The Gunbarrel Fire

 

 

 

Cowgirl Road Trip World Tour 2008

So my mom, aka Cee Cee, just finished a week-long trip to Wydaho. High on our list was to see "Real Wyoming" and to visit Cee Cee's 49th state, Montana. We had a fabulous road trip together with Clydeabus. We started by heading over Pine Creek Pass to Alpine, where we were able to find unguided horseback riding. The scenery was good, the horses well-versed on the route, and the saddles made for four hours of sitting on moving stones. By bum is still recovering, but it was a blast. This was my second time ever riding western!

We then headed up to Jackson, where we checked out to Mormon Row, an historic homestead north of town. The bison cooperated well for us, and were all over the road and amongst the famous old barn, making for great pictures. Clyde was a little nervous about the proximity to volatile horns! It was a windy day, and as we headed through Yellowstone to Cody, Wyoming, Yellowstone Lake truly had white caps. I think both of our routes through Yellowstone were a bit less traveled since they did not pass by Old Faithful, but I would highly recommend the areas we saw, as they were stunning and uncrowded.

We dropped down into the Shoshone National Forest, were the skies were dominated by the Gunbarrel Fire, a fire started a month ago by lightning that has grown to 52,000 acres. It was incredible to see and the setting sun made for some dramatic images. http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1439/
We got to Cody just in time to check into the charming Cody Cowboy Village ("Best Beds in the West") and head to the Cody Rodeo. The highlight was the Pee-Wee Barrel Racing and the side event where about 30 kids 12 and under chased two calves to get ribbons off their tails. Hysterical!

The next day, we perused Cody and visited the fabulous Buffalo Bill Museums which include fantastic art and an impressive collection of guns. We headed Northwest out of Cody, through southwestern-ish landscapes and into the Absaroka-Beartooth range. We entered Yellowstone again after passing through Cooke City, Montana, which had an historic mercantile with a beautiful, huge brass cash register and gas at $4.70. The Northeast Entrance parallels a gorgeous valley and the Lamar River, which must be quite a haven for flyfishing. We spent the night camping in Clyde at Tower Falls, a lovely area, but a little ravaged by beetles and fire, like much of Yellowstone.
Saturday, we checked out Mammoth Hot Springs, (which by the way is pretty dry in August), and headed north, along the Yellowstone River. We had lunch in Livingston, Montana, where we stumbled across some great art galleries, then headed into Bozeman.
Bozeman is a great college town, with strong Victorian influences and more great galleries.

Sunday, we headed back down through the western edge of Yellowstone, into Idaho, and we passed more fishing meccas along the Gallatin River and through some of the country's most beautiful farmland. Who knew potatoes get to grow with stunning Teton views? All in all, our Cowgirl Road Trip was a big success, and I must say that although the pictures turned out well, it was infinitely more stunning in person.

OR and such

My weekend was gobbled up by 5 days spent in Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer Show. Although it is a lot of work, OR tends to be pretty fun for a work event, as the vendors host lots of parties, give away shwag, and well, the atmosphere is pretty cool. The highlight for me, after the free stuff, was the Mammut Bouldering Finals, which took place around the corner from the Salt Palace on top of a nearby hotel. http://www.boulderingcomps.com/
The walls they set up looked great and the storm, which eventually sprinkled us after blustering about with rainbows and lightning, was cool to watch. I particularly enjoyed watching the women climb-- so impressive! Also, Charlotte's own Brian Hedrick AKA Chicken, and now "Cuz," did wonderfully amongst world class competition. Chicken qualified for the finals, placed 14th, and climbed at the same time as Sharma. I am sure the climbing world will be seeing more of him and that the electricity of the crowd was a good experience for him
Anyhoo, I am back home and looking forward to a great lineup this weekend at the Jackson Hole Music Festival. We will be getting some good use out of Clyde this weekend and maybe doing a bit of climbing. By the way, I ran up Snow King again today. I have to admit, I was only able to run about 20 yards further than last time. Slow progress, but the awesome view from the top makes it pretty gratifying.

 

Teton River Float Trip

After the actual getting to see good friends and family, my favorite part about having visitors is feeling like we too are on vacation. The Kinsers came out from Charlotte to spend a long weekend in Wydaho. The highlight for me was our Saturday float trip down the Teton River, near Driggs. Along with Courtney and Kaylan, who work with Phil at NOLS, we had three couples +1 dog in three canoes and spent the day meandering along with breathtaking views of the Tetons, a close encounter with an enormous bull moose, and plenty of Cutthroat Trout passing in the clear, cool water.
It took Daisy a while to relax on the canoe. Aside from jumping ship to catch up with Phil when he went swimming, she did really well. We also had an emergency "Re ration" thanks to Molly and crew in her Blue VW, who came to our rescue when we ran out of, um, cold beverages. It was a blast. My only complaint is that the Kinsers are already flying home and it just makes Mondays feel like the end of summer vacation!

 

Phil & Daisy

 

 

Van to the Rescue

 

Re-ration Angel

 

 

Phil pronounced this our dream house...

 

 

Snow King Summit!

So, after all of these long approaches, multi pitch climbs, hiking up ski mountains with snowboard in tow, and my twice a week running regimen, I keep thinking I should be in the best shape in my life, right? I mean I am at a decent altitude doing all of these things! Well, I don't yet feel like I am that fit. Today I decided to go trail running for lunch and thought I would just run to the top of Snow King. Well, let's just say it was a little tougher than I imagined. I scarcely ran the whole way up. The motivation of a girl in front of me quickly evaporated and I debated turning around at pretty much each switchback. I somehow managed to divert from the main trail and was soon scrambling over some rocks and following a very faint trail that seemed to only nominally head towards the summit. The problem with letting yourself walk is that you scarcely catch your breath because you are still headed up a pretty considerable hill.

When breathing does slow, somehow motivation has disappeared. Despite all of the above, I made it to the top. I am pretty stubborn about tangible goals. I didn't linger at the top long since my "lunch break" was a bit more than I had bargained for. But the view up there is indeed stunning. You can see all of Teton Pass, Jackson, Jackson Hole,all of the Tetons, and from some parts, the minor peaks south of Jackson. It is pretty much the view you get flying into town, only you have time to really look around 360 degrees.

When I do achieve "The Most Fit in My Life" status, I will slog a camera up there and take a picture. Not sure when that will be! I think I mostly run to wear my spiffy Oboz and so that I can eat dessert. But, I do feel pretty spoiled to be able to run in such incredible places from work, and on the way to and from work.