The vistas have been splendid. Open pine forests and a huge lake from Sand Point to here. The lake is the remains of Lake Missoula that flooded this entire area carving out the deep canyons and gullies in Idaho and Washington states and formed the Columbia gorge all the way to Eugene Or. I would have like to have seen the ice dam break and watch the tremendous volume of water cut through basalt to carve the canyons. You can go to "http://www.nps.gov/iceagefloods/ for more information. As an aside, why does the NPS always appropriate all of the cool stuff? One would think that because a great number of miles of those gully cuts are on BLM lands and the old Lake Missoula would have been partially on USFS lands, that these two agencies would be on this.
As a further aside, my observations across the northern part of the country has been that BLM and the USFS may have outlived their usefulness. The BLM, contrary to their protests otherwise, is not fulfilling their mission as laid out by FLPMA. And the Forest Service never really practiced what some of their more enlightened employees suggested that they do: sustainable vs. politically expedient timber production. This coupled with a five decade general drying trend in the west has resulted in seriously degraded public lands. If you add cows and OHVs to the equation, unmitigated development around cities and towns, the fragmentation of habitats as a result of these activities and oil/gas development, you have a serious mess. On a brighter note, we have been trying to do something about this in Utah.
Somewhere west of Clark Fork is a town called Hope. It clings to the side of a hill above the huge lake mentioned above. There are fruit trees, an apple here a pear there, berry bushes, a grape vine or two seemingly untended. The golden delicious were just coming in! And the pears. I stopped to pick a couple and then rode on. I hadn’t ridden a hundred meters or so and I saw a black bear eating fallen pears from the ground. He/she looked up at me as I rode by less than three meters from it. I stopped just beyond and tried to dig my camera out of my bag but the bear ran across the road and up into the trees.
Wednesday September 8 Clark Fork to Trout Creek. I didn’t get as far as I wanted today. I had another flat less than three hundred meters from the east side of Clark Fork. But the sun was shining. Later, clouds rolled in and I had to shelter under trees on occasion to keep from getting soaked. Once I got to Montana I noticed that many of the citizens are armed. Side arms usually. Why? Other than a lone coyote that ran across the road in front of me, that bear yesterday, there doesn’t seem to be anything to fear except maybe other armed people. I was stopped at an overlook having a peanut butter and jelly burrito and a motor home pulled up. The man jumped out, side arm on his belt, took a picture and jumped back in and rode away. He didn’t even look around to see if there were any desperadoes waiting to take him hostage nor did he look at me. I had a bandanna wrapped around my head. If he would have seen me he might have captured me thinking I was a member of Osama’s bicycle brigade, sneaking through Montana, seeking to destroy sacred road-side shrines, pervert our youth, or undermining an American’s right to bear arms (with our without tattoos) and wear a sidearm. Tis a strange world we live in!
When I stopped at the overlook next to the gunslinger I had several bananas strapped with bungee cords to the top of my trailer to keep them fresh. I was going to have one but I worried that the gunman might think I was reaching for my side arm and shoot me dead. I can't imagine dying with my banana in my hand. A few miles from said overlook I stopped at yet another overlook to have a banana.They were gone! Conspiracy? Did the gunslinger's wife sneak around me and steal them hoping to provoke a holy war in the wilderness? Did a bigfoot snatch them when I was pedaling up yet another long hill?
Finally rained out. Staying in Trout Creek about 20 miles shy of today’s target. I don’t have cell phone coverage but I do have wifi. Last night in Clark Fork I had enough bars on my phone to call the moon, if I stepped outside of my room and stood next to the highway, but no wifi. I just don’t understand technology.
3 comments:
The Forest Service and BLM are very much a part of the planning and development for the recently authorized Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail (Lake Missoula, the Channeled Scablands, and all that). The online study that you read does not make that clear, nor does it mention all the other partners that have been in on the planning, for nearly 20 years. The battle now is for an appropriation to develop the Trail as a collaborative project, with NPS in the very important coordinating role. It won't be easy, but the intepretation needs to be consistent and authoritative.
AJ- I think you are being monitored. I like it, maybe somebody hears your constuctive, critical thinking. Here's my latest factoids. 90% of all BLM land is grazed and 69% of Forest Service. Over 80% of water is used for agriculture and much of that is for hay and alfalfa. Grazing is a harsh use of the land. Agriculture in Utah is less than 2% of the state's GDP. 3% of meat supply comes from livestock grazed on public land -- economically a tiny slice of a tiny slice. So it is safe to say that most of our Western land and water is put to a destructive use with negligible economic benefit. Ride on!!
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