Category: Hiking

First Kill

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As a true Montanan, Rost has been out in the woods many hours already during his life. Over the last several weeks, much of this time has been spent not just on a leisure hike but as scouting trips for future hunts to fill our freezers.

I’m looking forward to the day he wants to heat out into the wild on out of his own. In the meantime, it’s been fun watching this little guy explore the natural world around him with the assistance of his family. Rost really enjoyed the spoils of Dada’s fishing trips this past summer. By the look on his face it appears he’ll be a hunter in the future as well.

In the meantime, it’s my job to teach him to be respectful of our natural world, thankful for where our food comes from, and to go at it all with a bit of grace and humor.

Bearly There

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My prior boss, Bert, and his wife, Marta, gifted me an infant hiking backpack at a baby shower thrown at my office. I’ve been patiently waiting for the right time to begin hiking with Rost. We’ve recently begun practicing around the property to get used to the pack on both of us.

Our first trek out into the world was a short one-and-a-quarter-mile hike around a nearby pond. While short, it was only 20 degrees out, so that added another element of fun into our first adventure out.

Finally, Rost and I took off for a trail within Lone Pine State Park. It was 15 degrees out on that fine Tuesday afternoon. While the hike was overall a success, there were obvious improvements that I need to make on our next hike, regardless of the distance. This one was short enough that I didn’t think we’d need to pack along any sort of snacks. Rost made it very clear that I was wrong. One of my duties as a Momma is to ALWAYS have a fresh and plentiful supply of snacks on hand. Momma will do better next time, Rost.

7 Months Old

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7 months have come and gone. We are in the heat of summer now and really trying to enjoy as much time outside as possible. Rost definitely shares my love of nature so we spend as many hours outside as we can each day. He shares his love of fishing with his Dada and we both look forward to the day when he is out there holding his own pole in the water.

1 Month

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My dear, sweet boy. A month has already gone by and I cannot begin to describe what this month has been like. I hope that someday I will have the words to tell you all about this time, but for now, please accept this photo diary in their absence.

Cabezon Peak

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Rising 7,785 feet above sea level, Cabezon Peak towers nearly 2,000 feet above the surrounding valley. My first trip down highway 550 left me staring at this small Devil’s Tower wannabe. For two years I’ve dreamed of chasing down this peak – today I planned to make that dream a reality.

While I set out bright & early one morning with my goal in sight, my day would end in missed opportunities and even a few tears.

Like aspects of my life, my trip began long before I hit the steep slopes. I’d been researching not only how to reach this peak but how to possibly ascend it as well. Delving deep into the WWW I’d found a few (really) old threads indicating there might be a way to summit the peak w/out climbing ropes.

I began trekking the trail leading straight up to the base of the volcanic plug. Once at the base I circumnavigated the entire neck searching for a way to scramble the basalt behemoth. While never found a safe route to the summit, I did find snow!

My second set of tears came while descending back down the trail when a wild cactus jumped out of nowhere and bit me straight on the ankle.

All the photos in this post are straight off my iPhone 11. Why not my D4 you may ask? Well, she made it into my pack, but never out of the truck. She’s been giving me some issues lately that came to a head today before we even made it to the trailhead. Hopefully this isn’t the end of our adventures.

To be continued…

Goodbye 2020

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2020 was an interesting year, to say the least. While it wasn’t the worst year in the history of ever it most certainly won’t rank as one of the top ten. Here’s a little collage of the end of the year. Goodbye, 2020. I’m really looking to you for some new adventures 2021.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.