Leaving the crazy fun at Waterton Lakes and Da Crypt, Tara and I bolted north, headlong into Canada's plains of wavy grain. We drove Hwy 2 northbound and gazed out at the hulking giants of the Rocky Mountains far to the west. There are basically three industries in Alberta: oil, logging and farming. Except for the province's fringe, which sports a natural picture frame of peaks, the land is totally flat and stretches out in a seemingly endless plain of vibrant fields. The "Wild Rose Country" should really be called "A Whole Lotta Hay" or "We Once Had Wild Roses Country".
Normally when you enter into a foreign land, the differences are obvious. In Canada, however, it's a bit harder to pinpoint exactly where America fades out and the Canucks take over. Sometimes things seem like an extension of the U.S., but then suddenly you notice that something wack is going on. The biggest news story on the radio was a biker gang
that the Mounties had stopped and ticketed outside of Calgary. That's right, a speeding infraction was the top news story.
Like I said, some things are just odd: I did a huge cartoon-like double-take when I looked over at the southbound lanes and saw a pick-up doing about 40 M.P.H. in reverse on the median. Try this in California on a major thoroughfare and you're liable to get shot. Road Rage + Firearms = Caps Busted in Ass
Unbeknownst to us, on the day we arrived, Calgary became host to the Neck Olympics. No, it wasn't the NASCAR championship. It was the world-famous Calgary Stampede, the globe's largest rodeo. To me it seemed more like a state fair than a rodeo. Tara and I visited it on our last evening together. I had to bring along serious fat stacks. Even a celebration of all things country don't come for
free, eh. We grubbed down some corn dogs, smooched in the haunted house and took a gander at the city's skyline from the top of the ferris wheel. And my heaven is a nice house in the sky. (Dave Matthews reference for Tara)
In the morning I had to put my little darlin' on a big old jet airliner. With a heavy heart, I slid my way west out of town and into the bumpy foothills of the Rockies. I made the mistake of turning on the radio with the hope of finding some inspiring road tunes. Memo to self: never listen to country music when you're missing your girl.
As usual, the rigors of nature forced a distraction that was welcomed and embraced. Thirty miles from Calgary, I bedded down in the thick bear and cougar infested woods of the Elbow River Valley in the Kananaskis Country. With a can of pepper spray in hand, I was like DeNiro in Taxi Driver. Get that piece out and ready to blast in zero point eight seconds, beyatch. Supposedly, the highest density of cougars studied in North America is found in the foothills of Kananaskis.
It was nice to get away from Calgary, which has become a MASSIVE sprawl of dense suburban homes. The movement to preserve Calgary's rural heritage for the recreational enjoyment of the population is not as evident as in other places I've visited. Before leaving Calgary, I spent a few hours researching newspaper articles and environmental organizations but could find not one news item regarding land preservation. The city does have a large provincial park called Fish Creek which is a totally natural area (not just a city park with urban grooming). Ideal for hiking, biking and wildlife viewing close to town, it contains at least 50 km of trails and is home to deer, beaver, hawks, woodpeckers, falcons, ducks, geese, herons, squirrels, gophers, coyotes, foxes, rabbits and mink. Even the occasional black bear or cougar muscles up. It is an exceptional example of good urban/rural planning. Hopefully as Calgary expands (it's doing so rapidly), the people of this pleasant hood continue to set aside other places of splendour that are as magnificent as Fish Creek Provincial Park.
The Kananaskis Country is a quite different story. The Kananaskis is a huge amount of land that begins about 50 miles
west of the city's edge and extends southwest into the Rocky Mountains and up to Banff National Park. A multiple-use area, it contains over 4,000 km² of mountain and foothill terrain, some of which is protected from development and industry but most of which is used heavily for timber and oil extraction. A lot of the eastern portion of the park which I visited, camped and mountain biked for three days is nice, but obviously over-harvested in many portions. I must admit that the recreation is excellent and varied. From hikers to off-road vehicle drivers, there is something for everyone. I don't disagree with the multiple-use aspect, I just have a problem with playing in areas which are void of trees and have signs warning of the potential for hydrogen sulfide gas leaks (a poisonous petroleum by-product).
I'm certainly not a strict preservationist. I realize that industry can and must co-exist with our environmental resources to maintain a prosperous human population. The problem is that when we let industry get the upper hand and take too much, it tips the scales of sustainability. Selective logging is OK, clear-cutting is not. A regulated extraction of minerals and oil from the ground is OK, poisoning the animals and the visitors in the process is not. A company that harvests a wildland unfortunately only sees dollar signs and is skilled in inventing rhetoric which belies the true impacts of their development. After visiting K-Country, it was obvious to me that this industrial hand-waving in the name of multiple-use in Alberta has been an effective enough distraction for most people. Some pieces of land there are badly scarred. One area called McLean Creek looked like a war zone.
There is an organization that I discovered which is fighting for Kananaskis' continued environmental protection. The Kananaskis Coalition is a grouping of preservation advocates led by the Alberta Wilderness Association. They present their information on a website under the Kananaskis Country Campaign. They support an "ecologically based management planning process for Kananaskis Country that looks at recreational and industrial uses of K-Country in tandem." The Coalition also believes that "no further commercial development should take place in K-Country, and that areas currently not protected by law should be protected at once, based not only on scientific values, but cultural values, such as the value of wilderness for its own sake."
Personally I support their activities but I think that their goals of obtaining both recreational & industrial areas AND keeping wilderness intact are contradictory. One cannot have pristine, untouched wilderness and reasonable development. Personally I think that development and industry should be allowed on the land but only if it takes a back seat to environmental sustainability. Mainly I support the Coalition because they are trying to return a balance to years of poorly managed and damaging industry in K-Country which has already tainted much of the area. As long as they maintain the stance of compromise, they will succeed. Keeping "wilderness for its own sake" is a noble idea but one that will ultimately fail to gain widespread support and successful implementation. There is simply too much money at stake. On the Issues page I have posted an article relating one of the successes in environmental protection that has been obtained in Kananaskis this year, largely based on the Coalition's influence.
Normally when you enter into a foreign land, the differences are obvious. In Canada, however, it's a bit harder to pinpoint exactly where America fades out and the Canucks take over. Sometimes things seem like an extension of the U.S., but then suddenly you notice that something wack is going on. The biggest news story on the radio was a biker gang
that the Mounties had stopped and ticketed outside of Calgary. That's right, a speeding infraction was the top news story.Like I said, some things are just odd: I did a huge cartoon-like double-take when I looked over at the southbound lanes and saw a pick-up doing about 40 M.P.H. in reverse on the median. Try this in California on a major thoroughfare and you're liable to get shot. Road Rage + Firearms = Caps Busted in Ass
Unbeknownst to us, on the day we arrived, Calgary became host to the Neck Olympics. No, it wasn't the NASCAR championship. It was the world-famous Calgary Stampede, the globe's largest rodeo. To me it seemed more like a state fair than a rodeo. Tara and I visited it on our last evening together. I had to bring along serious fat stacks. Even a celebration of all things country don't come for
free, eh. We grubbed down some corn dogs, smooched in the haunted house and took a gander at the city's skyline from the top of the ferris wheel. And my heaven is a nice house in the sky. (Dave Matthews reference for Tara)In the morning I had to put my little darlin' on a big old jet airliner. With a heavy heart, I slid my way west out of town and into the bumpy foothills of the Rockies. I made the mistake of turning on the radio with the hope of finding some inspiring road tunes. Memo to self: never listen to country music when you're missing your girl.
As usual, the rigors of nature forced a distraction that was welcomed and embraced. Thirty miles from Calgary, I bedded down in the thick bear and cougar infested woods of the Elbow River Valley in the Kananaskis Country. With a can of pepper spray in hand, I was like DeNiro in Taxi Driver. Get that piece out and ready to blast in zero point eight seconds, beyatch. Supposedly, the highest density of cougars studied in North America is found in the foothills of Kananaskis.
It was nice to get away from Calgary, which has become a MASSIVE sprawl of dense suburban homes. The movement to preserve Calgary's rural heritage for the recreational enjoyment of the population is not as evident as in other places I've visited. Before leaving Calgary, I spent a few hours researching newspaper articles and environmental organizations but could find not one news item regarding land preservation. The city does have a large provincial park called Fish Creek which is a totally natural area (not just a city park with urban grooming). Ideal for hiking, biking and wildlife viewing close to town, it contains at least 50 km of trails and is home to deer, beaver, hawks, woodpeckers, falcons, ducks, geese, herons, squirrels, gophers, coyotes, foxes, rabbits and mink. Even the occasional black bear or cougar muscles up. It is an exceptional example of good urban/rural planning. Hopefully as Calgary expands (it's doing so rapidly), the people of this pleasant hood continue to set aside other places of splendour that are as magnificent as Fish Creek Provincial Park.
The Kananaskis Country is a quite different story. The Kananaskis is a huge amount of land that begins about 50 miles
west of the city's edge and extends southwest into the Rocky Mountains and up to Banff National Park. A multiple-use area, it contains over 4,000 km² of mountain and foothill terrain, some of which is protected from development and industry but most of which is used heavily for timber and oil extraction. A lot of the eastern portion of the park which I visited, camped and mountain biked for three days is nice, but obviously over-harvested in many portions. I must admit that the recreation is excellent and varied. From hikers to off-road vehicle drivers, there is something for everyone. I don't disagree with the multiple-use aspect, I just have a problem with playing in areas which are void of trees and have signs warning of the potential for hydrogen sulfide gas leaks (a poisonous petroleum by-product).I'm certainly not a strict preservationist. I realize that industry can and must co-exist with our environmental resources to maintain a prosperous human population. The problem is that when we let industry get the upper hand and take too much, it tips the scales of sustainability. Selective logging is OK, clear-cutting is not. A regulated extraction of minerals and oil from the ground is OK, poisoning the animals and the visitors in the process is not. A company that harvests a wildland unfortunately only sees dollar signs and is skilled in inventing rhetoric which belies the true impacts of their development. After visiting K-Country, it was obvious to me that this industrial hand-waving in the name of multiple-use in Alberta has been an effective enough distraction for most people. Some pieces of land there are badly scarred. One area called McLean Creek looked like a war zone.
There is an organization that I discovered which is fighting for Kananaskis' continued environmental protection. The Kananaskis Coalition is a grouping of preservation advocates led by the Alberta Wilderness Association. They present their information on a website under the Kananaskis Country Campaign. They support an "ecologically based management planning process for Kananaskis Country that looks at recreational and industrial uses of K-Country in tandem." The Coalition also believes that "no further commercial development should take place in K-Country, and that areas currently not protected by law should be protected at once, based not only on scientific values, but cultural values, such as the value of wilderness for its own sake."
Personally I support their activities but I think that their goals of obtaining both recreational & industrial areas AND keeping wilderness intact are contradictory. One cannot have pristine, untouched wilderness and reasonable development. Personally I think that development and industry should be allowed on the land but only if it takes a back seat to environmental sustainability. Mainly I support the Coalition because they are trying to return a balance to years of poorly managed and damaging industry in K-Country which has already tainted much of the area. As long as they maintain the stance of compromise, they will succeed. Keeping "wilderness for its own sake" is a noble idea but one that will ultimately fail to gain widespread support and successful implementation. There is simply too much money at stake. On the Issues page I have posted an article relating one of the successes in environmental protection that has been obtained in Kananaskis this year, largely based on the Coalition's influence.
the days wore on and she pulled me surely back toward equilibrium. Chicks rule. Now, certainly more civilized, I take the time to blow the dirt off of a piece of stray food before popping it into my maw.
the waters get their color from suspended particles of "rock flour" that the glaciers grind up and deposit into the meltwater as they move.
cannot help but gasp.
worry about Tara's location. Adorned in bear bells, she was a jingling angel in boots, emitting a contagious joy that made every step a pleasurable experience. To be honest, her presence re-awakened my original sense of adventure that had been smeared and faded by solitary traveling.
crimson-hued spray. I watched in rapture as an elegant little bird sidled up to the rocks by the falls and with instinctive grace plunged into the water to feed. The wonders are never-ending. We got back to camp just in time to fix dinner and retreat to the tent, where the healthy patter of rain lulled me to sleep.
to visit you in one of the most beautiful places on earth for a few days of revelry and cuddlin'. Flathead Lake is, in some respects, like California's Lake Tahoe. From cute shops to skiing, boating to partying, it is a silly good place to be on a weekend in the Big Sky State, especially on the 4th of July.
grizzled grill. Kiss me, please kiss me. Kiss me out of desire, baby, no consolation. It was a Buckley moment.
I'm gonna fall out in a club tonight. Please note the sweet headbands.
unleashed on the lake. Light up the night, like the Fourth of July, people know when I let go, things gonn' fly. There's nothing like pledging your allegiance to America with a good buzz and a glowing punk to light shit off.
Flathead Lake on one side and a view of sparkling, snowmelt-fed valleys on the other. Far to the north, the imposing humps of Montana's ancient ranges invoked romantic thoughts of travels to come and destinations yet to be reached.
have thought that I'd just won the gold medal for team U.S.A. in the geek Olympics. With arms raised, it quickly dawned on me how freaking goofy I must have looked. In the photo I stand by my loaded Rig, feeling fresh and ready to take on the world. For some reason, that last sentence seems straight out of a douche commercial.
bladder in some coffee shops since it rained almost the entire time. That has been the story in Montana for me this summer. I've been constantly rushing to get in a few bits of treasured outdoor flava before the juicy sprinkles drive me back underground. The suntan that I miraculously picked up during my stint in 
have spewed out their rich infusions of valuable minerals over many decades. People once came here trying to find their fortunes digging the earth. The semi-decaying, lavishly built mansions in the old uptown attest to it.
wonder why a good buddy of mine left the beauty, wide open spaces, and fine pork products of Butte, Montana, for a crazy, crowded life in California. Now it is imminently clear. If only somehow they could revitalize the Butte old-town, it would be quite an infectous tourist destination. The feel of history here is like a comforable cloak.
so good inside your shadow, it's a place I want to be, you know I need to climb you like a tree. With a small bit of off-trail foraging, I found and mounted a slew of the different spires which gave me mad views of the distant Montana landscape and snow-capped mountain ranges. It is true what they say about this state: the sky is just somehow bigger. Its could-poked expanse has always elicited a divine sense of awe in this wide-eyed traveler.
Beyond these direct economic concerns, however, few people seem to be concerned about the loss in recreational opportunities, environmental health and quality of life. Houses in Bozeman (a town of "higher education") are, even with today's water management knowledge, built right on top of known flood plains and the associated rich farmland. That's not very eduhhhhcated, B-town.
hope to live with are born. My peoples are you with me, where you at?
biking thrills in the mountains north of town called the Bridger Range. The region is home to Bridger Bowl, perhaps the best kept ski secret in America. The Bridgers are steep, burly and tough-looking. Almost the entire range is within national forest boundaries and with a small amount of searching, I found five or six perfect places to camp out. Please smack the sheepish grin off of my face. Each unusual wildflower makes me giggle. Each gurgle from the stream is a peaceful lull on my conscience. Between meals and bike repairs in camp, I skipped around the woods like a freaking fairy. Everything issth thhhhhoo lovely. Shut up, my loneliness has driven me far beyond the realm of normal activity. Maybe it's just too much of that silly brew I've been drinking.
breakfast of eggs and toast, I packed 'er up and headed west once again. Here I come, Butte.
know where I'm from. I wish I had budgeted more time originally to explore the wilderness here on foot. Undoubtedly, I will come back to do this someday. Judging by the map, there are glaciers and at least one hundred remote mountain lakes to visit in Absaroka-Beartooth's massive 944,060 acres.
mammals, grizzly bears especially, roam around freely in my environment is bristling. Hey Boo-boo. Grand Teton (
me throughout the park, 5 feet off of my bumper the entire drive. Do they think they're commuting?
Yellowstone River, I roved around seeing the many sights that are found along the roads. There are an endless number of hot springs, pools, geysers, waterfalls, rock formations and petrified trees. To be honest, before pulling into the Old Faithful area, I had thought that I would find a solitary hole in the ground that sprayed a little water each hour. How wrong could I be?! An area of thermal disturbance, as is true at Old Faithful, doesn't include one geyser, but many, and can extend for hundreds of yards. There were so many attractions, each unique in form and color.
canyons sculpted from eternal wear and transference of life. Too bad the mosquitoes are like birds. Incoming!
surrounded by large mountains. The mountains here are, (pause and sigh like Sandler) soooo nice and the biggest of them all is the Grand Teton. Four jagged ruffians guard the land at Grand Teton National Park with the swagger that comes with their adolescence (in mountain years, of course). Only two of the four are in the photo.
considerable success in the last fifteen years and selected cities in California have adopted them, results unknown. If we don't take action now, we'll settle for nothing later. The 
possibly a grizzly, on uncomfortable terms.
these waves tonight; be free for once in your life tonight.
second full day in the park, I ducked in and out of cloudbursts and explored the woods west of the lake. From the park brochure, I learned about the Teton's tremendous formation by seismic upheaval, glacial carving and persistent erosion. From my explorations, I was able to appreciate the tremendous powers that can both smash stone and support the most delicate of life.
at the area Tastee-Freeze.
off in several places into gravelly ribbons of intrigue. Graded dirt in a national forest makes me giddy. These roads are right there in plain view but the masses, thankfully, pass them by. Don't be a hard rock when you really are a gem.
The winter was obviously a wet one this year and two different mountain bike rides were limited to under five miles in length on account of snow and my flailing motor skills. Dipping around a corner to negotiate a rock fall, I took a forearm shiver from a stiff pine bough. Battered by ice and wood, I was forced to bound through the high meadows on foot. Wildflowers were exploding, creating a veritable bumblebee traffic jam. If I wasn't turning my saucers to the ground, it was because I had them glued to the sky. The trees are so huge and burly. I think Noah could have put a sixteen inch lift on the Ark with some of these.
thought about things I don't understand. Can anything be motivated by purity? Do the trees behind me hold the weight of the world? Why is Fox Sports so cheesy?
space and pure habitat.
Navy. Ed and Myra were the greatest hosts. They live on beautiful property behind the ski resort that borders a large expanse of open space, much of it is owned by a mining company in town. Moose, deer, porcupines, etc, are always cruising down for their viewing pleasure. Plus, they've got a dog named Mogul, a parrot named Cadillac, and two cats. Animals were in full effect. Between the squawkings of Myra and Caddie, I rarely got a word in edgewise. Cadillac is a vocal, tough old bird who will bite a stranger, should the opportunity arise. Myra had to distract her with a peanut to get a photo out of the cage. Note my apprehension.
grab my handlebars at every twist. Wet roots also criss-cross the trail at odd angles. I took a nice digger in the sod because of one of the aforementioned roots.
the Stearman work was too time consuming and Ed couldn't take me for a ride in his other plane. Ed, you missed your chance to showboat to a national audience!
skidded to a halt on the scorching rock. I had to smack myself out of disbelief to go help him out. By the time I got there, he was up and walking around with a four inch handlebar-created laceration on his inner thigh but, thankfully, his brains remained inside of his head. I helped him evacuate his bike so that he could get stitches. In the commotion, I failed to get one picture of me on the slickrock. The image at left shows the typical non-slickrock terrain at Moab. Behind me is a sample of the numerous canyons and multi-colored rock formations that stamp their signature into a day trip in the Utah hills.
broke and within about fifteen minutes it was sunny and 80 degrees again. In a fit of deft driving that would have made the Duke brothers proud, I skidded The Rig into the parking lot at Canyonlands National Park to get in a full ride before the darkness could turn me away. And mad boy grips the bike of chrome with a fistful of steel!!!
the way I wanted it. The bike needed new brake pads badly and I didn't want to risk any more remote rides without a good bite to the rims. A six-pack of tall boyz found its way into my cooler and I located a completely solitary free campsite along the Colorado River. The weather was perfect and the water brisk. Can you say shrinkage?
of multi-colored desert canyons. At the apex of the ascent, almost without warning, the trail bails sharply left and one is left to gasp at the vast overlook. If rides were valium, I'd be comfortably numb.
lifts at A-Basin closed at 2:30 p.m. and I hit I-70 for a steady lope west toward Utah. Halfway there, a Denny's "Country Slam" and some coffee revived me and gave me the strength to push on. God, I love that shit. I have no idea what is actually inside of country fried steak, but if you cover it with enough gravy, the contents are irrelevant.
designated 4WD roads. Generally, as in this area, there are a few marked sites on BLM lands in more popular places (next to streams) but mostly everything else is unmarked. Once again, I will drop the mantra of LNT, which is especially important in this environment. 
snakes its way through and across steep fins and cave-like rock formations. It also passes by at least eight arches including the three pictured in this journal entry. Landscape Arch has a span of 360 feet making it the second largest natural arch in the world. In 1991, a slab of rock 60 feet long fell from Landscape Arch causing park managers to close the hiking trails directly below it. The park also has over 2,000 other cataloged arches giving it the highest density of these things in the world. Fahk the stats, this place got tha jack.
places like this, I realize more and more that what is important to us as a society is not the far-flung fantastic natural treasures. They are but a diversion from everyday life. What really impacts our lives are