Two Weeks In Pictures

Wow, it's been two weeks since I last got a word in around here. I suppose it's about time for an update. As you can imagine, that much time between blogs leaves a lot to say. Instead of a minute by minute report, here's a quick overview of what has been happening - in pictures!

We climbed our third mountain of the year. Lolo Peak - it was one of our most favorite hikes due to the fact that there was no trail to the top, we made our own way over the boulder field and up the ridge. From the following picture, you can see two small patches of snow still on the mountain.We made our way to the snow patch.

The view from the top wasn't too much to brag about with the smoke, but still worth a picture.

We hiked to the top of the mountain in about 2 hours and 45 minutes, we covered about 6 miles one way and gained over 3000 feet elevation.

Laura worked on refinishing a book shelf for her mom. She sanded and then put a new coat of stain on it.

While Laura worked on the bookshelf, I was busy examining a laptop computer. I took it apart and checked out the hardware. Seems the motherboard has gone bad - look at all those pieces that fit inside that computer!

Saturday Aug. 11 we made our way to the Sunlight Valley - east of Yellowstone - for a hiking trip with Laura's family. We crossed the Beartooth Pass at sundown. We watched the sun set at 10,000 feet.

Sunday we made our way into the wilderness area and readied ourselves for the trail.We hiked into some lakes. The first three miles were maintained trail, from there it was a free for all to get to the 'secret lakes.' Here I am in full gear - not nearly as heavy as last year though.

John & Deb making their way across the boulder field.

Laura's still smiling as we crossed the boulder field.

What trail?We broke camp just before supper and had a heck of a time fitting the tents into the downed timber, but we did it!Laura was happy to have some food.
The blue cup from last year made a return! Along with the SAME plastic spoon! Instant mashed potatoes and then some hot chocolate to wash it down.

Some fishing after supper until dark. The smoke from a fire in the distance.

Next morning we hiked to another lake and did some fishing.

The lily pads were looking pretty good on the lake.

I dropped my sunglasses somewhere out in the woods so we went to search for them. Thank goodness for GPS - we followed our path back into the woods and found them!

It rained on us a few times.

Laura reading away on another book.

The water was as clear as could be.

We packed up camp and prepared for the hike back to civilization. Our packs ready for the trail.

We stayed at the Wyoming Fish & Wildlife cabin in the Sunlight Valley and went in search of some wolves at sunset. We didn't get to see any though.

On our way home we crossed the Beartooth Pass again - it's 10,900 feet. As we came to the summit there were some goats making their way across the ridge.

We had a geocache to find, so we crossed the field to find the cache and guess who happen to be watching us!

The goats walked right past us without any concern. On our drive back to Missoula we got caught in a micro-burst in Livingston and nearly got blown off the interstate! After we passed Butte we were in thick smoke all the way to Missoula - yeah this is smoke, not clouds! It's 5:00 pm!We made it back to Missoula without any real trouble. This weekend we are going to do a little geocaching and recovering from our week of 'vacation.' Have a good one! Until again

-=Nolan=-