Dan and Hannah Hike at the Reversing Falls Preserve, Pembroke, Maine (June 2025)

(Author’s note – With recent blogs of our summer trips to South Dakota and Wyoming and then to the northern Rockies taking priority, I am now posting new blogs from the late spring of 2025 that have been in the hopper.) (You might wonder what a hopper is exactly. Thought you’d never ask! It’s a container that holds material and releases it in a controlled way.) (I imagine that you can’t thank me enough.)

Down East Maine is a long, long way from our home in York, Maine, like 300 long miles away. A good bit of our morning has been spent on two-lane backroads. But, heroes that we are, Hannah and I are on a mission to complete all twenty-eight destinations of the Great Maine Scavenger Hunt by September 15, 2025.

You might be wondering why Downeast Maine is called Downeast Maine. Fret not, for I am here to save the day. In the 1800s sailing shops going from the United States to Europe were traveling “downwind” and to the “east.” With prevailing winds at their backs, sailors said they were heading “down east.” Today, Downeast is generally referred to as being the Maine coast from Bar Harbor to the Canadian border.

Now there are some time-sensitive elements to this scavenger hunt. For example, we must arrive at noon in Ogunquit to see the Grand Ascension at the Festival of Kites on September 6. No ifs, ands, or cigarette butts! We gotta be there that day and that time. Similarly, the Rhubarb Festival in Perry, a pint-size town near the Canadian border, has to be visited on June 7, the day of the festival. That’s today!

With rain in the forecast for this June 7, we have no choice but to get up and go to the Rhubarb Festival. Fortunately, like winners at the track, we will hit a scavenger trifecta this Saturday. This morning we’ve already been to Frog Rock (click here for that blog). A little after the noon hour, we drive further east to Route One where we’ll claim the second of our three scavenger destinations -the Reversing Falls Preserve.

Since this will be a one-day road trip of 600 miles in my 2016 Toyota Prius, we are thrilled, nay ecstatic, that we have some trail time to these coastline falls. Let me take you to Pembroke, Maine, a stone’s throw from Au Canada. Of course, it would take Shohei Ohtani to reach the Canadian border.

Basically, reversing falls are a natural phenomenon where tidal currents are so strong that they cause a river to reverse its flow direction temporarily. This typically happens in coastal areas where a river meets the ocean or bay and the tidal forces are extreme (Thank you, ChatGPT).

From the trailhead we head down to Denny’s Bay.

Denny’s Bay. The Reversing Falls are to the left out of sight on this early June mid-day.

Low tide by the dock of the bay sans dock and sans Otis Redding

This bobcat is loose on the puncheons to the Reversing Falls overlook. Dig those crazy legs!

Hannah at the Reversing Falls in Pembroke, Maine

Another view of the Reversing Falls

Dan’s Wednesday Quote of the Week #241 (November 26, 2025)

There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct.

There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living.

These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.

Hannah Senesh, 1921-1944

Hannah was a Hungarian-born poet, playwright, and resistance operative trained by the British Special Forces. In 1944, she was one of 37 Jewish volunteers who parachuted into occupied Europe to support Allied efforts and help rescue Jews facing deportation. After crossing into Hungary from Yugoslavia, she was captured by Hungarian gendarmes, imprisoned, and tortured but refused to reveal mission details. She was later tried for treason by a court under the fascist regime and executed in Budapest. She is remembered in Israel as a national heroine. 

Our Hannah sends this quote with sympathy cards to people who have suffered a loss; for example, recently to our sister-in-law Becky Kraai whose guy, Derek Harrison, died at the age 83.

Dan’s Images #234 – Hannah’s Haul from the 2025 Great Maine Scavenger Hunt

Down East Magazine made promises to anyone who could complete all twenty-eight 2025 Great Maine Scavenger Hunt destinations. Well, my friends, it seems thirty-eight couples/individuals, including one Hannah Banana and her traveling hubby, did just that! Prizes for the winners included:

Down East 2026 calendario!

All thirty-eight winners were pictured in the December issue of Down East Magazine.

Look closely at the lower left on page 24 of the December issue of Down East Magazine. It’s your one and only Hannah at Ogunquit Beach for the Festival of Kites.

The close-up of the previous page.

Down East indeed spelled her name correctly and nailed her hometown.

A classy matted collage highlights nineteen of Hannah’s twenty-eight destinations.

We are so ready for 2026 Great Maine Scavenger Hunt!

Dan’s Wednesday Quote of the Week #240 (November 19, 2025)

Live in the present. Do the things that need to be done. Do all the good you can each day. The future will unfold.

Peace Pilgrim, 1908 – 1981

Born Mildred Lisette Norman, Peace Pilgrim was an American spiritual teacher and peace activist. In 1952, she became the first woman to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one season. Starting on January 1, 1953, in Pasadena, California (perhaps the inspiration for Jan and Dean’s “Little Old Lady from Pasadena” hit song), she adopted the name “Peace Pilgrim” and walked across the United States for 28 years, speaking with others about peace. She was on her seventh cross-country journey when she died.

Dan and Hannah Hit Waterfalls Gold at the St. Mary and Virginia Falls, Glacier National Park, Montana (2025)

It’s our last day of hiking in Glacier National Park. Be advised my friends that one needs a timed reservation to travel across the national park on the trans-park Going-to-the-Sun Road between 9 AM and 3 PM. Ergo, arriving from our VRBO in Columbia Falls at the Going-to-the-Sun checkpoint a little before 9 AM near Apgar (see below), we have 15 to 25 mph “slow boat to China” traffic as we cross from west to east.

Taking the serpentine Going-to-the-Sun Road to the Jackson Glacier Overlook (center right on the above map) with storm clouds above, we have the first signs of any rain during our eight summer days in the northern Rockies. Good summer weather in the Mountain West is the story of our lives.

In the distance behind Owen and Molly is the miniscule remains of the Jackson Glacier. It’s the only glacier that we’ll see over our four days in Glacier National Park. The ranger tells us that even when all the glaciers melt, the park will still be appropriately named “Glacier National Park” since glaciers scoured this landscape to make it what it is today.

Most of the fam with the Jackson Glacier in the background

Hannah at the start of the trail with rain acoming! Those storm clouds do not dissuade the lass from Maine!

Arriving in light mist, we have the double-decker 35′ St. Mary Falls for our waterfall pleasure.

The entire family at St. Mary Falls, which is fueled by snowmelt

Due to glacial sediments, the pool at the bottom of the St. Mary Falls shines turquoise.

The trail from the St. Mary Falls towards the Virginia Falls takes us through a wildfire stick forest, burned in the 2015 Reynolds Creek Fire

We have bonus falls on the trail to the Main Event – the Virginia Falls

The multi-teared 50′ Virginia Falls in mid-August lies nearly two miles from the trailhead on the Going-to-the-Sun Road

The Rawding/Rothermel Family at 4,725′ elevation at the Virginia Falls. ChatGPT can find no source of the name “Virginia Falls,” be it a person, place, or state.

The following afternoon, we learn it is true that Delta is ready when you are. Always one to get an aisle seat so I can stretch my legs, I am that annoying passenger who walks the aisle repeatedly throughout the flight. I say “it’s my sciatica,” if asked. I’m 77! Take a breath!

Two weeks later, the three playful Rawdings begin another school year. Max in red ready to begin sixth grade, Owen now a seventh grader, and Molly beginning her 25th year as a public school teacher.

Dan’s Wednesday Quote of the Week #239 (November 12, 2025)

The most precious inheritance parents can leave their children is their own happiness.

Thich Nhat Hanh, 1926 -2022

Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, poet and teacher, Known as the “father of mindfulness,” he was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism.

Dan and Hannah Hike to the Running Eagle Falls, Glacier National Park in Montana (2025)

Whenever Hannah and I travel, I find that if it is a 70F day, I start thinking, You know, I think I could live here. Of course, 70F days don’t happen all the time anywhere, even in Santa Barbara. (I do have to admit SB is damn close.)

Along with Molly’s family, Hannah and I have had such a brilliant stretch of soul-warming 70F days. First, earlier in the week in West Yellowstone, Montana at the Gateway to Yellowstone National Park. And now again, the weather has been spectacular during our three days in Columbia Falls, Montana, the front door to Glacier National Park.

Almost always, when traveling with Molly’s family, I’m the first to awake. I take my “quiet time” to brew a cuppa joe, toast a biscuit, play Wordle on my iPhone 12, then walk into town. If the stars align and the weather comfortably cool, I wonder what it’s like to live here year round. I know, I know that northern Montana might have a tad more snow and colder winter temps than our coastal Maine! But a guy can dream, can’t he! I hear a voice, Danny Boy, you don’t even spend winters in Maine. You, my friend, are the definition of soft.

Later during each of our three days in Columbia Falls, when our hiking day is done, some or all of us walk into town here in the far western part of the Mountain Time Zone; the dark of night this mid-August still comes after 9 PM.

Main Street, Columbia Falls, Montana (From left to right, Max, Owen, Molly, Tip, and yours truly. Hannah is at a thrift store!)

Our VRBO three-bedroom, two-bath home has been renovated spectacularly for travelers.

Each evening, we take our groceries and make them into a magic meal. While Owen and Max and their grandpa participate in meal prep, clearly, the evening chefs, Molly, Tip, and Hannah, lead the way.

The wallpaper in the queen room where Hannah and I bed down.

On our penultimate day out West, after hiking to the Rockwell Falls in Two Medicine (Click here for that blog), we have one more waterfall begging for us to visit. Only three-tenths of a mile from the trailhead, it’s tres populaire. Mellow from nine miles on the trail, I suck it up to hike to the falls dedicated to Running Eagle, a valiant woman among warrior men.

The waterfall is named for Running Eagle, a female warrior leader of the Blackfeet Nation in the early 1700s; she experienced a four-day vision quest in the mountains high above the falls. Running Eagle led war parties on many highly successful raids, and was the only woman in the Blackfeet tribe ever to do so, or to be given a man’s name.

Both in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks bear warnings are in the frontal lobes of park rangers. Bears typically hibernate from November through March. During these months they do not eat, drink, or be merry. Needless to say, they are hungry as spring approaches. In summer months, when we visited, they munch on flowering plants, roots, grasses, and berries. Fall, when bears are fattening up for winter, is the time bears are looking for human sources of food. (Clearly, I did not take the next two pictures!)

Differentiating between black and grizzly, bears, black bears have no shoulder hump, taller ears, and are dark in color. Adults have no natural predators though cubs are sometimes killed by mountain lions, wolves and other bears. They are speedy, dashing at 30 mph when circumstances warrant. In the wild, black bears are mostly solitary, get-off-my-lawn animals, spending their time eating, resting, and avoiding other bears. They eat over 10,000 berries per day.

Grizzlies have a large shoulder hump, shorter rounded ears, and are light in color. They dwell in forests, alpine meadows, prairies, and around rivers. Their top speed is also 30 mph. They are apex predators, meaning they are on top of the food chain. Their claws are as long human fingers (i.e. four inches).

But today and every day that we have been in Wyoming/Montana this August we have seen zero bears. The null set. Perhaps, they are watching us. But, without further ado, let me take you to Running Eagle Falls.

Just 3/10 of a mile from trailhead parking lie Running Eagle Falls.

Owen and Molly in the shallows. Lady Gaga would be so proud!

The Family Rawding chilling at the falls

The Running Eagle Falls is also known as the “Trick Falls”, because there are actually two separate waterfalls at this location. During the spring run-off, water rushes over the top ledge, creating a 40-foot drop, while completely or partially obscuring the lower falls.

However, as the volume of water decreases by late summer, and the upper falls “dries up.” Water continues to rush through a sink hole at the top of the cliff before flowing out of an opening in the cliff face below, thus creating the lower 20-foot falls.

Tomorrow is our last day in Glacier National Park. Not surprisingly, we will visit more spectacular falls in the eastern section of the park.

Dan’s Image #233 – Autumn in New England (November 6, 2025)

Thanks, Rosemary!

Dan’s Wednesday Quote of the Week #238 (November 5, 2025)

True wealth is not measured in money or status or power. It is measured in the legacy we leave behind for those we love and those we inspire.

Cesar Chavez, 1927 – 1993

An American labor leader and civil rights activist. Ideologically, his worldview combined left-wing politics with Catholic social teachings. Born in Yuma, Arizona into a Mexican-American family, he began his working life as a manual laborer before spending two years in the US Navy.

Dan and Hannah Hike to the Rockwell Falls in the Two Medicine Area of Glacier National Park, Montana (2025)

Thanks to Molly and Tip’s adventurous spirit, Hannah and I are treated to an out-of-the-way corner of Glacier National Park. Though it’s a 90-minute drive from our VRBO house in Columbia Falls to the Two Medicine Area in the southeast corner of Glacier, we are like miners in California in 1849 – we hit gold. I think you will agree!

We take Route Two east from Columbia Falls and follow the Middle Fork of the Flathead River south. Still on Route Two we travel the southern edge of the park to Route 49 which takes us north into the park at Two Medicine.

Two Medicine gets its name from the Blackfeet Indians. Each year, the clan seer held a vision quest to determine where the tribe should build its ceremonial medicine lodge. One year, two seers from separate clans had visions of the same place which became known as Two Medicine Lodge. Later they shortened it to Two Medicine.

https://nationalparkswitht.com/2023/02/14/glacier-national-park-two-medicine-lake-2/

It’s a brisk upper 30s mid-August morning as we look to 9513′ Rising Wolf Mountain across Two Medicine Lake.

While Molly’s family takes a boat ride around the lake, Hannah and I climb to the Apostocki Falls.

Apostocki Falls

Once back from the lake, Molly’s family is ready to join us on the trail to Rockwell Falls. Little did we know that we would encounter such a larger than life surprise. (That’s called a tease in the business.) Enjoy the journey.

We’ll take the 3.3-mile trail to Rockwell Falls. On our return we’ll take the spur to the Aster Park Falls to give us seven miles of hiking here in the northern Rockies.

We’ll start from the South Shore Trailhead (upper right of the map) on our way to the Rockwell Falls (map center).

Though it’s chilly Willy this August morning, we six are raring to go on this our seventh day of hiking in the northern Rockies. Who has it better than us? Nooo-body!

Molly and Tip as the trail begins.

Tip delivers as designated photobomber

Always dramatic, Hannah waits her turn to cross the creek on the cabled plank bridge.

The mountain creek beneath the cabled bridge.

Hiking further inland, this bull moose pays us no mind just 30′ away.

Owen arrives first at the Rockwell Falls.

This morning’s Holy Grail does not disappoint.

Max and Owen humor their grandfather one more time posing for a picture at Rockwell Falls.

Dan and his Best Girl loving the Great Outdoor Life at Rockwell Falls

Returning to the trailhead, we take a third of a mile spur to the Aster Park Falls.

After a seven-plus-mile-hike, we are not done. No indeed! The Running Eagle Falls awaits (next week’s blog).