Idaho-Montana Trip 2018 Part 1

Our big trip this summer was to Montana to the National Speleological Society (NSS) Convention. I took some extra time off so we could sightsee along the way. My husband had to stay home and help run the ranch, but the kids and I were free to go explore. 

We headed north into Idaho. The skies were really hazy from all the nearby wildfires. 

I was awed by the Snake River as we got a little farther north in Idaho. So. Much. Water. I guess you can tell I'm from the desert! Our first stop was the Hagerman Fossils National Monument Visitor Center. And because it was so hot and late in the day and most of the national monument is not really open to public access, that's all we saw. They have a cool visitor center, though, showing off the skeleton of the Pliocene Hagerman horse. They've also found about 200 other species that lived in the area long ago, like saber-toothed cat, mastodon, and camels.

We continued on to Craters of the Moon National Monument. The lava was so cool! Actually it was blazing hot after a day close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 

We pulled into the campground at 8 p.m., and I did not expect to find any campsites open. But there were several, including this awesome one up and over a little rise that made us feel like we had the lava field to ourselves. Sweet! We also did the loop and a short hike, but mostly just relaxed. It was still quite warm even after the sun set.

The next morning we got up early and did the loop drive again. This time we walked to the top of a cinder cone...

...and then headed to the lava tubes. Of course. I really wanted to see the one with ice in it. Lava Beds has a policy of not wearing any clothes or other soft goods into their lava tubes that have been in ANY cave before. So I had to get creative. The kids thought I was an eyesore.

From there, we went up to Salmon, Idaho and had lunch with friends (unfortunately I didn't think to get any photos!). We continued on to Montana. I'm guessing this sign is so high due to winter snows.

We made a very fast stop at Big Hole National Battlefield. I didn't know the story at all, about how the Nez Perce were ambushed and so many killed. We have some really ugly moments in our country's history, and this is one of them. And even though it's uncomfortable to remember these moments, it's important not to sweep them under the rug and forget them. We can learn from these incidents, and hopefully become better people.

Looking out at the battlefield. It looks peaceful today.

It was a longer drive than I thought to Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. Our friend was acting Superintendent there, and we were hoping to meet up with her. But with the longer driving times, we arrived just as she had to go to a meeting.

We had about fifteen minutes to look around the park, a beautifully preserved ranch that was donated to the NPS, before the park closed. But there was an evening program, and after a dinner out, I decided that I needed a break from driving, so we went to the program.

It turned out to be painting with watercolors. Sounds easy, right? Well, we all found it harder than we expected, but did our best. I don't think any of us are going to become award-winning painters. But it's good to step outside your comfort zone and give new things a try. Plus the ranch was so beautiful with the evening light.

We drove more that night, slept at a campground with showers, then got up the next morning and kept heading north towards Glacier along the east side. I loved seeing the Great Plains undulating until they got to the Rocky Mountains. Near here is a special paleontological site where they found the Maiasaura, or duck-billed dinosaur, state dinosaur of Montana.


I didn't really have a plan for Glacier. I looked a the map and thought the Many Glacier area sounded cool. So we headed there. The road was absolutely terrible, dirt in places, huge potholes, crumbly asphalt. I thought we were on a back road.

Imagine my surprise when we came to a huge hotel, packed parking lots, vehicles parked for miles along the roads. I obviously hadn't done my homework! We found a parking spot, but the kids really didn't want to hike. I talked them into a short one. We found a dock, and they wanted to go jump off it. Why not? It made them so happy! We hiked a bit further, then turned around and came back to the dock and jumped off some more. Even I did it, and it felt great. Eventually the tour boat came and we had to clear out.


Glacier was obviously crowded, so we decided to head north to Canada. Desert Girl had been asking repeatedly to do this, so I had brought my passport and the kids' birth certificates, plus a letter from my husband saying it was okay to take the kids across the border (I didn't think this letter was a big deal, but they did ask to see it.)

Woohoo, they let us in! The kids were so excited. Waterton Lakes National Park boundary was right there on the other side.

Since we were already in the habit of taking photos by signs, we jumped out by the Alberta Provincial sign.

We stopped at a campground and were extremely lucky to get the last campsite at 3 p.m. The views were great!

Then we headed into the heart of the national park, to the town of Waterton. Instead of having concessionaires, Waterton Lakes National Park has a small town that provides services. It seems rather free market to me, and I like it. Banff seems to be much the same way, with a national park surrounding the town of the same name. (I haven't researched all this, just my observations.)

About half of Waterton Lakes NP was closed due to a wildfire last year. That meant we couldn't do the scenic drives. So we opted for the water. The kids were glad to get wet, but said it was cold! We ate a picnic dinner near the water.

 

 Then we boarded a boat for a tour of Waterton Lake. It seemed a good way to see a lot (and the kids were very agreeable since it didn't involve hiking!).

We headed south, which meant we went back into the U.S. We were amazed at the International Boundary, a swath of greener vegetation among the trees.

We pulled up at the dock at the south end of the lake and were able to get out and wander around for 15 minutes. The backcountry was sure calling me, but this wasn't the time.

 We were hoping for some exciting wildlife sightings from the boat, but the most exciting we saw was this beautiful bald eagle.

 

 Here's a very happy Desert Girl, excited to be in Canada!

 After the boat ride, it was time to drive back to our campsite to spend the night in Canada. We needed a good night's sleep, as we had a big adventure planned for the next day...

To be continued

2018 Resurvey of Great Basin National Park GLORIA Peaks

 In mid-July, I was part of the GLORIA crew at Great Basin National Park. GLORIA stands for
Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments and is a worldwide protocol to study climate change on mountain tops. It was developed in Austria and came to the U.S. in 2004. Great Basin National Park became part of the GLORIA network in 2008.

The basic idea is that as climate warms, plants will move uphill to seek cooler places to grow. So if we study what lives on mountaintops, we'll see what's moving up to the highest elevations. Or in some cases, maybe the mountains aren't tall enough, so the plants will disappear. Identifying plants is key, and here master botanist Jan Nachlinger helps get everyone on the same page.

The methodology is repeated every five years, so 2018 was Great Basin's second resurvey. Four peaks are studied: Bald (pictured below), Buck, Wheeler (in the background below), and Pyramid. It takes about a day to survey each peak.

Wheeler Peak involved a 4.1-mile hike gaining 3,000 feet elevation. We passed some plants we had seen on the lower elevation Buck and Bald mountains.

A golden-mantled ground squirrel was hanging out on some rocks while I passed.

One of my favorite alpine plants--moss campion (Silene acaulis). Timing the surveys so that the majority of the plants are in bloom is one challenge. We held this survey in mid-July, which was good, because due to the very dry June, some plants were fading fast.  

It's a long way up Wheeler Peak! On this particular day, we had a lot of wind on this ridge, but as we proceeded higher, the wind diminished. That's not usual, but we welcomed it. There are numerous wind breaks along the way for those who need shelter.

Once we were on the top, it was time to set up the plots on each side of the peak. There are multiple protocols to both identify and quantify plant species present. In addition, data loggers are buried on each side of the peak and record temperature every two hours so that a five-year record can be captured and analyzed.

One of our challenges (besides long hikes and elevation sickness) was afternoon monsoons. Here the clouds are forming and getting lower. Our time on the peak was limited.

I really liked this cushion phlox (Phlox pulvinata). It grows in clumps, and this ring of flowers looks a little like a tiara.

Oh no, the clouds are erupting. We heard thunder and started down off the peak. It was weird seeing the rain come out of clouds below us. Fortunately it passed north of us.

We kept heading down, and the sun came out, lighting up the Parry's primrose (Primula parryi). This is usually a riparian plant, but it seems to like the upper slopes of Wheeler Peak too.

With three peaks done, we only had one left: Pyramid Peak. Pyramid is in the middle of the park, and there's no short way to get up it. We chose to move our camp over to Snake Creek and start early the next morning to hike up past Johnson Lake to get to the peak.

It is such a beautiful hike that the miles flew by. And on the slopes of Pyramid, we saw beautiful alpine gardens. The pink and red flowers in the photo below are Holmgren's buckwheat (Eriogonum holmgrenii), an endemic plant to this range. Fortunately it's not hard to find on Pyramid Peak and Mt. Washington.

 What a great office!

The clouds came in again, and we eventually made a retreat down to Johnson Lake. Fortunately the only part we didn't finish was counting rocks in the 3x3m grids. Seriously, there was no vegetation in any of them. It will be interesting to see if in 10 or 20 years there is some! What do botanists do while regrouping? Look for plants of course! And we saw some tiny Botrychium species that I would never have spotted on my own.

On the way down, a few of us took a look at the restored cook cabin. The restoration work had been done very nicely.

At this new trail junction, we took the trail to Dead Lake, just completed in 2017.

Dead Lake isn't much of a lake, but it had some fun plants. And in the fall, the yellow aspen surrounding the lake make for some great reflections.

And with Pyramid Peak done, the GLORIA season was over. We were happy to have successfully completed the surveys. We found a few new plants in our plots, perhaps because of climate change and perhaps because they didn't flower in the other years. We feel like we have a good baseline now with three surveys completed, and over the next decades will be looking for trends. This is definitely not a project where you get quick answers! If you'd like to learn more about the GLORIA Great Basin project, check out their friendly website. And here you can see the global distribution of the GLORIA network. Maybe someday I can participate in a GLORIA survey on a different mountain range, and maybe even a different country!

Sledding at the Rock Glacier and Swimming in Brown Lake

 My friend Jenny had some visiting nieces, and I had a day I could take off work, so it was time for two moms and eight kids to head out for a hike. We've done most of the hikes in the area, so we wanted a way to get the kids excited. So we decided to go sledding at the rock glacier and swimming in Brown Lake.

That was enough to get them hiking. And then they were happily talking to each other, and the miles passed quickly.

I pointed out some SPLAT verbenone that had been applied to a limber pine. This synthetic pheromone mimics the scent that mountain pine beetles give off when they have invaded the bark of the tree and the bark is full. Basically it tells the incoming beetles to pick a different tree. This tree is being protected because seeds from it are being tested to see if they are resistant to white pine blister rust, a non-native pathogen. If they are resistant, then this tree could help start many more trees that are resistant.

We had some fun poses as we got up to the bristlecones.

I love the beautiful colors and lines of their wood.

Even the roots are amazing. And roots are often exposed because they've been there thousands of years, and the surrounding soil has eroded away.

We didn't stay in the bristlecones long, though. We continued up into Wheeler cirque to see the rock glacier.

I had to pause to admire some beautiful wildflowers. The pink ones are in the saxifrage family, white-daisy ones are Erigeron leiomerus, and the white matted ones are Phlox pulvinata.

And then we were there! On the east side of the rock glacier, we found some nice snow patches. It turned out to be slipperier than we expected. 

Which made it good for sledding! Even Jenny and I gave it a try.

We found garbage bags and backpacks were good items to slide on.

We kept at it for quite awhile.

Eventually, though, we headed back down the trail. You can see Brown Lake from the trail, but there's not a trail to it, so we had to step carefully on the moraine, which has lots of big boulders that like to move.

Eventually we got to the lake. It's obviously brown in color.  It's also not very deep. I walked all over it and found the deepest spot to about 1 meter (3 feet).

Even though it's not deep, it sure has a scenic background!

The water was quite pleasant in temperature, but the rocks in the lake were covered with algae and very slippery. We found it was better to crawl around than risk falling.

Eventually it was time to get out.

The hike back was easy, and we even managed to bring back all the kids!

Jenny was much better about posting this hike on her blog in a timely manner. Oh well, I guess better late than never!