Lunar Eclipse

I can't believe it. For nearly the past week we have had relatively clear skies, and the smoke is rather tolerable. In fact, last night I was able to stand outside on the back deck and take pictures of the lunar eclipse. It was not an especially warm night - 45 degrees - but it was nice enough to stand outside from 3:30 to 5:00 with a light coat and snap some photos of the moon. The photos aren't anything to brag about, but good enough to share. I ended up taking over 150 pictures, and only a handful ended up being worthy.I woke up at 3:30 after falling FINALLY falling asleep around 12:45. I was excited to see the eclipse and the thought to snapping a few pictures was keeping my mind rolling with ideas. When I finished snapping pictures around 5:00 I tried to fall back asleep, but I was too excited to find out how the pictures turned out. I think it must have been close to 6:00 before I finally fell back asleep, and then I woke up with Laura at 7:30.

Over the weekend we did some major hiking in the Bitterroot mountains. This wasn't a long hike, it was more of a matter of the amount of elevation we gained in the short amount of distance. From the parking spot at 6,000 feet we hiked up to 9,000 feet in under 2.5 miles. To put that into perspective that would be an average of 1 foot up for every 4.5 foot forward. However, the view was well worth it, and we will that the aches and pains for the seclusion and view anytime. We didn't actually climb St. Josephs Peak, from the approach we took it was nearly impossible. We followed the left side of the frame and found the geocache at the left side of the frame - right where that big cliff is!
Here we are sitting at 9,000 feet and pretending like we are warm. The wind was blowing pretty steadily and that made the temperature right around 50. As we hiked back towards the valley we spotted a smoke plume from the Sawmill Gulch fire burning southwest of Missoula. It's quite a view from a mile above the valley!I've been working on getting a lot of panoramic pictures put together from our hiking trips - I might dedicate a blog entry in the near future to all the panoramic pictures I've created. That about does it for me today - after that hike and the long night I am pretty slow getting anywhere today, but it's all well worth it. Until again

-=Nolan=-

Bright Sunny Skies

Sweet relief! We've had some rain the past few days, not much mind you, but just enough to calm the fires and smoke. Enough so that I can actually see across the valley and breath relatively fresh air. Over the weekend we had ash falling from the skies and covering everything, visibility was less than a mile and by 5:00 p.m. the skies were getting dark as if the sun were setting! So, to say the least, we are thrilled to see the sun and clouds again, if only for a short while.

Last night we could even see the stars and the quarter moon. The temperatures have even given way to cooler air, and our highs have been in the 70's for the past few days.

Laura's mom is letting me borrow her nice digital camera until Christmas, so I have had the pleasure of taking lots of pictures with it! Monday, after the rains ended I was on my way to run and play ulitmate frisbee and I stopped on my way down the mountain to get a picture of the fire across the valley that made such a mess. These are the exact same picture, just cropped to focus on the burnt areas of the mountains. If you click on the second picture you can see in much greater detail exactly what was burning. This is about 10 miles from where I was, you can see it was a doozie! Keep in mind, this was actually a rather small fire for the area, but a few homes were lost - you can see it was close to the valley in several areas.

I'm looking forward to having a smokeless day and some running to boot! I've lost about 10 pounds since I started running again, and I am noticing it when I play frisbee as well - I move just a little quicker and jump a little higher. Until again

-=Nolan=-

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=-

It Happened In Montana:

I've got some stories and photos to share with everyone today. As if I haven't told enough crazy stories from happenings around here, I've got some more...

For the longest time, I have been telling people about this video clip, and many people I talk to don't know about it, so here it is. This happened quite awhile ago, but it still worth seeing. Just watch the video and see why.

Next, I have some photo's to pass along. These were sent to me from one of the guys at work who recieved them from a friend in Lincoln, Montana - about 80 miles east of Missoula, otherwise known as the place were the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski was holding out in his cabin and was later arrested. We ended July with 30 days above 90 and 11 days above 100, the hottest month ever! When it's hot, weird stuff happens, take a look!I guess even a moose has to find a place to stay cool now and then, and a kids wading pool is as good as any!

Finally, a story out of Augusta, Montana:

--You might call him Wonder Dog after hearing his story. But his real name is Bandit and there’s no sense whistling for him.

Chances are, he wouldn’t come if you did.

The 4-year-old dog, half Australian shepherd and half border collie, lived to tell a wild tale two weeks ago when Tucker and Amy Mills, owners of Mills Wilderness Adventures — and Bandit — took a group of customers from New York and Florida into the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Shortly after they passed the Benchmark area, the Ahorn fire blew up behind them, cutting off their return route home.

Tucker Mills, the group’s guide, did what any good guide would do. He led the team — along with Bandit — through the Bob Marshall Wilderness to Holland Lake, located in the Seeley-Swan Valley on the Bob’s western edge.

There, on a Friday, exhausted from their journey, the Millses loaded 26 horses on several trailers and drove the long route home to Augusta. The problem was they forgot Bandit.

“He must have gotten confused with all the vehicles,” said Amy Mills. “Or maybe he went to take a nap in the shade and just missed the ride.”

Only Bandit knows the truth. The fact is that the speckled dog was left alone in the wilderness. The Millses, saddened by their loss, counted him out.

Chances were, they were sure, they would never see Bandit again.

“When we got home, we called the ranger at White River anyway,” said Mills. “We asked them to call us if Bandit happened by.”

A day later the phone rang. It was 2 p.m. and the news was good. Bandit had been seen darting past the ranger station, located 32 miles east of Holland Lake where the Millses had left him.

But if Bandit was trying to get home, as it seemed he was, he had a bigger problem ahead of him.

The Ahorn Fire was hot and getting hotter, standing right in his way. The fire was the whole reason Tucker Mills led the team west instead of east.

“I was worried about Bandit coming through the fire,” said Mills. “Then, on Sunday morning, I opened the front door and he came charging in. I couldn’t believe it. He got a little stoved up that night, so I gave him some aspirin and he was fine.”

Wildfires and grizzly bears, steep mountains and wolf packs, none of them could slow Bandit down. The dog covered 96 miles in two days, determined to get home to the place he knew best.

“Bandit will only come to us,” Amy said, smiling. “He’s very loyal and very stand-offish.”

And chances are, very tired.

There you have it, a few oddities from my neck of the woods. Hope you enjoyed them. Until again

-=Nolan=-