Category: Galleries

You climb until you get to the top. Some say that they are not interested in the top and that they turn around early if they want. But then there is the rub. At least for me I feel these people still are pretty driven to reach the top. Maybe they make disclosure statements so that in case of weather and they don’t make it they don’t feel like they failed. What ever! The pattern is always the same. Start out. Reach the top. Head back down. Reflect on the journey. Remember the journey. Be visited by dreams of that journey. Then … want to do it again. Rinse and repeat.

Might as well gain the ridge while the sun is out

Turmoil

Mo looks at Lake Hyalite

Mo takes in the weather swallowing up our view

It’s Thomas the spooky log

Falling green

Foliage

But bikes. I mean a carbon bike will last forever right? But for us humans … not so much. We end. Our journeys end. Our relationships end. Jobs end. Situations ends. Most of all, seasons end. My current journey is speckled with evidence of things that end.

Colors of leaves changing and under-story turning yellow. Huckleberry leaves a bright red. Yellow leaves floating down a creek. Separated and now floating away from what they knew and where they have been. The warm summer days long gone. Now everything is cold.

Fortunately there ARE other seasons. We end, true, but our legacy lives on. Mine is that I bum everyone out? Burning out the bright embers of happiness and inserting me, me, my problems, me. Why am I a downer … but I cant harp on that. The season is changing and I am in reflection of that. Ok, what else renews?

Journeys end as well but we find others. Relationships end sadly enough. But we do enter into others … if we allow it. Takes time I guess. Jobs end but always for the better. Always. Situations all end and we always find ourselves in others. Even bad situations can be used to win races I believe.

Bikes never end. We can always find one and ride it. This go around to ride until I figure it all out.

Changing seasons in the meadow

The hucks are red

Leaves in the water floating away

Taking the higher path

The path will always keep going through the seasons

I was shocked to see how close our next race is. We are 4 weeks out. I closed my browser and headed out for our Tuesday night adventure. Tonight was Upper Hyalite Lake. I am ready for tonight’s ride but am I ready to stay awake and ride for 25 hours? Not really. And this worries me. Not to win but to have a great time. And you can not have a great time when you suffer. Well not usually. And what suffers? Mostly one’s ass. And staying awake sucks too but what can you do about that?

A yellow ribbon cuts the ice climbing area and the scree

I alert my partner and teammate about this up and coming event. She was silent for a while then suggested that she was ready. Because her core was more fit then when she did Rapeljie. And the ASS issue was a concern for her as well. Now in the middle of our ride the trail is rocky and punchy. Just like the race we are signed up for next month.

There is sheep on those cliffs … sorry photo from a phone

Then it gets dark on us and our discussion had turned to thoughtful silence. Suddenly I realized it was time to turn around and ride out. In the dark. I guess maybe this was training session #1. Riding in the dark. And it was fun.

Yeah right! A weekend off from the ever demanding pattern of packing on Thursdays leaving on Fridays and then be back in place at the 40 hour work week sometime Monday morning.

We planed the usual activities to get caught up. Since every week in the summer we have been gone. We planned to put plastic on the windows and weatherproof our house. We planned to clean the house. We planned to do some shopping. We planned to do a lot of things. This weekend we were finally going to get caught back up.

Then we had a couple beers on Friday. And maybe a couple on Saturday. And of course on Saturday one needs to rest and make the trek over to REI and  look at some stuff .

And then Sunday the sun came out. And so we decided to go for a mountain bike ride at Chestnut Mountain.The ride was fine in fact it was great. And really overall it was a fantastic afternoon riding through the Fall Foliage. When we got home we celebrated with another beer and sat down to watch a movie.

So in the end nothing got done and we just stayed home. We even fit in a mountain bike ride. But nothing got done and maybe we have to take another weekend off to try and get things done. But we all know how that will go. We’ll just find an excuse to go on an adventure. Might as well pack and take off next weekend and get out of here so we don’t mess up the place.

Here comes more as we do a short gravel grinder to the trailhead

Yeah, me hanging out on top of Chestnut Mountain

Another nice son and shadow shot

The evening sun light through the leaves to show the colors

Sunlight streaming through the Fall Foliage

A panorama of the Fall colors coming down the Chestnut Ridge

The trail rides through the colors being lit up by the Evening Sun

Frog Rock area can be seen in the background as we come down the switchbacks on the North Ridge

The Frog Rock area with all the Fall colors in full bloom

For various reasons we moved our weekly adventure series to Tuesday effectively making it now the Tuesday Night Adventure. Those reasons are private. The forecast was for rain so I pulled a hike out of my ass. Bozeman proper is a bad place to hike. not many choices. Drinking Horse, M, Pete’s Hill, and some of the Bridger Range hikes. All freaking straight up and then straight down. Boring. And the snobs are out in force. Making sure they are Strava-ed on their favorite haunt Instagram-ing selfies to feel like a health young soul. What ever. The real adventurers want something different. Some diversity. Some rolling hills. Some color. and maybe some privacy.

Well the Triple Tree Trail is a good find. Not lengthy but good enough for after work. And very colorful. Aspen forests, Doug Fir stands, and even the pesky log pole pine forests. Even sage ridge tops and rolling country with skunks hiding in plowed fields.  Ignore those 238 Private Property signs though. That land owner needs to find a life. Hey land owner … thanks for contributing to the community.

Mo says that this would be a great place to conduct a biology class … or did she say forestry …

The triple tree trail in bozeman

A rainbow appeared after the rain storm

Cold and windy is what I can say about the last day. The night was fraught with violent storms. Once the tent blew flat across us and I had to go out and do some emergency securing of the guy-wire hooks. The first time I used those. We found slices of time in the morning to enjoy the brief visits of the sun. We did some major fuels reduction of the area by burning so much wood to keep the fire going. The winds made the fire resemble a blow torch. And just like smoking a cig the more air you pull across the embers the faster the thing burns.  Not that I like smoking. Or even like being around a dumb-ass that does.

The ride out was fantastic but we had to cancel the scheduled hikes about the alpine bowl. The sheep we saw the night before were still on the ridge hopping around. We even spotted some goats on the way down as well. Good weekend for viewing the alpine pros.

We popped out of the woods and loaded the team van for the trip back home. In 30 minutes we pulled up to the front door and that was that. Will there be another weekend to ride bikes? Seems the fatties are about to roll soon.

A sliver of morning sunlight to express the colors

It is smaller then it looks

Who is in the rears?

Riding around the lake from our campsite opposite of the way out

The trail coming down from Heather towards Emerald.

Approaching Emerald Lake

Some may have seen the post where we ran, er rode, into the discovery of the new recreation path around Hyalite Lake. On our way to base camp I noticed this new path crossing the road. So that next morning before we set forth on our accent to Heather Lake I snuck away for some Bill time. And “Bill Time” was successful because upon waking my partner said, “You did a 7 mile ride already”.

Frosty saddle

Second really damn cold ride of the season

Around the lake

If you would of asked us last Monday we would of told you that the following weekend we would stay home and rest. But then the forecast was saying sunny and warm. And so we committed to another bike packing weekend. Then the weather started to look shaky. But by then we had the momentum and we went for it anyway.

So suddenly there we were camped out at the base of the climb with a roaring fire. I cooked on the camp stove and Mr. Bear (our child … not saying that we are discrediting real parents) was providing the entertainment. The tent was up and all was good in our world. Tomorrow we climb … with 60 pound bikes.

Don’t get too close Mr Bear

Mr Bear joins us to provide the entertainment

Short weekends suck. You know … the ones where you get off work on a Friday and have to be back to work Monday? That is f*#@$ng short! Even though you get out of town after work, leaving on Sunday to get home really sucks. I really hate the 40 hour work week. It is ruing my life. Well, beyond that the fact remained that we needed to ride our shit down to the vehicle for extraction. Extraction from fun and into the big house of societal hell.

But that does not mean one can not have fun heading into hell. Right? And since hell, if one believes there exists such a place, we do not, is DOWN … well that is going to be fun.  My 50 pound bike launched off of root balls and broke the sound barrier on some dusty ridge line single track.  The ride down was a hoot.

The real adventure cyclist

Heading down towards Albino Lake

Mo coming across Dead Horse Ridge

Albino Lake Trail

The trail comes out at the dirt road

Arriving at Albino Lake

I woke up to prepare the surprise. As a consolation on sneaking out of the tent early I was greeted by a great sunrise. I got the card out of my pack and the cup decoy.

Whoa … backup. The day before I ran to REI to get a titanium mug for snuggles. Her old plastic REI mug was ready for retirement and this one would fit in her down tube bag. But they were completely out of stock. So I ordered it online and printed out a decoy to attach to her old mug.

Alright, why? Well 5 years ago on this day, September 11th, snuggles and I entered into a life *adventure. So I prepared the morning surprise. When I would call out “coffee is ready” she would come and find her mug with the decoy attached to it. I forgot tape so I used pine sap. Also a perfect placement of the card with some morning thoughts (proprietary) inside was necessary. I was ready.

“Coffee is ready”, I shouted towards a rustling sound in the tent.

Happy 5 year anniversary to the best *adventure partner on the planet.

*And by the way “adventure” might be the new cool word … but we made it cool.

Waking to a sunrise on the nearby walls

Sun rises over Lizard Lake Meadow

Snuggles with her cup decoy

Posing in front of sacrifice rock

Expand

Sphynix

Looking westward towards Shedhorn Mountain

Looking off the ridge above camp towards the two Lizard Lakes

Lizard Lakes from the ridge

Mo checks out a route down

This butterfly on his last legs

Contrasting fall colors

This overnight BikePack plan almost didn’t come to fruition. But the ride to Lizard Lake was the goal of the day none the less. At the very least we would do it as a out and back before retreating home to the safety of warmth of HOME. Watching your water freeze in front of me was not comforting either.

We arrived the night before and experienced a ten degree drop every hour before running to safety in the tent. I awoke in the night and the zipper was froze shut. That morning I built the biggest fire I could. The earliest morning hours were the worst. I took a gallon of water out of the cooler and set it on the table. It froze before my eyes with crystals forming first.

The sun saved the weekend; by noon it was warm enough to take off our puffies. And our old short term memories forgot we nearly froze to death. Well … “feels like”. So we chose to ride to Lizard Lake with 60 pound bikes instead of 23 pound bikes.  And it was worth it because we were rewarded with a warm up and sun. A beautiful day for an important weekend.

It was cold that morning

The initial climb to the trailhead

The trail to Lizard Lake runs along Dead Horse Ridge

The trail follows the wilderness boundary

Breaking out into Lizard Meadow

Lizard Lake Meadow

The Lake on a beautiful day

Woke up to a frozen tent and snow falling. I used bark from a dead white bark pine to get a fire going. We ate breakfast, or drank it in the form of bulletproof coffees. All the while watching the weather get worse and worse. By the time we finally packed the tent and bags it was a full on down pour. And it was cold. This was not fun and getting into a wet tent that evening sent even more chills down our spines. We bailed, bailed hard, and charged down into the valley to Sheridan. As I screeched to a halt on the edge of town I realized the epic-ness of the effort. We needed to climb 3,600 feet back into the snow laden mountains and back to our element. My bike looked like a sand sculpture after the mud grinding it took to get to town.

“Did you bring money or a card?”, I inquired of my epic-mate.

“No … did you?”

“No!”

And so the epic continued back up to Branham Lakes where our car awaited. I blacked out and went into epic mode … my partner the same … possibly her first time. No drama there, we made it, not that big of a deal. It just sucked. The rest of our 5 days off … drying out at home and sleeping. Part of our boring lifestyle as old folks.

AM at camp

Early fall at Noble Lake

Noble Lake the next morning

Cabin at Noble Lake

Mo taking photos as some clouds clear enough for us to see that snow had fallen during the night

Everything was wet when I woke up. After pouring all night all flammable materials were soaked. And to make things worse everything was frozen. I attempted to get the stove out of my bike bag but had to break the ice off the zipper. All hopes to get a fire started were dashed … but … a friend once said that just because something is impossible why not try it anyway.

I was able to find a dry old red needle branch under a sheltered pile of logs and decided to try breaking apart a old rotted log to find some dry chunks of wood. It worked. The fire was so nice we sat there drinking coffee and marveling at the view until noon.

Mustard Pass was ahead of us and I was excited to finally get going. it was so hard to put that morning fire out. We packed up and headed out. As we rolled our bikes back to the trail I froze in my tracks.

Griz poop that looked like it came out of a elephant. And since there was no elephants that ate pine nuts it was obvious a huge griz was checking us out the night before … or … even worse while we sat at the fire. Mo stuck her hand in it to find how long it had been there. Whew, …. last night. Stepping around the massive dump we continued down the hill shouting, “hey bear”.

Just as we got back to the trail I heard, “pedal down! pedal down!”. Holy shit, the pedal fell off again. This time I used my knife to whittle me a socket that would fit into the pedal. I might of been able to tighten the nut enough for it to stay on and we continued. Also I clean out all grease because the frigid temps was making it sticky and would back off the nit. We continued.

The ride up Mustard Pass was the pinnacle of the weekend, it did not disappoint. All rideable at some time I was forced off to walk on some rough and rutted sections. Standing on top of the pass we raised our arms in victory. That was pass number two of this trip

We bombed down the descent past Blossom Lake where we spotted some campers. the first humans we had seen in two days. We were not eager to socialize. We came out on Noble Fork atv trail. I pulled out the map and waited for my partner.

She prompted me for the time and I found my gps … holy shit, it was 4:30 PM. We usually look for camping spots around 5 but we were so far out of where we planned to be. By now we should of been in the Twin Lakes drainage.  A little tired from two days of climbing we decided to climb to Noble Lake and reassess in the morning. we were not as lucky as the night before as a heavy rain forced us into the tent early.

Morning Coffee

Rossiter Lake

Our camp on Rossiter Lake

Meadow towards Mustard Pass

Mo climbing strong

Mustard Pass switchies

Remember our bikes are 50 to 60 pounds with gear

Mustard Pass

Us …OxO

Noble Lake

We arrived after dark all grumpy from a week of work related bullshit. The weather reports did not look good. We did the best we could choosing this place because of all them this one would provide the warmest most pleasant weather. Which is not saying it would be nice at all. Just something we could survive … maybe.

The morning of departure was full of optimism. The sun came out and it was nice. Real nice. The big push out of the bowl and over the first pass was intensely hard but we had 5 days ahead and all was good. This was going to be fabulous.

As we approached the low part of day 1 we encountered our fist hurdle. A scrambled to find a place for a tent where one of us could rest while the other could get help ensued. We were as far away from help as one could get. After a hour of stressful assessment and trying remedies things finally worked out. The situation passed and we were able to remedy the issue. The call was to continue with the idea that we would cancel the trip if anything surfaced again.

We turned upward into the North Fork of Indian Creek and waited. The trail was so amazing we just continued and the danger of dying out there did not seem so possible. I have to say if the trail was not so fantastic we would of camped at the first meadow and rested … and waited. To see if the remedy would hold.

Then I heard my partner yell that her pedal fell off. A “Oh crap” panic entered my head as I pulled out all my tools. Another situation. Another reason we should just turn back. Being the tenacious folk that we are, or dumb, we decided to rig the pedal to stay on and continue. Damn if we were not going to at least stay out there for a day or two.  Even considering we were way into the boonies without seeing any other humans at all. No one goes this way I thought my self. It was going to be a LONG walk into Sheridan … a LONG walk.

But the pedal held and the trail was so amazing we found the intersection to Rossiter Lake and excitedly set up camp. This was going better then I hoped given all the diversity of the day. We were on track after overcoming a couple possible trip ending situations. Tenacious … yes. After a fire and supper we slipped into our tent just as the rain started and continued to pour throughout he night.

Branham Lake

The start of the Shindig

Starting out on non motorized singletrack is the best

We are going over THAT?

Thompson Pass, the first pass of the ride with Bell Lake in the backdrop

High point

A tail of two lakes

Should we do Thompson Peak?

Thompson Meadows

Thompson Reservoir left the building

Thompson Lake went missing

Cabin on South Fork Indian Creek

Our weekly ride this week was our yearly tackle of the Shafthouse Ride. Most people do it from the valley to the north but we like to start by rising up the Fairy Lake 4WD trail. Super steep in places but once on top it is totally worth it. And this week was the first finish in the dark ride of the season. Yep … it’s fall folks. And what better time to plan for a new addition …o/o

Mo crossing Fairy Creek

Fairy Lake

Shafthouse Trail Loop Scene

Hardscrabble Ridge

Us …OxO

Sacajawea Peaks

Frazier Peaks

Exit day started out fantastic but ended with another mauling of our friend Paul. I found a way to grind coffee with a ball jar and a makeshift stake hammer (a branch). And I created this fantastic idea to ride to the next riding spot and have Mo drive the vehicle out. Our plan … the exit ride … or maybe officially the Brownback Gulch Ride to end our weekend.

And maybe we should of shuttled Paul to the top … but … continuing with my string of bad plans this weekend I figured he would like the massive climb to the top of the gulch. Bad idea. Afterwards my partner said once again, “we did it again … we killed our friend”.

Sorry Paul …o/o

Morning at camp

Mo coming out of Brownback

So leaving off with my last post I pointed out that even though my friend Paul seemed to be having difficulty with the altitude it was I who was the loser. For having left the coffee grinder at home if I need to remind the reader. So day 3 was the same thing. Except I added to it a complete blow up and a good smashing of our camp stove lighter. I was simply not going to let go of the fact that I was a complete idiot. Snuggles stepped up and made breakfast.

We took the day as a rest day so I went down to the creek to losing my hat in the creek and then discovered weird creatures attached to stones in the creek. All seemed to be waiting to wake up from some kind of state to take over the world. I tried to warn the others by throwing my can of water against a tree and throwing tether tantrum number 3 of the day.

After that we took a ten mile leisure hike up to Lake Louse and managed to grab enough firewood to take back to camp. It was this wood we lit on fire to warm me up to having fun. Good food and good company is enough to turn your day around.

A waterfall just up the road from camp

Some waterfalls up from camp

Thing

Lake Lousie

Coming out of Lake Louise

Firewood hauler