It is a funny thing, the objects we surround ourselves with. I have these matches in my drawer, two books, one from the Baldwin Creek Motel, the other from the Adirondack League Club. Both souvenirs from fishing trips from many years ago. I touch them and I think of a time from the past. Each book brings up a memory rich in visions and recollections from that moment in time. One has no matches left, but the striker is good, the other still has several matches, but the striker was fouled from getting wet in my fishing vest. Together they are still serviceable, but separately they are worthless, except for the memories they bring to me. That is what I am writing about memories. Together I used them to light a cheap cigar as I settle in to write this little epistle. To help out, I also cracked open a bottle of Pinot Noir from Conneaut Cellars. This happens to be a very good wine from a family vineyard located in western Pennsylvania where I have performed at their patron appreciation picnic for every year since 1998, until this year, 2008. This year I opted out instead to take a trip with my daughter Rachel to Glacier National Park, and to create some new memories. I normally write a lot in the fall and winter in my barn, and this is really the first, introductory if you will effort for 2008. I couldn’t find a crock screw for the Pinot, so I used my Hatachi power drill and a deck screw to get the bottle opened. And I am drinking the wine from a martini glass….I have a few things to get in order in the barn to be ship shape for the winter! So now with the bottle opened and a Swisher Sweet smoldering in the tray I can begin to proceed with my entry of the evening. That is… the summary of our trip to Glacier. My children are dear and special people. They make me think of who I am and sometimes how I might have been or might be a better person. I think that is the value of children. Rachel is my middle child. Middle children, in case you don’t know always seem to vie for attention. Not the youngest, not the oldest, they are in the middle and they work hard for some special attention to call individuality unto them. Rachel is this way. So when she told me several months ago she wanted to do another trip with me, I noticed. She has always been drawn to the gadgetry of backpacking and the sense of adventure that comes with such trips. She told me she wanted to do a backpacking trip. Without a moments hesitation I committed. We discussed the possibility of Yellowstone, and then Rocky Mountain National Park. Rocky Mountain seemed especially promising as we know people who live near the park and it seemed like a natural choice. I thought the discussion was over when she called one day and said, “Dad, I think we should do Glacier. You always said you wanted to go to Glacier and that is where I think we should go.” I went along instantly, but I did tell her that Glacier has a lot of grizzly bears and that I had never had a good nights sleep when camping in bear country. She of course chided me for being afraid of bears. In a matter of a few weeks she was signed up with a personal trainer and I asked her if she was getting in shape with the thought of taking on a grizz. Of course she said no but she definitely wanted to be able to out run me. Smart kid! We set up a schedule where we were getting together nearly every week and hiking in local parks. The idea was to get an idea on what we felt comfortable in hiking on a reasonable day hike. The intention was good but our commitment was a little lacking… or should I say my commitment was a little lacking. I mean I walk a lot and I didn’t feel motivated to go out walking every weekend just to prove to myself that I can walk. We had a lot of fun going over gear selection, including food and figuring out what we needed, what we had and what we were taking. It seemed like no time until I was making travel arrangements. At first we wanted to take the train to the Glacier Apgar park gate, but the bus shuttles were questionable and the 26 hours on the train seemed a bit much. I opted for flying and renting a car. We were to leave Cleveland on Thursday Sept. the 4th, but the departing jets were jammed up due to hurricane Gustav so we lost day there. We didn’t leave until Friday. We flew to the airport in Kalispell, Montana late on Friday, picked up our car and drove straight away to the park. As Rachel would say, “The Majesty of it all!” was upon us. We got our week entrance pass to the park and returned to town to find a hotel. The next day we stopped at several local establishments to buy some essential gear, like a stove and some local produce, had a killer Montana breakfast, drove the Road to the Sun, and went up to Swift Current campground and threw up our tent. We took a day hike up to some waterfall, and on the way back to the campground saw the first of the several grizzly bears we would see on the trip. It was a sow and a cub, and they were on the talus slope behind the Swift Current Motel. We didn’t know it at the time but later we determined that the bears were pretty focused on eating huckle berries and the entire side of this slope was covered in them. As a matter of fact I am not so sure that you couldn’t have walked right up on the bears. Over the course of the next two days, we saw several bears in this area and it was really remarkable how intent they were on eating these berries. The bears would take their head and push the whole bush to one side, then wrap their tongue around a branch and strip the berries off as the bush returned to it’s normal position. This observation was made possible through the use of several spotting scopes that were set up by bear observers in the parking lot of the motel. Just a little side note about the motel. The Swift Current Camp Ground and the Swift Current Motel are at the end of a 12 mile road that closes down around the end of September. While these aren’t luxury accommodations, we discovered that the best public showers in the park are located here. Now considering that the park is 1500 square miles this is a pretty big deal. That night we nearly froze. We discovered that weather in Glacier is more fickle than fancy. It really depends on what side of the park you are on, how high you are and what funny little local condition may come to pass. While the weather forecast predicted highs in the mid 70’s and lows in the mid 40’s, ice on the tent in the morning seemed to indicated things were a bit cooler. I had taken a super light down bag rated to 40 degrees and had liner for it, so that gave me a few more degrees, and a fleece bag for wrapping up in around the fire at night…. I wound up sleeping in all of them. Consequently getting in and out of my sleeping arrangement was an act Houdini would have been proud of! (Rachel has more comments on this) The next day we took a really challenging day hike up toward Grinnel Glacier. It was about a 1600 foot climb and descent in elevation and was a good thing to do before securing our back country camping permit. I took my backpack on this hike just to see what it would feel like. The views were absolutely spectacular. In addition to glaciers we saw mountain goats, big horn Sheep, mule deer, moose, marmot, and just missed a wolverine. We walked through several piles of bear scat. That is a polite scientific way of saying there was bear shit all over the trail. The moose however stole the show, two cows and a calf cavorting in an alpine lake was pretty special. This is the end of installment Number One