There's a critter in Glacier that's proving critical to the health of aspens in Glacier National Park. Can you guess what it is?

Read about it in the next edition.

Also ... the colors in Glacier are at their peak on the east side, but the west side should peak late this week or next...

The idea behind this photo was to get out on that rock just to the left. But the self timer of the M9 goes to 12 seconds and I needed about two seconds more. After several tries, I gave up. I've always been slow and clumsy, and I'm not getting any faster, believe me.

This past week I did an extended version of the Dawson-Pitamakan Trail, dropping into the Cut Bank drainage and then back out again. It rained every day except one. I was in my tent and things got quiet and I thought, "Cool, it stopped raining." It was dark and when I opened the tent flap a pile of snow fell in. The rain had changed to snow in the night. I was supposed to spend a couple more nights in the field, but decided to bag it, trudging up and over Pitamakan Pass with about 100 feet of visibility and 8 inches of snow. By the grace of God I managed to stay on the trail (for the most part). This is the view of Old Man Lake from about 200 feet above. Despite the drudgery it was quite beautiful. More on this hike in an upcoming issue.

So I was out in the field with noted author and wolf researcher Cristina Eisenberg yesterday when we spotted this coyote. He was a good 100 yards away at first, but slowly he worked his way toward us and came close enough to give us this smirk. Coyotes in Glacier are interesting creatures. Outside the Park they're heavily hunted and most run at the sight of people. Most inside the Park run as well, but every once in awhile you'll get a young one that will come right up to you.

Sorry, I never pass up a chipmunk. In a couple of minutes, they always seem to do something cool.

Glacier has some of the best night skies in the Lower 48. Even without the moon, I was able to walk around camp by the light of the stars. This was taken by setting the camera on top of my tent at 1:30 a.m. at the "bulb" setting at ISO 800. Leica M9, 21 elmarit. even so, I was still a stop underexposed.

I did a hike into an obscure and nearly forgotten burn the other day called the Sharon Fire. It wasn't very far, maybe a couple of miles, but I got soaked (it rained, hard). After the hike I decided to drive to Bowman Lake and the skies partially cleared at dusk with a nice alpenglow. It was cold, maybe mid-40s and the lake was all but deserted except for me. The lack of people was a highly unusual event for August in Glacier. Normally the shoreline is a busy place.