Teton sunset

Jolie and I spend weekend at the barn in Driggs after Thanksiving. Took this shot about one minute after we pulled into Driggs - best light of the whole weekend on the Tetons.

Sex Peak Fire Lookout (really... thats its official name)

In september (I am late getting this on the blog) Jolie and I spent a couple of nights at the Sex Peak (its official name) fire lookout near Thompson Falls, MT. This is the view at night on a star-lit night. We spent a couple of days hiking in the area and enjoying sunrises and sunsets from this great spot.

Sunset with cabin behind us.

Inside the cabin and view to the north

Sunset from the cabin

Sunrise/moonset

One day we hike to Little St. Joe Peak - has a nice picnic area and memorial at the trailhead and climbs 3,000 feet in about 4 miles - near the top is wreckage and another memorial to several firefighters whose plan crashed into the mountain. This is Jolie and Polgara hiking among the colorful huckleberry bushes and beargrass

The top of little st. joe peak - much colder than the previous picture .. and windy!

Casey Peak in Summer?

Jolie and I hiked up Mt. Casey near Helena - it had rained a couple of inches over a few days before our hike so the normally crossable streams were a bit tougher. luckily we found this log.

The rain below was all snow at the summit - we were postholing into a foot of snow at the summit, but we made it!

Glacier Hiking

Jolie and I went up to Glacier for Labor Day weekend. We missed the snow storms but had a few showers and fog, but most of the time it was cool and nice. This is Sperry Chalet, one of the two backcountry cabins in the park. Over 3 days we hike 36 miles with 11,000 feet of elevation gain - man was I tired Monday night!

There were lots of mountain goats hanging out at Sperry Chalet - this little guy walked right past me

On our way to hiking Swiftcurretnt Peak we saw a black bear mama and cubs.  This is one of the cubs chewing on some Elderberries. 

Here is the mom, smiling (gas?) at us.

This is the view from Swiftcurrent Peak

We just missed getting to see the inside of the lookout tower by an hour - the lookout had finnished his summer at the lookout about an hour before we got to the lookout. It was windy and quite cold up top - would have been nice to warm up inside!

Our last hike was to Apgar Lookout. Lake McDonald in the background.

Backpacking the Wind Rivers

Jolie, Aidan and I visited the Wind River Range in west central Wyoming to backpack for 6 days. Here we are entering the wilderness. It was about this time that we realized there were going to be a lot of mosquitos in our future. Bug head nets were highly prized the rest of the trip. We hiked and camped at 10,000-11,000 for the entire trip.

 

The wildflowers were great - here are some lupine with Mt. Bonnevile and continental divide in background

 

Paintbrush on the trail

There were tons of lakes and small stream crossings, in some cases we were able to cross without wading. Here is jolie crossing a creek near our first camp.

 

Below the peaks is a lot of glacial moraine landforms that create many lakes mixed with grassy fields full of large granite and gneissic rocks. This is part of Dream Lake

On the second day we took a day hike up to Middle Fork Lake. Jolie standing on top of waterfall on Middle Fork Creek

Middle Fork Lake

Jolie and Aidan on the third day heading to camp near Pipestone Lakes

This is the view from our second camp between Pipestonee Lakes and Prue Lake. It got cloudy with some rain while we stayed here for two nights - this picture doesnt do the view justice.  Most beautiful camp spot I have ever had in the mountains.

Polgara looking a little damp from a morning of rain.  She carried her own food (thank god!!) and was attacked pretty bad by the mosquitos too.  She had some sores and raw spots but she was a trooper - by the 5th day she would quickly lay down in the trail if we stopped walking for any length of time.  She slept like a log for two days after the trip

Jolie and Aidan on our way up Europe Canyon to the continental divide at 11,600 feet - our destination this day is the saddle to the right of Jolie.  Note the dark clouds - they didnt let loose until Aidan and Jolie were near the top of the saddle. I stayed below the saddle and watched those two climb it in  pounding rain and hail.

A  short while after getting to the top the weather cleare up - view looking down valley

Our camp near Pipestone Lakes is located on the left side of this picture in the rocky plateau

Our last night we stayed at Dream Lake - this is a silhouetter of the continental divide

Lounging at Dream Lake - bug nets mandatory

Sunset on Mount Boneville from Dream Lake. 6 days and 59 miles of backpacking and day hikes - a fantastic trip!!!

 

Glacier and Iceberg Lake in July

 

Me and Ma went up to Glacier for a weekend in July. We hiked up to Iceberg Lake - got an early start on a beautfiul day to beat the crowds up to the lake



Even in late July, Iceberg Lake lived up to its name!

 

This is a shot of the lake from lake level using Ma's panoramic function on her camera

 

Selfie

 

We stayed at the Swiftcurrent Lodge, so were able to get out in the evening to look for wildlife - saw this big guy at Fisher Cap Lake

another view of him


Saw these cute Mountain Goats above Logan Pass

Another view of them

Float down Middle Fork Salmon River

Jolie, myself, Scott, Janice and Connie (and Hank) floated the middle fork of the salmon river - 7 days, 100 miles and 100 named rapids. 6 of the the 7 days were just like this picture - beautiful warm calm weather.  This shot is about 800 feet above the river below on Pungo Mountain Hill (above Upper Marble camp) - it was so hot at 5 pm that me and Jolie stopped about 200 feet below the top

Hank was a great river dog despite his habit of having dirty drool hanging from his mouth and falling asleep on his face (sorry, no picture of that second habit)

Scott and Janice running Marble rapid - despite Janice's scared look she is still holding on to Hank

Connie runnig Marble rapid

We were the first group at Sunflower hot springs on the third morning. Hot pools above this spot where folks have put in a carved out log to make the best hot shower I have ever enjoyed.

Jolie got to row some days to give me a rest, she improved her rowing skills dramatically during the trip - time to find her a sport cat of her own!!!

This is a few miles below Big Loon Creek where there is an underwater canyon in the river and pictographs near this shot. Is it my imagination or do these three characters (janice, scott, connie .. and hank) look like they belong in an old west movie?

Unlucky critter

Jolie sitting above the underwater canyon



Scott tried to snorkel and take a video of the underwater canyon, evidently snorkels dont work well when they have a big hole in the bottom - Scott found out the hard way!! Hank had no problem though

                                                                   
                                                      video of connie, scott and janice runing Tappan Falls

At our fourth camp, Funston, we saw a family of river otters in the river and then they got up on a rock across the river to check out the humans

From a lunch spot at Little Pine camp, we hiked up to get this view upstream

Janice sleeping off a good lunch at Little Pine camp

Veil Falls - we got there a little early in the day for the cold falls to feel too good, but is still an awesome feature on the river

just another beautful day on the river

At our last camp at Solitude (beautiful beach camp). Not sure what jolie is laughing at, but she is talking to Connie so anything is possible .......

.... perhaps it was her memory of Connies new invention -- a shoecoozie (only used when someone forgets their beer coozie and has to improvise with a neoprene boot)



Not sure why Scott is so happy, perhaps because it was my birthday celebration night, or maybe because there was a chocolate cake cooking in the dutch oven ..... hmmmmm I am guessing the former.



the dirty half dozen after a week on the river

Jolie and I near the underwater canyon

the best hot spring for a long soak at a good temperature is Loon Hot Springs. We camped a mile below it at Cow Camp and got up in the morning, made our coffe and had coffee in the hot springs - early enough in the morning that we were the only group in the tub!!!

Scott, Janice and Hank going through Cramer rapid

Eric going through Cramer rapid (thanks Jolie for taking pictures!!)

Connie going through Cramer rapid