Avalanche!

(Poor quality, but I was using the self timer so give me a break. Thanks.)

Hello,

It’s been a few days since an update, which seems to be the way it goes. Not too much has happened since the last bloggerific post. I had a three day weekend and was hoping to maybe make it down to the Tetons for a little sightseeing. That didn’t happen, so maybe next week!

The most exciting part of my week was definitely my hike up Avalanche Peak. I did it a few years ago when we visited with Blake and Jacob. I remember it being tough, but I was certainly surprised with the difficulty of the climb. It’s pretty much a steep incline the entire way except for one little break after hiking 1.2 miles in. It was right as you reach tree line and you can see the amphitheater of the mountains. Usually this area is covered in snow and people will jump down and sled to the bottom. Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture, there isn’t enough snow to do this. There were enough rocks I probably could have made it happen , though. That may have been a bit painful.

The hike was great though. It felt good to get the heart rate up since I’ve been slacking on my running recently. Hiking through a pretty dense forest at the beginning and being rewarded with a great view at the top was absolutely worth it. You can see to the Shoshone National Forest, which doesn’t have a single trail through the park. So needless to say, it was an uninterrupted view of wilderness. To the other side of the peak you could see the never-ending water of Lake Yellowstone. The clouds were looking a bit like cotton from a pillow that was just torn to shreds by your cute and loveable puppy, and they were just floating across the sky. Unlike the last time I was atop this manly mountain, it stayed sunny for the entire time rather than thundering, lightning and raining on me. So, thank you Mother Nature for that one.

By the way, I’ve been looking into ways to get people out here for really cheap and have had much success…so if you’re interested, let me know!

The other night I went out to see the Northern Lights. I know what you’re thinking, “I thought those were only in Alaska?” Well, you’re right. Sometimes they (the lights, of course) make it low enough to where you can see them elsewhere. I haven’t had a chance to do much research on them (why? Read my posts where I’m complaining about internet access and you’ll realize why) but the other night they were supposed to be visible from this area. We waited around until about 2am and went down to Hayden Valley to watch for a colorful sky amongst our closest bison friends. You could hear them burping, growling, snorting and trotting by on the pavement right around car. It was a near experience to say the least. I wasn’t able to see them, but could hear every single thing they were doing. You can’t do that in very many places! (Jealous yet?)

Back to the lights: they weren’t constant like you might think, but a cool experience nonetheless. A couple of flashes of blue and red took over the sky for a split second here and a millisecond there, but it was worth it. Not to mention the high number of shooting stars that we were able to see, the late night and loss of sleep was made up for the next morning.

A few nights before that a group of around 12 of us hiked down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to hang out and watch the moon rise and such and just take in the Yellowstone air. I didn’t think to take my camera just because I figured it’d be too dark to capture any quality images, but I think I may have been mistaken. The moon lit the place up like crazy. I will have to make my way back down there to give it a shot and hopefully I’ll have something of decent quality to post to all my faithful readers out there.

Other news? Not that I can think of. Oh, wait. I did go up to Bozeman the other night with my extended weekend with a few folks from Canyon. I really only needed one thing from “the city” and that was the new Tech N9ne album, “The Gates Mixed Plate”. The album is an ode to Kansas City and the famous Bar-B-Que that is provided in the city. It’s a pretty decent album, as is anything that Mr. Tecca Nina decides to put out. The Kansas City King will actually grace Billings, Montana with his presence on September 23rd, so I think I will treat myself to a little birthday gift and enjoy a nice rap concert in the heart of Montana. If you happen to be free that night, please, don’t be shy and come on out. It shall be a good time had by all!

We tried to go to the Bozeman Brewery to get a bite to eat, but they sadly didn’t serve any food. It would have been a great place to hang out because there was a nice live band on stage singing some splendid tunes. That lead us to the Bacchus Pub on Main Street which certainly didn’t disappoint. It was located in the first floor of an old hotel which had been renovated into apartments. I’ll admit it: I ate an entire pepperoni pizza. So healthy.

Alright, I really think that’s about all I’ll waste your time with for tonight. I’m working the early shifts the next couple of days before my weekend returns. I’ll hopefully get in a couple of hikes and try to get a couple photos up for your viewing pleasure. If no photos, I’ll try to increase my writing creativity as I’m feeling a bit more confident about heading out for a run on the trails around here. I really need to get in shape. For some reason I just have to keep these fleet feet a-movin’!

Until next time…