Glacier National Park: the Crown Jewel of the National Park system

(Note: this blog was written off-line days ago and just posted today from Banff, where we have a fast wifi connection.)

We departed from Badlands National Park on Sunday, June 17 and arrived at Glacier National Park on the 18^th. Back in 2010 we spent the better part of one day driving in the park and were so impressed with the beauty that we vowed to return as soon as we could. We are so glad we did.

We decided to stay at Many Glacier Hotel because of its location. It sits in a valley surrounded by mountains and remnants of glaciers. The hotel faces the Swift Current Lake and all together presents a picture postcard setting.

If you have plans to visit one of the western national parks, I strongly urge you to see at least this park. At 1,000,000 acres it is immense and vast. There are so many mountains and 25 remaining glaciers. If I could only visit one park, this is the one I would go see.

There are countless hiking trails and activities to engage in as well as a beautiful 97-year-old lodge to sit in and soak up the atmosphere around the huge fireplace. You won't be bored. Food is good to excellent and the staff is on top of their game. We've done boat rides, hikes and a day-long tour of the park in one of the famous old Red Buses.

We have been at Glacier since late Monday afternoon. There is so much to see and do.  It is good that we are here for a week.  We are staying in Many Glacier Hotel, which is soon to be 100 years old.  The building is charming and just what you would expect.  On the other hand a lot of improvements are underway.  Guest rooms are being totally renovated (we didn't get an updated room) -- but that is okay as we just sleep and shower in the room.  There is a lot of construction going on outside.  

The main dining room has been totally renovated and it is stunning.  We were here two years ago and I remember the dining room being a real disappointment: from seeing a suspended ceiling, to dirty and beat up walls, and stones missing from the main fireplace. Now all of that has been corrected.

Yesterday started out gray and gloomy with periodic showers, but we decided to take an enclosed boat ride in spite of the weather.  It was a good decision as the ride we took lasted 4 hours, most of which time was spent hiking.  During this time we saw a mother moose and her calf (Sandy spotted the calf, but I could not get a pic of it soon enough), later we saw a young male moose and quite a few big-horned sheep up on the mountain sides.  We also spotted a pair of loons on Swift Lake.

The hike was great and took us into the woods where there is still plenty of snow.  The snow pack and glaciers are melting so the woods are filled with small and large rapidly flowing streams.  That made for a muddy and sometimes slippery trail.

A view of Many Glacier Hotel early morning. 

 Lobby of Many Glacier Hotel.

 A swift river we crossed one hiker at time on a suspension bridge.

In the hotel is a display of photos taken of glaciers in the very early 1900s and then taken from the same position between 80 and 100 years later.  These two photos will give you an idea of how climate change is making glaciers disappear.  When the park was founded in 1910, there  were about 125 glaciers.  Today the count is about 25.  Note.  The park has the exact count on glaciers, I just did not remember the correct numbers. 

This is the only bear we saw.  For some reason Sandy was not disappointed.

We took a day trip and drove north into the Canadian side of Glacier.  Their park is called Waterton Lakes.  This is the Prince of Wales hotel. The small town was clean and charming.

 The Prince of Wales Hotel overlooks this lake. 

Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.  This is considered the most photographed point in the park

We took a day-long guided tour within the park in one of the famous Red Buses and drove past many of these spring snow-melt fed waterfalls.  When the top was rolled back on the bus we caught some cold spray.

Thanks to the Ford Motor Company the entire fleet of these old buses was entirely rebuilt a few years ago and brought up to 21st century standards at a cost of $7,000,000.  How fortunate that companies like Ford are willing to "share the wealth."  The drivers of these buses are extremely knowledgeable and personable.

The Red Buses were originally built by the White Motor Company, but since they now ride on a Ford F-450 chassis, they certainly deserve to wear the Ford blue oval logo

Taken from the Red Bus.  This person is not my Sandy.

On our guided tour along Going to the Sun Road we spotted this Mountain Goat.

One of the larger glaciers still remaining. 

 Bear Grass blooms on a 5 to 7-year cycle.  The forest was loaded with Bear Grass flowers this spring. 

 Indian Paint Brush

 Another view of our hotel

This waterall was at the end of Red rock Trail.  Most of the hikers we passed had seen bear.  But not us. 

 On Red Rock Trail.

This is the lobby of  East Glacier Hotel, one of the other great old lodges in the park.

 Unique table in East Glacier Hotel

 We spotted this mama moose and her two babies one morning.

 Is this little guy cute or what?

The constantly changing weather presented so many photo opportunities.  


We are now in Banff, Alberta, Canada.  This is a very upscale small town within the Canadian National Park of Banff.  Photos to follow in a day or two.

Free Land and Sod Houses

From time to time Congress has risen above partisan politics and passed major legislation that would positively impact countless people and future generations. To name a few -- after World War II there was the GI Bill of Rights that enabled veterans to get a college education. In the 1960s there was the Civil Rights Act that helped bring an end to segregation and Jim, Crow laws. And amazingly during the Civil War Congress passed and President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Homestead Act in May of 1862. This act offered to any person 21 years or older the ability to file a claim on 160 acres of land. The filing fee was all of $18.00. The Act required the homesteader to build a house, plow a small acreage for crops and establish a residence for five years in order to receive ownership. This was called “prove up.”  Here in South Dakota one such original prairie sod house is still standing and is now on the National Historic Register. The Brown homestead is located not far from the entrance to the Badlands National Park.

Ed and Alice Brown settled here in 1909.  The right half of the house was added some years later when they obtained a small wood cabin and attached it to the sod house.

Notice the "green" roof.  Whenever practical, sod homes were built into the side of a hill.  This added structural stability,  more insulation value and increased storm protection. 

This side of the house was a small cabin that later was added to the home to give it a living room.

.  Kitchen 

 The doorway with the white curtain leads to the only and very small bedroom.

 Outdoor plumbing in winter or summer.

 This 75gallon kettle was used to render hogs and to clean bedding in hot water.

 The barn

The ancestors of these Prairie Dogs must have made life miserable for Mrs. Brown's vegetable garden.

The one-car garage

Mr. Brown dug this water well by hand -- all 30 feet deep.

This homestead is a tribute to iron will, sacrifice, extreme hardship and the success of unbending determination to create a home and a legacy for future family generations. It was a common comment made by homesteaders that the U.S. Government was willing to bet 160 acres of land against $18 and the severe challenge of surviving for five years. Many lost the bet.

Western South Dakota was one of the last areas to be homesteaded. Mr. Brown acquired his land in 1909. He passed away just 11 years later, but his widow Alice remained for many years. Her memories were surprisingly happy ones. She loved the house, the land and all of her neighbors who formed a close community which undoubtedly helped them all survive.

In the 1960s the family gave the homestead to the State of South Dakota. Some minor restoration work was necessary, but essentially the farm is the same as when it was last worked in the middle of the 20^th Century.

The Brown homestead is one of a very few to survive the elements and modernization, but practically every 160 acre quarter section near the Browns has a depression on the side of a hill or at the edge of a bank where a homestead family dug in for a new starts in life.

As Sandy and I stood on the property and walked into the sod home and the farm buildings we tried to imagine what it must have been like on hot summer days under blistering sun or in bitter winters as well as during the dust storms of the early 20^th Century. I for one and glad I was not born into a homesteader's family. 

Additional facts:

>The Homestead Act ended in 1986 in Alaska, the last state to participate. 

>1.6 million homesteads were proved up.  This represents just 40% of the total allocated.  The failure rate was high. 

>270 millions acres of privately owned property in the U.S. came about as a result of this great program

>10 percent of all land in the U.S. was acquired through the Homestead Act

A final thought--

Human nature is still the same today as in all previous ages.  During the early years of  the  Homestead Act, there were con artists who set up phony offices, took in the cash and issued bogus claims not worth the paper they were printed on.  Then the crooks folded up their tents and moved on to another town to commit the fraud all over again.  With all of the schemers and scamers on the internet just let your imagination run wild and try to imagine how this program would have turned out had it been introduced a couple of years ago.   

Badlands National Park is located in Western South Dakota in a desolate location, but features some amazing rock formations. There are some similarities to Zion National Park but Badlands is of a smaller and less colorful scale. All in all I am glad we came here because it is so unique.

The primary activities here are hiking, nature study and history so a three-day stay should be adequate for most people and families. And the word “adequate” preceded by barely is how I'd describe lunch and dinner at the Lodge restaurant.

The Lodge is composed of one main building housing a gift shop, restaurant and guest registration. Overnight accommodations are either tent, RV or cabin. 

We lucked out and were booked into a brand new cabin that is easily equal to a 

3-star facility. The interior is paneled with reclaimed pine lumber and furniture all made from pine trees killed by pine beetles. It is actually very attractive. Everything in the room is brand new, clean and works well. Towels and linens are above average. It is heartening to see this investment being made in one of our national parks.

Here are some images gathered while hiking:

 A couple of trails had stairs and walkways

 Some trails were more of a challenge.

On Friday we just could not bring ourselves to go back to the lodge for lunch. Actually, they serve a decent burger, but I was saving that menu item for dinner. Sandy remembered seeing a divey looking bar and grill the other day when we drove into nearby Interior for some bread and jelly to make PB&J sandwiches.

She looked it up on Yelp and it got four excellent reviews. Adding to its appeal were the reviews that mentioned the big Labrador Retriever who resides at the bar. But when we got there the dog, named Tractor, had been banished by the new owners. The new owners are a brother and sister who grew up in this tiny town of about 80 houses and trailers and a couple hundred hearty souls. The sister waited on us and we had a good conversation about Tractor (he likes an occasional shot of whiskey) and we talked a bit about ranching and living on the grasslands. Her brother has over 30,000 acres to his ranch. The Wagon Wheel Bar & Grill was one of those out-of-the-way places you are glad to find and delighted that it had decent pizza, a welcoming attitude and cold beer.

But wait there is more.

As we departed the bar, Tractor was there to greet us. He is HUGE and so friendly. He leaned into us, let us love all over him and sat right on my feet. Boy do we ever miss not having a pooch. Tractor sure helped us get a doggie fix that day.

Tomorrow we head toward Glacier National Park, which we both think is one of the most beautiful of the national parks seen thus far. We were at Glacier in 2010 and vowed to go back because our one day there was not enough to see it all. We will arrive on Monday.

Cold War Revisited

Cold War Revisited

Less than a 15-minute drive from the Badlands National Park is a Cold War-era relic. It is a sobering experience to visit Delta-01Launch Control and especially Delta-09 an actual hardened concrete silo that still holds a deactivated Minuteman Missile. When the warhead was in place on this solid-fuel rocket it's payload was equal to 60 percent of all the explosives used in World War II. And that includes the bombs used by all sides and the two Atom bombs we dropped on Japan.

By the mid-1970s there were 450 Minuteman missiles housed in underground silos on the Great Plains. Controlling the 450 silos were 45 Launch Control Centers under the command of the United States Air Force.  Each center controlled 10 missiles. Control was done via underground sealed cables up to 15 miles in length per silo.

The Launch Control Center from the outside is unimposing. Above ground are the living quarters and below ground it is more interesting as the actual launch electronics, control panels and now-primitive computers can be seen up close. A 2-man crew would work a single 24 hour shift. And then would be “off” for a few days.  Interesting fact from the park ranger.  Today's cell phones have more computing power than what was in place in each silo and control center. 

The Minuteman silo is deceptively peaceful looking. It barely protrudes two feet above the ground. Today it has a thick glass half window above the missile allowing visitors to look down into the silo. But what an apocalyptic payload it could deliver. This missile was aimed on the Kremlin, and in just under 30 minutes -- had the orders been given – it would have taken out most of Moscow. And an additional nine missiles would have been launched simultaneously from this one of 45 identical Launch Control Centers. Thank God, the Cold War never turned “hot.”

Some factoids:

Many missile sites were destroyed and the land sold back to the farmers.  These was a tidy sum of money to be had from removing the dual cables of two-inch thick copper wire strands.  A small cottage industry sprung up to "harvest" the buried cables.

The Minuteman missiles reached speeds of 15,000 MPH and could reach Moscow in 30 minutes or less, hence this photo.

Only one Minuteman Missile was ever fired from an underground silo and it was a test.  The heat and force of lift off rendered the silo unusable.  It's target was somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Tomorrow I'll write about more about Badlands National Park.

Further into South Dakota and a stop at the world-famous Corn Palace

Tuesday we drove about 270 miles from Mitchell to the Badlands National Park. More about that in a day or two.

Before we got on the Interstate, we stopped at the world-famous Corn Palace. Sometimes you just have to go see the tourist trap places, but this was a pleasant surprise. It was free to go inside and look at the exhibits, but it was more interesting outside where they were doing the annual replacement of the exterior covering which is made out of corn and corn products. The cost to change the exterior design is $130,000 per year. 

Here is a partially completed panel on a side wall.

And here one of the local artists is using a pair of hand-held grass shears to refine his creation.

This is a photo of the original Corn Palace built in 1892.

And here I am with a local guy who claims to know my good friend in Inverness, Wally Henderson -- aka Wally Gator.   (private joke)

Last night we experienced one of those torrential  thunderstorms that sweep across the Dakota Badlands.  When it was done I took this photo of the hail that accumulated outside our cabin door.


See you later.

As those of you who travel know, finding wholesome food ont he road is not always easy.  Too many fast food places and they are tempting because they are convenient and don't take much time.  But we didn't want another salt-laden laden meal long the Interstate.  So we got off and drove a couple miles into the small town of Chamberlain, SD . We found a real life main street that was busy and went into a restaurant that was bustling with locals. The food was first rate, including the slice of home-made pie we shared. We will follow this new strategy in the future.

One of the reasons the town has an active main street is that there are no big box or Wallmart stores within a short distance. So the locals tend to shop locally. I like that.

Friends & Family Fun

We spent the last 10 days having fun in and around the Chicago area.  First we visited our daughter, Jennifer and her husband, Brad and adorable 17-month old son, Luke.

We got plenty of hands-on hugs and kisses grandparent time as well as some long walks admiring the city and we visited a first-rate farmer's market in Lincoln Park along the lake front.

Next we visited long-time friends Dale &  Deb Wiegand who spend summers in Antioch, IL and winter in Florida. 

Next we went to visit our son, Scott, in the northwest suburbs and the visit included a trip on the Fox River and an overnight in an old B&B dating from 1893 on Fox Lake called The Roxana.  Charming place.  It was like stepping back in time. 

This morning we got an early departure around 5:30 and drove about 540 miles in 10 hours to Brandon, South Dakota.  We drove across northern Illinois, across all of southern Minnesota and then on into SD.  Since most of the trip covered new roads for both of us, the 10 hours really went quickly.  An interesting discovery.  When we had the motorhome we experienced a noticeable drop in MPG when driving into the wind.  Same thing with a truck.  We were facing winds of at least 20 to 25 MPH and suffered a decrease in 3 MPG because of the wind for the last 100 miles or so. 

Tomorrow we will drive to the Badlands National Park where we will stay in the park at Cedar Pass Lodge