Friends are a good thing!

So, I've been trying to post over the last two weeks and it wouldn't upload the pictures I wanted it too! So today I kept trying picture until it let me load. Sorry for the delay. I'll be posting alot in the next week or so because I want to get CAUGHT up! Enjoy:

Over the 4th of July week my bestest friend Kirstin and her hubby Chris stopped in Red Lodge, MT and I got to visit them! Red Lodge is only about 4 1/2-5 hrs away. If you've never been there you must try to go, it's a wonderful place to visit at the north end of the Beartooth Pass. This is one of the most beautiful drives in the US and goes right into Yellowstone N.P. We camped just south of Red Lodge next to a creek, I think it was Rock Creek. I forgot my sleeping bag and realized it, luckily, before the stores closed so I got a nice flannel lined Coleman at the hardware store in town for $27! Reminded me of the sleeping bags we used as kids except this flannel was plaid and not covered with deer or ducks. (Remember, Dad?) We drove up to Hellroaring Plateau (at 10,000 ft) on this crazy road that tested the best of the nerves. I was not worried on the way up but the way down was a little more scary. It was hard to get pictures to show the steep grade. Then we hiked to some high alpine lakes climbing another 1000 ft. or so. Our day was mostly off trail, climbing over boulders, across alpine scrub grasses and tiny wildflower and across my first snow field! I tried not to step on too many little flowers with my big feet. The snowfield was unnerving for me but the snow was soft and sticky so you didn't slip, too much anyway! Chris did a lot of fly fishing and I tried it as well. Can't wait to get myself a pole now! It was such an amazing day, the sights are undescribable and the pictures only giv eyou a hint at the beauty! Here's the shots from the day:

Beautiful shot of the lupine and mountains from the trail:Friends on the trail: The trail UP! What can I say? (Sliderock Lake is below. now sure name of all the mountains) Kirstin on the snow field: It's a home run!: Fun with fish (in Hairpin Lake): This is a shot looking out the window as we drove down the "crazy" road. we were camped way down there in the trees somewhere. If you've ever heard of the Beartooth Highway that goes into Yellowstone from the NE corner the large cuts in the opposite mountain are the highway. Picture doesn't really tell the whole story of how high up we were and how steep the road was but you can get a little idea. Check back tomorrow for our hiking trip to Glacier Lake!

Morrell Falls and Mission Mountains Hike

So I know we talk about lots of hiking and camping and stuff like that. Hope you're not getting bored because we're not! Our day to day life would bore you to pieces so I've focused on the fun stuff we do! ;-) Just wanted to show a couple pictures from some hikes we sis the end of June. I went on the first hike with my friend Jennifer and her boys and Selma, the labradoodle. It was a pretty easy hike about 5 miles round trip. We hike to the falls then had lunch and played for a while then hiked back. A great way to spend a day off, wouldn't you say? Here's a picture of me infront of the falls. You can also see Jennifer way in the back catching some sun on a rock. The last weekend of June Erik and I set out to hike in the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness. It's controlled by the Salish Kootnai tribe. There are no signs and the roads to get the are rough. But this lends to a very nice hike well into the wilderness where you see very few people. We climbed about 1500 ft through the course of this hike. We crossed small streams and stopped by pretty lakes with lots of fish jumping. We hiked up to a pass and then off trail back down to the main trail. We also ran into SWARMS of mosquitoes. We stopped to put bug spray on and it didn't even help the critters we bitting us while we were spraying them. All in all and wonderful hike! Here's some photos:

The trail and the view:

This is Grey Wolf Peak through the trees:

This is where we had lunch. I am getting ready to hike again:

This is looking down on Buck Lake. We hiked right down this ridge off trail.
Close up of Buck Lake. Lots of fish jumping that day, wishing for a fly rod. The ridge in the background is the one we hiked down:This is Erik by a waterfall/creek that we crossed over. And finally some pretty daisies at the end of the trail. We also found tons of wild strawberries, nice dessert!On to hike another day! Don;t forget to come visit sometime if you can!

Happy Campers

As the weather really starts to heat up out here, Erik and I are all about getting outside into the mountains. Since our place is not air conditioned and the forests and mountains are the choice is simple really. Going back to June 22-24th this was one of our first weekend long trips. Just so you know we only had to drive 1 1/2 hrs to get here! (check out the pictures) So we left after work on a Friday and got the the campground on Howard Lake well before dark and we weren't hungrey for dinner either so we set out in the canoe to explore the lake a little bit. Once we were out on the lake we could see back to all the gorgeous Mission Mts in their snowcapped splendor. We didn't have the camera that evening but there will be pictures from the next day. So in the morning we got up to go on a hike to Howard Falls and then Erik was going to go off on his own depending on how my knee was feeling (got a small knee injury and have been to PT but it's coming right along as you'll see in a few posts). We could have trekked down the road to the trailhead but we thought how great it would be to canoe put of the trail. So we hopped in the canoe again and took off for the trail. The views in the AM were gorgeous.
Here's one shot of the mountains: Here's the canoers ;-):

We pulled in near the trail and tied the canoe up and headed for the Howard Lake Waterfalls. It was a great hike and nice to do in the morning since there were less people out on the trail and it was cooler. Here is the happy couple in front of the falls.

This view is of the tral with the lake below and the Mission Mts in the background. Breathtaking.

Here's another one from the lake trail:

So after we finished that trail we hike another trail that went higher up into the hills above the water fall. Here's a view from above:

After we had lunch and headed back down Erik decided he wanted to go on his own and climb a couple thousand feet to a ridge/pass that overlooed the whole area and looked down into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Here's some of his shots from the top:

Erik was at about 8,000 ft. It took him about 5 hours to to the climb. I paddled around in the lake and took a nap. You decide who had more fun! ;-)

7/16/07:As I write this we are in the longest heat wave Montana has ever seen. temp over 100 degrees for the last two weeks and the last five days ina row. Tomorrow it is the coolest day in the 7 day forecast of 94 degrees. We have no AC in our rental cuz, you usually don't need AC in the mountains of Montana. We also have no basement to retreat to. So I think I'll go the a movie tonight or something to get out of the heat. The only saving grace is that at night it does cool down into the 70's and that's just enough to make it confortable for about 1/2 the day. There are also forest fires burning out here, it's early in the season. Since Montana is less populated that the other areas of the US that are burning they usually let the forest fires burn unless they are encroachin on homes, etc. So our days are filled with haze. Don't let this trick you into thinking we don't like it out here. We love the mountains and the play areas....we just need to get through this heat wave! ;-)

Hiking Pals

I have been so excited to have a friend that I can go hiking with during the week when Erik is at work and I am not sleeping (from working night shift, not being lazy!). This summer Jennifer and I have been able to hike with her two boys also. On June 19th we did a hike in the Gash Creek Area. They had a big fire there in 2006 that was started by an arsonist who was convicted in both state and federal crimes. He started at least 20 fires that year that he admitted to! Crazy, huh! Well, we did realize we would be hiking exactly where the fire was. But instead of totally ruining our hike it actually made it more interesting and the views were wonderful. The land will heal itself and become lush once again. The hike was 5 miles rounds trip and we gained only 700 ft.

Here's a pic of the hiking crew:

Here's the trail through the burned forest.

Here's a view we would not have had if the forest was full:

Here's Glen Lake, the lake we hiked to:

I will say it was one of the dirtiest hikes I've done, with all the dust and ash around! I needed a double scrub down that night before bed.

More tomorrow!

Spring flowers and Visitors Cont.

Well, I back at it again. We've been camping or hiking during almost all of our free time. So I have a lot of updating to do. I'll try to catch up on some of it this week. Back to Erik's parents trip in June. One of the days I took them to Lolo Pass to see the beautiful Camas that bloom there in the spring. It looks like a lake from far off.

This is what the field looks like: (the picture doesn not do it justice)

Here's a close up:

Later the next weekend Erik and I went there so he could see the flowers since he was at work that day and we also got these shots of lupine:

Later in the day I also took Erik's parents to Garnet ghost town a fairly well preserved ghost town in the mountains near Missoula.

It was nice to have them visit us and see a little bit of Montana.

More adventures coming soon.....

Spring flowers and visitors

Erik and I have been BUSY! Between work hiking, camping, entertaining our first guests and normal chores I haven't had much time to sit down and blog. I guess I'm not the regular blogger who enters a new message every day! Sorry, my computer doesn't need to see me every day nor I it! The outdoors is calling (so is work and the husband!). I'm actually off to work tonight in a couple hours so this will be short. When Erik's parents were here early June we had an opportunity to hike with them in Glacier on the Avalanche Creek trail, a 2.5 mile roling trail that anyone could do. It ended at a gorgeous lake surrounded by high cliffs and waterfalls. It had a lot of foot traffic on it since it was at the farthest open point in the Going to the Sun Road. (still clearing snow from the very top.) We got to check out some bear prints that some people were very concerned about. So we went to investigate and they were NOT grizzly prints but black bear and they were not very fresh. Anyway it was a great hike.

We also took them to Lolo Pass, (to see the blue "lake" of blooming camas) Garnet Ghost town and on some bike rides around town. Here's one picture from the hike. I'll post more soon as I can. Enjoy!