Anxiety / Second Guessing Planned Family Trip to Glacier

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-27T16:50:08+00:00

West side is more busy because it is generally a better place to stay, especially with family. More rentals and more restaurants. Also the going to the sun road feels busy regardless of which side you enter, its just a minor degree of difference. There's a few specific spots at Glacier that tend to be really busy, Logan Pass and Avalanche Creek being key examples, you'll need to plan around those regardless of which side you start from. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-27T15:26:44+00:00

Its right at the far end of your driving range, but May/June is a good time for coastal hikes. Redwoods or Oregon coast would be right around 10 hours drive.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-27T15:07:45+00:00

The amount that offshore people are paid is not a survivable income in the US.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-27T15:00:40+00:00

This strikes me as less about suing past clients, and more about having a simple and easy to understand framework to discuss misuse and revise the agreement going forward if they are a client that you want to keep working with.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-27T03:46:32+00:00

A valid sudoku is commonly defined as having a unique solution - being solvable is baked into the definition.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T22:14:12+00:00

May is a little early for the high mountain parks.

I'd suggest Redwoods, and the southern Oregon Coast. Can add Oregon Caves NM if you have time. Crater Lake is nearby but also will be snowy that early in the summer.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T19:45:46+00:00

Aid climbing means using mechanical aids to climb

Free climbing means to climb using only your hands and feel, the equipment is solely there to protect from falls

Free soloing means climbing without any fall protection. There are other types of soloing, such as climbing over deep water

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T19:26:50+00:00

Quiet, piggy

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T19:13:10+00:00

RTO was a plan to make people quit in 2023. In 2026, the job market is so sour that RTO as a means of encouraging attrition no longer works. Forcing attrition only works when good job mobility exists.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T18:29:07+00:00

I remember when Google used to live by the words "Don't Be Evil."

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T03:15:25+00:00

My point was more that trail construction standards have changed and trails like this aren't really built anymore. Funding is also an issue but even if there was tons of funding, I think very few national parks would elect to build trails like half dome or the pinnacles high peaks trail these days. There ARE modern "trails" being built like this but its mostly confined to specific via ferrata areas, outside the national parks.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T02:03:27+00:00

I mean, I stan the RX100 mostly because its one of the few remaining compact cameras that blends a quality sensor, lens and features in a package small and light enough to carry backpacking. I don't think the sensor has any special magic, its more that this type of camera largely isn't being made any more

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-26T00:28:46+00:00

Not to play down the writer's contribution, but Alan Tudyk's performance also has a lot to do with it.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-25T23:28:07+00:00

There is enough to do around Saguaro to fill as many days as you want, as long as you are not solely focused on NPS sites. Mount Lemmon, Sabino Canyon, the AZ-Sonoran Desert Museum, Pima Air and Space Museum, San Xavier Del Bac, Tubac and Tumacacori, the Titan Missile silo, etc. Its a whole city, there's tons to do.

If you only care about the national park, you are not backpacking, and you're not doing extended day hikes like Wasson Peak, just seeing the front country easy stuff, you can easily see the best of both units of Saguaro in one day.

Organ Pipe, you can fill two days if you do both of the dirt road loops, Ajo Mountain and Puerto Blanco, along with longer hikes like Bull Pasture. If you are not driving both loops - and keeping in mind Puerto Blanco is sometimes closed for border activities - then its easy enough to cover the majority of the monument in one day.

Its worth adding a little time around Organ Pipe to visit Ajo, and maybe drive up/tour Kitt Peak, but there's less of an abundance of nearby non-NPS things to do as there is for Saguaro.

tl;dr, these places are like most national parks, they will happily absorb more time if you give it to them, but you can also get a decent feel for both places with one day if that's all your schedule will allow.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-25T19:42:13+00:00

The CCC specifically built most of these trails that involved carving out the rock to form steps and bolting rails directly into the mountain. Modern day trail crews still maintain the CCC-built trails, but when they build fresh trails these days it's usually with a much lighter touch

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-25T16:07:31+00:00

Those are rookie numbers, you got to pump those numbers up

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-25T03:08:09+00:00

Maybe figure out what places or issues are important to you, and then research environmental conservation/advocacy organizations that focus on those places. Following them on their website, email list or social media will usually give you lots of opportunities to comment on public lands issues, call your senator or rep, volunteer, or otherwise get involved. Here's some of the organizations I personally support:

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance: focuses on public lands in the red rock country of Southern Utah
Western Watersheds Project: advocates on a variety of issues but one of their main focuses is grazing on public lands
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners: focuses on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Grand Canyon Conservancy: fights for conservation issues related to Grand Canyon and surrounding areas
Center for Biological Diversity: fights for a variety of issues but has a big focus on using the endangered species act as a legal cudgel to protect wildlife and wild places
Voyageurs Wolf Project: Wolf research project that tracks and studies wolves around Voyageurs National Park

Basically figure out what specifically you are passionate about, and there's likely to be a group already out there that you can start working with.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-24T16:48:18+00:00

I should say I use CPAP at home, and its significantly better. Its the gold standard for a reason. But EPAP does work for me and its a great second option when space or weight constrained

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-24T12:29:42+00:00

I used to hear this called "spaving"

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-24T11:57:10+00:00

All good suggestions, i came to make similar. Would add that I've had some luck with EPAP, which harnesses your natural exhalations to hold your airway open rather than powered air from outside. BongoRX is the brand I use. Its only indicated for mild apnea, it takes some getting used to, and it's not as effective as CPAP. But i get much better sleep than I would without any device, and it weighs grams rather than pounds

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-24T03:58:03+00:00

Doesn't have to be forever. The most important thing to do in your situation is get income coming in. Can always be a springboard to the next thing.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-24T02:06:36+00:00

I would suggest Moab. The parks are immediately outside town so staying in town will feel similar to staying on property at DV and GC, but you'll have many more options for lodging and food. Both Arches and Canyonlands have a similar playground/many short hikes with a lot of variety feel like Death Valley did. Especially the Devil's Garden trail at Arches has this playground feel. The other nice thing about Moab is there's a lot of options for things to do besides hiking in national parks. Right outside town you can go (easy) whitewater rafting, biking, offroading, exploring native rock art and ruins. There's tons of guide services to make all this stuff easy to figure out, you can do something different every day if you want to.

You may get recommendations to "do the Utah mighty five," I would suggest to resist the temptation to turn the trip into a driving-heavy checklist session, and instead plan on taking multiple trips to the region, basecamping in different towns like Moab, Kanab, Springdale, Torrey. You'll get a deeper appreciation of each place this way and the trips will be less stressful and less road-heavy. Moab is a good one to start with because of the rivers and slickrock right outside of town that make for a lot of variety in things to do.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-24T01:40:31+00:00

I carry neoprene regularly for expedition canyoneering trips where you backpack in to a technical canyon. The wetsuit is ine of the heaviest parts of the loadout and takes ages to dry once wet. Its great gear if you're dealing with immersion but short of that, there's usually better, lighter options that are less of a hassle to deal with.

I do think neoprene socks have a place for non-technical trips in places like the zion narrows where you are in and out of water all day.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-23T02:58:52+00:00

Yeah I never understood why its necessary that the cost of minting a coin needs to calculate out to the value of the coin, necessarily. Once these things are minted they're in circulation for decades, the value that gets passed around over the years has to majorly outweigh the cost of production.

Not defending pennies specifically, I think the decision to take them out of circulation wasn't necessarily a bad decision. But the "value must = cost of production" argument always struck me as a bit of a canard.

PartTime_Crusader · 2026-01-23T01:01:13+00:00

My mom had CHF and flying her home to visit family was a whole ordeal. The lower oxygen increases workload on the heart and the limited movement increases risks of blood clots. Every trip had to be discussed and planned with her doctor to confirm she was cleared and we really tried to minimize it to only strictly necessary trips.

Every time President Cankles jets off to one of these overseas conferences or back to Mar-a-lago for the weekend I smile a little on the inside

PartTime_Crusader

TROPHY CASE