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.....

Desktop Shot

This was from riding Cinnamon two days ago, and i made it into my desktop!

Cinnamon Mtn- Bike Trip

Cinnamon is more like a ridgeline than an actual peak. You follow a creek most of the way til the trail begins to ascend up to the ridge. We had heard it was a sweet downhill ride so since it was in out backyard we had to check it out. Even early on we noticed that it was one of the cooler hikes in the canyon, lots of open meadows, looked like some good camping. This shot above is at the top of the ridge, where the signs indicate which massive peaks surround you. It was absolutely freezing up there, and id say 40-50 mph winds made us want to leave after we showed up.

I'd heard there was a fire lookout tower atop this ridge, which sounded great from what ive seen from fire towers in this canyon. Well this place was really rundown, just trashed. Sky climbed up and looked inside to find a popurri of different animal crap covering the place. Damn!

Compared to other singletracks in Gallatin Canyon this one was fun as hell- fairly technical in spots but mostly fun and wider than the average trail. The upper part had some off-camber riding with lots of jagged rocks which turned into pine-needled forests with some good fast sections. Definetly a few spots were you had to hop over fallen trees, but nothing impassible. This turn was fairly close to the top.

I took as many photos as i could, but it was so unpleasant up there to not have gloves on i definetly missed some shots- not to mention the enjoyment of reaching the top. The ride down was so much fun that by the end it didnt really matter- im just glad i pushed a bike up instead of walking down- that's what really made it all worth the while.

We had a quick bear encounter on the push up pretty early on. Watched the bear (think it was a Cinnamon Bear, coincedentally enough) for a short bit then alerted it to our present, at that point the bear looked around, saw us and ran away quickly. Pretty cool though, don't usually see bears too often when mtn biking. Definetly gonna check this ride out again after more snow melts- we had a few spots up top the snow drifted too deep to pass.

Oh- right now it is DUMPING outside, been snowing since i got to work, hasn't let up and its lunchtime! Well it'll be gone quick anyways...

Neighborhood Photo Shoot

Crusing around yesterday a little south of Big Sky at Hebgen Lake was a good excuse to shoot some photos i figured. Weather did all sorts of things though- Sunny, then cloudy, then snow; i definetly didnt dress appropriately but whatever.

Hebgen is a cool spot. Anyone familiar with lakes and communities living around lakes anywhere would remark at how little development Hebgen has around it, and for good reason- most of the year this lake is cold as hell. Another more prominent excuse is that most of the lake is surrounded by National Forest Land. "National Forest Land" you say? Well National Forests are, by definition, the sh*t! Not to be confused with National Parks, which are generally cool also, but posses a lot of restrictions with what you can do, and almost always charge a fee of at least 25$ a day.

This massive fellow above is some of the company I met with yesterday. Dealing with Buffalo, especially driving around them, is an acquired skill, mostly relating to timing. Yellowstone National Park is notorious for traffic backups caused by gaper-motorists who don't keep it movin past these humongous animals. They are also the most prone to having the side of their vehicles goured by these buffalo. Yesterday around Hebgen I must've seen over a hundred different buffalo all doing their thing (i dont really know THAT much about buffalo to be honest aside from A: Their size, B: Speed they can run (like 35 or some sh*t!) and C: That they can jump at least 5 feet high (dont ask me how i just read that once....in a book!)

Quake Lake was formed....damn, like 20 years ago I think. I have other shots of this lake on this blog somewhere, but it's still cool to see trees growing (or dead standing up straight) in this lake. On a semi-related note: Montana is notorious for naming every body of water a lake, even if it posses no water anymore.

That's Hebgen again, i got the photos in the wrong order.

I don't know the name of this mountain, all I saw is a forest service access sign, which led me here. But that brings me back to my original point, PRO NATIONAL FORESTS! It's great, all you go off is a brown sign with a name, and that means that this sketchy dirt road will lead to national forest access. So I took this one, off a road id never been on, and it read Mile Creek Rd. Undoubtebly, the creek is probably called "Mile Creek" but i cant verify that. There wasn't a lot of info at the trailhead, but it did say there was an old Mine at the end of this trail. I was intrigued....

This is the point on the hike when i decided to turn back. There was a fresh path of snow, and about a half mile in (i was alone also) i began to notice i was following a set of prints that rivaled my own in regards to size. Check out the sharp nails on that thing! I considered my options, and my interests in the Mine, then some heavy snow moved in and I decided going to a mine alone following Wolf tracks is a great beginning to my Montana demise. Maybe next time, Wolf!

This was Sheep Creek Rd, the next national forest sign I went to. This one proved less interesting, aside from the presence of birch trees, something you dont get everywhere in Montana. I deducted that this was mainly a horseback riding trail from the tracks, and pressed on. I went to another spot but didnt take photos. But the goods are out there. Did I mention that for the most part one can camp anywhere on National Forest land for up to 14 days straight without permit or paying anything? National Parks you need backcountry permits and theres a lot more restrictions, like no dogs! Anyways, that's it for todays post of National Forests, and my neighborhood in general....

More Rail Comp Photo's- Sky's the Man!

This is my roomate, Sky, killing it! Really glad he came thru that day...

Spring Carnival Pt. 3

That's the last good one i got- most all of us lined up that day at the top, waiting to drop...

Spring Carnival Photos Pt. 2

This came from the photographer working that day- not sure who took it actually. But that's me, in the flesh. Later today I'm going to upload a few more shots someone else took that day. One of my fav days of the season this was....

Spring Carnival

It's been hot here...no i'm serious- high of 56 yesterday for the first ever Moonlight Basin Spring Carnival. There was a whole slew of excitement going on from scavenger hunts to a 'stack the mac' contest, which involved macaroni boxes in a jenga-type event. I distanced myself from most of the events, with the exception of the rail jam.

Oh- that isn't me spinning in the above shot, i was behind that crowd sitting with sky drinking a beer.

This was a first for this resort- a rail jam you say? Moonlight still has the feelers out it seems for how to approach the jib-aspect of winter sports, but the park this year has been an amazing addition to our already amazing mountain, so theoretically we should be good. Well everything did go smooth for the most part, 45 contestants entered, with a 17 and under, 18+, and a pro rider division. Above is some little kid killing it on a long box that was tough as hell to clear.

My favorite part about the day though was that a bunch of heads i used to ride with from the Big Sky side came thru for the event. It was great to ride with that whole cru in the sun for the day, and everyone was pushing each other so good things went down. We all rode in the pro division, even though none of us get free shit from anyone, it just kinda worked out that way.

But I'm sunburnt as hell right now! Racoon eyes from wearing my goggles are there, but mainly all around my neck is just Red/Purple. Catching sympathy like a baseball glove today for it!

Ohyea- and a Happy St. Patty's Day to you too...

WWSRA Ski/Snowboard Testing- Snowbasin, Utah

In no time whatsoever a trip was put together for myself and Brit to go down to Snowbasin, UT for Moonlight to test next years equipment. My roomate Sky was going down for another local shop, so the three of us road-tripped it down into Utah, the closest foreign country to Big Sky, MT.

With the idea of testing new equipment to give good recommendation on purchasing next year, our objectives were set. We all had experience at such events, and Brit had been down there two different occasions before, all with much better snow conditions.

We made the most out of what we were given though,and were able to get a better feel for how the boards perform- (everything rides excellent in powder) but by day 3 of the experience we were seriously over it...

It may sound like a sweeping generalization, but i can guarantee for more than one of those snowboard booths nothing was known about the products. Sales reps left these kids/adults for the lions of the industry (many whos bark is way worse than bite) to deal with, and for any new accounts i was checking out it was an absolute sh%t show, for lack of a better term. I mean i didnt want the world of info, but a general understanding wouldve presented a lot of peoples equipment much better. That and actually tuning the shit would've been a plus.

Snowbasin food service. The two lodges located at the tops of two different summit points on the ridge were just decked out. I wish i brought my camera to the bathroom there, i mean it was impressive. They pay food service people starting at 7 something though, which i thought was interesting....

The second night in town (ogden, ut...if anyones keeping score here) we decided to venture out beyond the experiences our highway-side hotel could present and head towards Park City....now if anyones been to Epcot or Newport (both prefferably) then you have a great concept of what to expect from Park City. We ate dinner there (the waiter was insane in a way only known to those passed through Utah and left safely) and left promptly after. The streets seemed like a condensed citystreet, but the stores yelled resort town and it was much too cold to notice anything else. We tried out luck in, well....the following

I'm told O'Shuck's is a widely town Park City spot, and the name held true when the pool table was short two balls (one being the 8). If I had seen this photo and you asked me where this could be i would say New York, and honestly i would probably tell you i got drunk in that bar and where it kinda was. But this was far from the east village, and a far cry from what i would expect from, well...my expectations. 3.2 percent beers, cover charges to non-locals, and patrons there just transparent. There was one guy there chain smoking cigarettes, drinking PBR in a goblet (actually i had one too) and just waiting to die, or at least that was my impression.

Apparently, Van Halen had been there, and so had Tony Hawk. Both signatures on the surfboards looked as real as id imagine. Did they play pool there though? Someone should ask them about the missing balls, and anyone else on that surfboards list possibly.

...and when it was all said and done, after 3 days in utah, we relished our return to Montana. This is Sky and I talking to a dog that was loungin in the sun. Til next roadtrip...