Initiated

So, on my drive back from Libby Logger Days this past Saturday, a deer came out and ran right into my car. I'm okay, but my car is in the shop. I'm going to hold off on a legit post this week. Need to recover and figure some other important things out. Next week will be a good post, real good. Everyone have a safe and happy fourth of July! I'm heading out to Spokane to visit family. Until then, I've been officially initiated by the Montana wildlife. Thanks deer.

Miistakis

My backyard.

Miistakis is the Blackfeet term for the mountains in Glacier National Park. Miistakis literally translates to backbone. The Rockies are the backbone of the West. From these amazing mountains all life can be sustained and they are the heart and soul of the area. I connected with this term when I first learned about it from my boss on our drive to East Glacier last week. I too need mountains in my life and love the image and significance of the backbone reference.  

As I’ve been around Glacier for a month now, I’ve finally found some great people to hike, hang, and explore with. Since Aubrey and Rishi work in Headquarters, they are connected to a whole group of people that I never get to see. This week was great because not only did I get to learn things through Aubrey and Rishi’s findings, but it was also the Employees Picnic and the first all employees meeting to start off the season. I was able to network a lot and meet new people who have been here in Glacier for many seasons and know the drill. 

The good life.

One thing my neighbors and I got hooked into was a free game night dinner at a local bar. Game night, not in the sense of fun and games, but game as in wild animals. The bar has an agreement with local hunters who can’t pack out or use all the meat they get from their hunt. The meat is used for the free dinner and so is not wasted out in the woods. This Wednesday we had grapes, corn on the cob, a pasta salad, rolls, and the highlight, elk tater tot casserole. It was like yummy comfort food. Nothing really amazing, but just yummy and warm. I had been needing the warmth because at the beginning of the week a freak Winter storm came through. In the high country, they got 16 new inches of snow and we got about 6-8 inches of rain. The storm came in Monday night and lasted until Thursday morning. Rain, rain, rain, and temps in the 40s. So, these indoor activities helped make the dreary outdoors not seem so bad. I liked reading from my front porch with tea and sweat pants. 

Wednesday was also our all employees meeting with the Superintendent and the Deputy Superintendent getting everyone pumped up for the season. We heard about other departments and what they were doing to gear up for the two high traffic months, July and August. We even got to talk about the opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The plows had met finally from each side of the Park, but that was before the crazy storm. Now, the plow crew will have to go back over and remove those 16 inches and a few avalanches. They don’t know when the road will be open, but hopefully by July. It has to be safe and free from possible avalanche danger before it can be opened to the public. 

Great chalk work at the Campground for the Picnic.

Thursday was designated Safety Day and we had to spend some time in various safety trainings to bring awareness to those who have lost their lives while working at NPS. Jon Jarvis, the NPS director, made it required by all Parks to create one day in June as a Safety Day. I attended a hazard tree program and a 'near misses' discussion. Hazard trees are trees that look weak and may fall on a target (house, car, walkway, place where a person could be). 'Near misses' are events that occur where nothing serious happens, but the outcome could have been very bad if things panned out differently. Safety Bill lead this discussion and told us about a near miss he just had that morning with a huge rock in the road on Highway 2. The canyon has high rock walls and a chunk had fallen from all the rain. Luckily it did not hit him, but he pulled over and directed traffic until someone else stopped to help him move the rock. In the evening, it was the annual employee picnic and a local cook came to roast a pig all day for our party. We had the picnic at a local campground with a great covered bench area and beautiful flower beds. Thankfully the sun had come out and warmed things up so it was nice to finally be outside and not cold and wet. Things were still damp, but so much better than they had been. After the picnic I went with Aubrey to the Stone Fly to listen to some local music and hang out with new friends. These girls go hiking every weekend and invited us on a Saturday hike on Forest Service land. This should be fun!

Aubrey and Safety Bill's dog dancing at the Stone Fly!

Friday at work was a great day for me personally. I finished the ‘A’ file unit (Administrative) I was working on. The intern last year had done part of this huge group, but I finished it up and printed labels and got it all cataloged correctly. It is now a complete set of ‘A’ files and includes 75 boxes. Phew! Next I get to work on the ‘F’ files which are a tiny group and should be easy compared to the ‘A’s.’ Next week I’ll spend some time rearranging the shelving in the main archives building where we keep the records in a secure, fire proof, room-within-a-room. Feels great to see my progress! 

West Glacier Farmer's Market.

Also, Friday was the first Farmer's Market of the season in West Glacier. I went on my way to the grocery store and wandered around. It was small but nice. I bought some earrings and sized up the produce. YEY local crafters and food! 

Kalispell Farmer's Market!

Today, Saturday, was an errands day. The hike my new friends wanted to do was 16.7 miles and I had been under the impression it was maybe a half-day hike. Yeah, not so much. I had wanted to get my hair cut and go to Target to buy a DVD player for my computer (and TV shows). I'll tackle a long 16 mile hike later in the season. So, I ran into Kalispell and came across their Farmer's Market, did my errands, and planned for a BBQ with Aubrey and our new friends. The Kalispell Market was huge! It took up two parking lots and had a great mix of crafts, jewelry, wood cuts, photography, produce, and lots of plants (both flowers and vegetables). Sunday, Aubrey is having a friend visit her, so I'm planning to join them hiking then. Time to let Glacier dry out and absorb the rain a bit.  

The Bear Necessities

Before I left to work in Glacier for the Summer, everyone at NPS in the Denver Service Center was telling me to watch out for the bears. I’d tell someone I’m leaving and going to Glacier and their first response would be ‘have fun, but watch out for bears.’  So, I began to even joke around about the new bear friends I’d make while in the Park. To this date, I’ve had two bear sightings. And luckily this week I was able to get more information on how to deal with bears, what they eat, and studies done in the Glacier area. Bear training is required every three years for all Glacier Park employees and volunteers. There are even different levels of bear training depending on how much time your job is spent in the backcountry. Everyone has to take level one and it progresses all the way up to level four for rangers who have to deal with responding to visitors or employee reports on bears. Even being solely a Bear Ranger is a thing. 

I have always appreciated mother nature and am awed by her magnificence in both the plant and animal world. I also think myself pretty observant and good at reading people and animals. In this bear training, I got a great appreciation of the bear and confidence in myself to be a good reader of body language. This will be helpful in any bear encounters that may occur, but hopefully won’t. However, because of a 3% yearly increase in bears in the Glacier area, it’s becoming more and more likely. There are two species of bear whose territory includes Glacier National Park; you can find the American Black Bear and the Grizzly Bear in the Montana forests. The American Black Bear has a huge territory from Alaska down to Mexico, but of course only found in the Americas. There is an asian equivalent but it’s a different species and only found on the Asia continent. The Grizzly however can be found all over the world. I didn’t know this and was shocked to learn this species is found in Spain, Japan, and of course here in North America. All Grizzly populations are small and in America we really only have them in Alaska, North Cascades, Yellowstone, and Northern Montana. Glacier and Yellowstone have the largest populations and luckily the bear is really thriving. But, it is still listed as an endangered species because of unknown factors from climate change. 

Climate change is a big deal because contrary to popular belief, bears are actually 90% vegetarian. They have claws not to scratch us and take down prey, but to dig up roots, ants, and ground squirrels. Their diets are very adaptable and so they eat anything they can easily get their paws on. Glacier lilies, tree sap in the Spring, huckleberries, choke cherries, and cow parsnip are all regular staples of the bear diet. So, as our climate changes and we don’t know how plants may react, the future for the Grizzly is unknown. What is known is that there are about 230 Grizzly bears and 270 Black Bears in Glacier National Park. Of course their roaming territories cross over and outside of the Park, but a lot of the bears in Montana can call Glacier home. They are also attracted to the mountains to build dens (Grizzlies) and to the slopes in Spring to forage avalanche paths. Some of the meat they do eat comes from goats or deer being killed by avalanches over the Winter or carcasses from hunters and deer hit by vehicles. So bears really are not an ambush predator. They only attack when they feel threatened or scared. 

In the training, we went over recent bear attacks or killings and honestly it was mostly the human’s fault. Either the bears have become so used to humans (habituated) and then have tasted human food (food conditioned) and so know humans can have yummy stuff that provide an easy source of calories.  In the early days of Glacier, before the Bear Management Program began, restaurants opened their trash bins and provided viewing places for people to come watch the bears. Very bad idea. Bears then associate people with food and are more likely to get into trouble. In many of the stories it was improper disposal or storing of food that got someone in trouble.  Or the person scared a bear while it was eating a found deer carcass or pursued the bear to get photographs and entered the bears personal space. Really, from the talks and video we watched, it’s clear that bears aren’t a threat and just should be respected in their home. The best line of the day was ‘mutual departure.’ Bears will most likely not want to instigate anything if you happen upon them (and they aren’t scared), so just slowly backing away and reassuring you will leave is the most common option. 

Now for the fun part, telling the difference between a Grizzly Bear and a Black Bear. Color is not a good indication to species type. Good luck if you think you can be okay there. Some Black Bears are cinnamon colored, brown, and even white. How to tell the difference is by the shape of the face, protrusion of the ears, claws, and the hump on the back. Grizzlies have HUGE claws and a big paw print. They also have a curved in face described as a ‘dish face’ as well as a hump in between their shoulders.  Black Bears have a straight face, small claws as they like to climb trees more, and big ears that stick up. No hump for theses guys, but a big butt.  During training we were showed many pictures and had to guess which type of bear we thought it was. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. You can try your own hand with this test used by bear hunters in the state of Montana. Trust me, it’s hard. But, I know I was right two weeks ago in identifying the bear I saw at Many Glacier. No hump = Black Bear. YEAH, got one right!

Now with all this bear knowledge, I feel much more confident. Like I said in the beginning, I feel that I am very aware of my surroundings and I respect mother nature. Plus, I know the mountains are the bear’s home and I wouldn’t like it either if some human came tromping through my home unheard and scared the crap out of me. I liked what the Bear Management Ranger said when talking about bears. He basically said Bear Management is actually people management and education. We’re the ones who need to be trained, not the bears. Bears need to know we exist, but need to have a negative interaction with us so they stay away and not become too habituated which could lead to a food conditioned bear. That’s when you have a problem. So, long story short, don’t feed the bears. Noted. To leave us with a happy, back scratching feeling, here is a great video shared in training:

Awwwwww, yeah! Feeling good. 

Bear Grass grouping.

If you have been following the Glacier National Park Facebook page, you may have come across their post this week on Bear Grass. Yes, this is the real name of the plant and I learned why in bear training. This awesome plant is loved by the bears to line their den with soft, comfy foliage. I am obsessed with this plant. Before I left for Glacier, I kept seeing pictures of this fluffy, long-stemmed, white flowering plant. I was excited to see that it’s finally blooming around Headquarters. After bear training I went on a mission to take some pictures of this new obsession. It turned into a wildflower walk as I realized there were all sorts of other blooming beauties too. In my small housing area around Headquarters, we have Wild Roses, Lily of the Valley, Wild Strawberries, small Daisies, Forget-Me-Nots, Columbines, some kind of Orchid,  Dandelions, something almost like Babies Breath, Bear Grass, a Yellow Daisy, and much more. Take a look at some of my finds:

Bear Grass!

Some kind of Orchid! 

 False Salomon's Seal!

Queencup Beadlily!

Forget-Me-Nots! 

Columbine!

Yellow Daisy!

While bear training was important, I also made good progress in archiving this week. I moved on from health and safety topics and am now finishing up with major events in the Park. This ranges from dedications, anniversaries, and other observances from 1950 to 2007. It’s been fun going through the correspondence because a lot of it is invitations to important dignitaries and often they write back. In the 50th Anniversary of the Going-to-the-Sun Road files, there was a polite decline of attendance by First Lady Betty Ford. Wowza! So cool. Another highlight was when the Park Service was celebrating the Bicentennial of the Constitution in 1976 and seeing the outreach pictures at a local school. The fashion back then was incredible and some great moments were captured when three men and one woman from Glacier National Park brought a touring play to the local kids. Those interpretative Rangers were pretty awesome from looking at the pictures with their guitars and the letters from the children.  Next in my line-up is the Governor’s Conference from 1960 held in Glacier National Park. I peeked in the folders and there are personal sketches/caricatures of each Governor. Got to love government documents! 

East Glacier Lodge where the history lesson was given.

This week was also great because Friday I went on a road trip to East Glacier with Deirdre to listen to her Park history talk at interpreter training. I have loved being able to listen to these talks as it provides context and gives me a clearer view on how the Park functions. At the Friday interpreter training I also was able to listen to our Superintendent, Jeff Mow, give a presentation on climate change. He’s a great speaker and a very personable guy. After a lunch in East Glacier, where I randomly ran into one of my library school friends, we went to the Department of Interior’s Museum of the Plains Indians and checked in on a couple of pieces the Glacier Museum had lent this museum. Then, we drove back to West Glacier. Buttttt, on our way back, we noticed a lot of cars stopped on the side of the highway. In this neck of the woods, it means everyone is looking at something animal related. We then noticed three round brown things on the side of the mountain. Yep, you guessed it. BEARS! I thought to myself, ‘No way! This is too good to be true.’  It was a momma Grizzly with her two one-year old cubs. The bears were all intently digging on the hillside for roots and plants. Every once in a while they would move around or turn their heads toward us. They were a safe distance away from the road and up on a hill with a fence, so people were respecting their boundaries. What an experience! Here are some shots I got:

Our first look at the brown bumps on the hill.

Can you tell the difference in coat colors?

Mamma bear!

Remember how you can tell if they’re a Grizzly? They have a hump in between their shoulders and neck, large claws, and a dish face. Immediately when I saw them, I knew. Thanks, bear training! 

After work, I met up with my library friend, Jen, and her girlfriend, Alex. I knew they were coming up to Glacier, but I didn’t know they were going to be in town this weekend.They were staying on the East side, but came over to West Glacier and we toured the main viewing spots and then had dinner at the restaurant in West Glacier. It was such a treat!

Alex and Jen!

Also, I got neighbors on Friday! Two people showed up when I was giving Jen and Alex a tour of my studio. We stopped and introduced ourselves to each other. The woman, Aubrey, is right next to me and a guy, Rishi, is next to her on the other side. Aubrey and I share the bathroom in between us now. But more importantly, I HAVE PEOPLE NEXT TO ME! YEY!  Saturday morning, I got up and knocked on my new neighbor’s door and introduced myself again. Aubrey and I decided to grab breakfast in West Glacier and Rishi went running after I told him of one of the many routes I knew about. Aubrey and Rishi are graduate student interns for the Park’s administration working on looking at how better the Park can function in terms of people, money, and time. They will be here until the end of August and will be working with some of the head leaders of Glacier.   

Superintendent Mow!

Saturday was an exciting day as well. It was the 100th Anniversary of the Lake McDonald Lodge. All day there were ranger talks, commemorative celebrations, and movies on the role the Lodge has played in park history. From 12:30pm to 9:30pm events were going on to celebrate this iconic landmark. I even got to take a free red bus tour from the Apgar Transit Center up to Lake McDonald Lodge. The Superintendent talked, two local historians, the new head of Xanterra (the main concessioner in the Park), and finally a man who had come to stay in the lodge since he was a little kid. One of the lounge rooms was named after his family and he donated some stuffed animal heads when the historic ones were stolen one Winter. One of the historians, a Canadian, who had worked at the Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton, had co-authored a book that was actually recommended to me by my boss. As a part of the Centennial festivities, he was signing his book and had used some of the photos in our archival collection for the book and his presentation. I bought one! What a day. 

In the evening, Aubrey, Rishi, and I went out on the town and bar hopped around the valley. We figured out the bar right in West Glacier is showing the World Cup games as well as the bar in Coram that I have always seen a bunch of people at. We were lucky enough to happen upon a Jazz Funk band from Whitefish and they were awesome! I knew this bar would be a gem. Now I know where to get my live music fixes and it’s free! Most importantly, finally people to go explore and hike with. I’m moving beyond the bare necessities.

A Chance of Showers

This past week was very wet. With June comes the rain. The Glacier Morning Report sent out to everyone in the Park predicts there is a likely chance of showers. Every. Day. I heard that if you just get through this month, then it won’t really rain much again. And now I know what people mean when they say Denver has a lot of sun. I guess I’ve always known it, but I’ve taken my sun for granted. Boy do I miss it. At least I know why it’s so green here.

On a less gloomy note, I’ve noticed the snow receding on a mountain peak across from West Glacier. YEY! We’re heading towards summer. And it’s even crazier knowing that the sun sets at 9:30-9:45pm here and doesn’t get really dark until 10:30pm and we still have 20 days or so until the longest day of the year! I can’t imagine what it will be like when it's still light at 11pm. That makes for some epic BBQ time and endless summer nights. Can’t wait!

While mother nature still changes, I needed something more to explore. Something more to do. Luckily, a free summer yoga class started up on Mondays at the Community Center right across the parking lot from me. The class is taught by a park employee and sponsored by the Employees Association. About 16 people showed up this first Monday and it felt great to start off the week all stretched out and ready to go! And Tuesday, the Alberta Visitor’s Center was having an open house to meet their Canadian staff who hangs out and shows us all the glory of Canada. Basically to get people over to the Waterton side and into Canada. I met one of the staff members who created a giant rubber band ball that was pretty brilliantly constructed and in competition with another Alberta Visitor’s Center. I also saw another bear: 

Canadian Bear!

 

Work has been positive now too. I finally made a break through on the file unit I was working on and finished that up. While I was all happy in the middle of last week, then got the news that the files needed to be re-worked, I have put it all into good order. Karen, the archivist, tells me everyone struggles with these files the first time around. She said not to let the documents hurt my archivist ego. They’re just plain crazy and will get easier. Now I get to file all the misplaced or incorrectly filed documents that have made their way through the central files over the years! YEY! It’s like a scavenger hunt. 

Thursday and Friday I got to take a break from the documents and took some professional development classes on broadening my knowledge of the Park. The short talks were mainly intended for the interpretation staff, those working in the visitor centers, giving guided hikes, or ranger talks.  However, luckily they were also open to all staff and even park related concessioners like the rafting crew in West Glacier.  We got to hear topics on the Mountain Goat research up at Logan Pass, fishing/fish history in the park, plants and vegetation climates, geology, climate change, birds and bats, native perspectives, and wilderness management. Over the course of the two days I really came to appreciate and understand more of the reasoning behind making Glacier a National Park. I mean beyond its obvious beauty, I learned that Glacier is known as the Crown of the Continent. Glacier is the head of three rivers that lead to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Hudson Bay (Arctic) oceans. Also, Glacier has a unique climate like no other place in the world because of the surrounding mountains and the history of Glaciers that carved out the mountains. This explains the more rainy weather that gets stuck in the valley. The clouds have to drop water in order to pass into the valley. It’s all coming around full circle and making sense. 

Another important thing I want to highlight is the fact that Glacier is getting on the list to be a Dark Sky Reserve. This means it’s one of the places where light from cities doesn’t reach it; the International Dark Sky Association wants to protect the night sky. The Waterton side of the Park is already designated as a Dark Sky Reserve, but we want our side to be listed as well. This would make Glacier not only the first International Peace Park, but the first International Transboundary Dark Sky Reserve. To help promote this, the smaller sup-group has put together star gazing events throughout the summer from different points in the Park. Local astronomy groups get involved too and bring along their telescopes. I hope to attend one at some point this summer. To find out more go here.  All these different topics have helped me appreciate this place even more. I really am lucky to have this opportunity. 

Weekend adventure further up North!

For my weekend, I decided since the Park was still waking up, I’d check out British Columbia and the Kootenay Rockies. I am a hot springs fan and after some easy googling, figured out the Kootenay Rockies are the place to be for that. And lucky me, they’re only three hours away.  The biggest town in the Kootenay Rockies is called Cranbrook and this is where I found a hostel and made my home base. 

Iconic city sign.

And the biggest take away from the weekend, Canada was not overcast, rainy, or dreary. From Friday when I arrived, to this morning, it was sunny with a few clouds in the sky! I loved it. Friday night I explored Cranbrook, but most things close really early, like 8 or 8:30pm. Downtown main street was dead except for some restaurants so I wandered a little bit and then went back to the highway strip with stores. I can equate Cranbrook to Kalispell but a little smaller. It’s a ‘small’ town in the mountain valley, but big enough to have a movie theatre, Starbucks, and Target. Downtown has a lot of history as it was a hub for major rail transportation in the area. So the buildings are made up of the old shop fronts built around the train depot and an awesome water tower. I personally liked the rotary tower which is an iconic Cranbrook image. 

Rotary Tower.

Baker Street (Downtown).

Cranbrook is nice, but not really anything special here. It was the only place with a hostel in the area and is about an hour to two hours away from the string of hot springs and lakes I explored. Saturday morning I got up and went to Cranbrook’s farmer's market. I had googled things to do there and luckily my weekend trip fell on a Saturday when one of the Spring markets was taking place. It was tiny. Probably less than 15 booths. But still, some great arts and crafts, beautiful baked goods, and yummy early veggies to buy. Mostly you could buy your own plants rather than the market having produce.  I met a nice artist who travels to Spokane often and she told me a little more about the area.

Farmer's Market Saturday!

While this sign is from around Alaska, I saw something similar.

After the farmer's market I started my journey to the hot springs along a river. Free and not a resort. Just the way I like it. I knew the direction I should go in and what Provincial Park to turn off towards, so I adventured out. The hot springs was about a 45 minute drive from Cranbrook and then another 40 minutes on a gravel, logging, service road. Now signs here in Canada are clearly in meters and kilometers, so I only gauged things by time. At the border they had this sign for us Americans...

The very end of the logging road led to a lake called Whiteswan, but I didn’t get that far. Just before the lake was a sign with two changing rooms and a trail down to the river to the Lussier Hot Springs. When I got there around 10:30am, there was only one couple, but almost immediately after, people started to arrive. Right now, there is only one pool open because the river melt off is so high. I met some regulars who said usually there are five pools with varying temperatures. The pool we were in was the one that the spring was directly flowing into and so the hottest. It was a great temperature. Not super hot, but you did have to sit out of the water every once and a while to cool off. 

Trail down to the springs.

Lussier Hot Springs.

As I soaked in the springs, I met three great groups of people. A couple from outside of Calgary, a European couple who now live in Canada, and a group of Canadians traveling and staying at the campsites near Whiteswan Lake. I got to learn more about planning my Calgary trip and that I have to stop by Banff on my way up somehow. I also learned that I should keep going farther up the road and check out Fairmont Hot Springs as well as Radium Hot Springs. I knew I didn’t want to spend money on a resort experience, but at least to just drive further into the valley and to the little towns. I decided to take their advice.

Lake town with cool rock guy!

So around 12:30pm, I made my way up to Radium Hot Springs, the farthest North town I’d get to. I decided to take my time on my way back to Cranbrook to explore all these little towns; start at the town farthest away and work my way back. Radium was cute and had quite some charm and character as it was the portal to entering Banff from the British Columbia side. Very nice town. But, on my drive up I was intrigued by this town situated right by a lake. On the drive up, there were many beautiful lakes and I decided I wanted to spend my afternoon in that sunshine I so missed. I travelled back South and stopped in at Invermere. I love this town. Their main street is super nice. Reminded me of Santa Fe in Denver. Lots of art galleries, restaurants, shops, etc. Since sun was on my mind, I didn’t stop but kept on driving until I saw a sign for the beach. HECK yeah! I ended up out at this beautiful lake beach for a few hours and read, relaxed, and people watched. After, I wandered back into town and went store hopping. So relaxed and sun-kissed.

Beach!

SUNSHINE!

My lake view!

Main street Invermere.

Moose. 

Crazy place in Radium Hot Springs.

Continuing on my way back to Cranbrook, I stopped in at Fairmont Hot Springs, but it was mostly just a gas station and the resort. Not much there but still a nice place to relax in spring water, nestled right next to the mountains. Around 6:30pm I made it back to Cranbrook and boy was I tired. The sun and water had tuckered me out so I got dinner, took a shower, and went to bed. 

Cranbrook Rail mural.

Pioneer man mural.

This morning I knew it was Sunday, but wanted to see if any of the shops would be open on downtown main street in Cranbrook before I left. Otherwise, I still had to go grocery shopping and clean my little studio back in West Glacier, so it would be good to leave relatively early. Of course the shops were closed, but I got one last walk around of downtown and enjoyed the murals of Cranbrook history.

Canadian Lake view

Now back to Kalispell and getting ready for the week. This week I get bear training and a road trip with Deirdre to listen to her presentation on the Park history in East Glacier for a second week of interpretation classes. Next weekend is also the 100th anniversary of Lake McDonald Lodge and the Park is throwing a big party. So, I'll be sticking closer to home this time. The learning continues!  

May Days

"Here is the place where clouds are made . . . a fairy land, where dreams of fantastic things come true, and where interest and wonder never cease." - Morton J. Elrod, 1911

Many Glacier, my new favorite place!

It’s crazy how it’s already June and I’ve finished out two weeks here. May days are officially over. Mind blown. Two things have helped make time go by fast; the first is how fast I’ve been progressing at work and the second is Memorial Day. 

So to get back to my promise about explaining exactly what I’m doing in the archives: I can tell you I am building my skills quickly and becoming comfortable with the collection at a rapid pace. I was still organizing papers last Friday and have now progressed to cataloging the collection this Thursday. But alas, the honeymoon period fell through and I got the rude awakening of the true colors of these archives on Friday. I'll work through it. Feel free to skip ahead of this archives talk if you want to see photos, keep scrolling...  

However, if you do want understand more about what I do, I’ll explain a brief history of the archives collection at Glacier. There are many smaller collections from specific people who worked at the Park, bird reports, biological studies, etc.  But the main bulk of the archives is the central files. Central files are all the papers, reports, surveys, memos, correspondence, permits, newspaper clippings, etc. that have passed through administration. Each year this type of file grows as another grouping of files is cleaned out to make room for the new year.  Now as I briefly explained in my first post, the files from 1910 to 1950 have already been organized, cataloged, and put into Hollinger boxes. I get to work on all the files from 1950 to 2007. The file topics are broad since they cover all aspects of the park from administrative files, biological files, concessioner files, land files, and so on. 

My first introduction to the collection was working with the administrative files and going over the work last year’s intern completed. The admin files are the biggest grouping out of the government organization system and so some have still yet to be processed. As soon as I got comfortable with the types of records and the new organization system I had to learn, I was able to start working with the actual documents. 

Now these documents come in yearly and are in some order by the file unit code that NPS has created. However, sometimes things were not coded correctly or have been misplaced/misfiled. Karen, the archivist, had already pulled all the like-files from each year together. My task is to go through all the same coded documents and give them a sub-subject organization if needed and then organize them by date, reverse chronologically. This task makes a lot of older folders obsolete as they become incorporated together to form the final larger file unit together. After I am happy with the organization of the section, I get new folders for the documents and properly label the folders. I try to keep the researcher in mind and put as much helpful information on that folder title as I can fit. 

Once all the folders are labeled and the date ranges of the documents are noted, I get to catalog the files. NPS has put Archives under the management of the Museum Department so I get to use Re:disocvery, a museum management software used by all of the agencies in the Department of the Interior. It has been manipulated so that it can serve the purpose of cataloging both physical museum items as well as our complicated hierarchy of paper records. So, essentially, I break down each group into units and folders and provide all the needed information about each record so that it can be easily searched and retrieved when needed. That’s essentially what I do. Got all that? 

It may sound boring to some, but to know that these files will be findable once I’m through with them is rewarding and actually enjoyable. You have to know how to get into a groove and not let it get overwhelming. I personally like to listen to music and take the time to enjoy the documents. Yes, some documents are boring memorandums, but I also get to work on some interesting records that are unique gems. This past week I have been working on the administrative files which are a little general, but still have their interesting sub-topics like energy use in the park from 1950 to present. I get to see documents like when recycling projects and policies really came into affect. Another example is correspondence between park visitors, employees, doctors, and administration on a Giardia outbreak in 1977.  After the admin files, I get to move onto the Biological files which includes plants and animals. These should be exciting! 

Enough with the work talk! Here’s the fun stuff I did this past week:

Tiny coffee hut.

I did some more exploring of West Glacier and Columbia Falls. Last Saturday I got to sleep in and then cleaned my little studio. Boy was it fast! Then I walked into West Glacier, the long route, and stopped in at the Alberta Visitors Center. I want to head up farther North at some point this summer so I got some resources on tourist things to do in Calgary and Edmonton. I also stopped in another gift shop that opened and hung out by the coffee hut. Okay, so one thing. Coffee Huts are everywhere here. Seriously, someone needs to start a blog about them all. Even a little town, if you could even call it that, like ours has one. I guess West Glacier does count as a town because it has a bar. One bar. But no library. 

My library in Columbia Falls!

After West Glacier, I adventured back to Columbia Falls and found the laundromat and a library there. I got a library card! Oh, the little things in life.

On this second weekend I already had one friend take me up on my ‘stay with me’ offer. My friend from high school who now goes to the University of Montana in Missoula had the long weekend too and decided to spend Sunday and Monday with me. My friend, Cameron, studies Forestry and was fun to hike with as he explained the types of trees we were seeing and the awesomeness they bring to the world besides providing us with oxygen. 

Cameron!

I finally got my hike in that I wanted, too. On Sunday we did the two mile hike to Avalanche Lake which was beautiful and also packed. So many people were out and we always had someone ahead of us or behind us. Cameron and I hiked up and then went to the end of the trail, farther away from people, and out onto the lakeshore to have lunch. Surrounding us was a peak with five different waterfalls flowing into the lake. So pretty. Here are a few shots of this lovely place:

Avalanche Lake!

Glacier Love!

Look at that water color!

First look at the lake.

Why all the trails aren't open yet.

But there is the promise of Spring!

Lake Bowman

Monday, we decided to go for an adventure and off-roaded in my Ford Fiesta to Bowman Lake on the West side of the Park. The West side is far less crowded and the roads are not paved, but that didn’t stop us from having fun and seeing another breathtaking lake view. We also met this little guy: 

Salamander? Who knows...

On our way back, we stopped at an old merchant building and had lunch. I had my first Huckleberry bear claw. SO yummy!

Polebridge!

Northern Lights Saloon. Worth a click to zoom in.

Huckleberry Bear Claw!

This weekend after doing my laundry, going to the library (already done with one book), and getting groceries, I drove about two and a half hours around to the Eastern side of Glacier and stopped in at Many Glacier and then St. Mary’s. This side of Glacier is in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and has magnificent views of prairie to mountains. Many Glacier was beautiful and probably my favorite out of the two spots. I got to see Big Horned sheep as well as my first bear sighting! Yup, that’s right, A BEAR! 

Traveling through Browning to get to Many Glacier. 

Many Glacier Lodge!

Other view!

Big Horned Sheep!!

My first bear.

St. Mary's

Don’t worry, I was driving in my car and stopped in the middle of the road to see what it would do. I think it couldn’t really see my lime green car/hear it. My Fiesta does blend in, especially since I was in a grove of young foliage trees. Then when he or she finally heard me, it turned back into the forest and so I drove by honking my horn. Got to keep it scared of us. Or, yeah sure, I was honking to say ‘hi.’  

St. Mary’s had great views too, but since the Going-to-the-Sun road is closed off, I just went into the visitor center and hung out for a few minutes at an informational turnout. That being said, the scenery, the sunshine, starting a new book, and seeing two new animals made for a wonderful Saturday! Today, Sunday, is my internet, city, and Target day. Hello again world, for a bit. Time to download some TV shows and new music and then back to the woods.