Tag Archives: glacier national park

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Grateful for the Earth

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Respect and care for our planet is every day.  With each breath pure nature sustains us at the most fundamental and genuine level of being.

Every Day is Earth Day.

Thank you Mother Nature for your gracious, overwhelming gifts.

I am forever in gratitude.

 

“The wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity… that’s all there is. That’s the whole economy. That’s where all the economic activity and jobs come from. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.”

-Gaylord Nelson

“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

-William Shakespeare

“On Earth Day, we celebrate all the gifts the world and nature make available to us. We recognize our complete dependence on its bounty. And we acknowledge the need for good stewardship to preserve its fruits for future generations.”

-John Hoeven

“When you become scientifically literate, I claim, you become an environmentalist.”

-Bill Nye

Sweet Breathing

Advice From A Ranger

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Tim Rains is a Ranger in Glacier National Park.  He is also a talented writer and photographer who posts regularly on Glacier’s Facebook page.  I love sharing his prose and the way he absorbs his personal experience of being in the wild places.  You feel the love he shares with this wondrous environment… *if you’re not connected to the Glacier National Park page do it now, I know you’ll enjoy it!

https://www.facebook.com/GlacierNPS?hc_location=timeline

Here’s one of Tim’s posts at the end of his season in Glacier (the photos are mine)…

Advice From A Ranger (tr)

remember to always wear your hat,

take a good honest look at your shoes,

they’ll be your friend for the next sixteen miles,

then repeat after me:

Rocks Under Water, Avalanche Creekwater is life, water is life, water is life,

take a drink even when you’re not thirsty,

and then look around you,

wherever you are,

you are no different,

Indian Paintbrush

than the alpine paintbrush or the grizzly bear,

than the aspen,

Aspen in Full Color, Blue Sky

or the mountain goat,A Goat Closeup

water is life, repeat after me, water is life,

and then take another drink,

pack a snack, and then pack another,

and then if you’re like me, pack one more,

and make it something nutritious,

something delicious, something to share,

like chocolate covered espresso beans,

or huckleberries, or honey jalapeno jerky,

or whatever makes you smile, makes you go,

one more mile, one step farther,

because you’ll need it here,

this is not a place for the mild at heart,

Bear Profilethis is a place for the wild,

say your “Hey Bears!”, respect their “Hey You’s!”,

their baaaa’s, and bleats, and albeit cute, tiny mews,

share the trail, share the lake, share the road,

and then find a place, wherever you can go,

close your eyes, put your hand to the stone,

take a much needed breath and pay respect,

to those who came before,

your ancients, your elders,

be they stone or cedar, or person,Rocks, Underwater, Running EagleForest Light, Trail of the Cedars

take another breath, and then one more,

and when you’re ready,

open your eyes, open your eyes, open your eyes,

for this is a place,

to look up,

to look out,

to look down,

and when you are done,

Rabbitt, Trail of the Cedarslooking up, and out, and down,

then look in, and listen,

and remember:

I’ve said this once,

and I’ll say it again,

this is not a place for the mild at heart,

this is a place for the wild,

look in,

and listen,

you, are no different.

Take another drink of water.

Heaven's Peak, Glacier, Fall Colors

Sweet Breathing

Trail of the Cedars

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“for it is not so much to know the self

as to know it as it is known

by galaxy and cedar cone,

as if birth had never found it

and death could never end it.”

-Archie Randolph Ammons

There is certainly a timeless quality to this cedar forest.  A boardwalk traverses the ancient woods and in peacefulness and quiet you walk.  Beauty at every turn, at every angle, no matter where you look.  In every season, sweetness. Long breaths.  Shimmering sunshine splattered, trickling water, rushing big water, rocks of every color, rabbit, deer, bear… an full ecosystem breathing life in unison and thriving.  In that abundance and balance there is solace.

In many native cultures the cedar symbolizes healing, cleansing, prosperity and protection and those qualities are deeply felt here.

Cedar Leaves, Light, Trail of the Cedars

 

Sweet Breathing

Running Eagle

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“I care not what people say of me so long as I do right. I shall never be any man’s slave.”

-Pitamakan (Running Eagle)

Running Eagle Falls3

Running Eagle was a Piegan Blackfoot woman warrior.  The waterfall on this post was named in her honor as she holds a prestigious place in Blackfoot lore.  Brave, smart, beautiful, kind, master horsewoman and bow and arrow shot, she was a leader, ahead of her time as a renaissance woman.

Given the name Brown Weasel Woman, by the time she was fifteen she was hunting buffalo with the men.  While hunting, her Blackfeet were attached by the Flathead, and when her father went down, she went back for him, defended her position, took out a few of the attackers, and got her father home.  She had become Running Eagle and a Warrior.

Not wanting to effect her warrior status she never married instead taking a widow into her home to take care of household duties.  This freed her to continue the life she had chosen.  According to the Blackfoot stories she led dozens of raids against rival tribes including the Crow and Flathead.

As her status as Warrior and leader expanded she was allowed to do a vision quest (only men did vision quests at this time).

The falls were named after her as she did her vision quest at the top of them.  Energy around the falls is quite strong and magical.

There is medicine there.

Running Eagle Falls2

 

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Glacier National Park Wonders – A Gallery of Photos

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“Wander here a whole summer, if you can. Thousands of God’s wild blessings will search you and soak you as if you were a sponge, and the big days will go uncounted.

Goat Haunt

If you are business-tangled, and so burdened with duty that only weeks can be got out of the heavy laden year, then go to the Flathead Reserve; for it easily and quickly reached by the Great Northern Railroad. Get off the track at Belton Station, and in a few minutes you will find yourself in the midst of what you are sure to say is the best care-killing scenery on the continent – beautiful lakes derived straight from glaciers, lofty mountains steeped in lovely nemophila-blue skies and clad with forests and glaciers, mossy ferny waterfalls in their hollows, nameless and numberless, and meadowy gardens abounding in the best of everything …. ”   John Muir

Glacier National Park – just a few photos of the wonders there…

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