The Canadian Rockies

We spent five days in and around Banff National Park in Alberta. Awesome doesn't begin to describe it! One of our favorite days was driving up the Icefields Parkway to Peyto Glacier where we took a hike through the woods that took us high above a beautiful glacier lake.

EB has 33 Banff pictures on his website, so be sure and click on the link above to see more.

Glacier Update

Yesterday was our best day yet at Glacier National Park! We got up at 4:30 am so we could get into Glacier National Park before the holiday crowds. We arrived about 6:30 and started up Going to the Sun Highway. While we were still down at the bottom, we passed a guy riding his bike up the road and then we saw a black bear! So we parked the car a little way up from the bear to be sure the biker made it past the bear. He sure was excited about seeing a bear on his bike! Then the bear walked up the road right past our car!

When we reached Logan Pass at the top (35 miles of winding road going up, up up), the parking lot was empty except for . . . a herd of big horned sheep! The visitor center at Logan Pass sits right at the Continental Divide. We hiked up a trail through snow and we were the only people up that high so early in the morning . . . at least for a little while. We felt like we were alone on top of the world. We saw marmots. After that we took another hike where we saw 16 big horn sheep in a pasture and momma mountain goats with baby goats! The wildflowers are all blooming here now and we saw fields filled with Glacier Lillies. After eight hours we headed back to the motorhome and that was our best day in Glacier National Park.


Sunrise and moon set in Glacier National Park.

Glacier National Park

We've been into Glacier twice so far and both days were completely different. There are two main things to do in Glacier: (1) drive Going to the Sun Highway for the spectacular views, and (2) hike any of the 700 miles of trails (inhabited by bears!). So far we've just done the driving thing. Hiking and a trail ride are on the schedule. The first day we drove up to the top (the road is closed at Logan Pass for repairs; it may open before we leave if we're lucky), it snowed! Two days later it was so warm (hot, really) that I wished I had worn shorts.

Lost Trail Wildlife Preserve

This picture was taken at sunrise in a valley that spread out before our eyes like a treasure. The preserve is about 50 miles southwest of Kalispell, MT near the little town of Marion. I'm not sure how large the peserve is (but it IS big) because there are no brochures or information kiosks, and I couldn't find much information on the internet. I'm sure this beautiful place remains the same as it was when the earliest explorers and settlers came to this part of Montana.

We've made two trips to Lost Trail, one in the morning and one in the evening, and saw different animals each time: Lots of deer, a gray wolf, a fox, elk, moose, little chipmonk-like critters, sand hill cranes, blue herons, yellow-headed blackbirds, woodpeckers, ducks, hawks and other assorted birds.
Here's a Kestril (small hawk) who caught a little critter for his breakfast.




You can see more pictures of this momma deer chasing a gray wolf on EB's website.

Hailstone National Wildlife Preserve

See the little dirt road on the left? That's how we got to this NWP, northwest of Billings, MT. The drive was worth it because we saw several Golden Eagles, which turn out to be the biggest birds we've ever seen. There were immature and adult eagles, as well as Swainson's Hawks, antelope, lots of prairie dogs, deer and other assorted birds.




Here's an immature Golden Eagle . . . This is one big bird!




Probably no new pictures until next week. We're hitting the road for Kalispell, MT and Glacier National Park day after tomorrow.

Happy trails!

The Billings Zoo

The Beartooth Mountains

The Beartooth Mountains in Montana, just north of Wyoming at the northeast side of Yellowstone National Park. Elevation at the top is just under 11,000 feet.

Charles Kuralt once called the Beartooth Highway the most beautiful drive in the U.S. It was definitely awesome . . . and scary . . . getting to the top. E.B. kept saying, "Trust me, we're not going to run off the road!" (We were in the car, of course, not the motorhome.) The wind was ferocious and cold.

As always, click on the title above to see the rest of E.B.'s pictures.

Geocaching in Billings, MT

We are staying at a campground in Billings, MT beside the Yellowstone River which is bordered by these cliffs called rimrocks. Birds of prey nest in holes at the top of the rimrocks.

We hiked a total of three miles and found two out of three caches, including our 100th cache!

At the top of the cliffs, E.B. got a shot of a Peregrine Falcon that kept circling us because we were standing on the cliff just above its nest.

Here's part of the trail. First we hiked up to the top of the cliffs to see the view. Then all the way down to the bottom of the trail to the river. And finally back up to to the top to get on the trail back to the car. Whew! This was vertical geocaching! At the river we saw deer, raccoon and possibly bear tracks, but didn't find the last cache. Maybe a bear took it??? Oh well, two out of three is pretty good.












Cache #100 . . .













Three hours of hiking just three miles! Ah, but visions of the local Dairy Queen spurred us on the long upward treck back to the car. :)

Battle of Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Crow Indian Reservation, Montana
Click on title above for more pictures

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Click on the title/link above for more pictures.

Geocaching in Phantom Canyon

We found two caches in Phantom Canyon, outside of Colorado Springs last Friday.
This is a narrow, winding dirt road that follows a stream through a narrow canyon.

There are at least four different kinds of pine trees and lots of aspens waving their little bright green leaves in the wind. One of the pines has new bright green growth at the tips of the branches that look like little curled baby fingers.

There were lots of wildflowers and cacti blooming, including this bright red one called a hedgehog cactus.

This canyon was so remote that I kept looking for bear or moose or elk along the stream, but no luck. We met a fellow who he said he'd found a cache that was scattered about, probably by a bear. Here's one of the caches and a view of the road from the cache site (these two photos are taken by me, not the professional photographer).

And, finally, here's a picture that I took of the real photographer!

Pike's Peak

This is what the world looks like from 14,110 feet! At the bottom of the mountain it was 85 degrees and at the top it was snowing! There was plenty of leftover snow on the ground starting at about 9,000 feet.

EB drove all the way to the top, but I stopped at the gift shop/snack bar at about 11,000 feet and waited there. After he got back, EB said that was probably a really good idea because of my fear of heights. The road up to Pike's Peak is paved for the first three miles, but the other 16 miles are unpaved, although pretty wide for a mountain road. There are people who actually ski and snowboard down the very steep cliffs up near the top. . . I had trouble just walking and breathing at the same time!

There's a company that organizes bicycle rides down from the top. I saw the riders at the visitor center toward the bottom of the mountain and they looked pretty normal and sane to me.

On our way back down, just outside of Colorado Springs, we had a flat tire. So it was off to Wal-Mart for a new tire this morning.

Paynes Prairie II

Payne's Prairie, a state recreation area just south of Gainesville, Florida, is a bird watcher's paradise with plenty of other critters such as alligators, snakes, wild horses and bison. The prairie encompasses 25 square miles and is easily accessible from US 441 and several hiking trails. The paved Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail also runs through, so you can get there by car, foot, bike or skate!

The prairie is ever changing depending on the season, the weather, and especially the rains. In 2004 -- the year of the hurricanes -- it became an aquatic wonderland with the birds and alligators roaming across the underwater prairie. Since then, the water has slowly receded. In 2006 we were able to kayak on the prairie, but now the prairie is mostly dry. On one of our hikes this winter, we saw over 100 alligators and accidentally walked up on a cotton mouth snake. Four of the alligators were on our trail, so we had to do some quick side stepping. Thousands of noisy sandhill cranes spent the winter at Paynes Prairie this year, as well as flocks of white pelicans and wood storks. Take a look at some of E.B.'s pictures and you'll see lots of birds!

Summer 2007 travel and knitting plans

We've spent the winter in Gainesville, Florida near one of our favorite places -- Paynes Prairie. Click on the title above to link directly to all of EB's Payne's Prairie bird pictures.

Over the next six months we'll be traveling through some spectacular places including Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and ???.

While traveling, Jeanie will be knitting socks for a "vacation sock" contest that requires pictures posted to a blog. Since this is the only blog we have, you can expect to see some traveling sock pictures interspersed with E.B.'s usual photos this summer.

Creating a better future

E.B. and I aren't the only ones in our family discovering America! This summer our son, Josh, and his girfriend, Michelle Norberg, will be riding their bikes across the country with Bike & Build to spread the word about . . . and helping to build . . . affordable housing with Habitat for Humanity.

Josh and Michelle, who are graduating from the University of Florida in May, will leave in June on their almost 3,000 mile trip, spending two weeks in Louisiana working on housing for Hurricane Katrina victims. An article by Danny Aller in the Pensacola News Journal, talks about their adventure . . .

"Riding on behalf of Bike and Build -- a national awareness group aiming to open the eyes of young adults to the affordable housing cause -- the duo will leave June 14 from Jacksonville and ride 80 to 90 miles a day for more than two months. They will build homes, speak at churches and help out at local Habitat for Humanity projects from Florida to California, and will travel in a pack of 30 riders made up of young adults ages 18 to 25 from across the country.

" 'Ultimately it came down to this: Michelle and I are in a part of our lives where were growing up and finally appreciating all that we have,' West said. 'We're healthy, we have a roof over our heads, and it was just time we stopped thinking about ourselves and helped someone else.'

"During the trek, they will sleep in churches, schools and tents. The riders will be fed three meals a day, but they won't be guaranteed a shower at every stop. But the trip's lack of everyday luxuries won't be a problem for Norberg and West. 'We're ready to live simply,' said Norberg. 'But we're more ready for our eyes to be opened.' "

You can read more about Bike and Build or contribute towards Josh and Michelle's efforts at www.bikeandbuild.org.

Paynes Prairie, Gainesville, FL

Sherando Lake Recreation Area, Virginia

In September and October 2005 we volunteered at Sherando Lake Recreation Area which is in the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains are breathtaking, but Sherando Lake has to be the jewel of the national forest. Its beauty is incomparable, which is why you really need to look at EB's pictures!

We thoroughly enjoyed our work-camping experience there. We worked the gatehouse on the weekends. During the week we registered campers. It was fun meeting so many different people and hearing their camping stories. We made good friends with the other work campers, especially Ron and Barb and Terry and Cyndi. Terri and Cyndi, married probably as long as us (that's a really, really long time!), met at Sherando Lake when she camped with her family and he was working there as a teenager.

Sherando Lake, a 25-acre spring-fed lake, is the center of the park which was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930's. The buildings are constructed of stone and timber and blend into the rugged natural surroundings. There are lots of hiking trails in and around the park, and the lakes are popular fishing spots. The campground is beautiful, but it is first-come (no reservations) and usually fills up early on Fridays. The hardest part of our duties was turning people away once the campground was full.

We took a day trip to Crabtree Falls, which are huge, wild and wonderful waterfalls. If you have the stamina, you can hike from the bottom to the top of the falls and stand on a footbridge that crosses over the top of the falls. We hiked about half way up before we had to turn back to be in time for work at Sherando Lake, but EB decided that the BEST pictures were from down below anyway. Be sure and take a look.

Geocaching

What is geocaching and why do we like it?

Well, it's sort of a combination of scavenger hunting and orienteering, using GPS technology to locate a "cache" of pretty-much worthless trinkets usually waaaay out in the woods somewhere. It is the thrill of the hunt that keeps us, and thousands of others, searching.

Information about caches can be found at www.geocaching.com where you can search for caches by zip code, latitude and longitude coordinates, or by city. Download the coordinates into your hand held GPS and off you go. But don't be fooled! The GPS will show you how to get there in a straight line, but that is NEVER EVER the way you get there. Things like lakes, rivers, heavy woods, no roads, mountains, etc. stand in your way and you have to find your way around or through these obstacles.

Once in the general vicinity of the cache, you head off on foot watching the GPS and hoping like heck there's a trail. Often you'll start on a trail, but end up in a thicket . . . or a cornfield . . . or a cemetery (especially popular in Indiana) . . . or down a very steep embankment . . . or a swamp.

The cache is usually pretty well hidden, often in or under a tree, and can be a small plastic container, an ammo box, a plastic photo film cannister, or even smaller! We once found one on the end of a pully way up in a tree. The container was smaller than an inkpen and the pully was nearly invisible fishing line. Inside you will generally find several trinkets and sometimes a "Travel Bug" which you can take to leave at another cache destination. You can even add something of your own, if you want. We've moved Travel Bugs and other trinkets from one state to the next, left small pebbles we found on the shores of Lake Huron and little seashells from the coast of Maine.


Besides your hand held GPS, you'll need a few other supplies for geocaching: a hiking stick is good for poking around to make sure there are no critters around the cache. I like garden gloves for sticking your hands into those places where the critters might be. And anytime you are geocaching with EB, water and a snack will sustain you through those long hours of stumbling around the woods!

You can learn more about geocaching at www.geocaching.com. It's fun, challenging, adventurous and sometimes tests the strength of your relationship! No, really . . . . it is lots of fun!

Turkey Run State Park, Indiana

This is one of the ten heavily wooded trails at Turkey Run State Park in Park County, Indiana, near the Illinois state line. We were here last year and the trails are so awesome that we didn't hesitate to come back again this year.

The trails are rated from easy to strenuous, so -- of course -- we decided to take the most strenuous one this time. You'll definitely need your hiking sticks, waterproof hiking boots, and leave your fear of heights at home! (That's a tall order for me, says Jeanie.)

You start most of the trails by crossing a high hanging bridge over the Wabash River. For this trail you follow Sugar Creek through a narrow canyon where the trees grow high up on the ridge, sometimes sending their roots right down into the rocks. If there aren't any other hikers around, you really feel like you are explorers in an undiscovered forest. Keep to the creek and watch your foothold as you climb right up the middle of the creek and along narrow ledges of rocks.

Soon you are high above the creekbed walking narrow trails like the one pictured here. Everything was very green this year, even though there hadn't been much rain. You can see little "caves" in the rocky cliff walls along the trail. They are big enough for birds to nest in, but not for bears, thank goodness. (Spoken by one who has had a bear encounter on a trail before!).

This is about a five-mile trail that takes you from low to high country and back to low country again. Along the way we had to climb down two tall wooden ladders to reach the lower parts of the trail. Thank goodness they were sturdy, or I'm sure we would have taken a U-turn at the first one!

After we finished our three-hour hike, we had lunch at the dining room of the rustic inn located right in the state park. Between our two visits to Turkey Run, we've done all but two of the ten trails (one has an old wooden covered bridge), and can highly recommend them if you are in that area of Indiana. If you are a member of Thousand Trails, Horseshoe Lakes is in nearby Clinton and is a pretty nice campground.

For more of EB's pictures of Turkey Run, go to http://ebinfl.smugmug.com/gallery/936734.

Texas Wildflowers

In mid-April we traveled to the hill country of Texas to see an extravaganza of wildflowers growing along DeWitt County country roads. The wildflowers are Lady Bird Johnson's legacy and gift to America as she inspired so many of the roadside and city beautification projects we enjoy today.

Start your Texas wildflower tour with a stop at DeWitt County Wildflower Association's headquarters in Cuero, Texas. There you will find fresh samples of all the wildflowers picked early each morning displayed in bud vases with both their botanic and common names. You'll get a wildflower road map and advice on which are the most scenic roads of the day. These dedicated ladies invite everyone to come to Texas in April and see for themselves why DeWitt County is the official wildflower capital of Texas!

These are Texas Bluebonnets and Coreopsis. You can see more wildflower pictures at http://ebinfl.smugmug.com/gallery/1134462.