Montana Governor's Cup Half Marathon

Well, I did it. Again. This weekend I ran and completed my 2nd half marathon of the summer. I still can hardly believe that I can run a half marathon, let alone 2 of them.

This race was the Montana Governor’s Cup in Billings, Montana. The race started SW of town on the road to Molt, Montana. It was pretty chilly in the morning, which made things interesting. Shortly after the race started it became VERY foggy, which did not help my already cold legs. Eventually the fog lifted and the sun came out. The majority of the race ran either along busy streets or through neighborhoods and then it ended at the high school track. It was an exhausting race but I am so glad to have another half marathon under my belt.

After my race, Ross and I drove through Red Lodge, MT and over the Beartooth Mountains on our way back to Mammoth. The Beartooth Mountains were gorgeous, especially with all the aspens turning bright yellow.

BBQs and Google Sky Map

I had another great weekend full of BBQs and friends as fall has begun to descend on us. (Although you would never be able to tell from all the traffic we still have throughout both parks.)

Friday – As soon as 5pm rolled around I hit the road and zipped on down to Blackrock, pulling in just about 8pm. It was a chilly evening and Ross’s brother Warren had been cooking a pork roast in the crock pot all day. Ross and I got busy in the kitchen fixing up potatoes and corn to go along with the pork and we all set down to dinner. The pork was delicious and I loved being back “home” with my guys after a long, busy week at work. Later that evening we spent some time outside on the porch playing with Google Sky Maps on my phone. The app shows all the stars, constellations, planets and galaxies in the sky. Just point it to where you are looking and it will tell you what you are looking at. Definitely my favorite app. It was during this time that we noticed our friend Chris stumbling through the compound. In fact he was stuck up against some logs and couldn’t quite figure how to get around them. Well, Chris had had a few drinks and was trying to get home. He had lost his shoes and cell phone by the time we saw him. Ross ended up going and rescuing Chris and getting him to his cabin. (We saw Chris again on Sunday and he had found his cell phone, but still no clue where his shoes were. Lol.)

Saturday – Well, I was supposed to go into town this morning and run in a 5k race. When I woke up everything was covered in frost, it was 28 degrees and my shin splint was really hurting. Needless to say the couch, a cup of coffee and a relaxing morning with Ross were much more appealing to me. Eventually we, along with Warren, made our way into Jackson for some shopping and errands. It turned into a gorgeous, sunny day and we stopped several times to get pictures of us all and enjoy the sunshine. Later that afternoon I made a Peanut Butter Pie for a BBQ we were going to at our friends Larry and Judys. The pie turned out delicious; although it was too rich too eat more than a few bites at a time, at least for me. As evening rolled around we headed to Larry and Judy’s for the BBQ. The evening was spent playing horseshoes, chatting, eating, talking and enjoying the evening. Of course my phone and the Google Sky Map came out again. Did I mention how cool that app is?

Sunday – Sunday turned into another gorgeous day. Ross and I headed into the Tetons for a drive through the park and to visit the Moose Visitor Center, which was recently redone. After our Sunday drive we headed home to pick up Warren real quick and then headed to Moran for a town BBQ to benefit the fire department. The fire department puts on the annual BBQ with ribs, chicken, brownies, coleslaw and potato salad. It was all pretty good (at least I thought so) and the place was hopping. It was a fun afternoon chatting with friends, meeting new people and eating good food. After the BBQ we headed back home to relax a bit. Ross and I took a walk around the compound and down to the river, enjoying the warm sunshine. That evening we all headed out again for another BBQ at our friends Ken and Denise’s place with several other Forest Service people. It was a great evening meeting everyone. We had delicious tacos and just ate, drank and talked the night away. So much fun in fact that there was no way I could drive home that evening and ending up staying Sunday night at Blackrock as well.

It was once again another great weekend.

Labor Day Weekend

Are sunsets not just one the best joys on this Earth? I think I could sit and watch them for hours, luckily this weekend I was blessed with several gorgeous ones.

I had a very busy weekend, but enjoyed it all. The fun started on Thursday night when I went to Chico Hot Springs with my friend Delwyne. It was a perfect night and I loved soaking in the pool for awhile. Later that evening my cousin John met us there. John is doing his dental internship in MT this summer and it was great to spend a little time with him. Friday I had to work and John explored the park and fished some. When I got off work we met up again, went to dinner, baked brownies and chilled.

Saturday morning John and I said our good-byes and then I headed to Old Faithful where I had a date to meet Ross at noon on the Old Faithful Inn porch. As I drove into Old Faithful I noticed that Beehive indicator was going off. Beehive is one of my favorite geysers that I don't get to see that often. Ross and I sat for quite awhile waiting for Beehive to erupt, unfortunately it never erupted. (Apparently Beehive gave several false indicators that day.)After giving up on Beehive we went for lunch at the General Store grill and then headed out to the Fountain Lake Drive.

Great Fountain geyser was predicted to erupt that afternoon and we were determined to see it erupt. Great Fountain is a geyser that erupts about every 8-15 hours and I had only see it erupt once. We sat on the boardwalk and were not disappointed as the geyser erupted about 15 minutes after we got there! I was so excited, the eruption was fantastic!


After our afternoon Ross and I headed home to Blackrock. We rested for a little and then headed to Leek's Marina with Ross's brother Warren for pizza dinner. I love the pizza there but the views of Jackson Lake and the sunsets are even better.

Sunday Ross and I headed to Riverton for a little fun at the Wind River Indian Casino before running a few errands in town. I had a good time at the casino and even came out ahead, I went into the casino with $40 and left with $200! I had won a little bit more but we had fun playing on it for several hours. After the casino we ran errands, ate dinner and then headed back home. The sunset was again stunning and the stars were gorgeous when they came out later.

This week I was lucky and didn't have to be to work until noon on Monday so I was able to stay Sunday night at Blackrock as well. I enjoyed the extra time and am grateful I only have 3 days in between visits this week.

Brooks Lake

This past weekend the weather turned. Saturday's weather included rain, hail, thunder, lightning and more rain, ALL DAY. It made for a restful day as I spent the morning shopping around Jackson with Warren, then we met up for lunch with Ross who had to work the fire that day, and then home to bake. I made lots of chocolate/butterscotch chip cookies and orange julius cookies. Yum! I love baking and the bug sure hit me this weekend, good thing it was a rainy day.

On Sunday we had planned to go rafting. The weather was originally predicted to be a repeat of Saturday so the trip was canceled. Wouldn't you know it, Saturday morning turned out to be gorgeous! Oh well. Instead Ross and I headed out for a little Sunday drive over Togwotee Pass and up to Brooks Lake. We then took the Turpin Meadows road home. I had never explored any of this area and it was GORGEOUS! This is part of Brooks Lake. There is a nice little campground on the lake and a lodge across from it. Hopefully we will make it back up there one day to hike and explore some more.

More weekend fun at Blackrock

I just got home from another great weekend at Blackrock. I absolutely love spending my weekends down there with great friends, I just wish I lived a little closer.

Saturday
Saturday was our lazy day and it was wonderful. After slowly getting ready and enjoying our morning Ross and I headed into Jackson to run a couple errands. Ross got his haircut, I picked up a new shirt, we had lunch at Quizno's and we got a few groceries. After our errands were done we headed back home for naps and to get ready for the evening. Later that afternoon we met up with our good friends Larry and Judy and headed south to Granite Canyon where we were going to spend time in the hot springs and picnic. On our way out of town we had to stop at Smith's to grab a couple of things and Larry needed a snack. (Now let me just say that Larry is one of the funniest guys I know, yet he would do anything for you. He also has an appetite, and I don't mean that lightly. In fact I have never seen someone who can eat as much as he does.) When we got back out on the road Larry pulled out his "snack". It was a piece of chicken breast! It gets better though. As soon as he was done with the chicken breast he pulled out a drumstick! It had Ross and I in stitches we were laughing so much. Our goal for the evening was to head to Granite Hot Springs which is located up Granite Canyon in the Gros Ventre Wilderness. Well, this also happens to be an area where a large fire is burning. As we started up Granite Canyon we ran into some firefighters that Ross and Judy worked with and chatted with them a bit. We also watched as one of the helicopters stopped to fill up with water in the creek and head up to the fire again. It was cool to watch. We continued up the canyon to the hot springs and had a wonderful soak/swim (despite the tons of kids and very talkative old man). After about an hour in the pool we got out and headed down to the campground to grill our dinner. We had a delicious dinner of grilled steak, salad, pasta salad, bread & cheese and toasted s'mores. It was dark by the time we headed out of the canyon and we were able to see actual flames on the ridge. It was a perfect Saturday even though we got home and to bed very late.

Sunday
Sunday morning we got up and going early. It wasn't very easy since we stayed up late the night before. We got our stuff together and out the door in time to meet Larry and Judy, along with other friends Karl and Michael, at Signal Mountain Lodge for breakfast. We had a delicious breakfast, even though our waitress was lacking. With full tummies we headed out on our hike to Toppings Lake. It was a gorgeous hike, though most of it was straight up to the lake. The trail was also lined with huckleberries which thrilled me to death, I even filled up a sandwich bag full of them on the hike out! The lake was gorgeous and well worth the hike UP. The lake had some serious blow down around it from a storm a few years ago which made it very interesting for Judy and I to scramble over, under and around them. We're tough and managed though. After a break for lunch and some fishing by Michael we made our way out the lake via the other side from which we came in on. It was SO much easier, despite the mud Judy stepped into up to her ankles.
This is where we all separated. Michael and Karl took off for the trailhead while Ross and Larry climbed a spur trail which took you up to the top of the ridge above the lake. After Judy's shoe dried out we started hiking out but stopped at the trail junction where we were to wait for Larry and Ross. Well, the trail to the top was obviously a little longer/harder than the boys thought because Judy and I sat on a log chatting for close to an hour before they showed up again. Once the 4 of us were together again we headed down the trail. The hike out went pretty fast, despite our many stops to pick huckleberries. Once back out to the car we headed to a little cafe on the Buffalo Valley road for dinner. We sat outside on the porch. By the time our food came it was raining and I was freezing though. Brrr. After dinner we picked up my car and headed home to Blackrock where we packed my car up and I said good-bye until the following weekend.

August Visitors

August started out with visitors the first 2 weeks of August. I love having people come from home and visit. The first weekend my friends Marie and Catherine came for a few days. We stayed at Madison Campground and had a great time traveling around the park, taking a small hike and just chatting. I loved have friends from home to hang around for a few days. The only thing we didn't see was a moose and a bear. (I neglected to tell them that I saw a moose driving down to meet them and a bear after I left them.)


The 2nd weekend in August my mom, brother and sister-in-law came to visit. It was Jessica's first time to Yellowstone and I was so excited to show here all around the park. We stayed the first night at Old Faithful and the second night at Roosevelt Lodge. We saw a lot, drove a lot and visited a lot. I really enjoyed having my family here. The other exciting part about their trip was my new "nephew" Jack. Jack is Adam and Jessica's new dog. He was 15 weeks old and is as big as my Nalgene bottle. Everywhere we went, everyone wanted to pet and play with him. I admit he is cute, but no where as cute as Rocket. :)

Cascade Canyon and Lake Solitude

My latest Teton adventure was hiking the 14.5 miles round-trip up Cascade Canyon to Lake Solitude. It was a GORGEOUS day, but HOT.

On Saturday morning Ross and I set out for Jenny Lake and took the boat across the lake to the trailhead. (Best $10 spent because you sure are not about to hike around the lake on the way out.) Once you leave the boat it is fairly packed on the trail as everyone heads to Hidden Falls. Past the falls the people slowly start to thin out as you climb up to Inspiration Point, shown below.
After the point, the trail starts to even out as you gradually climb back the canyon. At one point I finally looked behind me and realized we were actually climbing the canyon to the backside of the Grand. Words just can't explain how gorgeous it was. Words can explain how hot it was though. Yuck! Luckily there were several little streams coming out of the hillside that Ross dipped his shirt off and patted himself down with. I just dipped my hat in and let that cool me off.

Eventually the trail started climbing steeply up the mountain. The back on the canyon was in site and we knew what waited at the top; Lake Solitude! Lake Solitude sits at 9035' and is just gorgeous. After lunch I dipped my toes in the water to cool off. It was COLD, but felt great. We played around the lake a little, sat and enjoyed the silence and then started the hike down.

The hike down went quickly, could have been that we were tired, hot sick of the flies and trying to make sure we made the last boat across the lake. We did make the boat and it started raining just as we reached our car. Another great hike in the Tetons and another canyon crossed off our list.