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We arrived at Badlands National Park on our second day of travel. We took the tourist pic at the entrance with the sign in the background. As usual, we found a helpful soul to capture our image. Upon entering the park we were greeted by the striations of the hues in the incredibly exposed rock. In our excitement of the new views we stopped at the first trail and hopped out of the car at the door trail where the immensity of the landscape unfolded when we turned the corner to peak behind the nearby "mountains". We did a quick check in at our tiny but nice cabin and made our back out to the trails. We had fun on the Notch Trail, that included a fun latter climb and revealed and grand view. A great place to visit on our way to Montana! glacierguides.com Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Great Whitewater experience. Fun at Big Mountain! Many Glacier: The goal was to complete Iceberg Lake Trail in Many Glacier. We woke to heavy storms blowing through Whitefish, but who knows what the weather is like on the other side of the park. So we geared up and drove going to the sun road in heavy rain and clouds. Visibility was horrible as we ascended the road and as we topped out at Logan's Pass and clouds became incredibly dense. I glanced at the temperature gauge on the dashboard and it read 43 degrees, this should be interesting. We made it to the beginning of the Many Glacier area, and found out we had 11 miles of dirt/ gravel road to navigate. The rain continued to fall and the clouds were so low you wouldn't know mountains towered above. Although Iceberg Lake was the goal, clouds and lightening encouraged us to stay low so we decided to stay low and traverse the Swift Current Trail. The rain eased to a drizzle and we were excited because we heard moose like it in the area we were about to explore. We also noticed that we had the trail to ourselves, no one else was around. I chalked this up to the weather but it was super cool. We ran into two groups of people as we traveled to red rock falls. The lady said, " do you see the moose?" We stepped next to her and witness a female moose making her way towards us, following the shore but still in the water. The moose came within 20-30ft of us, Kelli had wanted to see a moose and Sophia had never seen one before! We continued forward, the rain finally eased and some clouds started to lift revealing mountains topping out high above. We took our time chilling when a couple told us a Bull Moose was around the corner off the trail. We traversed down the way and witnessed the huge Antlers and he lay in the grass chillin'.; We headed back, light of foot as the clouds continue to lift, the weather warmed and people filled the trail heading in as we headed out. We spent two nights at the Whitefish Bike Retreat, making our base in their tiny cabin. It was a nice set up with a porch and a fire ring outside. The people were kind and welcoming with great knowledge of the surrounding trail opportunities. I woke after our first night in the tiny cabin, excited about riding some new trails. The plan was for me to ride and end up in Whitefish were I'd meet my wife and daughter for lunch. I checked in at the office where they had my KONA hardtail ready to roll. "Cricket" helped me out by orienting me to the map, and pointing out a single track option that would allow for exploration and get me to Whitefish, 15 miles one way. I also downloaded an app that pinpointed my location just in case, there are grizzly in the area. The ride was super nice, I ventured by a lake, road mostly single track until I popped out on a gravel road that lead to greenways trail and straight into Whitefish. It was great to refuel with my family and relax before heading back. This was a little climbier so I took the quick route of 9 miles back to the Whitefish Bike Retreat. The setting created an atmosphere were I met some new people and heard about there adventures. https://www.whitefishbikeretreat.com/ Backpacking in Two Medicine:
I arrived at the ranger station to get our backpacking permit for the Two Medicine area but I didn't have a hard copy. No problem, they said, but my name couldn't be found, "sorry"... no permit to be found. So we tried to get a walk-in car camping spot and the last one was gone too, What to do! I drove quite a few miles outside of the park to get cell reception and went through my emails and finally found it! Back to the Ranger Station, the original ranger came over to apologize. 1.5 hours after arriving we finally have a backcountry permit! After sitting through a terrifying ranger required bear video we hit the trail at 3:30pm! We started at the North Shore TH and hiked to Upper Two Medicine Lake. It was about 5 miles total. The first 2-3 miles was pretty easy sailing but Kelli had to grit her teeth a bit over the last 2 miles. BTW When I was at the ranger station actually getting the permit a call came over the ranger's walkie talkie from another ranger stating they needed assistance. One of the rangers at the station said it could be a bear and everyone except the ranger helping me went running out with bear spray drawn. Kelli and Sophia were in the car and saw everyone running out, they peaked around the corner to see the commotion, it was a false alarm. Back to the trail, I think we arrived at camp about 7pm. There was a bear box to store your food, a designated cook area for everyone and 4 camp sites spread out. We were the last to arrive so we took the remaining camp site. It was very nice, next to the water and closest to the cook site (maybe that's why no one else took it). Dinner was short and sweet. The wind was blowing so hard that Kelli had to create a windshield out of the thermarest chair to keep my stove lit. We made chicken noodle soup. I ate mine, and the leftovers from Sophia and Kelli, I was stuffed but we were in Grizzly Country. After dinner we walked the shore of Two Medicine Lake as the wind blew with fury. Sophia followed, filming the shenanigans as kids tend to do these days, inputting her snarky comments along the way. Soon after we retired to the tent to get a break from the wind. Not much sleep was had that night, the wind slammed our tent, would recede, then pick up again. I woke up first and took in the sunrise. The wind had stopped and the clouds moved on....for about 15 minutes. Then we were once again fighting the wind and watching clouds. They started to disperse into cotton balls as we hit the trail. We stopped off at the falls on the way back. We saw many visitors at the falls, since it was a short walk from the boat that delivers people from the main trailhead. Being near the boat ramp we could've waited 30 minutes to take a boat ride back to the TH but why do that when you have only so much time to be on the trail and enjoy the beauty? So I talked my wife and daughter into taking the South Trail around Two Medicine Lake. Well, There were some pretty good inclines along the way and my wife was feeling it, she continued to eat thimbleberries and shoot me a look every once in a while, especially when we saw the boat leaving the boat ramp we were at and taking a smiling crew of visitors to the TH that was our goal. We completed our hike and I retrieved the car. We heard some excitement coming from the parking lot. Some people pointed to the hillside saying there was a bear. One individual had a nice telescope set up on a tripod. He said to take a look and we saw a grizzly from a safe point. We returned to Whitefish and had a nice meal in our smelly backpacking clothes, We seemed to end up at Mckensey's Restaurant a lot. Lost Lake Trail Arkansas River Whitewater through Browns Canyon https://www.noahsark.com/site/rafting.html Hunter-Frying Pan Wilderness Area with a little map and compass detour Granite Mountain Lodge and Outfitters, Fantastic setup! https://www.granitemountainoutfitters.com/
Grand Teton National Park, Paintbrush Canyon Trail- Grand Teton National Park has a certain amount of backcountry campsites throughout their park that need to be reserved. The reservations aren't specific, they relate to camp zones, not particular campsites. Luckily they also hold a certain amount of reservations back for those that walk in and intend to begin their hike within the next 24 hours. Intent on obtaining a backcountry permit for our backpacking trip, I woke the family and we drove to the Moose visitor center in GTNP to line up for a backcountry permit. We arrived before the visitor center was open, adding to the line that had already begun to form. We were able get a permit on 7/3/18 for the lower paintbrush canyon camp zone and a permit for the upper paintbrush canyon campzone on 7/4/18. The information from the park rangers said there was significant snow at Holly Lake and portions of the Upper Paintbrush canyon camp zone. Ready for an adventure, we went with it. We arrived at Leigh Lake TH and started pulling our packs out of the car. The sky's began to darken as we prepped for our departure, the rain began to fall just as we tightened our packs, it was raining hard enough for us to take off our packs and put on our raincoats, then packs on our backs once again and we were off. The first .8 miles of our hike circumvented string lake to Leigh Lake. It was flat with numerous people on the trial, but there were amazing views to be had of the Teton Range. We stopped to take a picture with the mountains in the background, this also gave us an opportunity to remove our rain gear since the sun popped out and the precipitation had ceased. Once we were ready to proceed with our hike we ran into a volunteer park ranger. She informed us that she was from Boston and asked to take our picture since we had little American flags strapped to our packs in honor of the Fourth of July. We talked about our trip plans and the volunteer ranger informed us snow travel was very difficult on the last portion of the trail to the Upper PB Canyon campzone. I informed her that I had wanted to stay in the Lower PB Canyon camp zone for both nights but that wasn't an option when I acquired the back country permit. The park ranger said she could change that and asked for our permit, she wrote on it and Voila! we had two nights in the Lower PB Canyon Camp Zone. By the end of our conversation with the Volunteer Park Ranger we had numerous mosquitoes extracting blood from our legs, so we applied Deet before taking off once again. The trail wasn't too bad, a fairly easy ascent most of the way. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall of snow melt for a breather, soon after the waterfall we entered the lower PB camp zone. We looked at the 2nd camp area available, it was a very nice spot with picturesque views of the mountains; we arrived at this camp spot at about 5pm so we decided to make camp. As we started putting up camp some mosquitoes started bothering us, and when we began making dinner it was evident that the mosquitoes would be relentless. After dinner we tried to enjoy our surroundings, but the mosquitoes drove us inside our tent. There Sophia and Kelli took turns reading a book Sophia brought for some good entertainment. That night, Kelli had ventured out of the tent. She prompted me to come outside. I stepped out to take in a sky full of stars that called to us from the Back Country. The moon lit the steep mountain face that bordered us, the air was refreshingly frigid and the bugs had gone to bed. these are the moments I live for. The following morning I unzipped my tent door allowing a rush of cold air to enter the tent and a blazing sun peeked over a rock to greet us. I pulled my thermarest and sleeping bag out of the tent and perched on the nearby rock. The mountainside with its white snow and speckled colors of wildflowers lit up with the rising sun in a light I have only seen in the mountains, almost glowing in a radiant light. While Sophia and Kelli got ready for the day, I went to the kitchen area and prepped food. I was getting ready to go back to the tent when something caught my eye; a yellow bellied marmot. The next thing you know, like magic he pops up next to the kitchen. I shooed him away and watched him make his way down to camp. I told Kelli and she took action, making sure our gear was safe. The Park Ranger at Moose informed us that these critters like to eat the salt from trekking pole handle and backpacks! We discussed plans for the day, the previous evening was so relentless with mosquitoes that we decided to hike out after a day hike to upper paintbrush canyon camp zone. I carried snacks, 1st aid kit, water filter and layers, then we were off. The day was filled with incredible scenery. As we gained elevation forests thinned and we entered the beginning of alpine country. We crossed a scree field covered with snow, adventured into canyons with edges rising brilliantly over us. All the while the sound of rushing water filled our ears as new snowmelt created crystal clear trickles, then streams that turned into rushing white water. I can't find the words to convey the beauty that surrounded us. After about 3 hours of hiking and playing we turned back, 1 hour later we were at our camp. Everyone was feeling pretty good when we returned to camp. It was much hotter when we reached the lower elevation (approximately 7,600 ft) The mosquitoes were beginning to make their appearance once again, so we packed up and headed out. The long day of hiking accompanied by the increased activity of the mosquitoes began to take its toll. We finished the hike, returning to the Leigh Lake Trailhead feeling a sense of accomplishment and embracing the beauty from which we had just emerged. Our whitewater rafting experience was wonderful. We used mad-river.com for our guides on the Snake river. They were located in Jackson Hole, made it super easy to get what we needed and the features on the section we took were thrilling. The flow was moving at 1200 CFS and we tackled some class III water. I was in the front paddling and Sophia decided to join me, Kelli rocked the back with a paddle in hand. It was a great adventure and we got soaked from the get go. Luckily I had rented a wetsuit top and Sophia had a top and some booties. Up front, we didn't get just wet, we got drenched. Some of the rapids were Lunch Counter (the biggest), ground meat and Champagne. We spent the rest of the day laughing about the thrills and lounging in Jackson Hole. On to Yellowstone! After a quick stop at a rest area for a PBandJ sandwich we made our way to Old Faithful. I really wasn't feeling it, the parking area was huge and packed! The whole situation had a Disney type of feel, but when we approached the geysers with their steam, crust of mineral and bubbling water, I quickly embraced the other worldly feel of this natural treasure. Old Faithful went off just about as predicted, this impressive also, glad to experience this one. Next we traveled to Grand Prismatic. The incredible colors, steam and the surrounding landscape was beautiful We spent our nights and evenings at Lake Lodge. We rented a cabin that was a short walk away from the main lodge. The accommodations were clean and met our needs. We spent the evenings taking advantage of the Lake Lodge porch, overlooking Yellowstone lake and the Absoroka Mountains in the distance. Every evening we were greeted by two bison that walked through the field in front of the lodge, almost on que for the sunset. Lamar Valley turned out to be a wonderful day hike. The landscape was almost too immense to comprehend. We saw many buffalo and a black bear that was safely in the distance. This was one of those places that I wish we could have spent more time exploring and finding out what was on the other side of the various mountains surrounding us. Shoshone Guest Lodge and Ranch, Shoshone National Forest, just outside of the Yellowstone east entrance. https://www.shoshonelodge.com. Horseback riding is always on the agenda. We decided to use Shoshone Guest Lodge and Ranch. We booked a two hour ride, but arrived quite a bit earlier than we needed to. No GPS in the mountains, so weren't exactly sure how long it would take us to get there. Since we had a little extra time we ordered breakfast before our adventure and what a fantastic breakfast! The staff was very kind and helpful. We ventured down to the horses and greeted them. Soon we were joined by other adventurers and asked about our experience with horses. One of our leaders, William, gave a great introductory lesson about how to work with the horses. The horses we rode was based on our experience and the horses temperament. I rode "Drummer", Kelli rode "Otis" and Sophia rode "Trixie". The trail was in the Shoshone National Forest providing some excellent views. What a trip full of adventure! This was Sophia's first trip out west, and first time to see the mountains! I was so excited to introduce our daughter to the Rocky Mountains. I wanted her to experience the difference in the air, new ecosystems and the grandeur of the glorious mountains. The schedule was full from day one. We arrived at YMCA of the Rockies on Sunday afternoon. This turned out to be a splendid place to stay. First of all, they don't have tv's in the room, I was enthusiastic about this one, second, the wifi is spotty and its difficult to get texts out, OK with this too. I also liked the ability to use their pool, volleyball court and some other amenities for free in addition to paying a small price for art supplies in the art room on a very rainy day. The YMCA endorses a couple of companies that we used, including whitewater rafting with rapidtransitrafting.com and flyfishing with www.sasquatchflyfishing.com, we had a great experience with each of the outfitters. Our first adventure was family fly fishing with sasquatch. We were outfitted with waders, boots and fly rods. We traveled to Sprague Lake in RMNP for where we wet our lines. The staff was energetic as they took their time to teach my daughter how to cast and they gave my wife some good pointers, now she doesn't snap the fly off the line. Me and two others went with our guide to a small stream that was an outlet of Sprague Lake. We spent time chasing Brooke Trout and Rainbow. Our guide did a nice job of getting us into some fishing and letting us know his thoughts about what fly should work. After the fly fishing excursion, we drove to a high elevation trail in RMNP. We took in some breathtaking views on the UTE trail. Only oncoming storm clouds chased away from this experience. We followed up the fishing excursion with Horseback Riding. This excursion began on the YMCA grounds and traversed into RMNP. I was surprised to learn that the YMCA of the Rockies was their prior to the 1915 creation of RMNP. The last three days of our trip we spent backpacking in RMNP. It was a great trip filled with elevation, rain, hail, bear markings, a high altitude lake and tremendous scenery. We began our trip in Wild Basin at the Sandbeach Lake Trailhead. The gameplan for the first day was to hike 2 miles to hole in the wall campsite. We arrived at the trailhead at 3:30, just in time to watch a storm roll in, so we thought we'd give it a little time to pass. By 4pm it looked like we were good to go. So we hoisted our packs and began the 2 mile trek. Beauty surrounded us as we made our way through Aspen groves and Pine stands, the distinct smell enveloping us as we passed through one to another. The elevation gain was noticeable in difficulty and in our views, getting more wide open once the curtain of trees separate from each other. Rain began to fall on us, and the clap of thunder caused us to head to a safe place. We patiently waited for the weather to pass under an ENO rainfly, chomping on snacks in the theater of RMNP. It took about 2.5 hours before we arrived at Hole-In-The-Wall backcountry campsite. The campsite was near a stream and quite pleasant, although a bit buggy. We set up our tent in the designated area. We placed our kitchen on a ridge overlooking a valley with a nice breeze to disperse the mosquitoes. We all were in good spirits as Sophia munched on her ramen noodles and I cooked up some red pepper and chicken for fajitas. We celebrated our day by handing out some awards at dinner. Kelli won the award for toughin out the hike an Sophia won the award for dealing with new adventures in an upbeat way. She took on rain, bugs, hiking and a significant elevation gain in an upbeat way. Nice expedition behavior. I woke at hole-in-the-wall before Sophia and Kelli. I ventured to the ridge and took at look at the valley view, checking the cooksite as I went. I spent a good deal of time reclining on the ridge, watching the sun rise and taking in the warm glow. Eventually I took the drahm down to the creek to get some water for breakfast. On my way back to the cooksite, I took a moment to watch some menacing clouds, when I turned around a large elk with a handsome rack was on the trail. He quickly took off down the hill, but stopped to return my stare. With a flash he was gone and continued down the hill. Kelli and Sophia began to stir and started get ready for day, as Kelli began packing the sleeping bags, I started prepping for a simple breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. The topic of conversation at breakfast was about how quiet the night was, no crickets, locusts or whipperwills, just the rushing of wind through the mountain tops until morning when the birds began to warm the woods with their music. To our surprise, we were buzzed by humming birds as we ate breakfast! It was 11:00 am when we began our two mile trek to Sandbeach Lake. The trail was steep and difficult, especially for day two on the trail. I was beginning to second my decision to hike on this trail, but my late action limited the backcountry campsite availability. We continued on for a couple of tough hours when we crested a hill and Sandbeach Lake was visible through the trees! We had just enough time for a brief celebration, then the rains came. I set up the ENO rainfly where Kelli and Sophia took refuge and consumed some calories. I looked for an appropriate camp and cooksite. It rained hard, and in a brief respite, I set up the tent. Thank Goodness because for the next three hours it rained hard! We set up sleeping bags and thermarests, Sophia read her book and at one point we all took a nap. Eight pm and the rain finally stopped. It was still light and we started dinner. A fantastic version of chicken noodle soup with homemade dried veggies warmed all of us. Sophia said it was the best chicken noodle she ever had, I think it was first time she had chicken noodle on the trail. We discussed the ups and downs of backpacking , and the work it takes to acheive something special. By the time we hit the hay, we were all tired. We were greeted by a beautiful morning. The sun once again crept up a mountainside, but this time the sun was reflected in a lake. Mt. Meeker stood over us with its rocky and somewhat snow covered wall. We had time to walk and play before departing. The lake stands at 10,300ft, in our explorations we found some really cool large boulders, a pond and significant snow to play in. We packed up camp and departed by 10:30am. We had 4 miles of downhill trail to traverse. The sun was our friend all morning and for a bit of the afternoon, then it began to rain and hail. We took the usual steps to stay safe and dry. We had a great time on this adventure, all of us were full of smiles as we made our way back to Estes Park for a well deserved lunch. The Poudre River, class III rapids.
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AuthorI'm your average wanna be adventurist. I spend more time day dreaming about expeditions than actually accomplishing them, but I guess life is the ultimate expedition. |