This and That

Morton J. Elrod, who wrote the park’s NPS-approved hiking handbook called Elrod’s Guide and Book of Information of Glacier National Park described the Garden of Heaven as follows:

“The open narrow valley along Cataract creek for perhaps two miles below Morning Eagle Falls, beginning where the trail comes out into the open, is a very beautiful flower garden in July and August. At the foot of the towering Garden Wall, flanked on all sides but one by protective mountains, the writer has called it and wishes others might call it, ‘The Garden of Heaven.’ By wandering away from the trail and examining the mossy banks of the meandering streams, the fully beauty of the wonderful garden will be understood.”

Elrod’s guide was published in 1924 and revised in 1930. Unfortunately, the name for this valley on the trail to Piegan Pass didn’t make it into park naturalist George C. Ruhle’s Guide to Glacier National Park when it replaced the Elrod guide as the official park trail handbook in 1949.

Instrumental in forming the park’s ranger naturalist program, Elrod and Ruhle worked together. So, it’s probable that Ruhle was well aware of Elrod’s name for the valley. In fact, much of the information in the Ruhle guidebook–which went through three editions–closely approximated Elrod’s facts and descriptions.

I have found no other park reference to the Garden of Heaven other than in Jack Holterman’s encyclopedic 1985 Place Names of Glacier/Waterton National Parks, on which I worked as an editorial assistant at the Glacier Natural History Association. I have never found the name on a map or mentioned in any other park trail guide.

Elrod’s description is apt. The trail above Lake Josephine between Mt. Gould and Mt. Allen is a wonderful spot. The falls itself is a little over five miles from Many Glacier Hotel. Hikers can “cheat” on the walk by taking the Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine launches. 

I have always liked that name and wondered why it never became formalized on park maps and in park trail guides.

"I highly recommend The Sun Singer to those who seek to understand their own magical natures." --Nora Caron, A Journey to the Heart

All those book promo superlatives!

I enjoy reading through the ads and blurbs in the Baker&Talor book catalogue to find new titles for my TBR list and check in on what's happening in the world of copywriter superlatives.

As a reader, I need more an more superlatives every month because they are like cocaine. It used to be that the words "an enjoyable novel" got me to plunk down my money. Then, I became numb to that, and needed to see "a blazing and enjoyable novel." Soon, the word "novel" was forgotten altogether, and everything became "a read."

A gut-ripping read. A jaw-dropping read. A fast-paced read. A blood-curdling read.

In the February catalogue, there are enough superlatives in the full-paged ad for Delirious that I'm now delirious from the blurbs alone:

blistering
fast-paced
edge of sanity
mind-bending
great thriller
high-speed thrill ride
electrifying ride
non-stop suspense
fiendishly clever
techno savvy

If the novel delivers, then what? I'm going to be damaged goods until I can score a new book and that promises an even greater high. My mind will be bent as I try to cope with the withdrawal and the drain on my income and the inevitable fast-paced ride to the rehab center where I won't be allowd to escape until I can stand up in front of a group of people and admit that I was an addict out for a high-speed thrill ride.

Brothers and sisters, I will say meekly, one adjective leads to two, and two lead two four, and pretty soon you can't get enough no matter how fiendishly clever you think you are. Learn from those of us who have gone to Delirious and back and have lived to tell the tale. Think about your families and your self-esteem and what your brains look like when they're on adjectives.

Let us pray it's not too late.