2018 NSS Convention in Helena, Montana

 Part 4 of our big summer vacation. (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

The main reason we were in Montana was to attend the annual National Speleological Society (NSS) convention. It's in a different location each year. So far I've only made it to conventions in the West: Washington, California, Colorado, Nevada, and now Montana. I knew it would be a good time, and the kids couldn't wait to go after their fun experience at the Junior Speleological Society (JSS) two years ago in Ely.

We signed in and then went to the big campground and set up next to some friends. The first day, the kids learned about bear safety and practiced deploying bear spray.

I went and listened to a couple talks and met old friends to catch up. Then I went over to the vertical area and climbed 100 meters of rope in the vertical rope climbing section. I was slower than I used to be, but turned out to be the fastest in my age group (probably the only one!). The next day I climbed 30 meters and then helped the JSS with their vertical practice.

Several kids competed, and Desert Boy even got fastest for his age group, which made him very happy.

One event we all enjoyed a lot was Speleoolympics, a cave-themed obstacle course. They had gone to quite some effort to set it up, including cool banners. One of the challenges was walking a balance beam across a swimming pool. Here Desert Boy takes a plunge.

Desert Girl made it up the rock wall and is heading down the slide.

And somehow she lost her shoes during the course, but found them by the end.

I went with JSS as a chaperone to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. We started off by doing a service project, pulling mullein.

After lunch we went for a cave tour. The setting is beautiful.

It was a really fun cave tour. Much of the cave is vertical, but with the addition of lots of stairs, it's passable without any ropes. They've added a second entrance, so the tour is mostly downhill. There are lots of beautiful speleothems, like these rimstone dams.

One part of the tour required sitting down and sliding!

Our group posed for a photo in one of the rooms.

I was very impressed with the LED lights embedded in the handrails in the last section. They're going to upgrade all their handrails this winter.

The last room was filled with beautiful speleothems, some quite large.

Next it was time for gold panning. These kids sure had a lot of fun activities!

We received word that all three of us made it into the Speleoolympics finals. Desert Boy had fun hamming it up.

The kids also moved quickly through the course. Their small stature made it easier to get through and under obstacles--or over sometimes!

Here's Desert Boy making his grand finale on the slip and slide.

Desert Girl chose to have her friends join her. Three of them were chased by the "shark."

The "shark" part became especially apparent as they splashed into the pool. It's great seeing the next generation of cavers have so much fun!

Another JSS field trip was a boat ride. They really had a fantastic schedule. I went along for this too and the climbing gym.

On Friday night was the final banquet. The kids ate first and then headed out for a movie and bat talk.

That allowed us moms and friends to party it up!

Such a fun week! My photos were few and far in between so don't really do it justice. But if you like caves, this is a great event to go to, with lots of talks, workshops, cave trips, contests (art, photography, vertical climbing speleoolympics), parties, and more.

Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park

 This is Part 3 in our Montana Adventure. (Part 1 and Part 2) I woke up the kids really early so we could get on the Going-to-the-Sun road early in Glacier National Park. It was a Sunday in July and I knew it would be packed. But our early start let us have some pull-offs to ourselves.

 We joined a lot of people at the Wizard Island pull off to enjoy the first rays on the surrounding peaks.

Then we pulled over to look at a cool canyon. The stairs also went under the bridge, which made a nice frame.

The creek looked so pretty.

And Desert Girl was delighted to snack on ripe raspberries.

We continued up to the Jackson Glacier overlook. Finally, a glacier! Even if it was many miles away.

This sign was really interesting about how much the glaciers have shrunk.

Then we got up to Logan Pass and found one of the last parking spots at 8:30 a.m. The visitor center didn't even open until 9 a.m. People were heading off in big packs along the trails. The kids didn't want to hike after the previous day's big hike, so we just looked at some signs near the visitor center. They were done in comic-book style, so they liked them a lot.

I couldn't resist going on some kind of hike, but I didn't want to be with a lot of people. So we went back to a pullout and started hiking up along a stream. The flowers were terrific. Even Desert Girl took some photos.

Ferns!!! We don't see many of those in the desert!

We just went a short distance, then kept driving on the very scenic road. I was surprised by all the bicyclists. And how some people weren't really giving them much room when they passed them. I like bike riding, but I don't know if I'd be brave enough to test the drivers on that steep and narrow road.

My optometrist had recommended some hikes when he heard we were going to Glacier, and one was Avalanche Lake. The kids weren't too keen on the idea, but it was a relatively short hike and we managed to find a parking spot.

There was more whining than I liked until we found this log that Desert Boy could crawl through. Suddenly the hike became a lot more exciting.

Success!

The lake wasn't much further. And you can guess what we had to do!

It was a very shallow lake on our end. We had to find something adventurous to do, and this log beckoned to us.

They made it to the end! We enjoyed a bunch of snacks and the beautiful day.

On the way down, Desert Girl had to try going through the log. It wasn't so comfortable.

In fact, it twisted her up and stretched her out! Ha!

Desert Boy had fun saying "G'day mate" in an Australian accent to practically everyone on the way back down. It was fun watching the reactions--or in most cases, lack of reactions. We probably passed over a hundred people.

We drove out of the park without stopping anymore. We never made it inside a visitor center, the two we stopped at were closed, and we didn't want to battle for parking to get to another one. On the way out the east side, the line to get in was over a mile long. So glad we started early!

Then it was time to drive to Helena for the big event--the National Speleological Society Convention!

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