Pairing a photo I took in Montana with a Gary Snyder poem

For All
 
Ah to be alive
on a mid-September morn
fording a stream
barefoot, pants rolled up,
holding boots, pack on,
sunshine, ice in the shallows,
northern rockies.

Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
cold nose dripping
singing inside
creek music, heart music,
smell of sun on gravel.

I pledge allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the soil
of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
one ecosystem
in diversity
under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.

                                    --Gary Snyder

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[What an extraordinary poem--by one of America's greatest living poets! Gary Snyder captures it exactly right. This poem passes the envy test where you say, "I wish I had written that one!" The photo was taken by me on July 14th, 2017, and shows Carolan and Linda crossing the cold, cold Morrison Creek in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana. We were on our 14-mile trek from the Morrison Creek Trailhead to the Schafer Meadows Forest Service Station--a very difficult hike for Linda and me (and maybe a routine one for Carolan, who is in superb shape). The water of Morrison Creek is fast-flowing and perfectly clear. It contains meltwater from snowpacks melting atop the high mountains in the Great Bear Wilderness section of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. I'm guessing the water temperature was in the low 40s. It was painful (my feet and legs ached from the cold), exhilarating, and unforgettable.

Gary Snyder reminds me why I still try to write poetry. Once in a while, you get it perfectly right, as he did here.]

Chapin Forest and the Beautiful Metro Parks of Northeast Ohio

I've been "training" for a 14-mile (28 miles round trip) hike into Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. Since I am 69 years old, such a long trip into the Wilderness is a serious matter. I have to be physically and mentally prepared for the challenge. To get ready I've been doing long hikes in Metroparks all around the East Side of Cleveland--the Cleveland Metroparks, the Lake County Metroparks, and the Geauga County Metroparks. I love all these park systems. The Cleveland system is the biggest and oldest, and it is magnificent. I've been hiking the North Chagrin Reservation, an awesome assemblage of forests, meadows, streams, ponds, and picnic areas. And I've been going into this huge park since I was a little kid growing up in Euclid. I love Squire's Castle, Strawberry Lane, Forest Lane, Sunset Pond, and all the trails and the wonderful diverse woods and ravines in North Chagrin. I hiked seven miles there yesterday, a great day.

Earlier this week I hiked the length of Chapin Forest in Kirtland, Ohio.

Besides a rich woods of sugar maple, beech, black cherry, red oak, and myriad other trees and shrubs, Chapin has some unusual geological features. It has caves and ledges, and a lot of rock called Sharon Conglomerate, a sandstone filled with luckystones (rounded milky quartz stones). The luckystones are one of the characteristic features of our Lake Erie beaches--they are found in Cuyahoga, Lake, and Ashtabula Counties (and probably on beaches in Pennsylvania and New York)--and nowhere else that I know of. As a toddler in Willoughby, Ohio, we would collect luckystones, put them under our pillows at night, and trick the tooth fairy. This always worked--as long as we told my Grampa about the plan.

Here is a photo I took of Sharon Conglomerate:

Another wonderful feature of Chapin Forest is Gildersleve Mountain, a high hill in the Forest that looks north to Lake Erie, rising 593 feet above the Big Lake, 6.7 miles to the north. Part of the hill has been quarried, so there is a precipitous drop-off at the top. By the way, very few people know the name "Gildersleve Mountain." It is part of local lore and it needs to be preserved. Here is a view of the lake from Gildersleve. My cell phone camera cannot do it justice. On a clear day you can see 18 miles to the skyscrapers in downtown Cleveland. An odd thing is that it looks like the entire area is a forest, when it is really a large, densely populated city. It brings to mind the old nickname of Cleveland: the "Forest City."

About 1.5 miles from Gildersleve is another historic quarry, where the stone for the Kirtland Mormon Temple was quarried in the early 1830s. Part of that is now a pond. And just north of the pond you can see an area where huge blocks of stone were quarried.:

The forest in this park is full of huge trees and I ran across a stump about 4-feet in diameter, the remains of an old red oak:

There are many huge trees in this forest, but some of them are dying, especially the white ash; they are being annihilated by the emerald ash borer. The ash trees are facing the same devastation that has met the American Chestnut and the American Elm. I have seen some small chestnut trees and many elm trees in local woods. Some elm trees have survived, but there has been a huge die off since my childhood. Will any ash trees somehow demonstrate immunity to the emerald ash borer? Time will tell.

Almost every day I walk in a different park. I love them all, but Chapin is near the top of the list.

It's Never a Mistake to Say Goodbye. My Daughter Encounters a Momma Bear with Cubs in the Wilderness

In one of his books, Kurt Vonnegut says something all adults know (and fear): "It's never a mistake to say goodbye." Anything can happen to our family and friends at any time. One thing I fear most is a car coming right at me at 60 miles per hour, the driver distracted by texting, the curse of our age. This is a real and present danger in America today, and I have a constant nagging fear for my safety and for those that I love. But what about encountering an angry momma bear in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, a bear protecting its two cubs? Most of us don't have to worry about that! But my daughter Carolan has to give it some thought!

Carolan works for the Montana Conservation Corps. In the past weeks, she has put in long hours organizing the summer program, interviewing candidates for crew leaders and crew members, setting up the training regime, attending to every little detail of the summer youth program. This past Friday she worked until 8 PM and came home, totally worn out, to her place just below Big Mountain outside of Whitefish, Montana. What gave her some sense of hope, energy, and renewal was the possibility of hiking the next day from the Spotted Bear Ranger Station, just south of the Hungry Horse Reservoir, to the Pentagon Cabin in "The Bob" (The Bob Marshall Wilderness, one of the great wilderness areas in the Lower 48). And that is what Carolan did. Early Saturday, she loaded up her backpack, got into the old Toyota, and headed down the East Side Road along Hungry Horse Reservoir to Spotted Bear. Near Columbia Falls, still in reach of cell phone towers, she called home to tell us of her plan. I talked to her briefly and noticed how happy she was. As I said goodbye, I said, "Watch out for the bears. And mountain lions!" We both laughed.

All Saturday we thought about her hike to Pentagon Cabin, where she would see two of her Forest Service friends, including Jeremy Rust. I pictured the lonely hike down an old trail, a couple of creek crossings--mostly a long hard slog. I didn't picture an encounter with bears.

          *          *          *

Late yesterday, Father's Day, Carolan called me to wish me a happy Father's Day and to tell about her quick trip into The Bob. Again she was near Columbia Falls, where she had called from the morning before. When I asked her about her trip, the story caused the hair on my neck to stand up.

Carolan had been in a serious encounter with a bear about 9 miles (some three hours) into her hike to Pentagon Cabin. At this stage of her hike, she was getting tired and her attention waned. Suddenly, she heard some rustling in the bushes ahead. She was thirty feet from a female bear and her two cubs--the most dangerous situation you can have when hiking alone in the wilderness. Carolan stopped, and then slowly started backtracking. At the same time, her finger took off the safety on her bear spray--something she has never had to do in all of her years of hiking in this wilderness. The Bob is one of the last places in American you can encounter all the large primeval predators: grizzly bears, mountain lions, grey wolves, and black bears. They are all to be feared and respected. All will attack and prey on humans if they are hungry, provoked, or protecting young. The worst situation she had ever encountered in The Bob happened a few years ago when a local chef, camping alone and not following good procedure, was attacked and nearly killed by a black bear. The man was mauled and would have died if Carolan and her crew had not come upon him and rescued him, calling in over their radio phone for helicopter rescue. So Carolan was aware that black bears, considerably smaller than grizzlies, could wreck havoc--they could kill you!

Carolan's slow retreat gave the bear a chance to retreat also. And after a while, Carolan felt it was safe to proceed up the trail, this time singing her bear song ("Oh Bear, Hey Bear!") and making lots of noise. All the while, her finger was on the trigger of the bear spray, and her heart was beating a hundred miles per hour.

In less than an hour Carolan arrived at the Pentagon Cabin, but Jeremy and his buddy were not back from their trail-clearing work yet. After about an hour, a young man came running up to the cabin carrying a bouquet of wildflowers for Carolan. Jeremy was happy to see her. And Carolan was relieved and so happy to see him. And boy did she have a story to tell!

Here's an image of Pentagon Cabin found doing a Google image search:

Source: http://www.summitpost.org/pentagon-cabin/596948

Cerulean Lake in Glacier National Park

Almost no one has seen Cerulean Lake first hand (much less swam in it!). The reason is that there is no trail to this beautiful blue lake in Glacier National Park--you have to bushwhack there. Jeremy and Carolan did just that last week. They hiked from Bowman Lake to Quartz Lake, paddled up Quartz, hiked to Cerulean Lake, then floated on that lake. Then they both dove into this lake, fed by glaciers.

Diving into chilly Cerulean Lake

Carolan and Jeremy on Quartz Lake

Cutthroat Trout in the hand!

On the Bear Creek Trail, Bob Marshall Wilderness

Who Will Defend the Wilderness? I Know a Few Warriors!

On my recent visit to Montana I started to think about the importance of defending Wilderness, defending the natural environment. We need to explain the importance of Wilderness to people of good will--and then stand up and fight for it! If not us--then who? I know there are a dozen other critically important things to think about. Please include the natural environment and true wilderness among them.

I am proud to say that my daughter Carolan is one of the defenders. She works much of the time in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, a gigantic and important wilderness complex just south of Glacier National Park. A couple weeks ago we met her after she hiked out (I think that morning it was a 15-mile hike) to the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. She had been supervising and training trail maintenance crews in "The Bob," as the Bob Marshall Wilderness is called. Sometimes she works at the Kalispell office of the Montana Conservation Corps (MCC). Other times she's in the field--The Bob, Glacier National Park, the Kootenai, or some other park or forest in Northwest Montana.

Carolan and Bob at Spotted Bear Ranger Station

Carolan's friend Jeremy Rust is also a defender of Wilderness. He works for the U.S. Forest Service and is Carolan's companion-in-adventure. They recently hiked in Glacier NP from Bowman Lake to Quartz Lake, paddled the length of Quartz Lake, then bushwacked their way up to Cerulean Lake. I don't think many people have had this firsthand experience! I recently saw Jeremy in the Two-Medicine area of Glacier:

Jeremy and Bob, by Running Eagle Falls, Two Medicine area, Glacier NP

I have met many other MCC and Forest Service workers: Lauren, Cliff, Elisheba, Beth Hodder, and many others. They are the hardest working people I know, tough as nails, and vigorous defenders of Wilderness and the Wilderness Ethic (which I will talk more  about in the future).

Carolan and Megan's Book Available on Amazon

The children's book my daughter Carolan Coughlin and her cousin Megan Hartfelder wrote is now available on Amazon for the bargain price of $8.99. Here's a link to Amazon and the book: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Bear-Surprise-Carolan-Coughlin/dp/1492892890/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386180954&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Great+Bear+Surprise

The authors' biographies are very nice:

About the Author: Carolan Coughlin is currently working as an outdoor professional for Montana Conservation Corps in beautiful Northwest Montana. She grew up in Ohio with a passion for reading, writing, and exploring the wonders of the outdoors. Her explorations have taken her across the US, through Central America, Europe, and New Zealand, and she feels lucky for all the great writing material these trips have given her. She wrote this book while living remotely in the Bob Marshall wilderness for three months. Forevermore, she will dream of the days she lived in her tent in the wilderness. In the meantime, you can find her searching out new adventures and scribbling out letters to her loving family. About the Illustrator Megan Hartfelder is a children’s book illustrator and landscape painter. Born and raised in Ohio, Megan was very fortunate to spend summers with her family in Germany where she acquired a love for travel. After earning degrees in Art Education, Painting, and a Master’s degree in Illustration, she lived and traveled throughout Europe, South America and the United States. She is also an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys running, cycling, hiking, and camping. Her experiences in new places are an inspiration for her illustrations and fine art. She now lives with her husband in Southern California. You can see more of her work at www.meganhartfelder.com.

Sabido Cabin in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Last week my daughter Carolan, and two of her friends, Lauren and Elisheba, hiked 16 miles from the Swift Reservoir, on the Blackfoot Reservation in Montana, to the Sabido Cabin in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Their goal, as far as I understand, was to winterize the cabin--button it up and secure it for the long and harsh mountain winter in northern Montana. The 16-mile hike involved approximately 3000 feet in elevation gain, at times through muddy trails and cold stream fords--it took 7 exhausting (yet exhilarating) hours. These are extraordinary young people, tough, fit, and dedicated to taking care of our nation's great wilderness legacy. They look upon this work as a privilege, not as a burden. Hurray for the Montana Conservation Corps, the US Forest Service, AmeriCorps, the National Park Service, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, and all the people and organizations taking care of our parks and wilderness areas!

Photos below taken by Lauren or Elisheba:

Lauren, with Buffalo Mountain behind her

The girls at Sabido Cabin

Carolan before the long hike

This might be Birch Creek in "The Bob"

The low sun along the trail

Sabido Cabin, near Buffalo Mountain and Gateway Pass--The Bob

Carolan-Moose, at Sabido

Buffalo Mountain, Gateway Pass--in The Bob

The girls at Sabido Cabin

On the trail, Swift Reservoir to Sabido Cabin

Still Deep Snow on Montana Mountain --Carolan Discovers!

Early Saturday my daughter Carolan started hiking from the Holland Lake Campground with the goal of meeting some of her friends working on the eastern side of the Swan Range in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. She began on the Holland Falls Trail (Trail 416). After a couple miles she crossed  the footbridge over Holland Creek and continued on Trail 35. After 6 or so miles of hiking she skirted Upper Holland Lake and at that point had to strap on her snowshoes. She then hiked uphill in increasingly deep snow for a couple miles heading for Gordon Pass. Her goal was Shaw Cabin. As she approached the top of the Pass, which is about 7000 foot elevation, she could no longer see the trail. The snow was almost 10-feet deep in places. Carolan realized that continuing on would be dangerous, so she reluctantly turned back. She had already hiked almost  7 or 8 miles, with about as much to go to Shaw Cabin. So she hiked back 7 or 8 miles until she reached her car at the Holland Lake trailhead.  She had hiked that day 15 to 16 miles with about 4 of those miles in snowshoes. The first half of the trip was pretty steep and she was tired out and somewhat disappointed about not reaching her goal.

But who can complain about a day's hike in one of America's greatest wildernesses? Shaw Cabin will wait for another day, later in the season.

Holland Falls (image found on the internet)

Any doubts about the snow depths around Glacier National Park and The Bob can be put to rest by this image that appeared on the Glacier National Park Facebook page (below):

Logan Pass in Glacier National Park--Mid May

Marion Lake in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

Sunset at Lake Marion, looking toward Glacier National Park

Perfect Day for Ice Fishing!

"Shredding it"--as my daughter would say

Carolan and Jeremy, above Marion Lake, near Essex, Montana--looking toward Glacier National Park

Carolan's Winter Adventure in the Great Bear Wilderness

Last night we heard from our daughter Carolan about her weekend. If you want to know why much of my hair has disappeared and the rest is turning gray or white--think Carolan and her adventures!

Carolan, along with her friend Jeremy and one or two other friends, drove on Route 2 from Kalispell/Whitefish, Montana to Essex (so small you can hardly call it a town) and the Izaak Walton Inn, which is on the Middle Fork Flathead River, just south of Glacier National Park and immediately north of the Great Bear Wilderness (a section of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex). They parked their car there, and then Carolan snow-shoed while Jeremy and the others cross country skied about 4 miles to Marion Lake in the Great Bear.

Carolan walked the Marion Lake Trail with a pack on her back, and her snowboard over her shoulder. The trek is about four miles long, with an elevation gain of 1800 feet. This is the definition of exhaustion. The trek was over very deep snow, so deep they could not figure out the depth--but it was over Jeremy's head. Maybe there were 6 to 10 feet of snow there. When they got to the frozen alpine lake, they snow-shoed and skied the mile across the lake. After that they climbed much of the way up a nearby peak and skied down.

That night the crew winter camped, probably at 6000 feet, and made their way back the next day.

Izaak Walton Inn and Amtrak Train, about 4 miles from Marion Lake

Middle Fork Flathead near Essex, Montana (Wikipedia)

FWP: 'This was a predatory attack by this black bear' | KTVQ.com | Q2 | Billings, Montana

More information on the Bob Marshall bear attack. Click on this link:

FWP: 'This was a predatory attack by this black bear' | KTVQ.com | Q2 | Billings, Montana

Carolan and an MCC Crew Save a Man Mauled by a Black Bear in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

My daughter Carolan called tonight with an incredible story. Yesterday, September 14th, near the Black Bear Creek area of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Forest Service worker Mike Revis, Carolan, and the Montana Conservation Corps crew she was leading back to Spotted Bear, encountered a man who has just been mauled by a black bear. Mike came upon the man on a trail near Black Bear Creek. The man was bloody, dazed, and hurting badly. Twenty minutes after Mike came upon the man, Carolan and the MCC Crew arrived. The bear was still very close by, probably waiting around to finish the kill.

Mike and Carolan had radios and called for a medical helicopter to evacuate the injured hiker. Carolan, who has EMT certification, and Mike administered emergency first aid as they waited for the copter. The other MCC crew members helped with the first aid and and tried to secure the trail in case any other hikers would try to pass through (the bear was lurking very close by).

It wasn't that long before the helicopter arrived, with an EMT and a nurse aboard. Mike, Carolan, and the MCC members helped lift the injured man into the helicopter. Carolan tried to keep the man calm and warm  before the take off. Fairly quickly  the helicopter left for a hospital in Kalispell, Montana.

Meanwhile another radio call went out to the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Service. They soon arrived in another helicopter and decided that this dangerous bear would have to be put down. They located the beer very close to the site of the original attack, and dispatched it. The bear had bloody claws and was covered with bear spray. Sometimes you can't defend yourself with bear spray or even a gun when an attack happens suddenly. The dead bear was then loaded onto a helicopter and taken to a lab where the blood on its claws, the contents of its stomach, and other things will be analyzed.

Carolan got back to her home in Kalispell about 10:30 PM Friday after a day full of terror--and considerable excitement. The man who had been attacked survived and will be OK.

There were lots of heroes in this story--people who had been well-trained and who responded to the emergency properly: Mike, Carolan, the MCC crew, the Forest Service, the emergency medical helicopter personnel, and the crew from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. Courage plus training yielded a successful outcome.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness has lots of predators at the top of the food chain: wolves, mountain lions, grizzly bears, and black bears. In my mind, the black bear is the most dangerous to humans.

Wildlife agents kill black bear after attack on camper in Bob Marshall

Click on this link to see The Missoulian's story on the black bear attack in the Bob Marshall Wilderness:
Wildlife agents kill black bear after attack on camper in Bob Marshall

Carolan on Montana's Flathead Divide Trail and in "The Bob"

Montana Conservation Corps crew working on the Flathead Divide Trail

Carolan on the Flathead Divide Trail, not too far from Spotted Bear. That might be Glacier National Park in the distance!

Carolan on the Big River Trail, Bob Marshall Wilderness, near Schafer Meadows. Note the 4th of July bandana!

Lots of Coyotes in Chardon and Hambden Townships!

Last Monday morning, Linda said, "Look! There's a wolf in the backyard!" I ran to the window, grabbed my camera, and took a couple photos of a very large canine stalking a cottontail about a hundred feet from my house. My brother Kevin identified it as a coyote, rather than a wolf (a wild wolf hasn't been seen in these parts in a long long time!).

Last evening I told some of my neighbors walking their dogs (and one couple taking their tiny three-month-old son for a stroll) about the coyote sighting. They told me three other neighbors have seen coyotes lately. One saw 2 coyotes together; another saw 3 together; a third person saw a pack of 4 coyotes together! Some of these animals have been caught on neighborhood security cameras.

I'm starting to feel that Chardon and Hambden Townships are more dangerous than my daughter's territory in Montana (the Bob Marshall Wilderness). Carolan just has an occasional grizzly or cougar to deal with; we have packs of wild coyotes!

Here are my coyote photos:

The Bob: Deep Deep Wilderness

My daughter Carolan works at times in Glacier National Park and at times in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (known as "The Bob"). The entire Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex--3 adjacent defined wilderness areas, comprises 1,535,352 acres--which I calculate to be about 2,344 square miles of wilderness. If you add to this total Glacier National Park (about 1,544 square miles), you have wilderness or near wilderness of about 3,888 square miles. For some perspective, the state of Rhode Island covers about 1,214 square miles; Delaware is 2,490 square miles. In reality, the protected ecosystem, including a portion of Canada and state and national forest lands surrounding the Bob and Glacier, have about 16,000 square miles--what is known as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem." Compare this to the state of Massachusetts, which covers 10,555 square miles. So this wilderness or near wilderness covers more territory than Delaware, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts combined. This is a big, wild country! Don't get lost there, O Carolan!

Big Salmon Lake in "The Bob"--Wikipedia

Images of Carolan and Friends Climbing Mt. Morrell

I borrowed the following 3 images from the Aerie Blog (hope they don't mind!). Here is the link to the blog: http://semesterwildermed.blogspot.com/. The entry was posted March 22 or 23, 2012. The Aerie Backcountry Medicine group was hiking from The Rich Ranch, near Seeley Lake, Montana, to Morell Mountain, on the southwest edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The climb was demanding and, as you can see, very steep in places. The Aerie students, including my daughter Carolan, were practicing avalanche rescue.

Incredible Photos of the Aerie Avalanche Rescue Course in Montana

The March 22 blog entry for the Avalanche rescue course that my daughter Carolan is taking in Montana features some extraordinary photos. To see them use this link: http://semesterwildermed.blogspot.com/

I will borrow one or two of their photos (right from their blog).

Carolan is wearing a greenish jacket in both photos.

Carolan's Adventure in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness

For a day, my daughter Carolan was seemingly lost in "The Bob"--Montana's great and huge Bob Marshall Wilderness (a roadless tract of more than a million acres). This is the story as I know it right now. I'll add or change things as I find out the whole story.

I think it was this past Tuesday, August 23, 2011, when I talked to Carolan as she drove from Kalispell east on Rt. 2 to Hungry Horse, Montana. When she turned south onto the Forest Service road going past Hungry Horse Reservoir I said goodbye to her. At that point it was probably 1 PM.

Carolan then drove down the East Side Forest Service road of the long Hungry Horse Reservoir to the Spotted Bear Forest Service Cabin--I'm guessing she got there by 3 PM and talked to the people at the cabin about meeting up with her friends on a trail crew (I believe that 4 of her old friends are on that crew: Evan, Elisheba, Mark, and Barry). A ranger suggested a short cut for her to get to the crew: instead of walking the trail along the South Fork of the Flathead to Black Bear Cabin and then heading west on the south end of  Picture Ridge Trail, she should immediately get on the steep northern head of Picture Ridge Trail near Sarah Peak and locate her friends' camp site just down that trail ("just down that trail" might be a 7 to 10 mile hike!). This would involve a vigorous uphill hike, but would save her maybe 8 miles and lots of time--possibly 2-3 hours. Beware of shortcuts! I believe we first learned that when we read fairy tales as children!

Meanwhile, the ranger sent a radio message that the crew on Picture Ridge Trail (east of Swan Peak and Inspiration Point) was going to get a surprise visitor. That visitor, Carolan, never showed up that night and was presumed lost in the wilderness. Every crew in The Bob heard that radio message--not just Carolan's friends. Would the idea of being "lost" embarrass Carolan? I don't know. Of course she never was totally lost; Jim Bridger and Broken Hand Tom Fitzpatrick were never totally lost. And anyway, The Bob is one of America's largest wildernesses, and anybody, even Bob Marshall himself, could be disoriented for a while in this huge area.

After talking to the people at the Forest Service cabin, Carolan drove her car down to the Meadow Creek trailhead and began her trek, hiking over the wooden pack bridge (see image above) that spans a deep, beautiful  gorge.  After walking a mile or two, she crossed over the wilderness boundary into The Bob. She finally came to what appeared to be Picture Ridge Trail (but things are rarely marked in The Bob--that's just accepted by everyone who goes there) and headed up, only to find it impassable because of fallen trees. Somehow, trying to get through the trees, she lost the trail and found herself hiking downhill--which seemed wrong to her. Finally she came to a river (South Fork of the Flathead) and crossed, with the water up to her belly. She was carrying a heavy backpack, with food, water, sleeping bag, and tent, and trying to keep from being swept away by the deep and rushing water. For the first time in a while, she was felt a twinge of fear and tried to think of what to do if she was swept away. Her first thought was to find a way to wiggle free of her pack. Luckily, she didn't need to do that, and was finally able to reach the other shore. Carolan started thinking about how alone she was and how close to disaster she had just come.

On the other side of the river, Carolan bushwhacked farther, not seeing any clear sign of a trail, and came to an area with steep cliffs on both sides--an impassable area. At times she was wading on the edge of the river, steep cliffs above her, and deep blue water below--a very dangerous situation.

After an hour or so, Carolan went back, retracing her steps, recrossed the South Fork, again up to her belly in the wild rushing water, and hiked all the way back to where she first got disoriented. This time she located Picture Ridge Trail and, very late in the day, raced up that steep and demanding trail. As it was getting toward sunset, she felt exhausted by all the hiking and all the danger and uncertainty of the day. She hiked until it was almost dark, but there was no sign at all of her old friends. Then, she made the decision to hike back to her car. So in the twilight, and then the dark, she hurried down the trail back to the Meadow Creek trailhead.

What to do now? Carolan decided to drive until she saw a place to camp. But after a while, seeing no place to camp and getting a bit freaked out by all the events of the day, she decided to drive back to Hungry Horse and get a motel.

It's a long, dark drive along the Hungry Horse Reservoir, but she had driven it many times. After about an hour and a half of driving, she got to Hungry Horse and located a motel. When she knocked on the door and awakened a caretaker, she got the bad news that a room would cost $120 per night--money that she didn't have. Carolan turned down the offer, and as she returned to her car the lady said, "I'll pray for you!" but at that moment, exhausted and discouraged, Carolan needed a room at a fair price, not a prayer.

Carolan then decided to drive all the way back to Kalispell and try to get a room at Motel 6. Finally, around midnight, she was able to secure a $60 room. She flopped onto the bed and fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

The next day, renewed and re-energized, she drove back to Spotted Bear then Meadow Creek, where she notified the rangers that she was not indeed lost. And then Carolan headed down the east side trail of the South Fork of the Flathead (keeping away from the unmaintained west side trail), hiking some 10 miles or so to the Black Bear Cabin. There, she met her old friends, who rejoiced that she was OK, and not indeed lost in  a million-acre wilderness.

And that is the story, as I have understood it, of Carolan's 2011 adventure in The Bob.#



There are a number of Youtube videos that show the South Fork of the Flathead.

Here's  a beautiful one:



Here's another Youtube video of the South Fork of the Flathead. This one has some views of the steep and dangerous cliffs that Carolan encountered:

Montana Conservation Corps--A Dad's Perspective

My daughter Carolan has worked as an MCC (Montana Conservation Corps) crew leader this summer and has lived in the Bob Marshall/Great Bear Wilderness. This past hitch she was near Inspiration Point and Sunburst Lake, rerouting and maintaining trails. I found this out last evening when she called me from the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. During the past ten-day hitch, she and her crew have lived in tents; in fact, they have lived in tents most of the summer. Most of the summer Carolan, Adam, and their crew (Lemmy, Evan, Barry, Elisheba, and Mark) have lived and worked near Strawberry Creek, just west of the Continental Divide. At times they camped by Sabido Cabin, and other times near a branch of Strawberry to the north of Sabido. If I understand correctly, Sabido is about 20 miles from Schafer Meadows Ranger Station, which is about 14 miles from the Morrison Creek/Skyland trailhead, where Carolan has parked her car most of the summer. In other words, she and here crew have lived a 2-day walk from what we in the "real world" (Carolan's words) think of as civilization.

As a Dad, I glory in the stories and photos that have come back our way to Northeast Ohio. I love that her food and mail come via mule train. I love the way these seven young people have learned to live and work together. They have done such good work in the Wilderness, a service to the state of Montana, the United States of America, and even Planet Earth itself. Presuming to speak for all these entities, I'll say, "Thank You!"

In the beginning of my daughter's MCC adventure, I worried about grizzly bears, mountain lions, black bears, grey wolves, and all the wild things that can potentially harm a person living in the wilderness. Turns out that they haven't had many encounters with dangerous wild animals, and when they see one they feel lucky, blessed. Carolan and her companions won't forget that rare glimpse of a grizzly browsing along Strawberry Creek. So I have stopped worrying so much about bears and mountain lions (still worry a little, I admit).

I've also worried a bit about their health. Say they broke a leg two days from help; or someone suffered a burst appendix or a thousand other health emergencies, big and little. So far they have escaped major medical problems. But I'm sure they've lived with a lot of minor problems, colds, headaches, sore throats, stomach aches, etc. These guys are tough hombres, who can't run to the medicine cabinet or doctor for every complaint.

Every day I check the weather in Carolan's vicinity, using the Weather Underground website. Of course there usually isn't a weather station right nearby, so I end up researching the weather in Hungry Horse or East Glacier Park or Choteau or someplace like that. I've noticed that fall is approaching in the Montana mountains and that night temperatures are often in the 30's (and these guys are usually in tents!). I guess the next hitch they will be sleeping at Spotted Bear, in cabins. On actual mattresses, for God's sake!

Another thing I do is study maps and handbooks about trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. I also use Google to find images near where her crew works. I've even located some videos on Youtube that help me picture their work and living environment (there are several videos of small planes landing at the Schafer Meadows airstrip). I do other things, like check in with the MCC Krew blog, http://mcckrew.blogpost.com/ (which I think is so interesting and wonderful that it should be published as a book), and go to the Glacier National Park website and look at their many webcams. These images are not exactly what Carolan is experiencing, but she is not far away from these places.

My wife and I have discovered two mystery novels set in The Bob, near Schafer Meadows. One story, by Beth Hodder, is called The Ghost of Schafer Meadows; the other, just out, is called Stealing the Wild. Beth and her husband worked for the Forest Service for many years, living at Schafer Meadows and working throughout The Bob and know this landscape intimately. These books have also helped us understand my daughter and her crew's working and living environment. In a strange coincidence, we have discovered that Beth Hodder and I both grew up in Euclid, Ohio, and graduated from high school the same year. The website for her books is: http://www.grizzlyridgepublishing.com/.

So I have vicariously followed the adventures of Carolan and Adam's wilderness crew. And once this summer my wife Linda and I were able to visit the MCC office in Kalispell and then actually meet up with Carolan for a day at Glacier National Park.

All in all it has been great fun, a wonderful trip!