Spring Runoff - Glacier National Park

We headed out to Glacier National Park on Wednesday to interview Wendy Hill from the Glacier Association and she talked about the "Spring for Glacier" fundraiser which will benefit The Glacier Fund, The Glacier Institute, the Glacier Natural History Association, and the Glacier National Park Associates. All are non-profit partners of Glacier National Park. The fundraiser is happening this Friday and we will be there.

We also headed up the Going To The Sun Road and got some great spring runoff shots at Avalanche Creek and Lake McDonald Creek it was awesome. We got some great video too and we'll get that posted at GlacierAdventure.com shortly. In the meantime, check out these pictures. My favorite is the swallows nesting in the Belton Depot in West Glacier.


Remember, GlacierAdventure.com is the source for all of your Glacier National Park and Flathead Valley information!


see you in the Park!


-jay




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Flathead Bear Aware

Hill and I had a pretty busy day yesterday. We headed out to the Whitefish Middle School for a program sponsored by the Glacier National Park Fund. Flathead Bear Aware presented "people helping people co-exist with bears", a program dedicated to bears. It really was an amazing day. We heard Carrie Hunt, the director of Wind River Bear Institute give a presentations on methods used in human-bear conflicts including using Karelian Bear dogs to assist in conditioning bears to not return to a certain area.

Gary Moses, Supervisory Ranger for Glacier National Park for over 17 years, did a fantastic presentation on hiking in bear country, how to avoid encounters, what to do incase of an encounter, what actions to take if you get attacked. He also covered grizzly bear management in the Park.

Joe Wiegan, Wildlife Resource Specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks spoke about the Living with Wildlife Grant Program. Joe’s work is in assisting communities in dealing with wildlife issues in a proactive manner. From bears in the birdfeeders to elk in the haystacks, his motto is there is always a better way for humans to manage their own activities that will in-turn benefit both landowner and wildlife.

Dr. Chuck Jonkel, President of the Great Bear Foundation in Missoula, a conservation organization dedicated to the conservation of all 8 bear species in the world and their habitat. He is a bear biologist with over 40 years of experience and one of the pioneers of bear biology. His professional career includes studies of the polar bears for the Canadian Wildlife Service, The Borders Grizzly Bear Project on the eastern front of the Rockies, and research on the North American Black Bear.

It was a great day and the information provided is priceless for anyone living or recreating in or around bear country. We will definitely let you know when the next Bear Aware will be.

We will also be speaking more with Bill Lavelle from Bear Aware Flathead and keep you posted on upcoming events in the area.



...and don't forget, Glacier Adventure is the source for all of your Glacier National Park and Flathead Valley information.






Be sure to carry bear spray!!

see you on the trail.






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What are you doing Thursday night?

We'll be at the finals of "The Gong Show" at the Blue Moon. An ongoing Thursday night competition that will have the finals on Thursday May 8th. I was there last Thursday and they had some pretty good performers, .... and some not-so-good performers. The judges were kind with the gong, but we did here it a couple of times throughout the night.

There were singers, a stand-up comedian, a few guitar players and a sax player who whailed (and took first place for the night). An encore performance with the house band had the dancefloor packed!

So if you are in the Glacier National Park area on Thursday, stop on by the Blue Moon in Columbia Falls and check out the gong show. Gonna be a blast!

Happening this weekend:
In Whitefish-
Battle of the Bands in Depot Park - 3:00pm (Sat)
People helping people coexist with bears - 2:00pm at the Whitefish Central school auditorium. (Sat)

In Kalispell-
Farmers Market - 9:00am at the Kalispell Center Mall (Sat)

In Columbia Falls-
Arbor Day Celebration - 12:00 - Glacier Bank prking lot in Columbia Falls (Sat)


...and if bar scene isn't your scene, make sure to check out Glacier Adventure. We are the source for information in and around Glacier National Park.






See you at the (GOOOOONG!!!!!)








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What a weekend, what a show!!

What a weekend of Adventures we just had.

You'll be able to hear about all of them on Glacier Adventures with Jay & Hill at 10:00am MST on Whitefish Radio

Including, but not limited to, our trip to Eureka, MT for the Kickoff BBQ and concert for Rendezvous Days, then we'll talk to Robert Hanson of the Flathead County Dive team as they 'Clean the Fish'. We also talk to Dori Muehlhof from the Flathead Convention and Visitors Bureau, Leslie Kehoe from the Flathead Audubon was in studio to talk about upcoming birding trips in the valley, and of course the audio from our trip down to the taste of Bigfork which we probably could have made a show out of in itself. Pam and Barb from Farmhands were nice enough to sit down at our table last week at Wasabi in downtown Whitefish and talk to us about their fabulous program as we enjoyed sushi. And a last minute interview was Bill Lavelle who is a part of Bear Aware in the Flathead valley and they have a fantastic program sponsored by the Glacier National Park Fund coming up that we will be covering for next weeks show which is called "people helping people live with bears". It's happening at the Whitefish Middle School Auditorium on Saturday, May 3, 2008 from 2 pm to 5 pm. Whether you visit bear country or live in bear country, we encourage you to attend.

Our producer/editor Ross Strauser also talks about "Death by Chocolate" happening this weekend at the Conrad Mansion.... yep, we'll be there too.




See you on the trail.





.....and don't forget Glacier Adventure has all of you Glacier National Park and Flathead Valley information.




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Flathead Valley in a Nutshell

What another busy week here in the Flathead Valley. Spring skiing up at the Whitefish Mountain Resort on the Big Mountain. The Going To The Sun Road is open past McDonald Lake Lodge for cross country skiing and snowshoeing. With the warm weather here it shouldn't be long before they start the plowing of The Going To The Sun Road. I'll be sure to post links to the plowing pages when they begin. Thay have some amazing machines that move tons of snow.

After they get a bit of the road open they allow bikers and hikers to use it. This is a great time to get out because there is absolutely no automobile traffic. We are still waiting to find out when the moonlight bike ride will take place. You ride up the Going To The Sun Road, then you coast down it my moonlight and headlamp. It is amazing!!

We've got a great radio show coming up this weekend at 10:00am or anytime On Demand. We're going to talk to Jason Smith, search leader for Flathead County Search and Rescue. He'll talk to us about how to avoid becoming lost, what to do if you do become lost, and the essentials you should never hit the trail without.

We're also going to be talking to Jane Ratzlaff, the director of The Glacier National Park Fund. She will explain to us what the fund does and how you can help preserve Glacier National Park for our grandchildren's grandchildren.

The trail we take you to this week will be a combo trail. the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake trail. Two very popular trails that are right off the Going To the Sun Road with a fantastic water feature.

You'll also go live on location for the annual snow rodeo with Jay and Hill at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, MT.

Oh, ... I almost forgot, we spent the first half of St Patricks Day at local watering hole Casey's. From 8am through our corned beef and cabbage lunch, digital recorder and all.

The new park page is up at the site and it is looking pretty good. We have tons of hikes to add. Stay tuned!!

GlacierAdventures every Friday at 10:00am. Go to GlacierAdventure.com and click on the radio logo to listen as it airs, or anytime on demand at whitefishradio.com

see you on the trail!

-jay