Mountain Goat

Jolie saw this gal on a hike up trout crekk near helena. I have hike up there 20 plus times - first mountain goat I have seen

Red Lodge trip

Joan and Sandy came out for a visit - we took a trip to Red Lodge for several days. On the way there we drove through Yellowstone national park (didnt see any critters), and then on the beartooth highway. This is a stop at a water fall and old bridge.

View of beartooth lake along the Beartooth hwy

Top of the beartooth highway at 11,000 feet. It was just a litle windy

Red Lodge is overrun by turkeys (not just tourists), here are a few we saw in town

Colorful rocks in Rock Creek that runs through Red Lodge

The group did a hike up the West Fork Rock Creek - started out threatening rain, but turned into a nice day.

A view up the canyon we hiked

Ma spotted this moose on our way to the hike, but we couldnt get a good picture of him. After me and Sandy did a second hike we saw him with his two girls - he was trying to get fresh with one of them and we saw him chase her around for a bit before he gave up - you can see the frustration in his eyes.

Ma has decided to take up a new hobby in addition to quilting - a local hotel held the first meeting of the Hells Angels quilting club.

Teton backpack

Jolie and I did a 5 day backpack along the Teton Crest Trail from Moose Creek to south fork teton campground. This is the first day in Moose Creek Meadow. We had great weather and great campsites.

Sunrise from our first camp along Moose Creek

Second camp near Fox Creek Pass - smoke from Oregon and Washington fires created the hazy background in front of the Grand Teton.

Our 3rd and 4th nights was spend at Basin Lakes - we had a great secluded campsite away from the numerous groups that camped in this area. This is view of Buck Mountain at sunset

Sunset over the "Wedge" from our campsite

Sunrise over Mirror Lake - really that is the name of the lake - wonder why?

We did a day hike over Hurricane Pass into Grand Teton National Park. This is Schoolroom glacier and the meltwater pool from the glacier.

View of the Grand, Middle and South Teton, with the Schoolroom glacier meltwater lake in foreground.

Best wildflowers we saw all trip below Hurricane Pass

Our last lunch on a beautiful granite outcrop looking towards the Wedge and Devils staircase

Glacier Trip

Jolie and I spent a long weekend in Glacier. We had planned to do a 20 mile one-way hike over Gunsight Pass and Lake Ellen Wilson both shown in this picture, but fires scuttled that plan. Instead we hike up to this view point but turned around here. Definately one of the most scenic spots i have been to in the park. We did four long hikes on 4 hot days, 3 of the hkes were up to active and inactive lookouts 

proof that we made it to the lake overlook

View of Lake McDonald from Mt. Brown Lookout - a 3,000 foot climb from the valley

This is the start of our hike up to Loneman lookout. We had to ford the middle fork Flathead River, fortunately it was at historic low flows. Part of the trail was in a burn area, which made a 90 degree day very hot comming down. At the top the lookout was manned - the lookout said it was his fifth summer at the lookout and this day was the first time he had more than one group of hikers at the lookout - he had three groups this day which was fortunate for him since his food supply was delayed and he was bumming food from all the hikers!



The view into the park from Loneman lookout. Smoke was actually from fires in Oregon and Washington.

The third lookout was Huckleberry Lookout on the west side of the park. This is a panoramic view into the center of the park - an amazing view of continental divide that runs through the park. We picked and ate a lot of huckleberries on this hike.

On our way home, we kayaked Lindbergh lake and did a short hike in the mission wilderness.

Trask Lakes backpack

Jolie and I backpacked for 4 th July weekend near Deer Lodge - This is view from our campsite of Elbow Lake - didnt see anybody up here for 3 days.

Our 4th of July celebration

Sunset over Elbow Lake

Monkey Flowers

Jolie at Racetrack Pass - we hiked up to Racetrack Peak which is behind the peak in the picture -peak was fogged in before and immediately after we got to the top, but we got lucky and had this clear window

Elbow Lake at sunrise