Sunday June 21st I decided to skip out on my 4:30 standby to go hiking with Mark, Kevin and Jen. We went up into the Western Beartooth mountains which was the best hike thus far. We scaled up around 4000 feet and got to the lake that sat at 9032 feet. And let me tell you it was no easy feet. Mark and I decided to bring our fishing poles because it was said that this lake had some of the best fishing in it.
When we finally reached the top after a good 4hrs of hiking we realized that the lake was still frozen. I know!! what the heck....its the middle of June and still frozen over!!? I guess that's the mountains for ya. None the less there was some open spots of water where we could still cast. So after a couple of casts there was no luck and to make things even better I got a nice birds nest in my line. EVEN AT 9000+ FEET I CAN'T ESCAPE BIRD NESTS!!! GOD!!! But I eventually fixed the problem like I always do and took a couple more casts and of course caught nothing. It was still a great place to fish though. There couldn't have been a better scene.
Other things on the way up were two really cool water falls and some smaller crystal clear lakes. A really cool part of the hike was the fact that we had to trudge through snow and we even lost the trail at certain points. The coolest part of the snow was the descent. We slid down the snow sheets to make the drop a little quicker. It was hilarious whatching everyone ski on the bottom of their hiking boots and trying to stay up. All in all the best hike so far even though we didn't catch any fish.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Yellowstone Hike from Blacktail to Gardiner
On Monday, seeing that i had no boats to take out, went with Pam and Derek on a 14 mile hike in Yellowstone. We started at west Blacktail and hiked North to meet up with the Yellowstone river and followed it back to Gardiner. It was a sight to see! Walking through huge canyons and seeing awesome creeks and falls was and adventure to say the least. I have some pictures that I'll put up so you guys can see. I also took some awesome video of the river, but I can't figure out how to post that yet. We say a Bull Elk driving through mammoth and then saw some prong horn antelope. On the hike we also saw some Elk antler sheds and a Marmot. It was one of the funniest animals peeking over the rocks at us.
We stopped and had lunch at a waterfall which was Deer Creek that was eventually meeting up with the Yellowstone river. From there we crossed the Yellowstone River VIA a suspension bridge and took a photo of all of us(which I will Post). From then on we followed the river back to town stopping at all the sweet rapids that were probably class IV and V. Towards the end of the hike it started to rain and we got bogged down with mud on the bottom of our shoes. It made the walk back much more intense as we frequently stopped to scrap the mud from our shoes on nearby rocks.
We finally made it back to town and by that time my knee was sore enough that i just laid down and didn't get up until we had our meeting at 6:30. The meeting pertained to facts about the yellowstone that we could tell our customers on the boats. Geology, plants, animals, history, etc it was a really cool meeting.
Thats about it for now and I will try to put up as many pictures as i can .
We stopped and had lunch at a waterfall which was Deer Creek that was eventually meeting up with the Yellowstone river. From there we crossed the Yellowstone River VIA a suspension bridge and took a photo of all of us(which I will Post). From then on we followed the river back to town stopping at all the sweet rapids that were probably class IV and V. Towards the end of the hike it started to rain and we got bogged down with mud on the bottom of our shoes. It made the walk back much more intense as we frequently stopped to scrap the mud from our shoes on nearby rocks.
We finally made it back to town and by that time my knee was sore enough that i just laid down and didn't get up until we had our meeting at 6:30. The meeting pertained to facts about the yellowstone that we could tell our customers on the boats. Geology, plants, animals, history, etc it was a really cool meeting.
Thats about it for now and I will try to put up as many pictures as i can .
Its Official!
Well, I am finally a raft guide as of Thursday the 11th of June!! It is the 16th right now and so far have taken three customer boats out (two today). Everything is going great and every time I get out on the water I feel much more comfortable.
I have met some interesting customers most of which are European. I took some people from Belarus and Serbia. Today I took some people from Holland and the whole time on the water they were speaking Dutch. I never figured out if they were talking trash about me, but the whole time I was with them I wanted to say..."Hey,....I don't speak freaky deaky dutch!" Some other people I took down were from Houston and Miami, so I could understand them very well. Business is going better now that people are traveling and it can only get better and busier from here on out.
I have met some interesting customers most of which are European. I took some people from Belarus and Serbia. Today I took some people from Holland and the whole time on the water they were speaking Dutch. I never figured out if they were talking trash about me, but the whole time I was with them I wanted to say..."Hey,....I don't speak freaky deaky dutch!" Some other people I took down were from Houston and Miami, so I could understand them very well. Business is going better now that people are traveling and it can only get better and busier from here on out.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Snow in June
So this morning I woke up to snow falling down just after it being like 75 degrees two days ago!! I took a cool picture of the mountains I always see with a fresh layer of snow covering the trees. If you look at the picture you can see the defined line of where they snow was staying because of the colder elevation.
Well, no boats today obviously. No one wants to go on the river when its 39 degrees outside!! So i spent my time today sleeping and watching Transformers. I can't wait until the next one comes out so I can go be a nerd and travel up to Bozeman to see it in theaters. Well I wish I had more to write, but it has been a slow day and its cold out so until next time.
Well, no boats today obviously. No one wants to go on the river when its 39 degrees outside!! So i spent my time today sleeping and watching Transformers. I can't wait until the next one comes out so I can go be a nerd and travel up to Bozeman to see it in theaters. Well I wish I had more to write, but it has been a slow day and its cold out so until next time.
Meeting Family
Another day, another turkey boat. That puts me at three so far and hopefully I'll only need one more before I can check off and start making some real money. Not just money or beer that you get as a tip.....but the real dough. Even though beer is a great tip.
Ironically, two days ago, one of the older raft guides Sam said he saw my cousin over at the Tumbleweed book store. He was telling me this early in the morning just after we had a nice night of drinking heavily. I'm like "Sam your crazy...you did not see my cousin"! Blah Blah Blah....but when one of the girls (Jen) came up and asked me if i met up with my cousin yet I'm like, "ok what the hell is going on"? So i did some investigating and found out my cousin Katie was in Gardiner, MT getting a cup of coffee. So I biked around the city to see if i could find her. Of course i didn't find her so i called Allison my sis to see if she could get her number. Long story short I got her number, called her and she said they were in the park(who is they I'll get to that later). So we talked and decided to grab a beer later that evening.
So they got back into town and ate at Helens Hamburger Place, which i found out has the best hamburgers in the west. They are the size of your head and you get a lot of fries with it. So i walk into Helens and who do I see, But Katie Bain from L.A. and my aunt Sarah whom i haven't seen in like 15 years. So we talked and caught up on why in the heck we were all in the same little town in Montana.
Turns out Katie is making her way back home to De Pere, WI and then down to Tennessee and then back to L.A. on the 16th of June. Sarah is driving with her and i found out she was here with some famous guy Jim Halfpenny helping him track Grizzley Bears and Wolves. How sweet is that!! She showed me a cast of a bear paw print that she made and one of a wolve that was right next to it (they got them from the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone).
So after i saw where they were staying, which was like 5 blocks away from me....yeah i know!!!! we went off to the K-Bar for some beer. We continued to talk about life and siblings. I especially enjoyed of how jealous they were of me and my summer job. Yeah....life is good! So after making them feel bad about being able to give them a free raft ride down yellowstone and talking about the crazy drunks at the bar we parted ways. All in all a funny and crazy coincidence.
Ironically, two days ago, one of the older raft guides Sam said he saw my cousin over at the Tumbleweed book store. He was telling me this early in the morning just after we had a nice night of drinking heavily. I'm like "Sam your crazy...you did not see my cousin"! Blah Blah Blah....but when one of the girls (Jen) came up and asked me if i met up with my cousin yet I'm like, "ok what the hell is going on"? So i did some investigating and found out my cousin Katie was in Gardiner, MT getting a cup of coffee. So I biked around the city to see if i could find her. Of course i didn't find her so i called Allison my sis to see if she could get her number. Long story short I got her number, called her and she said they were in the park(who is they I'll get to that later). So we talked and decided to grab a beer later that evening.
So they got back into town and ate at Helens Hamburger Place, which i found out has the best hamburgers in the west. They are the size of your head and you get a lot of fries with it. So i walk into Helens and who do I see, But Katie Bain from L.A. and my aunt Sarah whom i haven't seen in like 15 years. So we talked and caught up on why in the heck we were all in the same little town in Montana.
Turns out Katie is making her way back home to De Pere, WI and then down to Tennessee and then back to L.A. on the 16th of June. Sarah is driving with her and i found out she was here with some famous guy Jim Halfpenny helping him track Grizzley Bears and Wolves. How sweet is that!! She showed me a cast of a bear paw print that she made and one of a wolve that was right next to it (they got them from the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone).
So after i saw where they were staying, which was like 5 blocks away from me....yeah i know!!!! we went off to the K-Bar for some beer. We continued to talk about life and siblings. I especially enjoyed of how jealous they were of me and my summer job. Yeah....life is good! So after making them feel bad about being able to give them a free raft ride down yellowstone and talking about the crazy drunks at the bar we parted ways. All in all a funny and crazy coincidence.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Becoming a Guide
Well it has been a week and a half so far since arriving to Gardiner, MT. I have done many ride alongs so far, as well as two turkey boats (which are free raft rides to those who want them). Everything is going well, I am living with Pat and Derrick in one cabin which is sort of connected to two others. Its funny that we are all in the same place because we are all from the midwest.
Other raft guides are Jaceulyn (aka Q), Pam, Mary, Kevin, Marc, Scott (aka Duder), Anna, Ryan, Josh, Sam, and Julie.
The other day six raft guides along with my self went on the 35 mile float down the Yellowstone River from McConnell to Immigrant. It took a good six hours or so, but with beer and a potato gun for company it made the trip go a little faster. There is a picture posted of me, derrick, pat, and pam on the raft. You can tell we are all having a pretty good time.
June 13th there is a raft race on the river in which our company(MWW) competes with four other company's here in gardiner. It is a good 4 mile sprint through class four rapids and finishing off at Tom Miners bridge. From what I have been hearing I won't be able to feel my arms for a while once the race is finished. I'm kind of excited for it though....is that weird? So that is something i am really looking forward to.
The town of Gardiner which i realized is very small and has a population of only 851 people. But i think in the summer that has to reach over 1000. There are a lot of great places to eat here such as the K-Bar, The Raven Pub and grille, The Silvertip, Helens drive through and La Town. Each is good in its own way. K-Bar is great for pizza and The Raven I hear is great for steaks and corn on the cob. Silvertip is a good mexican food place and Helens is great for Bison Burgers. To be honest all i haven't tried the raven yet or Helens, but i soon will.
Well my mind has stopped flowing from things that have happened so i will cut it off there. Keep checking in....who knows what I'll post next.
Other raft guides are Jaceulyn (aka Q), Pam, Mary, Kevin, Marc, Scott (aka Duder), Anna, Ryan, Josh, Sam, and Julie.
The other day six raft guides along with my self went on the 35 mile float down the Yellowstone River from McConnell to Immigrant. It took a good six hours or so, but with beer and a potato gun for company it made the trip go a little faster. There is a picture posted of me, derrick, pat, and pam on the raft. You can tell we are all having a pretty good time.
June 13th there is a raft race on the river in which our company(MWW) competes with four other company's here in gardiner. It is a good 4 mile sprint through class four rapids and finishing off at Tom Miners bridge. From what I have been hearing I won't be able to feel my arms for a while once the race is finished. I'm kind of excited for it though....is that weird? So that is something i am really looking forward to.
The town of Gardiner which i realized is very small and has a population of only 851 people. But i think in the summer that has to reach over 1000. There are a lot of great places to eat here such as the K-Bar, The Raven Pub and grille, The Silvertip, Helens drive through and La Town. Each is good in its own way. K-Bar is great for pizza and The Raven I hear is great for steaks and corn on the cob. Silvertip is a good mexican food place and Helens is great for Bison Burgers. To be honest all i haven't tried the raven yet or Helens, but i soon will.
Well my mind has stopped flowing from things that have happened so i will cut it off there. Keep checking in....who knows what I'll post next.
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