Never know what the night will hold

About time summer rolls around West Glacier, today it is sunny and 80 out but at night it drops down to 40. I've started on a portion of my project and discovered that the beetle is in fact here although the forest is so dense that the trees being affected are going to be hard to see from the NASA images I have. I also had found a map that is most likely going to be my main source to get at these sites because its so rugged and there's no trails in the Great Bear leading to them. I would love to get mega indepth with it but as tourists start rolling in my time off the river is growing thin. For the capstone project I feel my information is suffcient enough and if needed I can grow on it as an independant study or something along those lines. As far as the river goes its been great, Mikey P and myself had another full day but this time we put in all the way up at Bear Creek. That made for about a 30-35 mile day which is almost double what we normally do. My first dinner trip didn't end up showing up after they paid and everything so that was a little dissapointing. I was so stoked to do it so our manager let me take the one today that I'm currently waiting for at 2:00. After the river yesterday the our whole "new" gang loaded up my van with 5 kayaks and 8 people and headed for a small creek inside the park called Mcdonald Creek. It's this baby blue, clear as crystal creek that flows out of Lake Mcdonald and eventually into the Middle Fork of the Flathead. The original plan was to float to the bridge which we quickly decided to tack on another 3 miles and head to Blankenship. Lets just say it was the best float I've ever done for reasons that you only had to be there to witness. On top of the already jammed packed day I was driving back to Wild River and sure enough I see this huge mountain lion walking on the road next to my campsite. It was probably 4 feet long and 3 feet tall just hangin out in our campground. I relayed the message to people at work n the campground because its kinda sketchy when we walk everywhere. Tomorrow I'm on the board for a scenic with Norma which should be interesting because there is no whitewater at all on the scenic stretch. After that the whole work crew is lined up for a free zipline tour in Whitefish down the ski-mountain. Oh the benefits of working in West Glacier. I'm headed out to pack and organize food for this dinner trip, nothing like making fresh salmon, steak, and chicken river side for a family of four.

 Starting where I believe I left off, the full day trip was superb. Danger and myself ended up taking out a family of doctors which made the trip quite interesting. It was awesome to give people who live in the city an opportunity to just gawk and gaze the whole time taking everything new in. Not only are full day's a day of complete relaxation but we get to eat free lunch as well. The days of the week are blending together very smoothly each with its new level of rafting knowledge. We had a summer solstice work party with the wranglers across the way as well which turned out awesome. Brian had made smoked ribs and trout which was a great meal to end a long day of weed wacking. With trips slowly getting a little more busy, me and Bryant noticed we weren't on the board yesterday so we decided to head to East Glacier and St. Mary's to hopefully see a glacier. Turned out to be the most spectacular views at mountains I've ever seen.

St. Mary's Entrance to Glacier Park

Driving around outside the Park

One of our boats on an overnighter we happended to see going past goat lick overlook.

If you look closly you can see a mountain goat at the top of the cutbank.

After our 16 mile trip down the North Fork today our work put on an activity called the weed rodeo 2011. Bascially the Forest Service came in and partnered up with our boss in order to gain awareness of invasive weeds that are growing along the banks of the Flathead river. We picked weeds for about an hour then headed back to Wild River World Headquarters for a meal. Bryant and myself got to cook for the 30 people that were there on this badass grill that can grill up to 25 hamburgers at a time. It's been great in West Glacier, the tourists are rolling in, the weather is fantastic, and trips are on the daily now.

Shazam

Awesome footage of the Middle Fork during flood stage. Filmed using a GoPro on a remote controlled helicopter.

Can never re-live a first.

Today was an awesome day in my books because it was the first commercial trip in which I get paid for out here. I ended up taking a paddle boat which I'm more comfortable with and the water dropped down to 13,000 cfs. Despite the onslaught of water it has yet to make the river rise. The 2:00 trip consisted of what I thought to be a bachelor group out of Canada but turned out to be a mens christian group out of Canada. It was Robb, Kenny, and myself which made a total of 15 people. Super smooth lines through each rapid and even styled Jaws. The group just loved it although they didn't express it in the form of any tips. After great success for the day we officially made it off the trainee list which is still 5 deep. Next week were already on the board, Bryant with a dinner trip and I landed a full day middle fork trip. Lovin' that I'm finally making some money although the Going to the Sun Road isn't open yet and from what I've heard today isn't supposed to open anytime soon. It's only been 20 days since I've got here and it literally seems like a lifetime ago. Our days consist of so many new things and so many out of the ordinary experiences that time is either flying by or time is just not a factor to the lifestyle. It's wierd to think that there's still two months to go and we've just now got through training. So many more trips are still to come adding to the ever increasing summer customer average of 33,000 people last summer to commercially raft the Flathead River. Finally going to get off the river a little tomorrow and hit up a hike in Glacier. Apgar Mountain seems like the best bet if the road is finally clear of flood water. Blue skies and no rain for the first time in about 8 days im off to a semi dry camp.

Cold and Wet

For the past two days I've been taking swiftwater which is the river form of a wilderness first responder course. The guy who teaches it is actually the owner of Montana River Guides who I had actually applied for before I came out here. down by Missoula. They run rafting and river board trips on the Blackfoot, Stillwater, and the Alberton Gorge on the Clarks Fork. Alot of the crew from work needed it or needed to re-certify for it so we were all there. People who've taken it says that mother nature never cooperates and indeed this yea r wasn't about to break that tradition. It was raining and the river is still at about 38 degrees. We did everything from swim rapids, rescue "unconscious" victims, unpin people/boats on strainers, and hook up all sorts of tension retrieval systems. Although we complained about the horrible weather and cold the only thing that truly sucked was putting on our equipment in the morning. There's just something about putting on wet cold gear in preparation to get wet and cold again that doesn't exactly motivate us very much. Once we got going on scenarios we were all eager to get at it and stay warm. Last night was also a combo of events because Glacier Raft Company was having a guide party/gear night sponsored by NRS and it was free game food at the Dew Drop as well. Ended up going to both and got a bunch of free swag from the gear party. On top of our busy days my new helmet is in route and the replacement knife from NRS showed up today as well. A lot of the people from work need their wilderness first aid this coming Saturday so I guess their short guides. That means Bryant and I have our first commercial trip on Saturday afternoon!!! So pumped to finally get on the board and we even captained the whole 9 mile whitewater stretch today during swiftwater today. Weathers not supposed to lighten up until next Tuesday but the word on the street is that after the big rain summer will officially begin and the rain will be far less. For now I'm staying warm and back on the river tomorrow, it couldn't get any better.

Waitin on the World

Training is continuing as normal Bob talks in the morning then we sit around until the 2:00 trip. Still waiting on Going to the Sun road to open up and for the tourists to arrive because its getting real old spending money with none coming in. But seriously the whole town of West Glacier is waiting on the rest of the world to roll into Glacier. Training is becoming more and more fun because we've "advanced" you could say to a point where we get our own boats without veterans. Today Dave popped out at the most notorious rapid that we don't want people to swim at. Pinball was a rager today and the far right line at this level can swing you sideways, snag an oar, and in Dave's case jab you in the arm hard enough to throw you 4 feet into the air and in the drink. He ended up getting dragged under the boat twice but we found him as he a hydraulic was sucking him down. No worries but damn that would be quite the ride. Totalled up my miles and I'm already at a wopping 205. Keep on keepin on in West Glacier hopefully the rain will clear up a bit for some hammock sitting.

Buck Wild

After an epic night with live music at the Stonefly we got the day off from Bobby J. Ended up waking up mega late and got the horse show on the road bright and early at 10. I was riding Braveheart who ended up being an awesome ride. Norma, the only one out of us who was worried about this whole deal, got bucked off on the way back n took a beast of a flop that knocked the wind out of her. On top of that work gave her mad shit for being one of two people who have ever fell off of a horse. For having the day off we crushed it with a 16 mile stretch of river after the horseback ride. It's crazy how we all crossed paths with such unique backgrounds n now we're all on the same badass crew. Starting reading a book called Rock Me On The Water that Sarah gave me from her epic journey on the Grand Canyon. Renny Russel was one of the trip leaders on her Canyon trip n a legend within the river world.