Hidden Lakes and (No Longer) Hidden Thoughts

I can't remember if I threw my tantrum before or after I took the photo of Hidden Lake that you now see in my blog's banner. [Editor's note: The photo referenced here has been changed since this article first appeared on A Peace Carol blog.]

I have an extreme case of insecurity and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy regarding my photographic abilities. On the other hand, I see Mr. Carol For Peace as a very talented photographer.

And I'm not alone in my assessments. Mr. Carol For Peace gets all kinds of accolades for his photos. People specifically ask him for copies. He was asked to donate framed photos for the fundraiser auction at work. I was not.

I live mostly in the right side of my brain. Mr. Carol For Peace is a left-brainer. He understands all of the technical things about a camera. I rely on luck - and once in awhile, it comes through for me.

In Glacier National Park, the Hidden Lake trail begins in a gradual uphill trek for 1 1/2 miles. Because it originates at the popular Logan Pass Visitors Center, the trail is VERY well populated with two-leggeds. Well, it's busy up until the 1 1/2 mile point. After taking photos of the lake from a lookout point there, probably 95% of the crowd turns back.

A four-legged along the way.

It was fortunate for me that we were the only hikers going down to the lake, because somewhere along the way down, I threw my fit of inadequacy. It was also somewhere on that descent that I took the photo that you see above. I think that's a pretty nice photo (mostly thanks to scenery that can't be beat), so obviously what I believe about myself is not necessarily always true.

I have been working on questioning the preposterous thoughts that this mind can make up, but it can still sneak right in with some strange thing that I'll believe - even in the face of conflicting facts! As I struggled with those crappy feelings in my body and rude thoughts in my head that day, Mr. CFP asked me a question - I don't remember exactly what it was right now - but it incited a flood of tears to well up. Tears of sadness that I can be so hard on myself. Realization about the story that I tell myself - a story that I am not good enough. Then for a moment, I found some compassion for myself.

Soon after that little drama, Mr CFP and I found ourselves alone along the edge of Hidden Lake. Truly, in many ways, the journey was as wonderful as the destination.



(This was written in response to Dancing's request regarding my banner photo. I don't know if this is what she was asking for, but this is what came out.)

Wildlife - or It's a Wild Life

Baby mountain goat

He's SO CUTE!

Less-than-wild-horse with wild woman

Camera-eyed belly roller

Bighorn sheep

Some kind of small 4-legged creature that takes the time to stop and smell the flowers

Waking Up

A man goes to sleep in the town
where he has always lived, and he dreams he's living
in another town.
In the dream, he doesn't remember
the town he's sleeping in his bed in. He believes
the reality of the dream town.

The world is that kind of sleep.

The dust of many crumbled cities
settles over us like a forgetful doze,
but we are older than those cities.

We began
as a mineral. We emerged into plant life
and into the animal state, and then into being human,
and always we have forgotten our former states,
except in early spring when we slightly recall
being green again.

That's how a young person turns
toward a teacher. That's how a baby leans
toward the breast, without knowing the secret
of its desire, yet turning instinctively.

Humankind is being led along an evolving course,
through this migration of intelligences,
and though we seem to be sleeping,
there is an inner wakefulness
that directs the dream.

and that will eventually startle us back
to the truth of who we are...

- Rumi











Photos were taken at Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park. It's a hike of 9 miles round trip to get to this magical place. The hike took us through Grizzly country and we did see three different grizzlies - fortunately, they were WAY up on the mountain, far from us. At the bottom of the trail, we spoke with a ranger who was roping off a trail, due to Grizzly activity. He said that he had seen 8 of the bears that morning. The nearest we came to one (that we know of) was to see fresh scat on the trail. That was enough to get me singing in a high falsetto as a means of scaring away any four-leggeds!

Dumping

I no longer post on my Carol For Peace blog and I don't (usually) pontificate on political issues (too much) on this blog. But I've got things to say and they aren't going away.

I keep wondering why the health care "debates" are occurring now. Why now? They take up so much time in our media, I am concerned that this issue is a smokescreen for other things. I wonder what that would be. I am totally of the mind that our health care in the U.S. sucks big time, so I'm for big time changes. But what was it that made this big now? And why all of the focus when...

...we are sinking in debt
...people are losing their jobs like crazy
...our country is KILLING people in other countries
...our soldiers are dying in the "war on terror" that cannot be won (See icausualties to find out how more and more soldiers are dying in Afghanistan - and these numbers are a drop in the bucket against the numbers of Afghan citizens that are dying.)
...we're messing up our own nests in so many ways I don't have the time to put them down here
... I could go on, but I won't

Why does anyone give attention to people who act like violent children at "town hall meetings"? Why does anyone give attention to talking heads whose focus is to rile people up with whatever blather they can come up with? It must be a powerful feeling to know that you can spew some kind of untrue hatred out into the world and people will believe it and act on it while you sit back and watch.

I don't even watch television, and still, stuff like this gets onto my radar.

I'm not sounding very peaceful, am I?

I'm okay with sitting with these observations and questions. I can't control the media and I have no power over the actions of others.

To lighten things up and to give some perspective on life, since there is way more going on than the the circus of the political arena, here's a photo of a butterfly (or moth or whatever it is) that had a thing for Mr. Carol For Peace's shoe while we were in Glacier Park.



Ahhhhh... it's the little things...

Fire and Rain

Driving and hiking in different parts of Glacier Park, we came upon a lot of places where fire had changed the landscape. In 2003, about 6 different fires burned a total of about 146,000 acres (13%) of Glacier National Park. These fires followed the driest summer ever recorded.

You can see the burned trees not only in the foreground, but also going up the next mountain.

A burned forest has a certain eeriness and beauty to it.

I love the contrast of the new growth against the dead trees.

This view from near the top of Logan Pass makes my eyes roll back and forth. I can imagine a marble rolling from side to side on its way down.
See that stream way down there at the bottom of the valley?

Driving up Logan Pass is probably a challenge for flat-landers. Okay, I'll admit it - even I, the Brave Carol of Colorado, had a hard time looking down at some points. The highest point of the pass is only a little over 6,600 feet (2,012 meters) high - compared to passes in Colorado that are over 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), but the road is very narrow and the drop off is

straight

down

with

no

guardrail

much of the time.

St. Mary Falls
There are waterfalls and water drips and lakes full of water and rushing streams and water frozen into glaciers and snowy banks all over that park. There is an abundance of water everywhere.

Lake McDonald
This lake, created by the movement of a glacier, is about 10 miles long and 472 feet deep. I took this photo while lying flat on my belly on a dock because I wanted to show how clear the water is.

"We need wilderness because we are wild animals. Every man needs a place where he can go to go crazy in peace. Every Boy Scout troop deserves a forest to get lost, miserable, and starving in. Even the maddest murderer of the sweetest wife should get a chance for a run to the sanctuary of the hills. If only for the sport of it. For the terror, freedom, and delerium..."
- Edward Abbey, from The Journey Home

Montana Adventures, Day One

The evening after we arrived in the Kalispell/Columbia Falls area, we drove through a real downpour. As the rain let up, we were blessed with a gorgeous full rainbow that appeared right in front of the mountains. The bright colors contrasted amazingly with the dark blue background of the mountains. What a wonderful welcome to Montana!

And we didn't have our cameras with us.

We rushed back to get them, but of course, the rainbow didn't wait for us. So we explored the area a little and came upon some horses wearing coats!

The only thing more amazing than a rainbow is seeing three horses in coats, right?

When the handsomely dressed four-legged creatures saw us, they ran to us ecstatically, as though we were long-lost friends. I KNOW their happiness had nothing to do with a wish for food but had EVERYTHING to do with their utter joy at seeing us! ;-)

One was so happy to see Mr. Carol For Peace that he tried to give him a big kiss (notice how Mr. CFP resisted as he is totally dedicated to his wife.)

Out of sheer frustration, Mr. Horse decided to just chew on a post. Looking at those teeth, I'm thinking that Mr. CFP was smart in resisting a close encounter.

Yes, It's Good To Be Back Home Again

Having just spent 8 days in Glacier National Park, it's nice to be home - especially to see my son and dog. Oh, and to have my own PILLOW again. I love my pillow! But I tell you... I'd give up my pillow in a second if I could have more time hiking in the beauty of Montana (I'd have to take my son and dog with me, though.)

Did you know that the park is also called Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park because, in 1932, Glacier National Park in Montana, U.S. and Waterton Park in Alberta, Canada were joined together to become the world's first international peace park? Pretty cool, eh? Maybe we can create a big peace park between us and Mexico now???

I have a few photos that came out alright. Below are a couple photos of mountain goats, taken on the trail that leads to Hidden Lake. I swear the baby goat knew it was cute so it posed sweetly for us.








Below you can see Hidden Lake. We did hike all the way down to it, but I like this photo from above the best.




Fact: In 1850, Glacier Park had 150 glaciers. Today there are 26.

"To borrow a phrase from a well-known pop musician, this could become be the Park Formerly Known as Glacier." - Al Gore