Day 85

23, Glacier N.P.

July 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

All right, all right! I agree, I was wrong! A GLAZIER is a person who works with glass; however... GLACIER National Park is where we arrived about 14:45 (a few minutes ago) today, Sunday.
SIGN: "You are entering GRIZZLY BEAR Territory - Do Not Hike Alone" OK so I turned around.
So pleased with my LUMIX telephoto lens, the frustration last year with the 55mm. was bad. This year has made up for it. "You only know what you have, when you know (and value) what you do not have."
Discovered there are 454 National Parks (NPs) and NP Units. How many National Parks have we visited? I'll tally the patches on my hoodie - and see. Answer: 20 patches, but only 19 are in the NPS System. How many miles have we come from middle of May to date? Wait, when did we leave? Anyway, as of lunch/gas/'I need a Coke stop') to-day, 38 miles South of US / Canadian border', we have traveled 4,656 mile (7466 km) on this 2023 trip.
Wondering how the heat factor is playing on tempers and frustrations? "News" app (NOT fox propaganda) is loaded with shootings and negative vibrations. Well, I saw this coming - and this is the start - and only the start of the global warming crisis, but... the unconscious ones still try to rule by and for, their bank balance, therefore, global peril awaits.
But..., NO DOUBT about this, looking and feeling the Peace and energy of the surrounding peaks there is no doubt, there can be not an iota of difference..., can I explain this phenomena? This feeling of total insignificance, in the presence of surrounding peaks, peaks soaring skyward. There is only one explanation: "I'm back in Bybee Country.... " (!) [... but I've never been here before...!] This could be Shakti Gawain stuff. Ask the Universe....
Tomorrow we tour the glaciers. We could not get permits (very narrow road) so we will travel by shuttle - I hope.
Walked a few miles this evening along the shore of a lovely lake. The peaks I learn, those with smooth summits were smoothed by glacier action - and those summits are high! Along the slopes and beneath the jagged summits of some other peaks, I could see the smoothing from glacier action as well.
Hope to find vacancy for another night (Tuesday) but with zero internet... (sigh) that becomes a struggle - maybe find access to the Internet to-morrow at St. Mary's where we catch the shuttle.
Till then... oh, wait... I need to figure out something, I saw a branch about 4-5 long, covered in green leaves, moving rapidly UP stream. How? Beaver? but... need to find the answer.
So, a mug of hot chocolate certainly seems to get the neurons firing - at least for Connie it does! Connie played her best game of chess last night- finally playing into a draw! Lookout Jack, who knows what was in the hot chocolate... but it worked! Well done.
Of course, being a rising star chess player, competing on an international arena (Glacier NP is managed by Canada & USA) certainly helped propel Connie's chess, my chess pupil !
Jack + Connie.Read more