Things we have to do

The winter of 2011 brought incredible snows to the northern Rockies. The late and fast spring brought epic floods. The summer……incredible blue skies, windy passes and fields painted with the flowers of mountains and prairies.

Starting in Billings, MT, picked up Dad…..sans luggage…..it will be delivered to the hotel in Sheridan….and off to Little Bighorn. A very generally misunderstood place……lots to be learned…..our conversations kept going back to points to ponder….

Arrived in Yellowstone for the sunset……greeted by grizzlies. BEAR JAM! Lots of photos and feeling the chill of the Yellowstone dusk reminded us to move on to the Yellowstone Hotel to meet up with Bonnie and Ken. Bonnie is a dear friend from college and Ken is her darling spouse. The lobby of the Yellowstone is a great place to have cheese and crackers while watching the setting sun over the water, the distant valley of the Thoroghfare and the changing hues of the snow covered Absorkas.

The view from Elephant Back

A great view of the hotel and lake is the loop hike up Elephant Back.
This is a great break-in trail for hikes in bear country…..”Hey, Bear”. Great views, a good sweat and off to take in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone…..water run-off is still quite high….and is impressive.

A 4:30am start from Cooke City provide us the rare opportunity to see wolf pups….a new pack starting in the Soda Butte section of Lamar…..

Redwood Fossil Tree

The Yellowstone area is home to the largest fossil forest in the world….so we hiked to one of the exposed sections….UP!….the centerpiece of this hike is the remnants of a redwood……..

Descent from the Fossil Forest

Beargrass

Then off to Glacier……no visit to Glacier is complete without Beargrass and a stay at the Sears….Judy is a wonderful host and often we chatted with other Glacier “folk” about how charming it is…….

Glacier Cable Bridge

We used the Sears as a base for a family hike around the lake…..starting with a boat ride….our very own…..Ken took the mic……lots of run off through fast moving streams encourages the Glacier NP staff to put in cable bridges….one at a time, please……Mom is a trooper!

How's the view?

Bonnie, Ken and I then prepped for a three day backpack over the Dawson Pass Trail, Triple Divide Creek (One divide is to Hudson Bay) and on to St Marys…..Goats, ravens, snowfields and marmots…….I often thought…..”An engineer, a scientist and an artist walk in to the wilderness……..”……..there are many punch lines……some have to do with the engineer and measurements, “a little over a mile”, the scientist and the ingredients of the meals…….and some are just visual…..all are memorable and majestic!

Ken crossing the snowfield to Triple Divide

The view from Mt Morgan

We then all met in Waterton, Alberta, Canada for some more hikes and celebrations…..a hike to Boundary Bay had us eating lunch on the 49th parallel…..the swath is humble and grand…..much like our relationships with each other.

Sunset over Waterton

Hike in to Bertha Bay

It was a slow departure from Waterton….we HAD to do the photos at the Prince of Wales……we had to do stop action….we had to hug each other again…..we had to leave…..we HAVE to RETURN…….

Jump if you love mountain air!

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