The Defense of Rick Bombaci

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• • Rick Bombaci Looks like he even brought a good stout rope to hang him with. Remember, 13 turns on the noose.

    Like · Reply · 1 · August 10 at 9:48pm
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    Steve Sokoloski When last we spoke over a map of the Little Yoho Valley you said that on your divide trip you looked at it and decided that "it did not look too interesting" and went by on a different route. You were wrong. Great 4 days at Stanley Mitchell Hut. Lots of interesting hiking, lots of fun. Had to teach the flatlanders how to play cribbage. More coming on the blog. Just out and back at Lake Louise Hostel. And Robin Rose, long before August was Eagle Cap season it was Banff/Jasper season...

    Like · Reply · August 14 at 3:24pm
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    Rick Bombaci No, you were wrong. I never said that, and I don't know where your imagination came up with that. In fact, I put together a couple of off-trail links in my hike in 2008 specifically to enable me to hike the Iceline Trail through the Little Yoho Valley. I hiked through a miserable cold rain up out of Field, enjoyed views of Takakkaw Falls, walked by the Stanley Mitchell Hut, and climbed up out of the valley into a whiteout. That were two of my more challenging days.

    Like · Reply · 18 hrs
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    Steve Sokoloski Well, now we have one more thing to argue over the next time we are at TG.
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Sunrise Alpenglow in Waterton Lakes

The last two mornings in Waterton I got up early to capture some sunrise alpenglow on  the peaks around town and the Prince of Wales in the glooming. Here are a couple of pictures.

We're Back!

We moved north from a couple of days ago in what is called Kananaskis Country. It is a series of provincial parks that sit between Wateron Lakes and Banff. The services here are limited. We have not had cell service nor easy access to electricity for a few days. We are staying at a campground in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. We are hanging out at the visitors center which has (finicky) public wifi and offered a program about Owls this AM. We will travel up to Kananaskis village this PM. The forecast is for rain (we had thunderstorms last night and Calgary about 45 mins away got hammered), but we may get some boating or fishing in. We are going to stay in Kananaskis country a few more days. Going to try to catch up on our adventure in the next few posts.

Quick Update

We move to a campground out of town today. We will not have great wifi/phone for a about a week. Expect short updates when we are back in town for stuff.

Glacier Winding Down

So who would of thought you could find the worlds biggest purple spoon in East Glacier Park  MT? Well you can. We had a nice about 4 mile hike to Aster Falls and the Aster Park Overlook in the Two Medicine area of the park despite some claims of sore calves from my  mate before we started. Then back to Brownies Hostel to do some laundry and take showers before heading out for some Mexican food. Tomorrow we are off to Waterton Lakes.

Glacier National Park: Day 2 - Fire On The Mountain

Here was the plan for today. Take the 7AM Logan Pass shuttle up the Going to the Sun Road. At the top we would head north along one of the premier trails in the world - the Highline Trail. Yesterday Going to the Sun Road was closed late in the day as a small fire on the east side exploded into a 100 acre fire due to the high winds. Campgrounds on that side had to be evacuated and hiker were being located and the fire expanded rapidly. We still got up very early to queue for the first bus out just in case, but no dice, road was closed over the top all day.

So, let me tell you about the end of day 1, after we nabbed a campsite. We did a short hike up Avalanche Creek to Avalanche Lake. It is in a beautiful cirque fed from water exiting the Sperry Glacier. We counted five cascading waterfall coming over the headwall feeding the lake. Great hike, not to hard, just enough to let your legs know they were working.

On the return to the campsite we happened on a scene just on the road by our site. A couple about our age flagged down a ranger and gave him an earful. Playing the game of campsite roulette the arrived early (like us), tagged their site and then took off in their Mercedes motorhome for the day. WHen they returned someone was set up in their site. The woman was angry and frustrated, and the ranger was trying to figure out options on the fly. With all of the loops and other NP campsites full, it was going to be a long late drive to find something else. Her frustration was getting the better of the situation. I was teasing the young couple the next site over, by saying - watch this, I am going to go over there and tell  them that for $100 they can park on our site , but they have to sleep in our tent and we get to sleep in the Mercedes. With the situation escalating, it was not time for jokes butit was a good idea in principle. We ended up just making the offer of sharing our site through the ranger, they accepted, and things got immediately better for them. Until of course next morning at 6:15 AM while stuffing my car keys into the bottom of the pack to scoot for the early shuttle, I set off the car alarm and it took a few minutes to shut it off. 

The shuttles did not run up and over today, so the early up was a waste. Marsha just so a notice that it is now up to 2000 acres. Not a lot of hope for tomorrow, but we will try the early express. Back up plan is taking the time for huckleberry pancakes. 

We ended up doing a little biking, and I got to go fishing. First on the shores of Lake McDonald with spinning rod and fly casting into the wind. Later I got out onto the river outflow from the lake. No success except a few nibbles. I got one to follow a lure a few feet, had another rise to a fly and spit it twice, and on the river just one nibble but was in a good area as several small fish jumped near me. It was a windy day and you had to watch your casting but it was a real joy to fish in such clear water. The lake became tedious as the gravel shore line got into my sandals and the clarity masked depth. One false step and knee deep became chest deep and then swim time. The water was cold but not frigid Marsha got in for a lake swim before summer. 

On the river I was able to fish a hole just below a bridge and the water was warmer. I could wade across in water up to my belly button. I had great fun casting and floating flies and nymphs out in the middle of the river. It just amounted to a few hours of casting practice, which I needed. In the end I got much better at shooting the line and getting it where I wanted. Lots of wind but no wind knots and with t he clear water it was easy to figure out likely spots of cover to cast to, They were just not buying what I was selling. 

I am at the Apgar Visitor Center which actually closed a few hours ago. Marsha observed someone yesterday plugging a device into an outlet on the side of the building. Building has free wifi, is just down the street from the huckleberry ice cream stand. Charging and blogging, a pleasant way to spend a few hours. Here are the pictures:

 

100K for the Eastford Escape

Outside of Glacier NP. No traditional one mile push however.

Camp Glacier

Made a strategic decision that we hope will work out. Part of the game in U.S. National Parks is campground reservations and sites. By the time had enough structure to our trip in Jan-Feb all reservable campsites at Glacier were taken for the time we were going to be there. Thus our stop at Brownies Hostel. There are always some sites available on a first come first serve basis but they get grabbed quickly. We got out of Brownies and were at the main west side campground Apgar Village at 8AM. Already the "takers" were circling the "leavers" and we jumped right into the thick of it. We grabbed the first spot we had a chance at. Apgar is very nice and there are shuttle buses to lots of other sites and trailheads. We started thinking about our plans to jump back to the east side and sleep at Brownies. We have a promo site in a nice campground. Why move? So we changed up. We will spend four nights here at Apgar, ending our stay with one night at Brownies with its showers and laundromat before we move north to Waterton. Anything on the east side we will take the early morning express shuttles to Logan Pass and then on to St. Marys.

Ideas from our neighbors

Adventures in the Ted: Day 2 - Jonas Creek Hike

The Jonas Creek Trail bisects the the perimeter road. We hiked it upstream for about 2.5 miles. It was fun to be hiking in the west again. Big open space, so trails are placed along valleys leading up to the head of the stream. In TRNP it is the North Dakota Badlands with open prairie and range lands with cottonwoods trees in the draws. David McCollough, whose Mornings On Horseback, I have been reading draws a distinction between the North Dakota Badlands and the South Dakota Badlands. Here it is greener, more range land, suitable for grazing animals than the more forbidding south. I would have to agree. One of my reservations about the stop was that I had seen the southern version, and I could not have imagined what we would do.

The north was wonderful. We hit a cool spell with some clouds and a nice wind each day. The sun was hot, but not too. We were just past peak flowers but there were enough to decorate the trail pleasantly. The trail rose, but steadily, and just enough to let the legs know that it was a hike. My right knees has been sore after riding the last few weeks and it tolerated the hike OK.

A very nice hike indeed!

Adventures in the Ted: Day 1 - Huge Animals

The first day in TRNP we drove the perimeter road. We stopped at the scenic walks to overlooks and a couple of the nature trails. It was a good overview of the park but the only wildlife we saw were a couple of distant horses, and a way distant herd of bison. One of the stops was a place that was said to be recommended by rangers for viewing sunsets, the highest point in the park. We determined that it would be a great plan after dinner to drive the perimeter road to the view point bringing our chairs. It also would be likely that there would better wildlife viewing in the evening.

On the way out we saw two antelope and a group of wild horses. And then as we rounded the corner,  we encountered a young male bison. The guideline is to keep the wildlife at least 200 yards away but he no more than 25 yards and in the middle of the road. It is the beginning of the rut for the young males and this guy was looking for a girlfriend. It was a bit of a standoff until he wandered off. 

Around the corner was the rest of the herd. Maybe 25 head scattered on both sides of the road.  A line of cars in stretched in both directions, a crawl of traffic taking pictures and moving slowly through the clusters of huge animals. 

It is hard to explain the bulk of these creatures. It is not length or height but the thickness of the chest and back and shoulders. A careless move by one of them would dent your car. I could not imagine the damage from an angry bison, coming at you with purpose. It was a gingerly enacted waltz, scanning the animals for intent as we moved through along with the traffic.

The traffic thinned as we rounded a few more turns and encountered another young male. This one was squarely in the middle of the road. There was no way around. He did not move, just stared us down. He did not care for us being there. 

After what seemed a very long while he did move slightly to his side of the road. He flopped down into a patch of sandy dirt and began a dust bath, rolling on his back, kicking his legs, flipping his tail, getting and all over himself. It was quite a show.

I inched forward. He snapped to his feet, and stared the car down again. Then after a bit, as before, he flopped down again, and proceeded with the dust bath. I moved the car quickly past, not looking back to see if he enjoyed chasing cars more than dust baths. 

We got up to the view point and took out our chairs. It is a spectacular sunset. The remnant clouds of afternoon thunder showers rimmed the western sky. Light streaked through breaks in the clouds. To the southwest but far away an active rainstorm provided a show of light through rain. The view point gave a 360 panorama. It was going to be a pretty clear night once the clounds diminished. We decided to stay until nightfall.

That plan ran into a little trouble. The gentle breeze, of the evening turned into a pretty good wind.  As we sat in our chairs reading and observing the night, we kept going back to the car and layering up. We arranged the chairs so the car was a windbreak, but it was steady. With the sun going in and out of the shrinking clouds, and  setting,  it got colder and colder. Not to mention, in the western edge of a time zone the light lingers late. The sky in the east went through various shades of blue to indigo, to dark blue and competed with colder and colder temps.

It was a glorious show as we sat and hunkered down. The only light was that of about a half dozen distant gas flares as just outside the park the Dakota oil boom goes on. We read on our Kindle and iPad, waiting for the stars to come out at the edge of the road at a scenic viewpoint  at the highest spot in TRNP. Dusk was long in coming for all the show the stars did not peak out of the dark blue blanket.

Then we heard it. The clatter of bison hooves on the pavement behind me, close behind. Marsha and I froze. She could see the big dark shape moving off the prairie and onto the road. I dare not move. We were out of the car without our  steel protective barrier. 

It was a single young male out courting, the brother or cousin of the ones we saw before. Which was safer, bolt for the safety of the car or stay frozen and try not to cause alarm?The clatter of hooves stopped, and my heart rose higher in my throat. We choose the freeze method not because we figured it was the best course, but because neither of us could bring ourselves to move.  

We waited for what felt a long time, then the hoof beats started again. Thankfully he slowly ambled by, crossed the road and shuffled down a draw looking for ladies in all the right places. Immediately, the terror changed to - THAT WAS SO COOL! A bison walked right by us! How cool was that? It was just the charge of adrenaline to ward off the cold and keep us hanging on for stars and maybe a chance at the northern lights. 

We re-hunkered. Put on hats and more layers.  In a short while in the general direction of where the bison ambled there was the yip of a coyote. Then another called out, and another, and then it was a chorus of yipping and crying out to the east. And then, over the ridge, in the draw just below us, much closer, was an answer from another pack. That pack was real close, but we did not waver in our hunker.   We had just out maneuvered, out stared and out waited the best of the bison, a couple of packs of wild dogs were nothing to us! We outsat the yipping and yodelling and things quieted down.

We hung on waiting for stars to show until 9:55, and then folded. I mean literally, we folded our chairs and drove back to the campsite. And true to form, as we drove in and looked up at the limited circle offered in the clearing, the sky was black and full of stars.

Goodbye Ted Roosevelt! Hello, Ted Turner!

We made it to Glacier national Park in Montana. We are staying at Brownies Hostel and Bakery in East Glacier tonight, in the western part of park (hopefully) and back to Brownies to explore the east side more.

The dilemma here is so much to say with band width that is limited and comes and goes as guests jump on and off the Internet. Pretty sure folks across the hall were streaming a movie. So, since things are good now for a little let me rush to say that we LOVED Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We saw bison, antelope,mule deer, prairie dogs, wild horses and great sunsets. Much more to come on this.

It was a long drive across Montana. we broke it up with a stop in Ackley Lake where we saw a bald eagle flying along the lakeshore.

We arrived at GLacier about 2 PM. Went over to Two Medicine Lake.

Bully for North Dakota & Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Long day of driving through Minnesota and across North Dakota. We are now just over 2000 miles in our trip log. We are staying in Medora, ND, a small town just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Tonight we stay at a funky combination western bookstore (a very good western bookstore at first glance) and motel called the Amble Inn. Tomorrow we go into the park for two days of camping/hiking/biking. On the way in we stopped at Painted Rocks which is part of the park. It offers a scenic overview of the formations of the Badlands.

This morning we for the third time got hit with rain showers just as we were packing up. Enough time for a nice breakfast and to start organizing and then a rain shower. Just enough to cause us to scurry more than we wanted to get the things that were pulled out of the car for morning packing back in and just enough to get the tent fly wet. It also brought out the Minnesota Mosquito convention. We will not miss the mosquitos, even though between the screen shelter, DEET, and citronella candles we put up a good fight.

Lake Bemidgi State Park

About a thirty mile bike ride out and back on the Paul Bunyan State Trail and a visit to the Paul Bunyan and Blue Ox statue in downtown Bemidgi and then later  a trip to the local Walmart for some groceries including a roasted chicken for dinner. We are supposed to go on a pontoon boat ride tonight from the campground if it doesn't rain first. Tomorrow we are off to Medora ND and Theodore Rosevelt National Park - yay I finally will get to use my Senior Park Pass😀

Paul Bunyan Trail / Lake Bemidji State Park

Short post due to limited wifi and limited ability to charge electronic devices. Camping at the park just outside Bemidji. Got in yesterday evening. Biked into town today and then out onto the Paul Bunyan State Trail, a paved railttra that runs about 30 miles and connects two recreational areas. An old railbed 20 feet wide and paved. We did a little under 30 miles out and back as we have reservations on a pontoon boat ride / nature talk after dinner. 

Photos from the ride: 

Day 7 - One Week In - Pictured Rocks and River Rock Inn & Bait Shop

That's right, Inn and Bait Shop. We put a pretty long day of driving through Yooperland. Weather was cloudy and spitting rain off and on with some showers. Lots of folks had recommended Pictured Rocks, but we decided that we did not want to spend two hours sitting on a boat on a 7 hour car ride day, nor spend a couple of hours in a kayak in rainy weather. We opted for a couple of walks along viewpoints.  We end our day at a motel that would be no great shakes at first glance but got nice reviews on Trip Advisor. It is a U-shaped group of rooms on the main drag and really there is a bait shop/office in the center. Just like Trip Advisor said, nothing fancy but a clean nice place for an overnight, with great wifi and a great gyros take out two doors down.

Pictures of the day:

 

Reflections on the Michigander

We are so glad that we were able to fit this ride into our trip. We met a lot of nice people, were stunned by the beauty of the Great Lakes, and have earmarked Mackinac Island as a place to come back to. The ride around the island on a car free road on a beautiful summer day was super. We may swing back through the area on the way home just to spend some more time on the island.

We liked the second day a bit better than the first day as the trail was a bit firmer, and there were less places where the crushed stone was new and had a sandy quality. Coming in on day 1,  somebody took a bit of a tumble in the new stuff. Had a nice conversation with the trip wrench, Diane who after working for over 20 years in a shop, now does a mobile bike repair business out of her van. She comes to you. You book an appointment and she shows up at your house and fixes it. She has control of her schedule and is not tied to a shop.  The only con I felt was that they could have done a little better on the food, but hey, even though we just did the two day ride, they were nice enough to let us camp with them again on Sunday night and shove off on Monday morning as the rest of the group went on for six more days of riding. Seems like that have a lot of these type of organized multi-day rides in Michigan.

Below is a video of the welcome offered to all riders finishing Day 2

Images from Michigander Day 2

Michigander Day 2 - Mackinac Island: Babinski Receives a Change in Status

What a beautiful island! No cars just bikes and horse drawn carriages. It is so quiet! We are looping the perimeter road but hopefully will cross up and  over the middle of the island soon. The water of Lake Huron are crystal clear trending out through shades blue green to the dark blue of deep water.

For urging us not to miss this island, Babinski has temporarily upped his usual rating of "worthless" to "mostly worthless".

Michigander Day 1

This is a short post. More when we have better wifi. Great 35 +/- mile ride south along the North Central State Trail. We went along beautiful lakesides and rode over a shady, crushed limestone trail bed. It was out to Indian River and back to Cheboygan Area High School. Tomorrow we go north to Macinack Island and return.

Update: Day 1 was a great ride. We ended up at a Burt Lake State Park for a little splash (Marsha) and a nap under the trees (Steve). On the return the day grew hot and we both took the plunge into Lake Mullet. With 5 miles to go and a rest stop with lake access, we figured, why not?


Only a couple of violations on this one.

Chris Babinski's Cheboygan Heartthrob!

Found him!