What Goes On

Floating the river has been a solid option of late. Went down the Madison last weekend and yesterday afternoon actually, really warm temperatures make the float a good time. Going yesterday was fairly impromptu, however, and plans kinda just got thrown together for it. My tube was all but flat by the end of the float, and i mostly swam the last stretch of river. Last weekends float was good times, and solid prep work makes a float much more enjoyable, instead of running out of beverages half way- or a leaky tube for that matter. Oh- and I dont know anyone from the above shot (well i might but i doubt it), but its definetly the same river, similar tubes.....

Dowhnill Mountain Biking is really what's been up lately though. Both these shots are from Kit's first day riding, that grassy field is in Keyhole and the bridge is in Yogi's. Big Sky's been running the Historic Gondola this year, and its been working well for the most part. I trashed my bike last time out, and bent the hell out of my derailleur and snapped a spoke on Buffalo Jump. So I've been outta the game for a little bit. It seeems a bit cooler today though, so I may go this afternoon.

This weekend the plan is shaping up to be floating down river again and some cliff lake camping (below-from last summer) Should be good times if we can all the prep work in order before hand. When it comes down to it it's all about the solid prep work, or you end up thinking about all the things you'd do different the next time.

That's it from this end....

Bear Basin Hike

Off the North Fork trailhead in Big Sky lies Bear Basin, a hike that connects other hikes in Gallatin Canyon to Big Sky. I had been interested in hiking across the canyon through the mountains since I came out here, and Bear Basin looked to be the connection. I admit though, yesterdays aim was Wilson Peak, and not Bear Basin, I just went the wrong way and, well, kept going....Above: The Sphinx in the distance to the south.

This is coming into Bear Basin. I had vague ideas of distance coming into there, but the entire time I was underestimating how far I'd gone. This is close to 10 miles in I would say now in hindsight, when I first started coming into the Basin, with cliffs surrounding me and open grassy meadows. The Basin itself (which i contemplated swimming in) wasn't even worth going much closer to- very small....

I stopped and took a photo of this chute because I marvelled at riding it in the late winter when it had more snow on it.

These are the backsides of the spanish peaks, to be somewhat vague about it since i really am not exactly sure which peaks were which names. I knew i was behind Beehive, and somewhat close to Summit Lake, but how close I couldnt tell while up there. At this point I was so intrigued at where I was and what was around that I almost kept going. It's a good thing I turned back at this point because at it was I got back to my car around 7:30pm.

Click on the above image and you should be able to discern ski tracks. Snow has an odd way of recording history. In no way were these ski tracks recent, but they were from this season at some point- probably late season and we never got additional snow to fill them in. We kept receiving such late snow falls this year that someone must've gone up there fairly recently to ski. I remember thinking about the idea of having all my snowboard gear with me and laughing at getting 3 turns at this time of year, basically becoming the obigatory bar story about how gnar i get. No, im not carrying my stuff back up there for 3 turns, no sir.

There it is, Bear Basin from the top of the ridge. To look that far and not see a soul in either direction is pretty sweet, but then you just start looking for mountain lions harder. I listened to my ipod most of the hike, noises can mess with you when solo out in the wilderness.

I Got Friends And Stuff

I don't even want to try to put all these into any kind of order....Above is from a ghost town/montana state park, called Bannack. Justing Lee (who took a lot of these photos) had the acute observation that you really didnt have to do a lot to get something into a historical site in Montana, just leave it. Very true, lot of echoes and empty buildings made Bannnack up.

This is me and Mr. Ree in the Lewis and Clark Caverns. They don't change those tours in the least- same jokes every time. Contrary to popular belief, water and time were the major players in building everything in these caves. Lewis and Clark came remotely near them, and there is a deeper history to who found them and all that, but thats what the tour is for.

This is probably the spot where Brian and Lee got the most out of the Montana experience, but who am i to say...well we all jumped off the bridge in the background and had a beer next to the river after. The river was pretty dirty (with actual dirt and not sewage or anything- montana dirty) and lots of deadfall was floating down. Refreshing was the key word here I guess. Wish it had been a month or so later those guys had come out- this river woulda been way warmer and clearer, plus we woulda floated down the river in tubes- the epitome of montana relaxation....

Brian and I hiked up to Golden Trout Lakes the day after Lee split back to LA. Had to deal with fording an icy swamp, crosssing a couple quick moving rivers, and jumped a ton of snowdrifts. Built a fire at the lake and day camped there, then hiked down. 8 miles...i was impressed with b's ability to keep going- especially since he was hiking in Air Force Ones....

The fire we built.

More edge of your seat bannack excitement, as Lee doses off in the church. One of the most appropriate Bannack shots we got of the place.

I think Lee misses home in that shot......

Tougher Than Leather!

This was lee, brooding over the enigmas and conundrums of Spiderman 3....

Lot's of Buffalo in Yellowstone......Yep....

Bannack again. We really had to make the most out of this stop....

Thats almost too honest of a shot of Mr. Ree, looking amazed at how clean the air is.....



This was a random collection of photos while those fellas were here, not too much order. In hindsight i wish they had come a month later so we coulda done some real summer stuff out here (one day it snowed/rained while lee was here) but its all good. Dowhill Mtn Biking started up right after they left, which is taking up any free time for me now.....oh and work and the lady, so in other words im not riding too much yet.....