Cliff Lake Camping

What an incredible lake- I had no idea such lakes existed in Montana. Formed in 1959 by an earthquake around 7 on the richter scale, this lake was formed in such a way. In has shallow sandy areas and is green, like a lagoon. I swore we were in a horror movie, finding such a pristine piece of montana that seemed out of place, just for the sake of irony. This is Justin, guarding the fire you could say, all night.

We were first going to camp in this cove shown above. There was an otter that lived down there who seemed playful and friendly enough, but there was a large nest of two osprey (you can see in the photo above) and when we arrived the male made a lot of noise and then circled us with a massive wingspan. We could see mosquitos hatching in the shallow water at this site, and determined there were better spots we could be at- or at least less buggy.

This site was about a mile hike from the car. We only made this trip an overnighter, but in the future have definite plans to go bigger with the trip- canoes and more food, more time spent being lazy next to the lake, floating time, the site demands more attention, and so does the lake. The water was so clear, and in the morning I saw a 13 inch trout cruise by in the shallows a half dozen times.

Like I said before: I didn't think a place like this existed in Montana....

Downhill Mountain Biking

Garnet Mountain in the Gallatin Canyon is a about 4 miles to the top, and about 20 minutes to get down. We pushed up this last week and had an amazing ride down. These shots are from the hike up.

That above turn is literally on a cliff. There are some switchbacks on this trail that one could lose their bike on if going too fast.

It's beautiful exploring all the different angles of this area, and how they all connect though hiking and biking trails. It's always an adventure with exploration, and with the chance encounters with wildlife can make everything more interesting. Large moose move like dinosaurs i think...

A few days ago Rob and I built a bridge with our day off. It was great, just being outside building something on a sunny day. I got a great sunburn im still dealing with.

Just bought a new bike also, well new to me at least. Work is work, and the mountain just opened with lift service for downhill riding. It should be a good summer. I'm doing some research on some extended backpacking trips in the are to take a long weekend with. Anyone interested in visiting should get into it, because the weather is amazing, theres not too many bugs, and it doesnt get dark until around 10pm.

That's it for now....

The Glamorous Life

Yep, this is it- my first office.

A whole world of cardboard and packing tape. Honestly I just took that photo and Im looking around my office now wondering how it looks so organized in there....right now im at my desk and there are boxes everywhere!

So this is where I'll be bakin' tha bread- so to speak....you know, making some money.....like the title of the post- The Glamorous Life....Hey Kiddies, no need to be calling Ben to come in to your career days at school just yet....

Camping and Hiking

Last weekend we did some camping out in Taylor Fork. Jenny and I stayed the first night out there, and split in the morning the next day. Everyone else who planned on staying another night were persuaded otherwise by a Moose who wasn't afraid of charging people to protect her territory. There were 7 of us total. This was Grizzly Bear country out here, but we made so much noise we scared everything off. I wouldnt doubt things were watching us in the woods though, we were way out there.



Two days ago I took a half day from work and we hiked up to Lava Lake. This is Howie below....

So Lava Lake is a 3 mile hike up and 3 miles back down. It's an ice cold lake way up in the mountains. It's water level is dependent on the runoff from the snow melting on the peaks above it. Small fish live in the lake and there are camp sites around it. Theres no vehicle traffic up there, you gotta hoof it up.

Yeah, short afternoon hike. The trip was inspiring to think on larger trips, like multiple overnight hikes. We're also talking about a river trip combined with overnight camping. It's a lot of fun....

The Last Two Weeks

...Got back in Big Sky, uhm....2 weeks ago.

I haven't posted picts in awhile because, well, because i've been trying to get all set up out here.

I am starting to get all settled out here for awhile.

I'm working shipping/recieving right now, checking in boxes of merchandise for the retail stores here at the resort. I have an office, but with no windows. The summer is beautiful out here and the weather has been amazing. It's been sunny, but it has also snowed. Crazy I'm saying.

Curtis I'm really sorry I never caught you on the way back thru Chi. The trip back became a race of sorts to get back here and start working to become financially stable again. I'll give you a call sometime soon.

To anyone else I missed- Sorry.

To everyone I miss- Take it EZ.

...Trying To Keep It Right

Let's see...we got back from New York a few days ago to extreme torrential downpours in Massachusetts, unrivalved I'd say to my memory. 8-15 inches are numbers i'm familiar with for snowfall, but to get that in rain?!? Forget about that! Southern New Hampshire/north of Boston is getting an unfathomable amount of water and theres rampant flooding. Down at my parents house it hasn't been too bad, none of the usual spots had any water leakage. It's just felt like groundhogs day, every day it just rains and is dark outside....so it's a slightly depressing weather affair over here right now.

This is a photo I took of the Whitestone bridge. It's blurry and you can see the hood of my truck, but im not posting this for its beauty. First attempt at leaving NYC about at this same spot the 4runner I was driving just shut off in motion. I was in the middle lane goin around 40, and all of a sudden in heavy traffic I have no power steering and no juice in my battery. We coasted into that middle meridian thing and had to push the truck up to get outta the way. In no time an MTA truck was there to help me get the truck off the road by bumping me. A cop showed up really quick too for clearing a path thru the traffic. Even AAA showed up with a tow truck in no time- everything was fast. The whole incident left us with needing a new battery and alternator, about a 500 price tag in full. We had to waste time walking around College Point for the afternoon, or more like Target. For some reason this Target had red balls out front of it. I wanted to skate them but didn't have the board. Here's Jenny posing with one letting you know how life-size they are....

Jenny took the first photo also of the city skyline. That's from off the Whitestone bridge, the 2nd time around, which went smoothly....

The gameplan is Chicago this week, Minneapolis this weekend, Big Sky some time a week from now....I really need to start working again.....sigh...

"Hung Up On My Baby" - Isaac Hayes
"Elevators" OS Remix - Outkast
"Feelin'" - Kamaal the Abstract
"Feel Like Makin' Love" - Roberta Flack
"Locked Away" - N.E.R.D. (props to the OSN for that one!)

More NYC Ph.toes

Last night at some dive bar: Suppose to go to a free promo party for a new cell phone coming out but the RSVP online didn't go thru, or some talk- either way the crowd was looking like we were all gonna go in and compete at something, staring each other down and people trying to cut to the front on some "excuse me im, uhm, important in my own world"....yea so the dive bar on 14th with buy 1 get 1 free any drink or beer, plus the 5 dollar burgers or chix finger proved worthwhile. Blue Moons with oranges in them. Usual suspects all around here...

What'sup with my hair flock-action in above pict? In addition: Whats'up with the Boss' Chook? Lu's roof a few days ago before the weather got blah.

Some are speculating that this is another elusive Brooklyn Sheriff sighting. I, however, still refute da shewiff's existence...

Below is a dark-phtoe of Jenny on the phone at the oldest bar in Manhattan, called McSorleys. The place is over 150 years old and theres things hanging on the walls that haven't been moved or touched since it's opening. The bartenders there look like what my imagination tells me an irish bare knuckle boxer would look like. They give you a light and a dark beer there and they brew it in the basement. If I were a critic of some sort id recommend checking this place out for the atmosphere alone.

For all this indian restaurant knew it was Zubbear's birthday a few nights ago, so we all got a scoop of this mango flavored ice cream. There's a tremendous over abundance of christmas lights up in there, and become a hazard if you are over 5'4. For some reason there are 3 very similar indian restaurants next door to each other, so they all fight for your business when you are approaching them, trying to throw deals at you.


Couple more days here and we are over the hump on this roadtrip.

What Goes On Pt. 3

Back in NYC, first bar we went to after parking was Nectar for some beer pong...

Yesterday was lovely out so it was all about Coney Island. Here we have our mini-golf game, which got intense...

For some reason these photos are out of order, that doesnt mean they dont work tho! This is back at Nectar two days ago...

The water up here in both Mass at Horseneck beach and down here at Coney Island is way too cold to get down with unless your trying to prove something, so we did a lot of wave-watching...

I don't think the Boss ever connected with these pitches but hey we all can't be don mattingly now can we...

//...And it goes on....Few more days here and we'll keep it movin...

What Goes On, Pt. 2

Here we have the last 2 weeks, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Mass.....
NYC this weekend....