Settling In

Apgar Village, Lake McDonald view!

A little eye candy and teaser above. But better yet, I survived my first week!

I've gotten used to the no communication thing. However, sorry friends. No immediate Instagram posts from me and no Snapchats. I can Snapchat you from the Starbucks EVERY time. That will get old really fast I bet. ;-)

My week started off slow with a day-long training on computer use, backcountry radios, and OSHA standards! WOOOOO! Tuesday I got a tour of the four buildings the Museum and Archives are housed in. Yeah, we get around. It's nice because to get from one place to another, you have to go outside and take a walk. Can't be stuck in that windowless or basement room forever. Everything is really close though and the farthest building is maybe a three minute walk. This farthest building is where I work. It's basically a garage and houses the old red buses and other mobile museum artifacts like an old carriage. My computer is right next to a lime green, rusty, bear trap. Can't take a picture, but if you come and visit me, you can see.

Archives with Huckleberry, the bike.

What I can show you is the archives building that is right in front of my living quarters and where researchers go to request documents, photos, and other Park history.

Research Room and my other computer area.

I have also been happier now that I've had human communication. I work directly with three super nice people. Karen, the temporary archivist, is my main boss and I work as her technician. We get to handle the documents together and bounce ideas off each other. Karen first started out on a year-long contract, but is now working on her fourth and final year. Deirdre is the museum curator and heads the areas of Museum and Archives. She's a permanent Glacier employee and was the one who hired me. Deirdre has been working for Glacier for over 15 years. Fred, an older gentleman from Whitefish is Deirdre's technician and is a wealth of knowledge. Fred has lived in the area since forever. He only works seasonally, but he knows anything and everything you could ever want to know.

Gravel trail from housing to the bridge and over.

In other news, I've settled in and am getting my routine down. First off, I've found three different trails to run after I get of work that are closer to the road or places where people frequent, so less bear-prone. One trail is gravel and goes along the river and up through West Glacier and back to Park Headquarters where all the housing is. Here are some pictures of this path:

View from the bridge.

Another path I use is the main road from Park Headquarters to West Glacier and back. I get to run by the Glacier sign every time. That's fun. One day though I was on the way back on the tail end of my run and as I was following the curve of the Headquarters road, I saw this giant black thing. I kind of slowed and was like "Woah! What the heck?" I had decided to run without headphones in and just play my music from the iPhone speaker so that I could be more aware of my surroundings. I turned down my music and just as the big black thing kept coming, I saw it was attached to a leash and two people were walking with it. "Phew." It was a Great Bernese that was the nicest guy, but from a far, did look bear-ish. I felt silly but since I haven't had bear training yet, better safe than sorry, right? And for those wondering, yeah, bear training is required annually for employees. I get to take it in the beginning of June!

Original school house when Apgar was a real little town. Now a gift shop. 

Yesterday, I learned from Deirdre that there is a bike path from Headquarters into Apgar Village.  The little village is right at the southern tip of Lake McDonald. I didn't run this path, but walked with my pack to get some souvenirs and check out the iconic view. The path is about three miles long and takes you back and forth across the main roads into the Park. Hence, less likely to see bears. I did see a deer though and we hung out together for a bit. Here are pics of Apgar, the deer, iconic view, and my Glacier swag from a gift shop in the village:

DEER!

This view will never get old.

Zoomed in view of the Mountains.

Retail therapy.

For now, I'll save the more specific work stuff for a later post. But to explain so far, I've gotten to dive into the documents this week, studied the Glacier Park map, and gone over the project from last year's intern. It's all been interesting and I really like the more traditional archive aspect. Back to using Hollinger boxes. For those of you not into archives, that's these guys:

Missed these guys!

But much like the snow closed roads and the still awakening flora, I'm just in the beginning of my journey and can't wait to see what happens next!

Cruise Control

First off, MADE IT! 

Me with the Glacier sign!

Yey, Wyoming! 

Secondly, that drive wasn’t so bad thanks to the diverse landscape of Wyoming and Montana AND cruise control. To get where I’m coming from, most of my long distance driving has been through Nebraska. Yawn! And too many people so you actually have to drive (with the truckers).  Luckily Wyoming is just full of a few ranchers and some beautiful open landscapes that change from sagebrush prairie to tree covered mountains. Much better. 

MOUNTAINS! HECK YEAH!

Now don’t get me started on Montana. Day two was my favorite because it was so green, so hilly, and there were so many trees. The landscape changed even more than Wyoming. 

Over the course of the drive, I came to the realization that I am definitely a Western girl.  I love wide open spaces, prairie to foothills to mountains, and not a lot of humanity. Yup, I’ve said it. I’m much happier out in the wilderness than in a huge crowded town. Denver to me is like the middle ground to the two far sides of the spectrum. No cities/humanity is like Wyoming and then New York is like HUMANITY. Denver is a nice combination. 

That being said, I’m enjoying life up North already even if it’s currently a ghost town. Literally no one is in the employee housing area. Farther back from me are some permanent housing units, but my temporary space is empty. For now. I did meet my neighbors this morning while drinking tea on my front porch. I have a family of wood peckers in the tree just outside my kitchen window. I have a chipmunk who lives under my porch and a grey squirrel that just appeared while I’m typing this out on the porch. It’s nice enough to be barefoot but I do have a sweatshirt on. It’s chilly. 

Lake McDonald

I took advantage of my down time today, Sunday, to go into the park. It rained on me once after I went on a little boardwalk hike to where the main road is closed off. If you’ve ever been to Glacier National Park, they have the road closed off at the Avalanche Lake trail. There’s too much snow to open Logan Pass. So for my morning walkabout, I went to the Apgar Visitor Center, took the ‘Going-to-the-Sun’ road towards Logan Pass, and did the Trail of the Cedars. On my drive I pulled out on almost all the turnouts to take pictures and even stopped in at the closed Lake McDonald Lodge. Take a look at what’s right in my backyard for the summer!

Next to the start of Trail of the Cedars

Lake McDonald Lodge

Look at that lovely water and moss!

Che bella!

Entering Grizzly Country Sign

In the park I saw a grouse and a deer, but no bears. I did come across this sign though and decided against the hiking alone for now. It’s too quiet in the woods now. Not enough visitors around and I bet the bears are starting to wake up and will be at lower elevations anyway. So, only the boardwalk for me today. 

Iced waterfall on the trail.

Trail of the Cedars

My housing. My door is the one farthest on the right. The archives building is in the foreground.

Now you may keep thinking about this awesome porch I have and how much wildlife I see. The little town of West Glacier is mostly souvenir shops and then a little further towards the entrance, but off the main road, are the park headquarters. My housing, the archive, USGS, many other offices and the main administrative building are in this area. It’s in the forest right before the park fee entrance. My housing unit is four different studio apartments with each set of two sharing a bathroom. The bathrooms are huge and quite spacious. Here is a picture of my awesome front porch where I get to observe the wilderness and the back of the archives building. Yeah, I live right next to work. We shall see how I feel about that later.

Looking towards the left from the front door.

And here are my living quarters. Pretty sweet digs!  For those of you wondering, YESSS, I can have guests and they can stay up to two weeks at a time. So if this isn’t the time for an excuse, I don’t know when will be. I have a double bed, but there is room for a sleeping bag or two on the floor. Just saying! 

Looking from the kitchen table to the bedroom.

Anyway, I’m off to try to buy some things I found I need for my little studio and I’ll be on that infamous wifi hunt. I’m trying Kalispell. Fingers crossed.*

*I did find wifi, hence this post. But it wasn't until I took a driving tour of Kalispell where I missed the only part of town where TJ Maxx and Target and Starbucks are. AKA humanity. I stopped in a Verizon store and pleaded to the girls there for the nearest coffee shop. So after all, while I really like the remoteness of my location, knowing there is an option is comforting. Got to stay connected to the world to some extent. :) Thank the Target and Starbucks gods. 

T-minus 4 Days

So, what does one do a few days before departure to prepare for four and a half months in Northern Montana?

- PACK
- Carefully rummage through the basement to find your old dorm stuff
- Read your hiking books
- Dig back out some of your winter clothes (although a winter storm in Denver may have already helped)

REI purchases

- Fill out paperwork
- Try on/order your bridesmaid dress
- Make an appointment for your car to get tuned up
- Buy new things (day pack, shoes, outdoorsy stuff from REI)
- Listen to others talk about the bears up North (Grizzly and Black Bears, OH MY!)
- Have lunch with old professors and bosses
- Buy bear spray
- Google beautiful images of Glacier and update your Facebook cover photo
- Hang out with friends and family
- Find sheets in the linen closet that fit a double bed
- Go to those last few concerts you paid for back in February
- Get really excited
- Decide to start a blog

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

That red dot is Glacier NP. Calgary here I come!

If you didn't already know, I got a seasonal gig with Glacier National Park working as an archives technician. I'll be leaving Denver this Friday and won't be back until the end of September. Right when things start to get chilly again. 

Glacier National Park is in the Northwest region of Montana. Literally 30 minutes from the Canadian border. Part of Glacier is shared with Canada, the first International Peace Park in the world across country lines. Waterton is the Canadian side of the Park and just as beautiful as the American side. It is, after all, just a political boundary that separates the Parks. Here are two maps to put things in perspective. 

The drive should take about 14 and a half hours from Denver and I'll be stopping in Billings, Montana for a halfway rest point. Saturday night I'll get to Glacier and begin settling in. I get government housing that comes out of my paycheck and will be living right outside the park entrance in the little town of West Glacier. I begin my archival work Monday. 

To get us all in the mood of National Parks, the outdoors, 'merica o 'merica, I have some great quotes from the Glacier website:

“There is nothing so American as our national parks... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The national park idea has been nurtured by each succeeding generation of Americans. Today, across our land, the National Park System represents America at its best. Each park contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of the United States and our way of life; of the natural processes which have given form to our land, and to the enrichment of the environment in which we live.”
  - George B. Hartzog, Jr.

I really do like the mission of our National Parks system and am honored to be working to archive and preserve the history of this organization. These quotes help instill that mission, our American values, and are some of my favorites.

Dr. and Mrs. George Bird Grinnell on top of Grinnell Glacier, NPS photo

What exactly am I going to be doing at Glacier? What is an archives technician?
I am going to be working as a seasonal government employee in the Glacier National Park Museum. Seasonal because most of the researchers come up when it's nice and staff is really limited for the winter months.  In the museum, there are documents, photos, and maps of the history of the park from 1950 to 2007 that still need to be organized, cataloged, and preserved. Park files and history go back much further than the dates I've mentioned, but have already been cataloged and organized. My seasonal project is to finish out 1950 to present. Organization is key so that files can be found and are in date/contributing author/or other order (so the documents make sense). Cataloging is essential so that papers can be found and the content is known. We don't need any mysteries.  Finally, preservation is key so that the park history is not lost due to a rusty staple that takes out important information or improper storing of the only copy of a 1960s photo. In other words, I get to help be the keeper of the history of Glacier National Park along with the seasonal archivist and full-time museum curator. I'll also be scanning some of the documents for further preservation and access, as well as helping historical researchers access the park files appropriately. Check out the collection here!

Since I know now I won't have wifi at my convenience, in order to keep up with Glacier National Park when I can't update my blog, check out Glacier's Facebook page! And while I continue to pack my tiny Ford Fiesta, I leave you with this tidbit: Yesterday, May 11th, was Glacier's 104th anniversary as a National Park! Isn't she pretty for her age?

Lake McDonald, NPS photo