Ugh, connection died on me.
TNTam, Tibber, Teapot (the T's), thanks. I appreciate the comments. They help me stay on task. Pete, you made us laugh, and right back at cha. We love having you around.
I count 9 more days, so I hope to have the report done by Thanksgiving.
6/22/18 Fri, Grinnell Glacier (sort of)
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NPS Getting Details Wrong
When I see something designed wrong, it bothers me. Often, it’s easier to do things right, and a good design certainly makes life easier for the user. So as we walked around the campground, we saw some el primo campsites empty. If you have a choice of two or three campsites in the whole campground, imagine one those
empty with a reserved tag on it. That’s the net effect of the on-line reservation system. All I can think is someone who never spends any time at the campground makes decisions like this. If you “win the computer lottery” it easy to make a reservation. It’s hard to actually show up at the campground on a specific day. This system makes no sense if the goal is to have campsites full.
I saw a survey a few years ago from the Birkie (a ski race in NW Wisconsin), and I was surprised to see the participant’s average or median family income was 150-200K. Basically two incomes at 75-100K each. I’ll bet Glacier visitors are similar, and so it should be no surprise that someone with a campsite reserved at $23 a night doesn’t think of a couple hundred bucks as a big loss if some other commitment comes up. The ranger we talked to said campers are “supposed to” call if they plan on not showing. The rangers also have to keep the campsite open for two days before allowing someone else to occupy it. So the first question is, what telephone number do you call and how easy is it to find that number? The second question is, why not just skip the computer lottery and give the sites to first-come-first-served?
The other thing I saw, was…well it seemed that the ranger talked for 15-20 minutes to each car they’d check into the campground. Meanwhile, the folks in line are stressing out about getting a site and if they get a site, setting up quickly so they can actually hike that day. The look on their faces spoke volumes. Can’t the ranger check in everyone quickly, and then go site-to-site and inform the campers of all the possible ways to be stupid? (Please leave your coolers out, leave food on the picnic tables, keep a candy bar in your tent in case you get hungry, etc.)
Ok, today’s hike is number 3 of the big three.
Have Ice Ax, Will Travel
So the plan for today was to head up to Grinnell Glacier. I figured once I got over the big snow field, the rest of the climb was pretty easy. Fortunately, the good thing about an ice axe is you don’t need any self-arrest skills to use them. Simply having one sticking out of pack gives you permission to walk beyond the boundary ropes. As you can guess, I have limited experience with using an axe, and I’ve never slipped and required the axe to perform its life-saving duty.
From yesterday’s Manhattan picture, you might have spotted my microspikes, so yeah, I was getting ready the night before. No, not by drinking, but practicing putting on the spikes.
Dead Moose Detour
A griz got a baby moose, so the normal route from the Grinnell Glacier trailhead to the boat junction was closed. Julie dropped me off by the hotel, and it’s been quite a few years since I’ve been on the Josephine trail starting at the hotel.
I’m sure I’ve seen this residence, but I don’t remember it
The Morning Eagle was originally the Big Chief and was on Swiftcurrent. It was moved to Josephine and renamed in the early 1960s. The boat is on the National Register of Historic Places.
For the color fans, I left the last photo (above) as color
Rag Doll
Once at the snowfield, I put on pants and a wind breaker, so that in a slide, I’d at least tear up some fabric before skin. The trek across the snow was slow: ice axe, kick step, kick step, repeat. I went around the lower side of “the big rock” (much safer) even though that was through vegetation. (I know.) The snow crossing was easy and at this point, I figured it was a cake walk for the rest of the hike.
Within a few hundred feet, I hit a steep chute and started talking to myself. I’m sure I can make it across this thing. If I slide, it’ll be quick acceleration, then some dirt and rocks will send me into a cartwheel before flying off a cliff. I’m sure the trip to Cut Bank in Bear 1 will be a good story, but how will I explain this to Ear Mountain? No, I can do this, you just need to kick in some deep steps. Well….I guess I should live to chase the dragon another day. I turned around and as they say in British Motorcycle manuals, assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
Old 55. There’s another 40 feet of outrun on the left, and then a rough landing.
Within a few days, I ran into a guy in the Swiftcurrent Motel lobby talking about how he had hiked to Grinnell Glacier. His voice had the sound of bragging to me, but maybe not. I asked if he made it across the big snow field. “Yup, yada, yada.” I asked if he went below or above the big rock. There were words, but not much of an answer. Then I asked about the steep chute and didn’t get much of an answer. After he left, an older Asian buy in the lobby thanked me. Apparently his BS meter was fluctuating too. He and Julie had good conversations on more than one evening and he was a cool dude.
Since my hike was a cut short and I had time to kill, I pointed towards Hidden Falls. I ran into a ranger (recognized the name, but don’t recall it now) and we talked about the trail to Peigan Pass. He made an indirect reference to my ice axe, so I told him about turning around at the steep chute. I said that if I slipped, I’d be a rag doll once I hit the dirt below the snow. First he thanked me for not crossing that field. “It’s 55 degrees.” Then he said that it’s interesting that you use the term rag doll. Then he told the story about the guy who slipped on that chute a couple years ago. All his friends heard was a yell and he was gone. When they recovered the body, rag doll was a good description.
Close Encounter of the Moose Kind
When we got back to the campsite, a bunch of people had spotting scopes looking at Grinnell Point. “Seeing anything?” “No,” but they said a momma moose and its calf are behind the tent in the neighbor’s campsite. I grabbed my big lens and slowly headed for the tent. I crept up looking around but no moose. I turned around, and in the shade, no more than 15 feet from me the calf stirred. With my hand out, I’m apologizing (to the moose) for disturbing them and I backed out of the site. Mom was un-phased. Since I was so close, I didn’t attempt any photos.
Today:
Hike: 1
Photos: 108
Moose: 2
Griz: 0
Orangutans: 0
Wildebeests: 0
Giraffes: 0
-Steps: 31,232
Jay