Tag: Glacier

2022 – The Summer Trip

St. Mary Campground, Glacier National Park, Montana

Another summer trip has come and gone. This one did not feature any new locations or set records for being away from home for the longest time. We did discover some new trails in Yellowstone as well as getting to know older trails in Grand Teton in different ways. The consensus for favorite hike was the out-and-back we did in Paradise Valley, not far from Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone. Ask me some time about the Solfatara North trail with the grizzly who wanted to take us out to dinner (take us out as in kill us… and then we’d become dinner). Or maybe it is best not to bring that hike up at all.

At times it seemed like the odds might be against us. Primarily with the June 2022 flooding in Yellowstone potentially putting a large chunk of our summer at risk. A new menu prevailed with a few winners and a general request for less potatoes.

The wildflowers were sensational, as always.

The culminating event, when we were down to Emily and myself, was a hike around Jenny Lake. What a blast!

Something new this trip was my increased attempts at getting on the air this year. Usually I do very little amateur radio work on the summer trips. To be honest, I am normally either too busy or too tired to get on and enjoy radio. This year I made an effort to get on the air and see if I could make some CW contacts. Although I had visions (and most all the equipment) to setup an operators position at the back of the station wagon, I ended up making all of my contacts from the driver’s seat. Helping me was my J-45 leg key and my Field Notes memo book for handcopy. When I did get on air, I was generally successful in making contacts. My best luck was on 20M around the SKCC watering hole at 14.055 MHz. An enjoyable aspect to making the contacts was sending each one a postcard from the national park I was at… using the postcard as a QSL card. Overall, I made eleven contacts – beating any previous year by quite a bit.

Today I upload the contacts to LoTW after figuring out how to add the locations from where the contacts took place into my LoTW account (three separate locations). Then, after I had entered the contact information into my fldigi-based logbook, I exported the contacts, using the correct location, into LoTW. It was nice to see many of my contacts had already confirmed the contacts.

I do need to make some modifications of my HF vehicle installation. The display heads up front are great! Using the Ram setup really made things organized and solid. The FT-891 in the rack tray needs to be adjusted to mitigate its ability to bounce too much on a bumpy road. I also need to repair the feedline into the radio. This fall, I would like to try out a back-of-the-vehicle setup.

As always more and consistent Morse practice will always yield dividends.

2016 Summer Trip – Day 30

St. Mary Campground, Glacier National Park, Montana

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Monday, June 27th – The girls slept in a bit. I got out the solar panel – great light here for using the solar panel to recharge the trailer’s battery system. The batteries really needed the juice. The morning was going to be quiet until…. I ran out of propane! I heard the refrigerator clicking and the check light came on. I tried to light the stove… nothing! We’d last swapped propane in Las Vegas (Day 12). I expected it to last longer.

I should have just gone to St. Mary to see if they exchanged propane canisters but I thought maybe the general store at Rising Sun might. Rising Sun is about 5 miles away and (I found out) does not exchange propane canisters. I turned around and was able to do it at the grocery store in St. Mary. Then we headed back to the campsite where I swapped the propane canisters. The food in the refrigerator was saved.

We rode our bikes to the Visitors Center. The girls got Junior Ranger books. We ate lunch in Babb, then headed into Many Glacier. We made it to the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn where our 2pm hike was meeting. The ranger leading the hike was the same ranger that lead our hike to Grinnell Lake last year (Ranger Monica). After the nature hike, we did a ranger tour of the Many Glacier Hotel. They are in the last year of the renovation plan. We had a fancy dinner at the hotel (topped off by a chocolate fondue dessert) and then drove back to camp. On the way to the Rising Sun Campground for their evening program, Sarah spotted a coyote. The evening program was about the history of the beaver in North America.

2016 Summer Trip – Day 27

Apgar Village/Fish Creek Campground, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Friday, June 24th – We got up early to attend the bird watching ranger program in the morning with Ranger Sarah from Wisconsin. The girls enjoyed the walk and so did I. We were able to use our binoculars to see several birds.

Rains came at about 11am. Ate a second breakfast at Eddie’s, the restaurant in Apgar Village. Went to the Visitors Center and the girls received their Junior Ranger badges for Glacier.

Apgar Visitors Center
Apgar Visitors Center

Went to the 11:30am Junior Ranger program at the Nature Center in Apgar Village. The focus was for younger children; Emily had a good time but Sarah was a bit bored. Ranger Teagan ran the program. After a brief presentation she did an activity with the children were they each were an animal or plant and then formed a food web connected with string. Once one item was eliminated from the web, the rest of the food wed could feel the impact.

We headed back to the trailer, hiding from the rain. After a brief lunch and a nap, we headed back to the Nature Center for a 3pm program discussing the “Peace Park” nature of Glacier being connected to Waterton. Also talked about other Peace Parks.

Next we headed to the Glacier Conservancy book store near the West Glacier train station and picked up a few items. Then to the restaurant in West Glacier for an early dinner where we ate too much. We followed the early dinner by a trip to a gift shop on the other side of the grocery store in West Glacier.

Then a drive to Lake McDonald Lodge where we are awaiting the 8pm Evening Program in the auditorium on Night Creatures. We staked out a corner in the lodge’s lobby, making use of the electrical outlets to charge our laptops. With the campsite’s location in heavy trees and the poor weather, it is difficult to use the solar panel to charge our electronics.
welcome_to_montana_wpa_poster

The 2016 Summer Plans Are Shaping Up

It looks like the summer plans are coming together. In an effort to capitalize on the success of last summer’s trip, this summer’s agenda is a bit more aggressive. 60 days and eight national parks: Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon’s North Rim, Bryce Canyon, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton.

I got the last reservations I needed on Friday. Yosemite seems to be the odd duck when it comes to reservations due to its popularity and scarcity of campsites in the Yosemite Valley. Last summer we were able to make only a day trip to the Yosemite Valley and had a wonderful time. But we only saw just a tiny bit of what the Valley can offer, not to mention anywhere outside the Valley.

For this summer’s trip, we have reservations for a few days at a campsite on the valley floor. Yosemite will be our first national park this summer. After Yosemite, we will head south to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park. Although I grew up in California and attended Boy Scout camp near Kings Canyon, I have never actually been there. Then we make our way to Zion National Park followed by the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Heading back north, we will spend a few days at Bryce Canyon National Park. This area of Utah, Arizona, and Colorado is loaded with national parks. Some folks spend the summer making the “Grand Circle Tour” seeing all of them. Our Grand Circle Tour will have to wait until another summer. I have never been to Zion, Bryce, or the Grand Canyon. Our visit this summer should give me a good idea about this area and I will know if I will want to come back again to see other national park gems like Mesa Verde, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef.

Finding our way back to I-15, we will head north, north, north…. up to Glacier National Park. Glacier was on of our stops last year and Glacier rivals Yosemite in beauty (my opinion). Glacier also has a lot less people. We will spend a week on the west side of the park and then a week on the east side (even less people). There were lots of things we did not have time to see last year and there are many things we would like to see again. We have reservations at St. Mary Campground now, but I would be thrilled to get one of the first-come first-served spaces at Many Glacier Campground. We’ll see.

Back on I-15 and heading south, we will find our way to the northern entrance into Yellowstone. Yellowstone was another park we visited last year and I am looking forward to this return trip. We are starting our stay at the Canyon Campground, located centrally on the eastern side of the figure eight loop. From here I hope to explore the Mammoth Hot Springs and the old Army garrison. We will probably make one or two twilight trips into the Lamar Valley to see the wildlife (at a safe distance). Then we move down to Grant Campground, located on the western portion of Yellowstone Lake. I would enjoy a day trip out to the Norris Geyser Basin as well as exploring Lewis Lake to the south.

Our last national park this summer will be Grand Teton. This year I have reservations at their RV park on Colter Bay. This place has full hooks up for our trailer which may be helpful as temperatures climb a bit in July. We never got to explore much of Jenny Lake or look around the Moose Visitor Center which has a few attractions nearby.

Then we’ll make our way back home to Kansas.

A few goals for this summer’s trip:
– Have fun and make sure the schedule does not become oppressive. The time allotted for Yosemite, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton should allow for a relaxed schedule.
– Balance taking pictures with having fun. I usually error on the side of not taking pictures in order to make sure I am enjoying “the moment”. I think there is a balance. There are those who spend their vacation looking through the screen of a cell phone as they swing around a selfie stick. Not for me.
– Make a few NPOTA contacts. I plan on getting an HF rig installed in my vehicle by mid-March. My intent is for casual operation and to keep a paper log.
– I have toyed with the idea of using my PACTOR III modem to allow for an email capability. There are many locations I will be this summer that does not allow for cell or internet access. If I can design an easy way to integrate the modem into the mobile setup, testing it with a mini-laptop and am sure it will work without issue… I may do this.

Grand Teton National Park – June 2015