day 2: failed hike

So you noted my mention of snow eh?! Well if you didn't there was a ton of it.

We woke up that morning and attempted to drive down to the trail head. Attempted because there was a snow drift across the road and our wee truck doesn't have four wheel drive. So we hopped out and walked to the trailhead to see if it was possible to do.

Some snow, lots of water but it looked doable- the guidebook had said that there was no bridge over the first stream crossing and they had just put one in! We figured that we should at least head back and see what it was like further in.

We headed back to the truck to pack all of our junk into our backpacks. ALL of it. We didn't have a scale with us but I think we packed about 20 pounds of food, and a ton of gear that we didn't need.

So off we went. Ready to conquer the known world, or at least this part of it. Our goal was to get up to the Aero Lakes and then maybe bag a peak. We cross over the bridge that had been seemingly built just for us and enter into our winter wonderland. There was enough gaps between the drifts to see the trail and from some snow mapping that Aaron had looked at he figured the worst snow was in the first few miles. So we gotta at least attempt it, right?!

Our first non-bridge stream crossing got my feet soaked so I hung my wet socks on the back of my pack to dry and changed into the dry ones. Aaron escaped but, as he was leading, if he got too close to a rock or tree he'd sink in to his hip so his socks were wet too.

The snow kept getting deeper and the gaps between piles longer. The trail would just completely disappear and because the snow was so high it covered all the trail markings. So I would stand in one spot and Aaron would scout around me until he found it. We had stopped in one such spot and realized, as we were standing talking about where the stupid trail was, that there was a stream coming out of our mound of snow and that we were on a snow bridge.

Down a steep steep hill where we were using our trekking poles to maintain our balance we lost the trail again, only this time no matter how much scouting we did we couldn't find anything, it was just buried way too deep. We figured we had gone this far we should keep on at least to the lake. So we then ditched the whole finding the trail thing. We knew there was a cliff to our left and a stream to our right and there was another path down near the stream that headed to our first lake ahead of us. So Aaron took our bearings and we started going as the crow flies to the stream. At this point I took my first hip deep plunge into the snow and it really, really scared me. I was shaking so bad. At that point I just wanted to be at home. (Aaron didn't realize that I had fallen in and was extremely calloused to my cries for pity, and told me to buck up or something.) We found a frozen path that must have been the stream and I stared imagining that we were walking down a roaring river with a thin shell of snow on top. Obviously we were going to die.

Then it started raining. Pouring in fact. We hunkered down under a tree and pulled out the rain fly for shelter and discussed our options. We made a rather quick decision to turn back. It had taken us four hours to go just over a mile down the "trail". If we lost our trail going back out it could take the same amount of time and it was getting dark. Our feet were both sore and wet and we were miserable. Up and at 'em! You never saw two people move so fast through snow with such heavy packs.

About 30 minutes into our backward trek the rain stopped and about 40 minutes in we breathed a sigh of relief as we hit the first spot we lost the trail. It took us an hour to get back to the trail head compared with the four hours to get in. We were drenched from head to toe and most of the stuff in Aaron's pack was damp. (My pack was still dry inside- maybe because it's newer the rain guard stuff wasn't worn??). So we draped all our stuff over the truck and on tree stumps to dry out and I made us a lovely super. Stir fry with frozen veggies, japanese noodles and a package of seasoning. Next time I'll read the package. It was disgusting. I had used what should have done for six servings on two servings of food. Oh well, there's always beef jerky, dried fruit, trail mix and monster cookies!

day 1: the beartooth highway

We left my growing up home super early thursday morning and Aaron drove his little heart out for hours and hours. We saw some gorgeous scenery on our way that I never new existed (the Theodore Roosevelt National Park?!). We hit Red Lodge Montana at about 7:30pm and figured we could do the Beartooth highway before it got dark. No such luck:) We didn't account for the lowered speed limit due to hairpin turns, switchbacks, cliffs and crazy elevation changes. The first half of the highway was spectacular; tall pointy mountains with snow caps in every direction, then you hit the plateau. It was the weirdest feeling ever, it felt like someone had gone and stuck the prairies on top of some mountains. Flat, barren, cold and so much snow. Aaron says some of the snow banks the highway went through were at least 20' deep, I don't think they were quite that high but they were higher than the truck. We then started descending and the mountains turned more rounded and pine covered (this half of the highway is the Absaroka range). We pulled off on the Lulu Pass Road and found a spot to pitch the tent overnight. I would totally recommend driving this highway if you ever are anywhere near it!

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park

The Beartooth Highway

We were trying to conserve space on our memory card and so were avoiding taking pictures on the highway when we knew we'd see some of the same types of mountains while hiking. That didn't happen so the beauty of the place mostly exists in my head and on people's computers who actually stopped their car to take pictures:P

backpacking in our living room

Yesterday our new sleeping bags came. They are Big Agnes, Lost Ranger, rated to 15 degrees F, mate-able and down filled. The underside has no insulation, it just has a pocket that you slide your sleeping matt into. Likely more than you care to know about sleeping bags. Same here.

Aaron loves gear. Unfortunately when you grow up you can't funnel every single cent you make into buying gear so when we do buy something he gets really, really excited.

So last night we moved our living room furniture around, turned off the furnace, and crawled into our sleeping bags for the night.

I will never, ever again sleep in a sleeping bag if my bed is in the same house and unoccupied. Aaron slept well though. Here's our setup:

Then we work up early and headed to Menards to eat our free contractor breakfast. Biscuits with gravy, made to order omlette, chocolate milk, coffee and root beer.

Marriage does weird things to a person. I love it:)

mountain backpacking

When Aaron and I first got married we planned on doing something big for our first year anniversary. We dreamed of different continents, long journeys and foreign languages. Maybe one day that'll happen. Like- maybe for our 25th wedding anniversary. So for now we've had to readjust our expectations to fit our budget and we're going to have to stick with...

GOING TO SEE MY FAMILY IN JULY!!!!!

What a deflator eh?! "On our way home" from seeing them though we plan on stopping in Montana for a weekish and going backpacking. I've never been overnight but I love camping and hiking and have always wanted to attempt it. Aaron's been itching to go his whole life but see, I came along, and halted all plans of adventure and excitement.

We've bought some of our gear. Aaron made me buy a backpack for our honeymoon (so we didn't have to pay for checked baggage- so romantic) and he's had one forever. We just bought down sleeping bags off of steep and cheap. And we have a cute little tent that you can barely move around in that's light enough for Aaron to carry (he has agreed to carry anything of weighty significance). He has a little stove so all we need is cooking stuff. I'd rather eat dried fruit and nuts for a week straight as I hate cooking while camping. Fortunately my husband loves it. So all I have to do is sit back and watch him work. Right. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The other big thing we need to do before going is, um, well, move. Like I need to get off my rear end and walk or run or skip or anything. I used to run about 5 miles a week. That's not amazing but there is. no. way. that. could. happen. now. Aaron gets a lot of exercise with working but no cardio so he really needs to do stuff with me but he is in better shape than I am. Another thing to help us get into the groove is a mini backpacking trip maybe in May- to the pictured rocks in the U.P. They look so pretty!

So after I write this I need to go for a walk. But I have a house to clean, laundry to do, bow ties to sew, dresses to sew (I have passed the difficult stuff so you'll see photo's soon!) and I promised my Aaron that I'd bake him some banana blueberry bread.

So we are looking forward to a week of wearing the same clothes, not showering, swatting mosquitos continually, sleeping on the ground and getting to see some of God's gorgeous creation. We'll take a million pictures and I'll tell you all about our adventures!

Of course all plans are subject to change without notice. I've been informed that I still need to get my passport renewed "just in case" and he checks flights to random corners of the world continuously. I am not going to the middle east though. No matter how cheap the flights are.

opium

A few blogger diehards (one may also call them addicts although they would take exception to that label) have been at me to write more, stooping so low as to compliment me on my exceptional writing skills. This, of course, inflated my under inflated ego to such inflatedness that has not been seen since my grade 9 English teacher went into rapture about my poems and any other written material I presented her. (Under careful reflection I must admit that this may have been due to my large and varied vocabulary which starkly contrasted with the 4 letter word vocabulary that my compatriots used as I was in a ‘special’ program that was used either by home scholars or high school dropouts.) Therefore, (“Finally.” you say?!) I have taken fingers to keys again.

This last Monday was Canada Day, and to celebrate it corporate Canada shuts down. This is delightful as it translated to little old me getting a long weekend. It has become a long standing tradition for various friends and I to head out to the backwoods in search of serious adventure.

“Backwoods?” you ask. What this constitutes is borrowing tenting gear from whomever is willing to lend it, air mattresses, much food, a camp site complete with running water toilets and showers, and a nearby beach for soaking in the rays. When you’ve been born in bred in the city anything more backwoods then this is just a tad overwhelming.

Saturday Day: Walked through sand dunes! The sky was slightly overcast and it was low 20’s. Perfect day for a hike. Each of the members of my group minus myself uses English as a second language. So very frequently conversations would take place in French or Frenglish. This required either immediate interpretation or waiting till the person they were commenting on walked by so they could interpret without being rude.

Saturday Night: I overindulged in water, tea, s’mores and all else yummy. For some reason sleep was slow in coming. Eventually I dozed off. Midway through the night my bladder hit full, I was frozen solid and one of my neighbors was snoring. My solution for these problems: I tried not to think about my bladder, I curled in a little ball with only my nose touching the cold air and I alternated attempting to awake the offending member with nice, gentle nudges and holding my thoroughly damp pillow around my ears.

Sunday Day: Went on this 36 km hike- at least part of it. Walked about 13.5km through gorgeous rolling hills covered in grass and spruce forest. Birds chirping, the creek bubbling, and the sun blazing. Then we discovered the ticks. Gaby had the good fortune of finding the first one. She was ecstatic! By the time we finished our hike we each had collected hordes of the bugs under, on and in our shoes. It was the best part of our day.

Sunday Night: Our campsite was lovely, we were surrounded by a bunch of families who were really quite. UNTILL now. Two cars filled with 17 year old boys pulled up and invaded the campsite next to us. Never before has someone imitating my laugh made me feel like a loser. They stayed up late and got up early. ‘We’ had many conversations about them when they could totally hear us- in French.

This night was christened ‘burn the rest of the newspaper night’. This constituted the best, biggest, hottest and roaringest fire we created all weekend. Apparently we need to take fire building skills 101.

Monday Day: We packed up, sat at the beach for thirty minutes and the rest of the girls left. After this I was able to spend 2 hours laying on the beach reading ‘Christianity: Opium or Truth’. The title is a play on a quote by Karl Marx, “Religion is the opium of the people.” The basic conclusion being (or at least what I’ve gotten so far) that being a follower of Christ is not a religion but a relationship. Jesus is a man so completely unique in all of history that His claims make Him either a lunatic or the Son of God, one can not just brush Him off as a ‘good man’. So what do you think of Christ?

“...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time...” 1 Corinthians 15:3b-6a.