Like I said in my last post, West Glacier was all about grand scenery and little wildlife. So, hoping that the law of averages does its thing I was looking forward to East Glacier. Bears, Moose and Mountain Goats were the top of my wish list for the day.


My vacation days usually start well before the hint of sunlight. That means I need to haul myself out of my cramped tent, pack up and leave the campsite in nearly frigid conditions. It was such a beginning to the day at Fishing Bridge in West Glacier. After a quick pit stop at a gas station, I was on my way towards East Glacier. First destination was the strangely named 'Goat Lick' point along the main highway that connects West Glacier to East Glacier. Knowing about the grand naming schemes in and around the park, I wasn't hoping to see the mysterious mountain goats.


And as expected, the parking lot at the Goat Lick pullout was empty. The tropical ape that I am, I didn't want to get away from the heated car into ice age temperatures outside. I was very, very positive that this was just another tourist trap and there would be no goats, gorillas or goblins around. My more adventurous fellow-traveler from the cold north wanted to go scan the area and did just that while I sat in the car. Seconds later there was a frenetic waving of hands and I forgot the meaning of cold as I rushed out with my (ever-ready) camera and tripod. Mountain Goats! With little ones too. There were a whole lot of them sitting, standing and sleeping in precarious places on dangerous looking cliffs. I had seen the famous mountain goats of Glacier National Park at last! Photographing them would be a letdown though because the sun was still not up. I would have waited for the sun to drop by, but then the goats were too far for my telephoto lens to make any decent photographs, so I made a few documentation photographs and headed onwards to a place called Two Medicine.


Moose are giants. You don't realize how huge they are until you see one of those things for real. They are as tall as camels and with antlers that can span seven feet across they look more intimidating than camels. American bison look dwarf-like next to a bull moose. Since I couldn't imagine that they could really be so big, I just had to see one. Now, my fellow traveler knew a thing or two about Moose. Besides being their national animal, there was a great experiment done in their country to build a mighty moose cavalry. A cavalry so strong that enemies on mere horses would be trampled and crushed. Victories in wars would have been a moose-walk for the Swedish army. But it wasn't to be for moose are creatures not built for war. The Swedes would be wiser in their know-hows when it came to moose talk since that day. So, according to Swedish knowledge moose are to be found in places where there are trees, old and young, with water close by - old trees to hide, young trees to eat and water to play around in. I was also told that Moose are usually seen running by the roadside looking for the best place to escape into the forest by the roadside. And the Swede was right. By Thor, the Swede was right! On a deserted road through a conifer forest, I saw a giant animal running along the road. Moose! I couldn't believe the I could be so excited with my first moose sighting, but it was that exciting. It was a young male moose running along the road looking for a gap in the forest to run away into. Just as the Swede had predicted. Moose really are giants!


So, in the first hour of sunlight I had two lifers - Mountain Goats and Moose. It couldn't get any better than that right? Well, what else could happen to make an already fantastic day better? It just did get better. Driving on the edge of the park, I noticed a animal in the shadows by the roadside. I first thought it was cattle from one of the surrounding ranches until I realized I was looking at a bear! Grizzly? My heart wanted it to be a grizzly, but I just knew it had to be a Black bear. And it was. It was another young black bear, but unlike the black bears I had seen on previous occasion, this one was really black. He was walking straight towards my car, on my side of the road, when I stopped at a distance and put on the emergency lights so that passing cars would slow down. Unfortunately, a bunch of cars came by from the other side and scared away the bear into the forest. I had gotten a couple of photographs, but I wished I had seen more of him. Slightly disappointed, I went ahead and pulled into a turnout to review my photographs. Now bears are inquisitive little buggers and I should have known that. While I sat there wondering when I would see my next bear, I casually looked at my rear view mirror and imagine what I see!? That young bugger had come out of the forest and was looking very curiously at my car! I got out of the car with excitement and that spooked him and he ran away into the jungle once again. I turned the car around and waited on the turnout on the other side and I just knew the bear would come out. And come out he did. This time I didn't get out of the car since I had parked it in a way that I could shoot from the window. He first stood behind a bush and looked at me for a few seconds. He then took a few baby steps out of the bush towards the car and then decided that he wanted to cross. He moved towards the other side of the road rather slowly and I was hoping no car would come by because that would surely kill him. He went to the middle of the road and then stopped. He raised one paw and looked at the me plotting his next move. At that point I wanted to get out to force him to cross the road quicker, but thankfully he decided to continue moving. He then got into the bush and disappeared into the forest. What a beautiful animal and what a magical moment!

Later on during a day a beaver was seen in one of the lakes at a place called Many Glacier. A moose was seen running (as usual) along the forest's edge. And after the sun had gone down we came across a stopped car. The driver said he had seen two grizzlies in the meadow next to the road. The wait was exciting but we didn't see any grizzlies that night. And so ended the stay at Glacier national park. It was a beautiful stay and I was impressed by the Rockies. However, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons were coming up next.








( More photographs... )

I didn't know much about Glacier National park except for the fact that it is the only other national park in the lower 48 states that has Grizzly bears. Yahooing (but of course!) for more information revealed that it was the world's first international park and is contiguous with Waterton Lakes national park in Canada. And since I was planning on visiting the world's first national park - Yellowstone - during the trip, the prospect of going to the world's first international park seemed exciting. However, it was the park mascot that sold me Glacier - the Mountain Goat!

Now what does American Football, the Loch Ness monster and Glacier National Park have in common? They were all created for the consumer - spectators, audience or tourists. According to a well known source here's a history lesson: "In 1891, the Great Northern Railway crossed the Continental Divide at Marias Pass (5,213 ft/1,589 m), which is along the southern boundary of the park. In an effort to stimulate use of the railroad, the Great Northern soon advertised the splendors of the region to the public. The company lobbied the United States Congress, and in 1897, the park was designated as a forest preserve"

And so, Glacier National Park came into existence with catchy names for glaciers, roads, lakes and all. Thankfully the birds and animals were left untouched by the naming frenzy. The most famous of all roads in Glacier National Park is the Going-to-the-sun Road. It doesn't really go up to the sun (I didn't have to confirm that right?) and it is not all that high up in the mountains at around 6600 feet (2200 meters) on its highest point, but it is a civil engineering landmark nonetheless. You'll have to see and drive on the road to believe what an achievement it is. Really. Winter can dump eighty to hundred feet of snow on the road and it takes forever to clear out the snow when spring arrives. It wasn't even open in late June when I made the trip there!

With the Going-to-the-sun road closed on the west side at its highest point, Logan Pass, traveling to the east side would have to wait for another day. Glacier National park on the west side starts off pretty flat. With beautiful conifer forests, the magnificent Lake McDonald and Grand views of the high Rockies. Every turnout overflows with scenic beauty (and with cars of course!). There are countless trails leading to a lake shore or into the forest. Trailheads and turnouts have notes posted everywhere in bright yellow, orange or red warning tourists that they are now in Grizzly country. The poor animal even carries a scientific name as horrible as Ursus arctos horribilis (meaning Bear bear horrible. Ursus means bear in Latin. Arctos means bear in Greek. horribilis means... OK, you figure this one out). Anyway, the bear bear bear is known to be notorious in these parts and every conversation for hikers and campers revolves around how to stay safe from them... if you can that is. Hikers are seen carrying bells, whistles and pepper-spray when in Grizzly country. The park also has the smaller and more common Black Bears (which are quite large by the way). So, how does one know if the bear is a Grizzly or a black bear? Well, it is really simple. Just look for their scat. Black bear scat will have leaves, berries and such. Grizzly bear scat will have bells, whistles and pepper-spray cans.

It looked like I had taken the Crater lake weather with me as Glacier National park looked all cloudy and dull. The drive up to Logan pass was an uneventful one except for brief stops at a lake placid and a river wild. The Logan pass parking lot was an excited one. On one of the mountains near the pass, a gang of young male Big-horned sheep were honing their ramming skills on a patch of snow. A steady stream of tourists walked up a very, very, very slippery and steep trail to see the sheep from up-close. Blessed with a giant telephoto lens (compared to those pocket cameras anyway) that the tourists did not possess, I first took a shot of the sheep from down below. And then the greed for better shots took over my mind and I began going up the steep slope ignoring my awful mountaineering skills. I was doing OK uphill until I turned around and saw the near vertical trail (at least for my eyes and ability anyway). And the first slip happened and I had to stop almost immediately. I heard from tourists coming down that the sheep had gone away and now there was no motivation to do the last ten percent of the trail. Getting down was the priority now but not in the rolling down manner. After some circus and some nervous moments on slippery snow, I was finally down on the road with mud and ice on my back side. Did I mention that grass and small shrubs have strong root systems? :-)

The day ended with a long and bumpy drive through deep wilderness to Lake Kintla on the Canadian border. The road was rough with spectacular scenery and wide open meadows. It took several hours to cover the fifteen or so miles because of frequent stops and slow driving in the hope of catching a grizzly on the meadows or a moose among the willows, but it wasn't to be. At one point I wondered if I had crossed off into Canada by mistake. Now that would be illegal and a lot of trouble for me. Anyway, I was more slow than I thought I was and Lake Kintla itself wasn't a letdown. Besides being amazingly beautiful (and I'm running out of words to describe the parks other features) it had one of the most remote camping grounds I've been to. Unfortunately, I had already pitched my tent at another place called Fishing Bridge and I had to turn around for the night.

West Glacier was all about grand scenery and little wildlife. East Glacier was different and that story shall be told in the coming days. For now, here are the images from West Glacier.




Glacier National Park




( More images and a funny squirrel... )

saw an interesting doco this morning about Jack Charles, actor, cat burglar, 60 yrs+, aboriginal - one of the great things about being in Sydney is getting to see films that might not make it out of the country. I feel so lucky. Spent the rest of the day in the Paddo library and then tonight will see the Herzog film Land of Silence and Darkness. Tomorrow night we'll be trying out some IPAs at the taphouse in Darlinghurst.Had a nice wkend with friends - lamb done in a Weber (made in USA!) kettle bbq. Took the late night bus home - it stops at all the train stations and then drops us within walking distance of our house. I love that.

Wednesday I'll see dutch films at the Art Gallery.

I framed some of my raven cards, one frame worked better than the other. In the second frame one of the cards slipped down. I'm happy with the horizontal framed set. sort of dieter roth multiples! (in my dreams)

The Glebe library is having an art show, so will probably go look at that tomorrow.

I love blue and Crater lake is all about that color. It had been on my list of places to see for a long time and I finally got a chance to travel to the place this summer - on the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. I headed out from San Jose several hours before dawn to beat the weekend traffic as I don't particularly enjoy driving in bumper-kissing traffic. I'm sure there are people out there who enjoy traffic and crowds and noise and such, but that's not me. Anyway, I had put in some good miles - bless cruise control - by the time I reached Redding in California when the first rays of the sun hit this part of the world. After a quick stop for fuel and coffee, the central valley of California had ended and the mountains had begun. Mountain roads are beautiful to drive on but they do need a lot of concentration as they are filled with distractions in the form of scenic places and wildlife. As the cloud cover cleared up a bit, a giant white peak was seen among the shorter pine-covered hills. It was the great white mountain of the Cascades - Mount Shasta. Traveling further north revealed that that mountain just rises out of flat ground and forms an incredible backdrop for the highways that run around it. I thought about going to the forests around the peak, but I had to decide between that and losing out on a camping site at Crater lake, so I decided to head on towards the lake.

I had imagined Oregon to be all rugged mountains but it started off pretty flat - with Mount Shasta looking over the land. By that time, distractions had taken control and I was on an Oregon birding trail near Klamath Falls. Nesting Sandhill cranes, courting Wrens and blackbirds and mud-collecting swallows were seen and though I could have spent hours and hours there, I had to move on. When I arrived at Crater lake, the first thing I needed to do was to get a campsite. Most campgrounds get filled up by noon on summer days. However, most campgrounds at Crater lake weren't even open and the few that were open still had some snow in them! And there I was for my summer vacation in shorts and sandals. After registering at the campsite, I pitched my tent and headed seven miles north to the rim of the crater lake. It was all foggy when I reached the rim and through holes in the cloud I could see the deep, dark blue waters of the mighty crater lake. It is one of the deepest lakes in the world and was formed when a volcanic peak collapsed and trapped all the water from the snowfall on the surrounding peaks, so it has a bit of interesting history.

The overcast conditions made me feel that I wouldn't be able to see the blue that the lake is so famous for, so I headed out to the trails nearby to catch some wildlife. I had to turn around soon though because it was obviously not a 'shorts n sandals' type weather and I had to head back to the campsite to change into something more appropriate - a layer of thermals and sweaters. :-)

The fog cleared up for a few minutes during the day and the breathtaking blue was seen at last, but I think the lake deserves to be seen on a clear day when three-fourths of the rim drive isn't closed.

The morning came early for me. I could hear rainfall on my tent and I dreaded the thought of having to get outside and pull apart the wet tent and dump it into the car. The sleeping bag had saved me from the bitter cold of the night and I only realized how cold it was outside after getting out of it. I quickly pulled apart the tent and started driving towards the lake from the campsite. It was still very dark outside and it was still raining. The car said that that outside air temperature was about 27F (or -3 Celsius) but since it was windy it felt a lot colder. When I got to the rim, there was absolutely no one there. And then I saw a shadow moving in the snow - a red fox in his gray winter coat was patrolling the village one last time before the sun makes an appearance. I put on my woolens and headed out to the rim to see what was happening on the lake. The lake was calm with clouds all around the rim and fog was moving in. I spent a couple of hours walking around the place till the sun broke through the clouds to show Crater lake one last time before I continued traveling north towards Seattle.





Crater Lake Blue




( More images from around Crater Lake and the road... )

The drive from Denver to back home in California was going to be a long one. I wanted to get back home before the holiday crowd takes over the national parks across the country. It is amazing how popular remote places and outdoor activities are in this country and for someone like me who prefers to be in places where there are no crowds, weekends and holiday weekends are time to stay away from national parks and such.

I left Denver early on the morning of the 2nd of July. Interstate 70 through the Rocky Mountains is an amazing road. Besides being very scenic there is a lot of wildlife next to the roads all through the mountains. I saw lots of deer and big-horned sheep. They could be traffic hazards, but it is always nice to see that they are around even if they are next to a winding freeway at 11,000 feet where vehicles speed in excess of 75 mph. I picked Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border as the place to stop by for the night. It wasn't exactly midway between Denver and San Jose, but I couldn't have picked a better approximate midway point.

When I got to the Navajo reservation, it was all cloudy and dark. The day was still young but I didn't have much hope to see the sun that evening. I went into the park and went for a drive on the valley floor. The overcast and low light conditions was interesting to make some photographs but when I saw horses for trail rides, I decided to go for it. Riding a mustang in the iconic western landscape can be wonderful experience but with the Navajo tour guide telling me things about Navajo culture, beliefs and tradition, it was just awesome. The weather played its part with an occasional drizzle as the Navajo horseman sung his rain song. Almost as soon as I had finished with the horse ride, the clouds opened up a bit to show the magnificent landscape of the Colorado plateau.

Here are some photographs from the Monument Valley.




Route 163




( Read more... )

The two weeks in the American west went very well. Some of you reading my (infrequent) updates on twitter may know what animals were seen, but here's a list anyway: 7 wolves, 4 grizzlies, 4 (wild) black bears (and 4 black bears in captivity), moose, coyotes, fox, badgers, beaver, muskrat, and countless elk, chipmunks, squirrels, pronghorn and bison. While Glacier National Park and Grand Tetons are very wild and perhaps untamed, Yellowstone is incredible. From geothermal features to meadows and mountains teeming with wildlife, Yellowstone has to be seen to be believed. Really. It is going to take a long time to put together the images and words from the trip, I guess. :-)

Meanwhile, Happy Independence day to all the Americans! This photograph is for you folks.



American Mustang. Monument Valley, Utah.

She was black, mostly, with dazzling blue worn like a shawl over her shoulders. Eyes emerald and savvy, tail featherine and brusque. Jay, perhaps.

She was viciously pecking a little mouse to his death. This was witnessed in stony silence by the kerb and the indifferent morning sun. And me. I choked, and stilled.

But my shadow irritated the beautiful bird, who took off and stalled almost mid-flight on a nearby schoolyard fence. The mouse, dazzled by reprieve, lay motioneless long enough for me to think, "maybe I should pick him up".

He rolled around, and then scuttled from the middle of the lone road to the stone skirting, barely a few feet away from me. I panicked afresh. Blue flashed in the corner of my vision, stayed only by cumbrous mammalian me.

Brown seemed uncertain of advancing over the brick-high wall. I closed my eyes. Help me, I asked. Tentative though his little body was, he scaled the stone, ran just short of my foot, and onto the grass, beyond another fence and in through a hedge.

My feet pulled me onwards. My eyes darted back to the crime scene. The beautiful jay was fluttering about, sniffing about for her lost meal. I was torn: guilt, relief, anger, disillusionment.

I cursed Him.

trekked over to Paddo for a movie this morning - the movie was made in 1971 from a book written in 61.
city boy vs outback and I'd say the outback wins, but of course so much more than that. There was a great article about the film
in the Monthly -

http://www.themonthly.com.au/node/1779


from the film:

MORLEY: Come and have a drink, mate.

GRANT: No thanks.

MORLEY: Come and have a drink. Only take a minute.

GRANT: I’ve given up for a while.

MORLEY: What’s wrong with you, you bastard? I just brought you 50 miles in the heat and dust. Come and drink with me!

GRANT: What’s the matter with you people? Sponge on you, burn your house down, murder your wife, rape your child – that’s all right. But not have a drink with you? Don’t have a flaming bloody drink with you? That’s a criminal offence! That’s the end of the bloody world!

MORLEY: Yer mad, yer bastard.



Charles and I both liked the film. And that line might be our new favorite saying - yer mad, yer bastard!

and as the article says:
"And it is all there. The heat and, yes, the claustrophobia are palpable. And the blinding light, which hits Grant as he steps out of the Tiboonda schoolhouse for his vacation and keeps hitting him in one form or the other throughout the movie. Kotcheff intended his fugue-like use of light as meaning, “You are not going to escape. You are going to have to face yourself.” David Stratton’s reference to the “fearful beauty of the movie” is as accurate a description of Wake in Fright’s physicality as I’ve read. I’d love to see this movie in an Imax theatre."

Eonogata, Sadler's Wells, 27 June, 7:30 p.m. 

I hadn't slept enough the night before, and had been teaching nearly all day on Saturday. Rushed home, rushed through a shower, rushed through trying to fix my tumultuous hair, sat down for a calming cuppa', and rushed back out the door. Made it to the theatre for 7:31, and ran up the many flights of ascension to the gods.

Milos was great company. I think our excitement (his from having waited for me and be left alone in the foyer to watch everyone file away to their seats) fizzled quite quickly when the show began. They started off promising to be very big. Instead what we got was a coiffure of dance with grand illusion of substance.

Neither Guillem nor Maliphant were challenged through the choreography - it was rather tame - and the choreography was tepid. The latter was very loosely held together by incoherently clever theatrics and incongruously superb movement. I wasn't sure, suddenly, if these artists deserved the pedestals I'd palced them on. The only thing (supposably) explosive would've been the budget to stage this circus act with three very prominent performers at the premier venue for dance in the UK. 

We were tired, no doubt, but it's been a long time since I've wanted to be somewhere else while at a dance show. I'm sure I dozed off in spots, and only straightened up in panicked reverence. 

So, needless to say, I was disappointed.

Details on the performance more eloquently framed by Judith Mackrell here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/mar/03/eonnagata-sadlers-wells-dance-review-judith-mackrell

I guess this is a milestone of a sort - I read a whole book on a phone! I've never done that before, and I thought that only reading a paragraph or two at a time would be too irritating, but it turns out to be not so bad. The fact that you can carry many books on one device is pretty nice. For the time being I prefer paper/cloth, but I can see the future! I read Lee Child's latest book. I am currently addicted to the Sandford/Lucas Davenport series.

On DVD we recently watched:

Kenny - Australian dunny humor. with the subtitles! In part, because our speakers aren't great, but also language issues! It is a mockumentary.

I'm Not There - Bob Dylan inspired - I really loved it, non linear, and I didn't understand it all, but it embodies the concept of we contain multitudes, and I loved it for that.

And at Chauvel saw Beauty and The Beast last week and Orpheus this week - Cocteau - just beautiful really, has death ever looked so good, and really I rather like the Beast as the Beast, better than the Prince

And at Dendy saw Disgrace, which I really liked some of the complicated themes of what is forgiveable, how do we move on, what can we live with. John Malkovich was truly superb.

ok on my way home to deliver Java in a nutshell - a 1225 page nutshell!