2020 "Snaps" Around Glacier National Park

[PeteE]

Just got back from my three night trip to Granite park Chalet.
Had a great time and the weather was great EXCEPT the wind was blowing too hard to do any scrambling/climbing.

Thursday when "we"(explain later) got up to Ahern pass it was blowing 30+ mph and gusty.
I got about 100 yards up in that large talus and ledges... and just said no way.
Sorry JayW

My eyes were watering and trying to rock hop with the wind blowing me off balance....just not worth the risk of falling.
But...I do believe I did get some good images from Ahern pass and up on the scree slope where I stopped going up towards the notch.
The panos should look good if the wind didn't screw up focus, etc.

Yesterday I went up to the Grinnell Overlook. That grind is getting tougher every year!
Huff and Puff for 15-20 paces and then rest for 20-30 seconds, or more
And then repeat.

I started up around 10:30AM...and it was already warm. Thank God for the wind.
Took me 1:45 minutes to do the .7 miles from the trail head to the overlook saddle
And about 45 minutes to get back down.( I stop and talk to people when hiking)

If you do that overlook, try and do it as early as possible...not easy if day hiking the HighLine.
The heat is brutal later in the day, especially the afternoon.
You'll be in direct sun which heats up the rock all around the trail.
Most of the people I saw going up while on my way down around 2:30PM were miserable.

WINDY at the low part of the saddle area and chock full of people as you see in pics later.
So I hiked on up in the cliff/ledges south of the overlook another 3 or 4ths of a mile.
That got me about 250ft above the saddle and most the people.

Up there I could get to several spots and sit on the sheer cliffs overlooking the Grinnell glacier area...and out of the wind.
So I think I got some good images and panos from up there.
Some of the youngsters up there thought that the Geezer was an "awesome dude" for getting up there.

Plus I got to watch the young grizzly bear scatter all the people on the overlook.
I was sitting on a cliff edge taking pics when I heard all the screaming and shouting down below. BEAR BEAR!!!
And sure nuff this young grizzly bear(small, maybe 150lbs) made his way up the steep west slope of the ridge and onto the trail on the overlook.

It was hilarious watching people running in every direction, back down the trail, over on to the ledges north of the saddle, and up towards me.
The bear looked like it was going to go down the trail towards the Highline junction.
THAT would have been interesting as there was more than 50-75 people on the trail near the top.

However the bear ended up climbing up on the ridge north of the overlook.
The last I saw him, he was about 200 yards out on that really narrow goat I was on last year!
Bears are good climbers and very agile, but I have no idea where he ended up going as I went back to making pics.
I have some pics of that incident but I was up too high and my 16-105mm lens wasn't long enough for good pics.

It's going to take a few days to sort through all the images and video.
so Later

pete

[PeteE]

As of this post, I'm unable to access many websites. I don't know why.
I can access national news sites like FOX and CBS, etc. and NOAA weather, Google and Netflix but not Amazon or my email at hush.com or my picture website at SmugMug.com
Can any of you see my publically available pics at
https://glaciergeezer@smugmug.com
WTF?
Anyone else having trouble?
So I can't post pics until this gets fixed

pete

[Chip]

Was wondering how soon we would hear from you. Too bad about the wind at the Iceberg would like to have seen your pics, Your bear at the overlook is the first I have heard of one being there. It sounds like you enjoyed the show. Cant wait for the Pics of this trip

[Chip]

Was wondering how soon we would hear from you. Too bad about the wind at the Iceberg would like to have seen your pics, Your bear at the overlook is the first I have heard of one being there. It sounds like you enjoyed the show. Cant wait for the Pics of this trip

[MarxMN]

Pete,

Your Smugmug link takes me to the general Smugmug page (www.smugmug), not to your pictures.

Bill

[Badgerhiker]

Hey Pete

I'll have to check out Helicon Focus.$55 dollars isn't bad per year. I own a version of lightroom which I like but it does not focus stack. Don't feel bad about being "computer stupid". I bought a higher end computer for photo editing cause my old dell was getting slow but I can't figure out how to use it. I can't open raw files & it keeps trying to download 1,000's of my photos on to the cloud, which I don't want. Plus Adobe is purposely vague on how to transfer my version of lightroom to the new computer. Still stuck using the old dell. I guess I need to force myself to sit down and just learn how to use it.

Your trip sounded great. That's a tough climb for anyone up to Grinnell Glacier overlook. That's crazy a grizzly was up there. I tried your smugmug link but it took me to the general smugmug page. Not sure what's going on with your computer/smugmug account. Technology is really annoying when it doesn't work!

Matt

[PeteE]

Thanks Bill. I solved the problem by rebooting my modem. How that caused the weird problem, I don't know.

Here are a couple panos I did last night.

Evening of arrival at Granite Park Chalet on Sept. 2
This 4 image pano was taken just before sunset(7:57PM) from the picnic table on the south side of the chalet.



Helen Lake in foreground Elizabeth Lake in the distance. I like the clouds in this one but they were changing quickly.
The wind was really blowing hard up here. I had to literally hold the tripod down on the flat rock base with one hand. Work the camera with the other.
11:34AM 6 portrait style images pano at Ahern Pass. ISO 160 f11 at 1/250 sec.


Just two minutes later at 11:36AM look how the clouds have changed!!
I changed to Landscape mode for this since the high clouds disappeared!!
6 landscape style images pano ISO 160 f9.5 1/250 sec.


I have more pics coming. I have to run an errand and sorting through 400+ images takes time
I'll be at this for most of the day. So thanks for your patience.

pete

[calicotraveler]

I am so enjoying your photos! Since we can’t be there in person this year this helps to remind us of how beautiful it is there. Thanks for taking the time to post your photos.

[PeteE]

I am so enjoying your photos! Since we can’t be there in person this year this helps to remind us of how beautiful it is there. Thanks for taking the time to post your photos.

Thanks Michelle
Maybe next year you and your husband can make it out here!

This is one of several sunset panos I made my last night at Granite park.
I tried some multi image HRD panos as an experiment. I'll work on them later.
The light and clouds changed by the minute. That "dark" part in the center is not all artifact. That's pretty much what the clouds looked like "live".
The "stretched" look of the clouds is just what it looked like. It's not from the camera lens.
This pano is a 9 portrait image effort that covers a LOT of real estate from north to south.
Taken below the front porch of the chalet at 8:05PM

[PeteE]

Here is my first attempt at an HDR-Pano done in LightRoom.
It's 15 separate images. 5 shot pano--with one image at "normal" exposure, and one each at +2EV and -2EV.
I like some aspects of it but I'm not entirely happy with the final result you see here.
That said, it's my first attempt at doing an HDR-Pano. Practice makes perfect, right?


This single HDR image was made around 8:26PM, well after the previous images above.
It's looking back at the alpine glow on the clouds over the Garden Wall on the Continental Divide.


Here are a few from Sept 4 up above the Grinnell Overlook. I took pics from several different positions.
I scrambled up to 7750ft, about 250 feet above the point where the trail ends at the overlook, to get this better view down the valley.


The Salamander is roughly 600 feet straight down below my boots. The melt pond is about 1300 feet down.
The left image is where I was sitting for the pano directly below. The right image was at another spot near by,


The camera was set up next to me on a nice flat rock for the pano.
Here is the 6 image pano I made from my boot shot position. The air was as clear as I've seen it in a long time.
One could see Duck lake beyond Sherburne Reservoir in the full size pano image!
Part of Mount Grinnell is on the extreme left.
The lakes are in order-melt pond,Grinnell Lake, Lake Josephine, Sherburne Reservoir.(Swiftcurrent lake is out of view from this position)
AngelWing is center frame with Allen Mt behind it. Mt Siyeh can be seen in the distance. Right is Mt Gould with tiny Gem glacier extreme right.
Grinnell glacier is below Mt Gould.


Up higher on the cliffs than anyone at the time...the youngsters and the wienies just couldn't compete with Geezer power!!!!!


Gotta take a break but more coming

pete

[Jay w]

Pete, glad you had some clouds to work with and condolences on the notch. Damn. The panos look good except the HDR one but yeah, keep 'em coming. Those clouds! I have a feeling the weather took or is taking a big turn, so I think your timing was good.

We have the camper out in front of the house as we pack.

Jay

[PeteE]

Pete, glad you had some clouds to work with and condolences on the notch. Damn. The panos look good except the HDR one but yeah, keep 'em coming. Those clouds! I have a feeling the weather took or is taking a big turn, so I think your timing was good.

We have the camper out in front of the house as we pack.

Jay

Thanks Jay!
Yeah, I was irked about the wind at Ahern Pass.
Two of the youngsters working at the chalet climbed both Ahern peak and Ipasha the same day.
They got a late start, got "lost" on the way down, and had to bushwhack back to the main trail at the creek.
They didn't get back to the chalet until 9:30PM.
Nathan said it was probably best I didn't try as the wind was really bad on the peaks.
Nathan has a lot of climbing experience. He's climbed in the Himalayas and all over the world.

I saw Nathan and Lauren as they were starting up to Ahern pass around noon? as we were coming down.
Nathan rescued my ball hat from somewhere on the trail.
I had switch to my watch cap because the ball hat wouldn't stay on in the wind.

The wind is beginning to BLOW outside my apartment right now.
High Wind warning out for the Flathead.

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TO 8 PM MDT MONDAY...

* WHAT...Northeast winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts over 50 mph
expected.

* WHERE...Flathead Lake, Flathead Valley, Mission Valley, and
Polson.

* WHEN...From 9 AM to 8 PM MDT Monday.

* IMPACTS...Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines.
Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult,
especially for high profile vehicles. Waves up to 6 feet on
Flathead Lake.

Gonna snow at Logan Pass and the high country in Glacier
I wouldn't be completely surprised if some of the backpackers have to be rescued.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... 1Y6KItMHTd

I'll try to get some more pics up later today. Gotta go work for a little while.

pete

Here is a snapshot of the grizzly bear on the Grinnell Overlook. Look center frame. The bear is just off the trail.
Lousy pic. I was 1/4 mile away and 250ft above the overlook---and didn't have a long enough lens.
He turned around and headed towards the people in the distance.
There were lots more people out of frame beyond what you see here. Some running back down the trail.
Some out of view below me and some up on the ledges above the people in the background.

[Chip]

I still cant get to your Smug site. Laura tried also same results

[PeteE]

I still cant get to your Smug site. Laura tried also same results

Try this
https://glaciergeezer.smugmug.com/
I think I gave you a bad link.
You won't see many of the images I post here because I make many of the galleries I have for the chat "unlisted".
They can't be seen unless you have the gallery link...which I make available here on the chat.
Correction
I make individual picture links available here, but not gallery links.

pete

[PeteE]

Here are some more pictures from September 4th.
I'll come back and add text asap.



I hung around until the twice weekly "Mule train" arrived at the chalet bringing supplies.
Everything for the chalet must be hauled up on the backs of the mules...or the employees

The gal at the bottom of the stairs is Kathie Aasheim. Kathie's first trip to the chalet was in 1975. She manages Granite Park while her business partner Kevin Warrington manages Sperry Chalet. Kathie is a super nice gal and I had several long conversations with her.

Kathie's daughter Hannah grew up hiking to the chalet almost from the time she could walk. I met Hannah several times when she was managing the chalet for the 4 summers while in college. Kathie showed me an absolutely stunning picture of Hannah in her gorgeous wedding gown taken up on the Grinnell Glacier Overlook,one of Hannah's favorite places in GNP.
Kathie is a great gal whose knowledge of Granite Park Chalet is simply encyclopedic and wonderful to chat with if you get the chance.

Old but good article
https://missoulian.com/lifestyles/recre ... f887a.html



Another view of the mule train


These three pics are of the kitchen area of the chalet. This room is where everyone prepares and cooks their own meals.
From left to right: Three bins by the sink are for 1)food waste, 2) compostable waste, compostable only paper plates, cups, flatware, napkins, etc. 3) all other trash and paper waste. However, they encourage guests to "pack out" their own waste.
The back wall has room numbered bins for each guest room. Guests store ALL their food and smelly items in these bins. This reduces chances of bears and varmits being attracted to the rooms.
Each guest has their own numbered 1 gallon water container. Guests gotta hump their own water from the treated water storage tanks 1/4 mile away. Yup, not fun!


The chalet's 12 burner propane range and its two ovens. The stove was flown in by helicopter. Too big to get through the doors or windows, the stove was disassembled and brought inside in pieces. Then it was reassembled in place. Kathie said it was quite an operation. I'll bet it was!!


This room off the kitchen is where they have storage for the chalet staff. The staff carry water from the water tanks using a backpack frame that holds 2 of those 5 liter green containers(about 22lbs + pack frame weight). Nathan and the girls just LOVE that chore. /sarc
The sink and mirror affair is a hand washing/sanitizing station where water and sanitizer are provided. Also a place to brush your teeth.


Moving outside. September 4th at ~7:27AM.
Sunrise and Moon set as seen from off the front porch of the chalet which faces Heaven's peak to the West.
Louis Hill, Great Northern Railroad President, picked this spot himself for the chalet. It's not hard to understand why is it?


Big Horns foraging just below the trail to the Grinnell Overlook. I stopped to rest and watch them. Amazing how many people passed by without noticing them until I said something.


The Green Dot is the location high up on the cliff ledges where I took the pano previously posted, the boot shots, and the pano posted below.
It's a ~1/4 mile+ hike away and about 250ft above the overlook at the end of the overlook trail---and for me away from all but a handful of the crowd.


This is like the previous pano but a zoomed in 5 image version.