Hiking in Glacier

Jolie and I tried to get a backpacking permit in Glacier NP, but they are very competitive so instead we spend 5 days doing day hikes. Our first night we sat on the shore of Lake McDonald and watched the moon rise over the mountains.

We hiked up to Huckleberry Lookout - one of the best views of the park wasnt too good this day due to smoke.  But it lived up to its name, we picked half a gallon of huckleberries in less than an hour (we could have had a gallon if I hadn't eaten so many). Already had some in pancakes - more still in the freezer.

An early morning ride over Going to the Sun Road got us this picture of Logan Pass and Mt Oberlin.

Instead backpacking over gunsight pass we did a out and back 18.4 mile hike to it (or as I like to call it, a death march). This is a view of fireweed, and Gunsight Lake.

At Gunsight Pass there were several Mtn goats hanging around - they dont mind being around humans which makes for easy pictures of them.

View into Gunsight lake (and our boots) from Gunsight Pass

Like I said, the goats are very photogenic

A small waterfall on Reynolds Creek. I only took this picture because I need an excuse to rest with about a mile left in the hike, but it turned out pretty good.

We saw this colorful guy (a Cedar Waxwing) on Marion Lake, a short day hike just outside the parks southern border.

Pipestone Biking

Jolie and I spent a few days near Butte biking/hiking the fantastic trails around Pipestone Pass. We biked an epic (well epic for us) 20.4 mile/2,700 foot elevation gain trail along the continental divide - talk about exhausted afterwards. The crazy thing is that the day before we rode it, they held one of the toughest mountain bike races in the country here - the Butte 100 - those guys rode 100 miles in this area (including this trail) with 16,000 feet of elevation gain ... inhuman .... winner took over 10 hours to complete.

Over halfway through our ride we stopped for lunch, Jolie was exhausted from riding and took a hard nap due to all that hard biking. Hmmmmm ... maybe that can of Lime-a-Rita (8% alcohol content) had something to do with the nap ????... just saying.

Canyon Creek Trip

Jolie, me and Polgara (not in the picture) spent 4 days in Canyon Creek (in the Pioneer Mtns near Dillon, MT) hiking and enjoying this cabin with a bunch of mice (we trapped four of them, but suspect there were more)

One night we got a great sunset as a storm passed over at just the right time ....

.... storm ....

more storm...

Last storm picture

These are some of the 20 plus charcoal kilns near the cabin. Way back when they clear cut the hillsides around here for wood to then pile up in these structures to make charcoal (the process is to burn the wood in a low oxygen environment over a 2-3 week period). The charcoal was used elsewhere for smelting metals (charcoal burns hotter than wood and thus was needed for the smelting process)

Jolie and Polgara on our way to Crescent Lake and the unammed pass and peak above it.

The view from the pass back into Crescent Lake and Lake Abundance in the distance.

Flowers were beautiful the whole way up, here are some bright paintbrush just below the pass.

At Lion Lake, another gorgeous lake in this area. We had to leave Polgara back at the cabin this day - she is getting too old for back to back long hikes.

That isnt a cinammon bun! On our last hike we did take Polgara and she walked right past this guy/gal? who took offense and was rattling and ready to strike. By the time I took this picture it had already calmed down - I was smart enough not to get to close for a better picture (age has its adavantages).