A Serendipitous Fish Story

The past few days have involved a good deal of traveling. We’ve gone from Glacier National Park, Montana to Burlington, Washington. Lucky for us, our route took us through the oh-so-scenic North Cascade National Forest and Park. We camped in the crook of some mountains on the shores of a mirror-like mountain lake. We had to laugh as we were wakened the next morning by the most cacophonous bunch of birds. All sorts, with all kinds of raucous calls started their chorus before the sun came up. I suppose I’d rather have rowdy birds than rowdy mammals.

We packed up camp after a breakfast of bacon and eggs and made our way to the visitor center for North Cascades National Park. It was quite a lovely center, a well-designed museum of the flora, fauna and geology of the range. Unfortunately, we just weren’t feeling it. We didn’t know what we felt like doing. We were both kind of feeling “blah”. We decided to find a creek for Gideon to try some fly fishing. We stopped at a Chevron in the little town of Marblemount where Gideon purchased a fishing license and a few lures. The plan was to find a spot along the Skagit River, but as Gideon was heading back to the car, he struck up a conversation with a woman standing nearby. I guess she overheard him chatting with the cashier about fishing. “You need the pink whirlies to get the humpies. You can get ‘em down at the station in Rockport just a few miles down,” she explained.
“Oh, great. Okay, thanks a lot,” Gideon replied.
“Where’re you fishing?” she asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I guess we were just going to find a spot along the Skagit,” Gideon answered.
“Hmm. Well, just because I’m in a good mood today, I’m gonna tell you about my secret fishing spot.” She preceded to explain to Gideon how to reach the spot, just past Eagle Towing, make a left down the dirt path marked “No Trespassing”. She went on to call her friend who owned the spot, to give us special permission to fish there.
Was it her odd good mood, or the good looks of a stranger in a small town? Who knows? Long story short, we got us some pink whirlies and found us the secret spot and spent the next eight hours fishing for pink salmon. I should clarify. Gideon fished, I relaxed and read my book.


It was a stunning spot and the fish were literally jumping like crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. Gideon casted all afternoon with his fly rod, catching a yummy female salmon which he promptly filleted and fried up for our lunch.




He soon became frustrated with his lack of fish harvest. A local visited us at the spot and gave Gideon some pointers. As a result, we had to book it back to the gas station at Rockport to get a casting rod and some more lures.
Upon our return to the secret spot, there were three locals fishing, two grumpy old mountain men and a young, friendly fellow named Chris. At first they didn’t seem all that pleased to see us city-slickers, but before you could say humpie, we were all fast fishing buddies. Chris gave Gideon all sorts of pointers and before you knew it, the humpies were flying in. Gideon hooked quite a few.



Then Chris got an extra rod for me. I hooked three fighters, but couldn’t bring a single one to shore. I got the thrill of reeling them in for a good while before they unsnagged themselves and moved on. That was okay with me. I would rather not deal with unhooking a big salmon. I just wish I could have brought one in for a picture.


When our Marblemount friends went home for the evening, they gifted me one of their fishing rods. I couldn’t believe my luck! We stayed another hour or so before calling it a day.

I have some fond memories of fishing in Pennsylvania with my step-dad and sisters when I was younger. It was so long ago though, that I forgot how great it was to hang out along the shores of a peaceful lake or river and watch the day ramble along to the steady casting of a line. I have a feeling that Gideon and I have a new hobby and you will probably be hearing some more fish stories from us.

Glacier National Park

I didn't think it would happen, but it has. My favorite National Park since I was a kid, Yosemite, must now share the title of "favorite" with Glacier National Park. (Now don't give me a hard time about my liberal use of the word "favorite"; I choose to have multiple favorites in many categories--ice cream flavors, cities, parks, etc. It doesn't make the term any less valuable in my mind.) Anyway, it's hard not to be crazy about Glacier. With scenery straight out of the imaginations of the romantic artists of the West, all I could do for the past few days was shake my head in awe. It really is that picturesque.

We arrived in Glacier after dark and set up camp at St. Mary campground. Plentiful signs (of the written type) warned of the Grizzly bears who liked to frequent the camp since it was pretty much situated in a berry patch. And, much to my dismay, signs (of the huge pile of bear scat variety) abounded in our campsite. "God Gideon, that looks fresh to me," I said. "Nah, that's not fresh," Gideon, the bear expert, reassured me. A few minutes later, our neighbor camper came to visit. We pointed out the berry-filled pile and she said, "Yeah, I know! That was from last night! I didn't even hear the bear!" I guess "fresh" is a relative term, huh? Somehow, I managed to sleep rather soundly through the night, despite the possibility of a bear visitor. Perhaps it was the big can of "bear spray" we had with us in the tent. Bear spray, for those of you who don't know, is a Grizzly bear strength pepper spray proven to deter an attacking bear. We had no bear visitors that night, but we did find new piles of scat lining the road out of the campground in the morning.


From the campground, we drove west along the "Going to the Sun Road", stopping at Logan Pass Visitor Center. Here we packed our lunch and prepared to hike to Hidden Lake. Gideon and I got into a heated discussion about the need to take the bear spray with us. Gideon didn't want to; I did. My feeling about it was, if we have it, we should take it. So what if it's kind of heavy. I would hate to run into an angry Grizzly Bear and have to ask him to hold off just a second while I run back to the car for the bear spray. We didn't end up taking it, so my plan was to use Gideon as a human shield if necessary. Lucky for him, we saw no bears.

What we did see was perhaps the most beautiful hike either of us have ever experienced. The trail wandered up through an alpine meadow to a lookout above Hidden Lake. There we were greeted by perhaps the most congenial mountain goat in the park. I am telling you, he smiled at me and showed me around! What a doll!


From the overlook, the trail wandered down an open mountainside to to the lake in the valley below. The water was a startling blue color, due to the glacial runoff that fed the lake. We spent a few hours hanging out on the shore. Gideon tried his hand at fly fishing. He sure looked good, but the fish were too damn smart for him. They watched him and his flies through the crystal-clear water and taunted him mercilessly. I think he still had fun, and that's all that really matters.
On the way back, we did a little "off-roading" and found ourselves an actual glacier. It's predicted that all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by 2030. I'm glad we got to see one up close and personal. You can see it bit of it behind us in the photo below.

We set up camp for the night at a beautiful campground called Many Glacier. Here is a shot of me cooking dinner. Truth be told, Gideon does most of the cooking, so don't be too impressed with me. I just wanted to put the photo in so you could see our wonderful set up. The stove is my dad's and it is older than me. It works beautifully and has made our camping experience oh-so-much-more enjoyable. We are also using his (or his dad's) cutlery kit which has every utensil we could possibly need. Those two items, along with our new tent have made such a difference for us. Thanks Dad!


Today we went on another amazing hike to an even more beautiful lake, if that is even possible. The hike to the lake wasn't as scenic, wandering through the woods. Being in the woods required us to be more aware of the bears. We did bring along the bear spray this time and I got really good at making noise on the trail, as recommended by the park rangers. Every 50 feet or so, I yelled out something like, "Hey bear! Yo, bear! Wassup bear! Wanna peanut, bear?" Basically, anything to let bears know we were around. The last thing you want to do is surprise a Grizzly bear... I can't imagine why.
The end destination of our hike, Lake Grinnell, was stunning. We spent a good while exploring the woods and relaxing, and I even got in a little yoga. It was too windy for Gideon to fish, but that was okay since there were no fish in Lake Grinnell.

After our hike, we made the journey from the eastern side of the park to the western side of the park. Normally, this would simply require following the Going to the Sun Road from one side to the other, but since a 10 mile stretch right in the middle of it was closed for repairs, we had to loop around the bottom of the park, which added about 100 miles to the journey. Not a big deal, since it was a pretty drive. We ended our time at Glacier by exploring Lake MacDonald Lodge, a small-scale lodge on the shore of Lake MacDonald. One day, if I play my cards right, I may get lucky enough to stay in some of these incredible, old-fashioned lodges, but I have a feeling I have many more nights in a tent before that happens. And that is fine by me.

Yellowstone National Park

So, what day is it anyway? Here I sit, in the car, listening to Cowboy Junkies, typing my blog at a KOA in Montana. It’s been many days since we have had any cell phone coverage or internet access, so I have much to update tonight. Good thing I at least typed out the Grand Teton blog a few days ago. We’ve discovered that pretty much all KOA campgrounds have free wifi, so we made a point of finding one tonight so we could make contact with all you dear people.

Yellowstone
Gideon and I arrived at Yellowstone, the first National Park established in the U.S.A. around 10:30 in the morning on Tuesday. The park borders Grand Teton to the North, so it didn’t take long to get there from our campsite. But man, what a different landscape. At first I was a bit disappointed. It looked like a wasteland. Most of the trees are blown down, and there aren’t mountains to speak of, at least in the southern part of the park. But I figured, there had to be something I was missing... Yellowstone is, after all, one of the most popular national parks.

The first stop we made was at Grant Village, where we hoped to set up camp. Well, we learned that many of the campgrounds are closed for the season, so we had to rearrange our plan of attack. We decided to camp at a site north of Old Faithful called Madison, and explore all the features between Grant Village and there before settling in. So, we made our way to Old Faithful and were getting out of the car, eager to experience the most famous destination in the park. We quickly realized we were missing something rather important... our new camera. EEEGADS!!! We ran to the visitor center and asked a ranger to call the Grant Village Visitor Center, where we had stopped thirty minutes earlier. We did not breathe until the ranger nodded her head while on the phone indicating that our favorite new toy was waiting for us, safe and sound. The ranger who found it said he was hoping we wouldn’t claim it. Fat chance.

While Gideon made the trek back to Grant Village to get the camera, I explored the Old Faithful area, including the lodge, gift shop, and famous Old Faithful Inn. Then I took in my first viewing of the geyser in action. Old Faithful gets its name from its regularity in erupting—approximately every 90 minutes. It was pretty exciting to see the geyser blow, although I seemed to pick just the wrong spot and saw mostly a giant plume of steam, rather than water. Not worry though; Gideon showed up with the camera a while later and we watched it blow again. Again in the wrong spot. The wind had shifted, but it was still cool to see again.


We explored the many hydrothermal features in the area. Considering Yellowstone sits atop an active volcano, there are quite a few odd features in the area. I must have sounded like a broken record as I repeated “This is so weird” at each and every stop along the boardwalk. It really was strange. All the boiling cauldrons, geysers, and fuming hot spots seemed like a something you’d see at Disney World. It was otherworldly. After exploring the area, we went to the Old Faithful Inn so I could show Gideon around. The place is exactly what an old school park lodge should be: grand, naturalistic, and enduring. We lucked out with our timing and were able to take in a third viewing of Old Faithful spouting off from the second floor porch at the Inn. This eruption was amazing, just what I’d imagined and expected. It went so high, spewing nearly 8,000 gallons of water for about 4 minutes. Very impressive, to say the least.


From Old Faithful, we visited Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin and saw more weird stuff: giant steaming pools, more geysers, strange colored streams, etc. Then we had to make a quick trip back to the Old Faithful Inn for an emergency pit stop. Our timing was spot on; the geyser erupted just as we pulled up. My fourth time to see the spectacle of Old Faithful.


We started working towards our campground in Madison. It was late afternoon, and just the right time for the wildlife of Yellowstone to make its appearance. We spotted our first herd of bison and watched them cross the road. Check out the photo to see what a wildlife jam looks like. The bison are huge creatures. You’d be amazed at how close some tourists got to them. I was holding my breath waiting for some clueless tourist to be gored by a bison, but the bison didn’t waste their time on those folks.


Soon after leaving the bison herd, we came upon another wildlife jam, this time for a herd of elk situated in the small valley just below our campground. Wow! This time, people were even more ridiculous, getting within yards from the animals until the ranger showed up and shouted at them. Elk are not deer. They are really large animals, especially the males, of which there were three in the field. The dominate bull of the group, complete with a giant rack, had gathered himself a fine harem of a dozen females. It is mating season, after all. The other two males were lurking nearby whispering sweet nothings to the girls trying to lure just one or two away. The bull was having none of it and ran the upstarts off with barely a yelp from the little guys. Then, the real show began... yes, you know what I mean. Elk hanky-panky. Gideon got some good shots, so I included them, just to be naughty. I knew you’d want proof.



Today we woke early and set off to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The canyon is situated in the eastern section of the park, an area with a completely different feel to it. We drove through a beautifully misty morning which quickly burned off into a wonderfully warm day. We hiked the south canyon rim, enjoying the view of the waterfall from “Uncle Tom’s” overlook, at the bottom of more than 350 stairs. Gideon got a good view on the way back up the stairs too. Then we hiked to Artist’s Point for a view of the waterfall and canyon, and then on to Sublime Point, where we enjoyed yet another PB&J picnic lunch.





On the way out of the park, we spotted a coyote. Boy, did it look friendly. I almost became one of those stupid tourists as I contemplated petting the sweet little guy. Just kidding... I just really miss my puppy, Josie!


Our last stop on the way out was at Mammoth Hot Springs, another bizarre sight. It’s a mountain-like mound of calcium carbonate carved into pools by the mineral-rich water running up and out of it.

Gideon and I have been trying to describe Yellowstone all day. We decided it’s a wonderfully weird, active park catering to a passive crowd. The geologic features and the wildlife are active all around you, and it can all be enjoyed from the comfort of one’s vehicle. But we are glad we got out and hiked around... it’s different when you get out there. We also decided that we wouldn’t even consider coming here in the summer, when the entire park is jammed with cars and impatient, hot people. No thank you. Give us Yellowstone in September any day.

P.S. I'm writing a blog for kids. Check it out at http://biscuitsbigadventure.blogspot.com/

Grand Teton National Park

The last I wrote, we were crossing Wyoming, listening to bad country music. We had a plan to camp at a state park near Shoshoni. When we arrived, it was already dark, and there were no campgrounds to be found, despite what our map led us to believe. To make a long story short, we ended up driving at least another 75 miles to find a campground in Sinks Canyon State Park. We woke the next morning to find ourselves next to a mountain creek in a beautiful canyon.

We spent the next three or four hours driving through the most incredible scenery I have ever seen. It was “A River Runs Through It” territory—just breathtaking. We also passed through some neat old towns; the town of Dubois was straight out of a Spaghetti Western.




We arrived to Grand Teton National Park midday and found a sweet campsite at Jenny Lake, a tent-only campground (no RVs). As soon as camp was set up, we set out on a short hike around the southern perimeter of Jenny Lake and through the woods to some moose ponds. It was a beautiful walk, but we saw no moose.


As soon as we arrived back to camp around 6:30, we jumped in the car and headed up to Signal Mountain overlook to take in a most awesome sunset. Gideon snapped photos (along with a horde of other photographers) and I watched the show and tried to keep warm... a task I would spend the rest of the night working on—it feels like a D.C. winter out here already!



Our second day in the park started with pancakes, bacon and eggs, thanks to camp chef Gideon and my dad’s 40 year old Coleman stove. Yum! Next we took a drive south towards Teton Village, the home of Jackson Hole ski resort. The drive meandered through fields, forests, and by ponds... perfect habitat for moose. And wouldn’t you know, a bull moose was feeding in a pond just waiting for me! If you know me well, you know I have a thing for moose. It’s like a spiritual connection (don’t laugh) and I live for moose sightings. This was the first bull moose I’ve seen, and I had the total pleasure of observing it for a good fifteen minutes while Gideon snapped pictures. As far as I’m concerned, my trip is complete.



Later in the day, we set up camp at Colton Bay, in a more northern area of the park, and set out on another hike. This hike sent us along the shores of Jackson Lake, the largest lake in the park, and then out to some ponds, marshes, open fields, and forests. The hike was supposed to be an easy five miles or so, but we soon learned the hard way that trails in the Grand Teton are not clearly marked and can be awfully confusing, and maps aren’t much help. Reaching what we thought would be the last mile of the hike, we could not quite figure out which way to go. After hemming and hawing for a while, we agreed to go forward through the fields and forest ahead following a rather narrow trail. You can see where this is heading... yes, we got lost. Really lost. For a good hour or so. It was nearing 6 o’clock and the sun was beating a hasty retreat. We figured out that we had been following moose and elk paths through the fields and woods. Once we turned around, we couldn’t figure out which trail we had taken in. There was great potential to freak out, but I kept cool, knowing that if there was anyone who could figure out how to survive in the Teton wilderness, it was my own personal MacGyver, Gideon. Plus, we really weren’t all that far from civilization. It was just that pesky business of the sun setting. Finally, Gideon climbed a pine tree to try and get a bearing on the area. He had an idea of where we needed to go at that point. Shortly after that, we stumbled across some bleached moose bones, which would have been an ominous sign, had we not found the trail at about the same moment.

Thankfully, we were able to work our way back to the real trails and reach camp shortly after 7pm, our 5 mile hike clocking in closer to 8 miles. With sore feet and relieved hearts, we beat it to the bath house for hot showers. After a late dinner of burritos and red wine, we hit the sack, happy to be in our sleeping bags and not under a pile of brush in the wilderness.

Bad, Bad Lands

I feel like we are finally “out west”. This is prairie dog land; tumbleweed territory; big sky country. About 45 miles west of the KOA, we entered the Badlands National Park. We obtained our “America the Beautiful” park pass which will allow us to enter all U.S. National Parks for the next year—a deal for us at $80.00. The Badlands is a spectacular expanse of eroded rock formations. Gazing into the chasms, you can easily picture Native Americans wandering through on their horses, as well as early European settlers weeping at the site of the formidable land to be crossed.

One of the best moments in the 32 mile drive through the Northern Unit of the park was coming across a large colony of prairie dogs on the side of the road. With our windows down, we heard their squeaks before actually seeing them. Of course, we had to stop to take some pictures. We also spotted a lone bison grazing in the valley below.

Our next stop was “Wall Drugs” in the town of Wall, South Dakota, just at the exit of the park. For hundreds of miles we had been learning about the endless variety of stuff one could find at this super-store of the Wild West, thanks to billboards scattered along Interstate 90. Basically, it was a huge souvenir store/tourist trap, but it was fun. We bought three postcards, a highlighter, and two scoops of ice cream, then headed towards the Black Hills, home of Mount Rushmore.

Mount Rushmore... Well, let’s just say that Gideon and I are divided about the $10 we spent to park there and the 10 minutes we spent to observe the carved mountain side. I thought it was kind of impressive; but then again, I’m kind of into the presidential thing ever since we lived in Washington, D.C. Gideon’s words were, “It confirmed my lack-luster expectations and I would have rather seen the rocks unscarred.” Oh Gideon. You know what they say... you can please some people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all of the time. One out of two ain’t bad.

Now we are working our way through Wyoming. It’s about 5:30 in the evening. The sun is blazing hot and this laptop on my lap isn’t helping matters. We don’t have anymore audio books downloaded, so we are entertaining ourselves by spotting pronghorns (deer-like animals that are all over the prairie), chewing on beef jerky, and listening to country music. It’s kind of early in this journey for country music, but I’m gonna go with it and think of my country lovin’ brother-in-law, Tim, and sister Myra. Did I just hear “We’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces/Whiskey for my men and beer for my horses”? Maybe it’s time for a nap.