, “My husband is looking after her. Army Nurse, Retired. Let’s get you looked at.”
“How is she?” I said responding more to the woman’s no-nonsense tone that reminded me of Grandma Barry.
“Shook up. Banged up. But luckier than she would have been had you bunch not gone into action so fast. Grissom is my grandson by the way.”
“You can go spend some of this on him,” I told her with a grin.
“I’ll let his mother and wife handle him. He can wrap me around his little finger too easy,” she said with a grin of her own.
She handled me about as well as someone checking a horse at auction. I nearly asked if she wanted to see my teeth too but didn’t think that would show the right amount of appreciation for her efforts. Bottom line was that nothing appeared broken and that we’d best get back down the trail as there was a storm rolling in so they couldn’t get a helicopter in.
“You sure you can walk?” Grissom came over and asked.
I snorted. “I’m too big to tote like a sack of potatoes. What the heck are those idiots doing?”
He looked where I was looking and he snorted. “Idiots are too kind a word.” People with less than stellar intelligence looked like they wanted to go see the damage
I took out a permanent marker and borrowed a bigger sheet of paper from some guy that was there sketching than I had on my notepad and wrote,
Benny said, “You need a pirate flag on there so people that can’t read will know.”
“Good idea. Draw one for me. My hands are cramping.”
Grissom was looking and then realized Benny meant a skull and crossbones like for poisons. He also raised an eyebrow when he saw how well Benny drew.
I snorted. “We’re dyslexic. Pictographs are our version of shorthand.”
Benny mumbled as he drew, “Aunt Gus taught me”
Well, since Prince Charming wasn’t going to cart me away to his castle for his wizard to magically heal me it was time to start hiking. Passed time given how the sky was looking. And the truth was my hand wasn’t cramping, they were shaking. Reaction was setting in and the only way to deal with it was to start moving because I had a 6+ mile hike ahead of me. Not to mention I had started to feel my scrapes and bruises.
Walking was not easy. Not because I was in pain but because Benny was practically a limpet. I finally got him to hold my belt loop … I’d slid my capris on before hitting the trail … rather than hug onto my waist. Others walked with us making sure I was okay until the rain started and I told them to go, that we had rain gear and they didn’t. I got Benny’s poncho on and he insisted on helping me with mine and we tried to stay out of the way of people that were practically running up the switchbacks. All I could do was shake my head at the stupidity.
I always carry paracord and nylon braided rope. I just do. It came in handy too many times when I was in Scouts and Naval Cadettes. Not to mention it has been dead useful plenty of other times as well. I grabbed Benny and my pack and we started running up the trail, me still wet from the lake.
I skidded to a stop when I got there and realized what had happened. They hadn’t gone into the mine, the mine had come to them. There was a cave in and that was confirmed by the guy babbling to another guy that had run up with me.
“Benny, I don’t want you going any further than this tree. Understand?”
He nodded, then said, “Yes Aunt Gus.”
“You don’t leave with anyone no matter how they try to help.”
“I won’t move from this tree and won’t go away with anyone but you.”
“Good deal Lucille. Keep your pack on and keep an eye on mine,” I told him as I finished lacing my boots and throwing a dry t-shirt on.
I looked around. I’m no small girl but none of the guys that looked willing or able would have fit. That’s right, I was going to edge down the hole and try and at least secure her before she slid any further down. She wasn’t far but she said she could feel the ground around her shifting.
Just my luck that there wasn’t a tree close enough. I turned to the guy with the flat top and said, “I need some muscle. Can you organize a team to hold the end of the rope while I go down?”
“Ayup,” he said and soon as I’d tied off around my waist he had a couple of other men grab the rope’s other end. I saw he’d had them wrap bandanas or rags or t-shirts around their hands. That’s one less worry I had and I gave him a nod while I slowly edged over to the hole.
“Look, my name is Gus. Your’s is Suzanne, right?”
She squeaked out, “Yes.”
“I know it seems like you are far down in this hole but not as far as your imagination is telling you. I need you to stay calm. Control your breathing. Can you feel anything under your feet?”
“One of them. I think … I think I’m standing on a rock or a root. I can’t feel anything under my other foot.”
“Okay. Are you holding onto something?”
“A big root.”
“Right side or left?”
“Right.”
“Okay, I’m coming down slowly. Don’t look up because I don’t want to knock dirt into your face.”
Good thing I am not claustrophobic. The hole made three of me but I could still just barely maneuver.
It was slow going and in hindsight I should have had my head examined but in all honesty … no, I’m not going there. It didn’t happen and that’s that.
Everything was going well. I was just above her and had managed to get into a squat position and had run a triple length of paracord around her under her arms. I was just about to tie it off when the dirt beneath her started to shift. I only had time to hear her whimper when there was a rumble. The dirt around me was shifting as well. I heard the men at ground level yell.
“Hold the line! Hold the line!!”
I didn’t free fall but my knees slid at least a yard. The girl, Suzanne, never even screamed though I wanted to as my arm was nearly sent numb when my funny bone connected with a large rock. But I hadn’t let go of the paracord loops.
“I … I’m not dead,” I heard her whisper in disbelief.
I also heard a cry. “Aunt Gus! Aunt Gus!!”
“Benjamin Lawrence,” I yelled. “You better not have moved from that tree!”
“No! But please come up. Come up now!”
“That’s the plan Little Bear.”
“Gus?”
“Er … who’s that?”
“Grissom. We’ve got the line. You ready for us to pull? The ground around the hole is eroding.”
“Yeah. But make it slow and steady. I have Suzanne and we are both going to have to come up together. There’s nothing to tie her off to. There’s some roots down here I can use but you guys are probably going to have to take most of our weight. Understand?”
“Ayup. And my wife is standing over near your boy. If the ground gets any more unstable she’ll run him down the trail. You’re gonna need to give him permission. He’s refusing to budge.”
I yelled up and the plan was made but Benny wasn’t happy about it. But he wasn’t acting hysterical which was a load off my mind.
Suzanne was shaken up pretty badly. And she was cold making me worry she was going into shock. It took long but was safer for me to help her climb up and I would boost her every couple of steps, making sure she never slid back down. They’d just gotten her out and pulled away when I heard rocks falling beneath me. Crappity crap crap.
I started climbing at the same time the men started pulling; they’d seen another hole open up not far from the first. I was waving them to go, go, go but they wouldn’t leave until they were sure I could move on my own. I crawled and Grissom gave me a hand up and I ran to Benny and grabbed him and my pack and started running back down the trail towards the lake.
You know how adrenaline is, you don’t feel the ouch until the fight or flight need is controlled. I knew my elbow hurt but that is the only thing that registered as I was too busy holding Benny where he was pressed against my side, hiding his face against me and shaking.
“C’mon Little Bear. Aunt Gus is right here and she’s fine and dandy. Help me find that lady Suzanne in case she needs us to give her some first aid.”
Me including him by saying “we” helped. And it helped me when I heard, “My husband is looking after her. Army Nurse, Retired. Let’s get you looked at.”
“How is she?” I said responding more to the woman’s no-nonsense tone that reminded me of Grandma Barry.
“Shook up. Banged up. But luckier than she would have been had you bunch not gone into action so fast. Grissom is my grandson by the way.”
“You can go spend some of this on him,” I told her with a grin.
“I’ll let his mother and wife handle him. He can wrap me around his little finger too easy,” she said with a grin of her own.
She handled me about as well as someone checking a horse at auction. I nearly asked if she wanted to see my teeth too but didn’t think that would show the right amount of appreciation for her efforts. Bottom line was that nothing appeared broken and that we’d best get back down the trail as there was a storm rolling in so they couldn’t get a helicopter in.
“You sure you can walk?” Grissom came over and asked.
I snorted. “I’m too big to tote like a sack of potatoes. What the heck are those idiots doing?”
He looked where I was looking and he snorted. “Idiots are too kind a word.” People with less than stellar intelligence looked like they wanted to go see the damage
I took out a permanent marker and borrowed a bigger sheet of paper from some guy that was there sketching than I had on my notepad and wrote,
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
STAY OUT!
MINE COLLAPSE
DON’T BE AN IDIOT OR IMBECILE
YOU’LL DIE OR WORSE
STAY OUT!
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
STAY OUT!
MINE COLLAPSE
DON’T BE AN IDIOT OR IMBECILE
YOU’LL DIE OR WORSE
STAY OUT!
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
Benny said, “You need a pirate flag on there so people that can’t read will know.”
“Good idea. Draw one for me. My hands are cramping.”
Grissom was looking and then realized Benny meant a skull and crossbones like for poisons. He also raised an eyebrow when he saw how well Benny drew.
I snorted. “We’re dyslexic. Pictographs are our version of shorthand.”
Benny mumbled as he drew, “Aunt Gus taught me”
Well, since Prince Charming wasn’t going to cart me away to his castle for his wizard to magically heal me it was time to start hiking. Passed time given how the sky was looking. And the truth was my hand wasn’t cramping, they were shaking. Reaction was setting in and the only way to deal with it was to start moving because I had a 6+ mile hike ahead of me. Not to mention I had started to feel my scrapes and bruises.
Walking was not easy. Not because I was in pain but because Benny was practically a limpet. I finally got him to hold my belt loop … I’d slid my capris on before hitting the trail … rather than hug onto my waist. Others walked with us making sure I was okay until the rain started and I told them to go, that we had rain gear and they didn’t. I got Benny’s poncho on and he insisted on helping me with mine and we tried to stay out of the way of people that were practically running up the switchbacks. All I could do was shake my head at the stupidity.
August 2nd – Cracker Lake (Part 3)
We had just made the top of the steep part of the trail, taking our time more for safety than my knees, when three rangers came into view. I stopped them and said, “I tied a rope across the trail that leads to the mine but there were people thinking about going under it. The rain had most people turning back”
“We’ve got people stationed at the trailhead and we’re closing it until further notice. You’re Aunt Gus?”
“Yeah … I mean yes.”
“Are you injured? Do you require assistance?”
“No. Do you need some kind of statement from me?”
“We can take it on the way back to the trailhead.”
So I did and it passed the time but I got a little annoyed as well. They were scaring Benny as they lectured me on waiting for the professionals. Then I pushed back a little explaining my training and that I had some experience, just in a different environment … water based … but pulling someone off a capsizing boat while dangling from a helicopter did give me some idea of how it was supposed to work.
“You are a little young for that.”
“Tell that to my commanders. I was in USNSCC. Do you know what that is?”
The two female rangers didn’t but the male did. He asked, “Where you headed to the Navy or the Coast Guard?”
“Navy,” I answered. “But, I have a responsibility to my nephew. I thought I had my course charted but … life changes things.”
“What was your rank?”
“I was an E-7, a Chief Petty Officer at time of graduation. I was going to enlist on my 18th birthday but Lawrence, my brother, wanted me to have at least two years of college before enlisting … for a lot of reasons,” I said, giving the man a look. He nodded and thankfully the women didn’t notice. I already got the feeling that one of them was a little militant and while I suppose that has its place, I wasn’t in the mood to listen to a lecture on women’s rights. I knew what my rights were. I was also aware of what my responsibilities were and didn’t like people getting in my business over it.
I did learn an interesting factoid during the hike back. A BASE jumper leapt off of Mt. Siyeh in 1997, intending to land near Cracker Lake. Almost immediately after jumping the man hit a wall and his parachute became caught on a rock roughly 400 feet below the summit. A daring rescue involving 8 rangers and several other park employees pulled the man to safety, who suffered only minor injuries.
We got to the trailhead and then to the lodge. The rain had washed all the evidence that remained of how scuffed up I was and it was cooling things down. I wanted to get Benny to the van and get him dried off; myself as well. I peeled off from the rangers with a wave when the rain started coming down harder.
Benny was chilled and quiet. Too quiet. I got him changed and dried off. He didn’t even object to me treating him like a baby. Then I took care of myself and really looked at my knees for the first time. Not exactly hamburger but not exactly pretty either. I sprayed some antibiotic with pain reliever on them and then got us out of there after making sure that Benny wasn’t so out of it that he hadn’t buckled up.
“The hike and rain too much for you Bud?”
“You went down the hole,” he answered.
“I had a job to do. I was the only one up there that could do it safely and fit in the hole at the same time.”
“It wasn’t safe. The hole almost ATE YOU!”
Uh oh. “Okay, watch the volume … and the tone. You know Aunt Gus is trained and …”
“THE HOLE ALMOST ATE YOU!!
“Benjamin Lawrence. If you want to discuss your feelings we will, but not with you using that kind of attitude. It isn’t helpful.”
He sighed and I could hear a whimper in it. “Aunt Gus … it was scary.”
“I know. And I’m sorry that it upset you but sometimes we must do what we can do. I can do lots of things because I have the training. And I was there. It would have been like if I was a doctor or nurse and just stood there and watched someone bleed to death waiting on someone else to step up.”
“But …”
“Benny, listen to me. Yes, there was danger, but I made sure I had a team up above that was strong and capable and had the commonsense to take care of that end. And I made sure you knew what to do to help me too. And you did.”
“I didn’t help.”
“Oh yes you did. By following the rules I set, you gave me enough peace of mind that I could do what I had to without being scared you’d run off or whatever and when I came back up I couldn’t find you. If I hadn’t been absolutely sure that you were going to do that for me, I couldn’t have helped save that woman. Her name was Suzanne and she has people who love her and would miss her terribly if something went bad wrong.”
“Like I miss Dad … and Momma?”
“Exactly like that. I couldn’t do anything to stop what happened to Lawrence. He had a job to do too. An important one with lots of responsibilities. And I tried with Penny and we’ve discussed that a lot.”
“But why? Why did you have to go down that hole?!”
“Because sometimes you are presented with situations that if you don’t help, don’t do what you can, don’t do what the Creator makes you capable of doing, the situation gets bad … and you can wind up worse off than the people that needed help.”
“Why?”
I sighed, trying to figure out how to explain. “You know I tried to help your mom, right?”
“Yes. Everyone tried.”
“Well, even though her choice was … was what it was and left me feeling awful, my conscience is clear. I know that I did what I could. That doesn’t mean that the situation was about me but we’re all kinda woven together, like a rug. I did what I could to help Penny not unravel from our rug but when she did anyway, while I felt bad, I didn’t feel responsible for her choice.”
“It isn’t our fault,” he said, repeating what I’ve had to remind him of more than a few times.
“Exactly. Now if this woman had gotten hurt worse than she already was … or worse … had I not done what I could to help? I would have felt responsible. And maybe some of it would have been my fault. Not that she fell down the hole, that was just an accident no one knew was going to happen. But … the Creator puts us in situations for us to learn something.”
“Not everyone believes in God,” he said reminding me that the woman that had lived in the house on the other side of Groucho’s shop was a fairly rabid atheist and was always on Stella about decorating, saying it impugned her rights or some such. I’d had to explain why the woman acted so crazy on occasion over stuff that made other people feel happy.
“No, not everyone believes in the Creator, or if they do, they don’t necessarily believe that the Creator has a lot to do or say about our lives. I do believe He does. I trust him to do his job of running the Universe and everything in it. When you start to get old enough to make those kinds of connections, you’ll have to decide for yourself. No one can make you. You must be the one to decide whether to build a relationship with the Creator or not and what that will mean to you.”
“There’s God … He sent you so I wouldn’t have to be alone. Just … just don’t go down anymore holes. It isn’t like when you helped Gabby,” he said referring to the little girl from Yellowstone.
“I didn’t plan on going in one this time. But it is what happened, and we got the woman out before she fell all the way through. The bad didn’t happen. Let’s just focus on the positive. ‘K?”
He was silent for a moment before answering, “You did save her.”
“The team we built real quick saved her. And you played your part for me. Let’s just let it go. It means something alright, but it isn’t something that should take over our entire lives. We need to get back to the lodge, shower, grab some grub, and I promised you that we’d go in the souvenir stores. They are open later than I thought and if we shower quick, there will be time.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Bet you will be. I know I will. Might even want some ice cream if the place is still open when we get there.”
“You will?” he asked, surprised.
“Yeppers. Hiking does it every time. Did you know we hiked over twelve miles?” It took effort but finally he was distracted enough that the incipient episode had been avoided.
I do believe what I explained to Benny, but I understand that I also have a responsibility to the boy that the Creator put in my care. I know I did what was right this time but next? I don’t know, I suppose it is a case-by-case situation and always will be. I am who Benny has and I need to keep that in mind. I’m not Wonder Woman, I’m Benny’s Aunt Gus.
He finally dropped all signs of having an emotional reaction to what happened. Was laughing and cutting up like normal by the time we grabbed something to eat. He stayed beside me, but he wasn’t anxiously holding onto me either. We packed up and I rinsed out my muddy “rescue” clothes. They’re salvageable but could still use a spin in a real washer. I wish it was so easy to deal with my knees. And I’m sure I’m going to feel just grand tomorrow. Hopefully using the antibiotic cream with pain reliever in it will make things well enough that it won’t get in the way of the next few days.
Hate to say it but I won’t be sorry to leave the crowds around here behind tomorrow. How can anyone enjoy themselves this way? And I gotta say that there were some really cranky people. All this beauty around them and people complaining they can’t get a good signal (put the social media down people), the food is too expensive (so bring your own like we did), someone is getting some privileges they aren’t (try enjoying what you do have), lines are too long, time is too short, and on and on and on. I suppose I am just as bad as they are, just about different topics. I might be able to rationalize my complaints by saying that I’m sore and out of sorts over today, but that would be an excuse not the truth.
I think I’m letting things get beyond my control. I have three months to figure out a new road for Benny and I. And I still won’t be twenty-one; barely halfway there. I’m going to need to figure something out that will bridge the time between the end of October and the beginning of April. It will be winter in Florida, snowbird season. Might be some opportunities there.
I have been working the numbers and I’m pushing between $600 and $700 monthly income on the blog. Unless I find some new way to expand it I think that is going to be top of that stream. But to expand the blog requires me taking time away from the very thing that helps create the blog … traveling and spending time with Benny.
I wanted to have things figured out by this point in the trip. Maybe I am trying too hard. Maybe there is more time than I am crediting it to be. What I do know is that I need to refocus on Benny a bit. Search and Rescue is something I can do, but as a career maybe I shouldn’t do it right now. Maybe I need to think about what Benny needs and not just what I want.
Gah! This growing up crap is for the birds. I mean I am grown up. I’m twenty. But at the same time? I feel … stretched. Not enough time. Not enough resources. Not enough … of a lot of things, including not enough of me to go around for all the things I know needs to be done and not for what I want to do. I am going to try and put it away for a bit instead of thinking about it every single day. Benny needs me. That just may mean that what I want is just not available to me for now. I need to appreciate what I do have instead of worrying at what I don’t.
We had just made the top of the steep part of the trail, taking our time more for safety than my knees, when three rangers came into view. I stopped them and said, “I tied a rope across the trail that leads to the mine but there were people thinking about going under it. The rain had most people turning back”
“We’ve got people stationed at the trailhead and we’re closing it until further notice. You’re Aunt Gus?”
“Yeah … I mean yes.”
“Are you injured? Do you require assistance?”
“No. Do you need some kind of statement from me?”
“We can take it on the way back to the trailhead.”
So I did and it passed the time but I got a little annoyed as well. They were scaring Benny as they lectured me on waiting for the professionals. Then I pushed back a little explaining my training and that I had some experience, just in a different environment … water based … but pulling someone off a capsizing boat while dangling from a helicopter did give me some idea of how it was supposed to work.
“You are a little young for that.”
“Tell that to my commanders. I was in USNSCC. Do you know what that is?”
The two female rangers didn’t but the male did. He asked, “Where you headed to the Navy or the Coast Guard?”
“Navy,” I answered. “But, I have a responsibility to my nephew. I thought I had my course charted but … life changes things.”
“What was your rank?”
“I was an E-7, a Chief Petty Officer at time of graduation. I was going to enlist on my 18th birthday but Lawrence, my brother, wanted me to have at least two years of college before enlisting … for a lot of reasons,” I said, giving the man a look. He nodded and thankfully the women didn’t notice. I already got the feeling that one of them was a little militant and while I suppose that has its place, I wasn’t in the mood to listen to a lecture on women’s rights. I knew what my rights were. I was also aware of what my responsibilities were and didn’t like people getting in my business over it.
I did learn an interesting factoid during the hike back. A BASE jumper leapt off of Mt. Siyeh in 1997, intending to land near Cracker Lake. Almost immediately after jumping the man hit a wall and his parachute became caught on a rock roughly 400 feet below the summit. A daring rescue involving 8 rangers and several other park employees pulled the man to safety, who suffered only minor injuries.
We got to the trailhead and then to the lodge. The rain had washed all the evidence that remained of how scuffed up I was and it was cooling things down. I wanted to get Benny to the van and get him dried off; myself as well. I peeled off from the rangers with a wave when the rain started coming down harder.
Benny was chilled and quiet. Too quiet. I got him changed and dried off. He didn’t even object to me treating him like a baby. Then I took care of myself and really looked at my knees for the first time. Not exactly hamburger but not exactly pretty either. I sprayed some antibiotic with pain reliever on them and then got us out of there after making sure that Benny wasn’t so out of it that he hadn’t buckled up.
“The hike and rain too much for you Bud?”
“You went down the hole,” he answered.
“I had a job to do. I was the only one up there that could do it safely and fit in the hole at the same time.”
“It wasn’t safe. The hole almost ATE YOU!”
Uh oh. “Okay, watch the volume … and the tone. You know Aunt Gus is trained and …”
“THE HOLE ALMOST ATE YOU!!
“Benjamin Lawrence. If you want to discuss your feelings we will, but not with you using that kind of attitude. It isn’t helpful.”
He sighed and I could hear a whimper in it. “Aunt Gus … it was scary.”
“I know. And I’m sorry that it upset you but sometimes we must do what we can do. I can do lots of things because I have the training. And I was there. It would have been like if I was a doctor or nurse and just stood there and watched someone bleed to death waiting on someone else to step up.”
“But …”
“Benny, listen to me. Yes, there was danger, but I made sure I had a team up above that was strong and capable and had the commonsense to take care of that end. And I made sure you knew what to do to help me too. And you did.”
“I didn’t help.”
“Oh yes you did. By following the rules I set, you gave me enough peace of mind that I could do what I had to without being scared you’d run off or whatever and when I came back up I couldn’t find you. If I hadn’t been absolutely sure that you were going to do that for me, I couldn’t have helped save that woman. Her name was Suzanne and she has people who love her and would miss her terribly if something went bad wrong.”
“Like I miss Dad … and Momma?”
“Exactly like that. I couldn’t do anything to stop what happened to Lawrence. He had a job to do too. An important one with lots of responsibilities. And I tried with Penny and we’ve discussed that a lot.”
“But why? Why did you have to go down that hole?!”
“Because sometimes you are presented with situations that if you don’t help, don’t do what you can, don’t do what the Creator makes you capable of doing, the situation gets bad … and you can wind up worse off than the people that needed help.”
“Why?”
I sighed, trying to figure out how to explain. “You know I tried to help your mom, right?”
“Yes. Everyone tried.”
“Well, even though her choice was … was what it was and left me feeling awful, my conscience is clear. I know that I did what I could. That doesn’t mean that the situation was about me but we’re all kinda woven together, like a rug. I did what I could to help Penny not unravel from our rug but when she did anyway, while I felt bad, I didn’t feel responsible for her choice.”
“It isn’t our fault,” he said, repeating what I’ve had to remind him of more than a few times.
“Exactly. Now if this woman had gotten hurt worse than she already was … or worse … had I not done what I could to help? I would have felt responsible. And maybe some of it would have been my fault. Not that she fell down the hole, that was just an accident no one knew was going to happen. But … the Creator puts us in situations for us to learn something.”
“Not everyone believes in God,” he said reminding me that the woman that had lived in the house on the other side of Groucho’s shop was a fairly rabid atheist and was always on Stella about decorating, saying it impugned her rights or some such. I’d had to explain why the woman acted so crazy on occasion over stuff that made other people feel happy.
“No, not everyone believes in the Creator, or if they do, they don’t necessarily believe that the Creator has a lot to do or say about our lives. I do believe He does. I trust him to do his job of running the Universe and everything in it. When you start to get old enough to make those kinds of connections, you’ll have to decide for yourself. No one can make you. You must be the one to decide whether to build a relationship with the Creator or not and what that will mean to you.”
“There’s God … He sent you so I wouldn’t have to be alone. Just … just don’t go down anymore holes. It isn’t like when you helped Gabby,” he said referring to the little girl from Yellowstone.
“I didn’t plan on going in one this time. But it is what happened, and we got the woman out before she fell all the way through. The bad didn’t happen. Let’s just focus on the positive. ‘K?”
He was silent for a moment before answering, “You did save her.”
“The team we built real quick saved her. And you played your part for me. Let’s just let it go. It means something alright, but it isn’t something that should take over our entire lives. We need to get back to the lodge, shower, grab some grub, and I promised you that we’d go in the souvenir stores. They are open later than I thought and if we shower quick, there will be time.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Bet you will be. I know I will. Might even want some ice cream if the place is still open when we get there.”
“You will?” he asked, surprised.
“Yeppers. Hiking does it every time. Did you know we hiked over twelve miles?” It took effort but finally he was distracted enough that the incipient episode had been avoided.
I do believe what I explained to Benny, but I understand that I also have a responsibility to the boy that the Creator put in my care. I know I did what was right this time but next? I don’t know, I suppose it is a case-by-case situation and always will be. I am who Benny has and I need to keep that in mind. I’m not Wonder Woman, I’m Benny’s Aunt Gus.
He finally dropped all signs of having an emotional reaction to what happened. Was laughing and cutting up like normal by the time we grabbed something to eat. He stayed beside me, but he wasn’t anxiously holding onto me either. We packed up and I rinsed out my muddy “rescue” clothes. They’re salvageable but could still use a spin in a real washer. I wish it was so easy to deal with my knees. And I’m sure I’m going to feel just grand tomorrow. Hopefully using the antibiotic cream with pain reliever in it will make things well enough that it won’t get in the way of the next few days.
Hate to say it but I won’t be sorry to leave the crowds around here behind tomorrow. How can anyone enjoy themselves this way? And I gotta say that there were some really cranky people. All this beauty around them and people complaining they can’t get a good signal (put the social media down people), the food is too expensive (so bring your own like we did), someone is getting some privileges they aren’t (try enjoying what you do have), lines are too long, time is too short, and on and on and on. I suppose I am just as bad as they are, just about different topics. I might be able to rationalize my complaints by saying that I’m sore and out of sorts over today, but that would be an excuse not the truth.
I think I’m letting things get beyond my control. I have three months to figure out a new road for Benny and I. And I still won’t be twenty-one; barely halfway there. I’m going to need to figure something out that will bridge the time between the end of October and the beginning of April. It will be winter in Florida, snowbird season. Might be some opportunities there.
I have been working the numbers and I’m pushing between $600 and $700 monthly income on the blog. Unless I find some new way to expand it I think that is going to be top of that stream. But to expand the blog requires me taking time away from the very thing that helps create the blog … traveling and spending time with Benny.
I wanted to have things figured out by this point in the trip. Maybe I am trying too hard. Maybe there is more time than I am crediting it to be. What I do know is that I need to refocus on Benny a bit. Search and Rescue is something I can do, but as a career maybe I shouldn’t do it right now. Maybe I need to think about what Benny needs and not just what I want.
Gah! This growing up crap is for the birds. I mean I am grown up. I’m twenty. But at the same time? I feel … stretched. Not enough time. Not enough resources. Not enough … of a lot of things, including not enough of me to go around for all the things I know needs to be done and not for what I want to do. I am going to try and put it away for a bit instead of thinking about it every single day. Benny needs me. That just may mean that what I want is just not available to me for now. I need to appreciate what I do have instead of worrying at what I don’t.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you for the new chapters.