My previous trip to Glacier didnt go past Avalanche Campground, this time we stayed for 3 days.
Outstanding views in this park
note; two panoramic pics are included with the photos / maps. These photos are too small in flickr and are misplaced on all maps, they should be located more towards the north east side of st mary’s lake.
start: 7/11/2008
length: 5.3 miles (round trip)
time: 3:09 (round trip)
difficulty: easy
avg speed: 2.0 mph
elevation gain: from 3805ft to 5240ft gaining 1435ft
comments: easy hike, drank from stream.
photos; flickr
google earth (.kmz file with photos)
gps (.gpx file)
start: 7/13/2008 at 1208am(?)
length: 3.7 miles (from trail head to fire lookout)
time: 3:34:24 (up) 1:10:38 (at the top) 1:43:33 (back)
difficulty: moderate / moderately difficult
avg speed: 1.o mph (up) 2.0 mph (down)
elevation gain: from 6783ft to 9368ft gaining 3585ft
directions: south of Stevensville to (either west on St Mary’s Rd or west on Indian Prairie Loop then North on St Mary’s Rd) then west on Lookout Trail
comments: this had me gasping a bit, stops became more frequent as the trail went on, the last leg of the hike seems to be a bit more strenuous than the rest of the trail.
google earth (.kmz file)
gps (.gpx file)
A trip to Evaro MT, just inside the Flathead Indian Reservation sits the Gray Wolf Peak Casino, outside of which are two rather large firework stands. This year we obtained the following;
From left to right;
We set off one ‘String O’ Pearls’ last night, the rest will be taken to a 4th of July party where it looks like this will be at most a third of the fireworks displayed.
Happy 4th of July.
While the entrance to the caverns were discovered in 1882 by two Whitehall men; Charles Brooke and Mexican John, the the Lewis and Clark caverns were discovered in 1892 by Tom Williams and Burt Pannell, two hunters. Tom Williams explored the caves 6 years later and then talked to a local investor named Dan Morrison about further developing the cavern for tours. Until 1908 the caverns were a successful tourist business, when the railroad laid claim to the land and gave it to the federal government and was consequently turned into a National Monument. In 1937 the state of Montana received its first state park as the federal government declared the Lewis and Clark Caverns a state park. Even though the name of the park is ‘Lewis and Clark Caverns’ it is believed that Lewis and Clark never visited the caverns, chances are they never knew they existed.
two shots while walking up the trail to the cavern;
The entrance to the caverns;
Our visit to Glacier National Park took us 16 miles in the West Glacier entrance to Avalanche Campground. With 50 camp sites the campground is definitely on the edge of the wild.
While there were no signs of bears the deer had no problem with the campers.
After camping at Avalanche Campground, we took a hike along Avalanche Creek, a rough yet spectacular clear blue creek runs along an ‘easy’ hike up towards Avalanche Lake. The hike is approximately 2 miles each way and a gain of 500ft in elevation.
Along the hike many surrounding mountains still had snow which was melting and causing runoff resulting in huge falls, this is a small one;
Upon reaching the lake we found crystal clear water surrounded by mountains.
Later that day, a little lunch at McDonald Lake;
all my hard work is starting to pay off, I am now a TV star. Now not everyone can just get on TV, it takes alot of hard work and dedication. Here is my television premier;
or you could just join the IRC network gamesurge.net and join #cops20
A while back I was contacted by a person who was browsing flickr for pictures to use in Westways Magazine (AAA’s Southern California Lifestyle Magazine). He had stumbled across a picture of Elk at Mammoth Village at Yellowstone. After signing a couple documents allowing them to print this picture in their magazine(s) and on their website(s) and a month later I received my copy of the magazine.
Above you see arrows pointing to my picture and my credit. I found it a bit odd as my name is nowhere near the picture and there is no indication of why my name is there, not that I’m complaining.
Almost a day and a half of digging from our friends at Hallford Excavating left us with about 600 ft of 3′ wide, 6-8′ deep trench in the back yard. Here you can see the trench closest to you which holds the two plastic pipes which exit the house and head towards the backyard behind the hedge. One of the pipes takes the liquid into the house, the other sends it out.
Below is a picture of the location of the manifold, the two pipes running to the house connect to the manifold and then the actual loops are connected to this manifold. The manifold was placed behind the hedge so that the loops could be laid in the back yard where there are no underground sprinklers.
Below a look at one of the three trenches dug to lay the loop, the three trenches are all just a bit under 200′ long each.
Below is a closeup of the pipe (loop) that is laid in these three trenches, this loop pulls about 4 degrees out of the ground and carries it into the house via a water / chemical mix running through these pipes;
and here is a shot taken from the back of our property showing the extent of the earth that was moved for this part of the project;
We have now started remodeling the guest room with the same hardwood floor as Dylan’s flooring. To give myself a break I rented a pneumatic floor nailer, much easier than the manual nailer although they really get you on the rental price. Dylan was present for this install and was excited about helping, it wasn’t long before he was installing the hardwood floor all by himself. Shortly after teaching how to hit the nailer and giving him the opportunity to hit it while I held it, Napolean was handling the nailer all by himself.
After teaching him how to nail the hardwood floor, I showed him how to select the correct piece of wood (quality of finish, warping, and the correct length [so that breaks are staggered]) and how to pound it into place.
He was then doing the job all by himself, yes, the pictures you are viewing are actual shots of him in action (using the sports mode of my camera) laying approximately 12 11′ 6″ long rows of Bellawood rustic maple 3/4″ hardwood flooring with a pneumatic floor nailer.