Glacier National Park Trip Aug 11-19

“We've got openings on this trip, anyone interested? We've applied for several permits, waiting to hear back for which trail we get.”

“Dub,
I think I'm still signed up.
I've got a bunch of hikes and climbs on the calender but still want to go.
I can give up my reservation with your group if you need the slot for others.
It looks like I'll be in Glacier a bunch this year.
Keep us up to date on any developments.”

“I'm planning on attending with this being my first TT trip west of the Mississippi.

I still have to check out to see if this conflicts with any family plans.”

“Looks like my work schedule has changed a bit, if there is still a spot open, I will be able to.”

“Paul, I think there will be plenty of room. So far there are only two of us confirmed coming from Ohio with two dropped out and one a maybe still. So there is plenty of room.

Chinmusic, glad to have you on board.

Myrky, hopefully you can make it too.”

“Hey, guys, just kinda curious. What route did you decide on? I tried for a permit in August and missed out on it. Re-submitted for a permit in September and was able to hook into a Permit that will take us from Chief Mountain, into the Belly River valley, across Cosley/Glen's Lakes and over Stoney Indian --- then up the Highline to Granite Park and back to Many Glacier.

Let me know what your trip plans are!”

“Dub - Airline ticket is secured. I will meet up with you in Minneapolis for flight #1483.”

“Dub,
Glad you're going forward. I'll intend to be there. Especially since the Mountainrunner trip is gone private. Hope your route plans are seeing the necessary permits. Let me know if there is any input desired on my part.”

“Hey Paul, just so you know, mountainrunner's trip didn't go private... his first permit got denied... and his second only got approved for two people so it's just going to be him and I going, sorry!! But I didn't want you to think we just ditched you.”

“Honeybunches, thanks for letting me know what's the deal. The ongoing "trips page is dead" dialog has gotten me excited to put forth some input on whether there's a point in using this site. To have a discussion on a potential trip just go away reeinforces my position that this might all be a waste of time for those of us who are serious.
Honeybunches, do you have insomnia again? I wrote you with a suggestion.”

“no, she's on a night shift tonight. nurse.”

“Pamela are you talking to me?”

“Yup, she's talking to you... I'm a nurse... work 12 hour night shifts.”

“hi honey! sorry i got busy writing a letter to a young woman who is pregnant first time, needs encouragement.
last edited: 6/07/07 3:26:01 AM”

“Sorry I wrote a suggestion for insomnia awhile back then. I thought that's what the discussion was. Sorry I've thought this site was about backpacking too. It doesn't seem to be.”

“Hey Paul, it's about everything. It's about backpacking friends sharing the rest of their lives too and amusing one another throughout the day while we are chained to our working lives as well. Does that seem to sum it up honey? I betcha you can add something good. :O)”

“Sorry Paul, we get caught up with other things at times... I think the night I was posting on the insomnia thread was a night I was off. I have a hard time sleeping on the nights I don't work. And Hi Pamela... hope the knee is doing better... haven't seen the joint pain thread up in a few, hope you are getting the insurance stuff straightened around!”

“knee is getting much better, not wearing brace anymore. :O) i haven't worked up the nerve to call the insurance people yet on the synvisc. Shena asked me to come back to work a day early. BrianSean said he will be said when i go back to work. i'll have to work double hard to make time for him, i'll have to fight for day hours.”

“I just got going after noticing there was discussion that the trips page was dead. Wonder why?
This site needs more than a few people making it a general gab site to make it successful as it was orginally intended, a backpacking site.
I tried to provide constructive input on the insomnia thread, something which I experience, yes, while backpacking.
If you guys want private conversations why don't you go on some other IM facilitator. Thinking this site is just for your little private conversations is going to kill it.”

“Paul I'm going to say this as nicely as I can, because I AM a very nice person.

If we are not what you are looking for, please go on and continue looking for whatever it is you are looking for.

Because we have no intentions of changing just for you.

Not being mean mind you, it's just that you cannot truly expect a whole community to change to suit your desires. It's obvious that you would be happier elsewhere and I do not begrudge you that opportunity. Feel free.”

“Pamela, you're making my point for me. This site is supposedly for backpacking. You seem to be making it into something it wasn't intended to be. If you cause the people to are serious about backpacking to depart, it will not be a backpacking site. Why don't you take your own advice and go somewhere that is geared for what you do and leave this for what it was intended for. That is backpacking.”

“Paul, we are serious about backpacking. We just get to know each other along the way... and we chat a bit. The threads usually get back to what the subject was about. If you haven't noticed, this whole site is like that.”

“Paul, I'll give you the lowdown on this site. I started out on the other site, backpacker.com Everyone there talks about backpacking but no one does it. In fact, one of their posters that had over 4000 posts did his first trip with us!! He had been giving backpacking advice for over a year and had never gone. I managed two trips there, only one person showed up on each.

When I came over here people may not talk about backpacking as much as they do on other sites, but we do get out more. The last trip I was on in May had over 30 people. Most everyone gets along and we've always had a good time. At this point I've met and backpacked with over 100 people from this site. We may not always talk about backpacking and that's because many of us are friends and we just talk about whatever's going on in our life or we just have a good time while here. I avoid all the fuego threads, that's the place where the trolls are. You won't find another site out there with more people who backpack together often all over the US and get along everytime.”

“Count me in.. Is there a place we are setting up to meet up, do intros and all that jazz? I'm either flying or taking the train in from Chicago.”

“Dub, thanks for filling me in.”

“I guess if more people join we will have to meet up somewhere...TBD...plenty of time tho. Plan is to start hiking Sunday or Monday.”

“Paul, from reviewing the recent posts, you seem to be someone who likes to draw a lot of conclusions. I did not send my trip private. I applied for the permit in August, and as my earlier post indicated, was denied. I then tried one more time (this time for September & only two people on the permit) hoping to take one more shot. It worked out. We're pumped for it. I love backpacking with folks from the site. Nothing but great people here. One of the best things about the people is that they are accessible. You can get to know them. Maybe you should try it.”

“Mountainrunner, if you have a change of plans, it's fine with me, but you need to let people know who may have been thinking about joining the the trips you organize. Maybe I will try getting to know people from this site. Seems like I'm getting to know you aren't I? You didn't have the courtesy to inform people who had signed up for your trip that you've made other plans. Then you get snotty to me for drawing some conclusion of what's going on? Now I have plans for which I would prefer to save my energy on rather than this so I'd be happy to drop it. Have a good trip.”

“Glacier is an awesome place. Always tough to get the route you want though. Everyone wants in, but there's only so much space. We went in 2004 with a group of 4, and managed to get all the sites we wanted except for Hole in the Wall up by Kintla Pass, but not because it was full, but because they had bear problems in the pass and the trail was closed and the whole 9 yards.

We did a 6-day, 5-night figure 7 hike from Logan pass north along the Highline to Granite Park, Fifty Mountain, and Kootenai Lakes. Then we hung a left at Goat Haunt up to Francis Lake, over Brown Pass and down to Bowman Lake. Check out the pictures.

Wish I could join you again, but I'll actually be in Colorado that week bagging some 14-ers. Year's been off to a slow start, but there's some good things in the works ;)”

“Paul, obviously you never saw the note I posted about the trip getting cancelled -- and why would that be? I'll explain: I sent a confirmation out to trip attendees (people who had actually signed onto the trip) that we did not get the permit. You did not get an email due to not signing up for it.

I typically do not voice much of an opinion on here. So if my words came across as harsh, I do apologize. I thought your comments about the people on this site could not have been more incorrect - thus my reaction.”

“This trip is at it's max, I am going to make it private soon. FYI”

“Paul, have you joined a trip with some of the folks here yet?

Many of us know each other and chitchat as dub wrote above...as we are not mindreaders we do not know who is THINKING of joining a trip...when things change some send emails out to those who signed up, as mountainrunner did, and some post the change on a thread...

I am not sure the best way to introduce yourself is to come here and tell people how they should do things...you're coming across as a jerk and you're probably really a nice guy...the written word is pretty powerful and I wouldn't like to see a fellow lover of backpacking inadvertently tick people off...

I don't feel we are "cliquy" over here as it may appear to someone new, many of us just know each other and know intentions are good...I, for example, have been on a couple trips with mountainrunner (or at least caught him changing from work to hiking to work clothes at a trailhead once...LOL) and know his intentions are good...

Perhaps the PracticalBackpacking forum would interest you...not much chit-chatting permited there...great site in many ways:
http://www.practicalbackpacking.com/forums/

Meanwhile, looking forward to meeting you on a trip someday...Mata”

“Are there openings in this trip? There are three of us willing to join you.”

“We're maxed out, we might be able to take one more but not three. I just made the trip private because it's as big as our permit will allow.”

“Too bad”

“I think we're all back safely now. Lots of pictures to process. I took about 10 gigs of photos in RAW format on my Canon 30D. I think I'll let ChinMusic write the trip report :-)”

“I got home at about 3am this morning after a series of airport delays.....sigh

I just dumped the data from my heart-rate monitor onto my computer. To my amazement the total calories burned while backpacking last week at Glacier was.....believe it or not.....23,845”

“what route did yall end up doing?”

“We split up the week with a back country trip from St Mary - Red Eagle Lake CS - Triple Divide Pass (near Triple Peak), Atlantic Creek CS - Grizzly Medicine Lake and out to Cut Bank.

Then did a series of day-hikes consisting of: Avalanche Lake (the warm up), Grinnell Glacier, and Highline (The Loop, including Granite Park Chalet) with a "side trip" to the Grinell Glacier Overlook and a further "side trail" past the overlook that was the scariest decent I have even been on.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something or spelling something wrong.”

“nice!

I hiked the Highline Trail a couple years back - it was one of the best hikes to date for me.”

“Just a couple pics for now:









”

“Freakin' awesome, where's the one of me almost dying coming up the Triple Divide”

“great shot of that deer! (the others are just so-so) :) j/k - you can't hardly take a bad pic up there. The vertical relief in Glacier is unlike anything else I've seen.

spectacular!”

“Hear ya go Dub......

”

“A couple "practice" HDRs.



”

“Sweet! I've made a few myself, still sorting them out of the pile though...I think I had around 1000 photos, you? I really like the HDR of troy,”

“Played with one more.

”

“Coinkeedinkally, Glacier is featured in the new National Geographic that was in my mailbox.”

“It is sad that within a generation almost ALL of the glaciers in GNP will be gone. They have been on decline since the peak in 1850, near the end of the mini-iceage, with their melt accelerating due to the recent additional warming. The comparison pics from years ago are staggering.

It will still be a wonderful place to visit but it will be different. I plan on returning in coming years while I still have the health, and legs, to see it.”