Your horoscope for August 30, 2010

Keep your mind focused on travel today, ELLIE. You have the opportunity today to set a dream in motion toward taking off to a distant land. Consider packing up everything you own and just following your heart. Don't be afraid of change. You only live once, so make the best of what you've got. Don't think that you are necessarily locked in to your present situation. Think big. No one else is going to do your dreaming for you.

A Little On Hold

As school is just getting started, I am busy getting ready. Unfortunately, I need to put my blog on hold for just a little while. However, you can anticipate the pictures of some gorgeous waterfalls I hiked to last weekend!

E

Another Trek!

See where the mountain tops meet the clouds? Up there where there are still snowfields? That's where we decided to hike, Sunday. The name?

Hellroaring Plateau Trail

Drive like you are headed over BEARTOOTH Pass, but take the Rock Creek campground road instead.
Drive up 4.5 miles of rocky, hairpin curved road (umm, be advised...one lane road...and don't look down!) and be able to drive 2-3 MPH.
Many tallis slopes...the clouds are mighty close, wouldn't you say?
Here is a fork that feeds into Rock Creek. Guess what? We're going to see it's origin!
Still climbing this rugged road!
Looking across is the Beartooth Highway (open only in the summer). You can see where the highway has been rebuilt due to avalanches.
Looking back and down. Try to take in the magnitude of this country. We aren't on just a hill -


We're up 10,000 feet! Look what it's done to my bag of baked Lays!
The road ends here, and the wilderness trail begins.

See that snowfield? Yeah, that's where we're headed!

Gus found a pool of water in the rock.
The terrain is rocky, dry and little growth.
What does bloom there in this harsh climate is most beautiful!
Finally...the snowfield from afar. Someone else already made it!
Hard to see...but there are about 8 lakes out there, fed from the snow fields.
Due to time constraints, we decided to not go to the lakes, but enjoy the snow. We had to cross many little streams coming from the snow. The walk wasn't very easy!
And it was cold! I had to wear my fleece hat!
But the ground was so much moister, check out the foliage!
MADE IT and Gus had the best drink of his life!
Whew! I think the darker snow is from last year.
And here's where it all begins...
The water is so pure and clear, my hand was in it. (Not for long! BRRR!)
Here I am on it! lol
I'm standing on the top of the plateau, looking across the canyon to the Beartooth plateau. You can see the old road (closed) that lead to the edge of the ridge.
Hiking is a bit more difficult at over 10,000 ft! The air is so much thinner and those dang rocks aren't easy to trek over, either. 2 days later and I"m still sore but it's worth it.

There is so much country out there. The pics are pale in comparison to how grand this place is. I can't wait to go back.

Quick glimpse...

Of last weekend, perhaps I'll get something written this weekend!

Here's our tent (spaceship). To the left is the table Scott built. The legs unscrew and it is placed on the boat and used as Gustopher Columbus' seat. It has a fold down door in the front to store supplies...This was the first night.
Second night - I had pre-cooked the whole wheat pasta and placed them in a container with olive oil, italian seasoning and garlic. Dinner - added chicken and alfredo sauce. MMM
Obviously, you can't drink water from any of the rivers or streams. Here's what we packed our water in - a 5 gallon water jug that is army surplus. Works great!

That's it for now...more to come!

Trains, Planes, Harleys and Rafts...

More to come...

Have an awesome weekend!

Hope it is void of stress and full of fun adventures, sleep in mornings and quiet evenings...

Our Weekend Adventure!

Last weekend, Scott/Gus/I headed out to the Boulder River! (husband has fishing fever, again)
I found some interesting fence-work along the way -


Perhaps by those that were here long before us.
The campground was great, spacious and like the tropics! Saturday, we headed up the trail.



It is unbelievably green and lush for this time of year! Usually most of the grasses are brown and the flowers have died. But as you can see, it looked like the first week in June.





Here's the Wilderness boundary...no motorized vehicles or bicycles beyond this point.

A few years ago, there was a huge burn in this area. The deciduous trees are coming back strong. Mother nature knows how to clean her house!

The beautiful Boulder River flows north to the Yellowstone River, which then flows into the Missouri...Missouri to Mississippi, etc. The water looked so fresh and clean and cold, I wanted to jump in! We still had a ways to go to hit the fishing spots, tho.


Lots of beautiful high country above timberline. You can see the snowfields up top!
We climbed and climbed...here's an overlook of the burn area.



I wonder how long this one smoldered?

We went clear UP the ridge, then back down and ohhh my feet were just longing for that cold water!



What the heck...I'm all lubed up with sun screen and bug spray...we Creek girls grew up learning how to swim in mountain streams and lakes. (Some that were so cold you could NEVER get used to it!)


Slowly...slowly...there is a great amount of silt due to the burn...but it made it soft and easy to wade around. It was cold and felt SO GOOD.
That is until i took a step that dropped me to my armpits! OMG....here I am "enjoying" the fresh, COLD water!

Scott fished, we ate lunch then headed back to camp. Along the way, I spotted this bull snake...good for keeping the mice population down! (This one's for you, CJ!)

Well, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes because it always changes! Remember the burn trees? Well, the wind and rain came up as we were hurrying through...they were swaying back and forth...cracking...cracking...cracking...then as soon as we were out of the burn, we finally got to wear our rain gear we've been packing around (for 2 years) for that "just in case" moment.
Yeah...expensive gear is worth it!


We got back to camp and poor little dog was drenched! He didn't have any rain gear...



We got to the camper just in time...here's how the evening ended...



I love being out in the elements...