TravelingMel

Heather has been my hiking buddy for the last 12 years. Our first "date" was snowshoeing (that's like winter hiking) on Phillips Ridge near Teton Pass. When I lived in Jackson we frequently walked up Snow King with dogs, once scrambled over rocks to the top of the Middle Teton and spent many, many miles together chatting and exploring the mountains.

Heather always has interesting things to talk about and is willing to do just about anything I suggest. A lazy walk along a river? Check. Climb a 13,000+ foot mountain? Check. Whether it is one mile or 20, she's up for it.

Since I haven't been on a long hike since before Anders was born, I wanted to cover some miles this weekend. I would have considered our hike medium in length four years ago, but these days anything over 6 miles is a long hike for me.

On this particular day we hiked the Washburn Trail. It starts at the end of the Chittedon Road on Dunraven Pass, follows a fire road to the top of Mount Washburn and then descends (super steeply, at first, then gently) through meadows and hot springs to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Total distance: 10.5 miles.

(One of the great things about this trip is that since we had two vehicles we could hike through-trails.)

Lupine.

Heather checks out the view on the way to the Washburn lookout.

Ghost trees. Boo!

Marmot being cute. Also known as a "whistle pig." It was so not afraid of people.

Marmot decides to bask in the sun along the trail and flaunt its cuteness.

Looking at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the top of Washburn.

Baby mountain goat with its mom. Some of the kids were coughing since they had pneumonia. The ranger said they would probably die. So sad.

The mountain goats were highly habituated. It was kind of a zoo. Fortunately barely anyone continues the hike beyond the Washburn lookout, so we saw just a few people the rest of the day.

At the top of Mt. Washburn. 2.5 miles done and 8 to go.

Leaving the lookout and heading out on the Washburn trail.

The wildflowers were out of control everywhere we went. Out. Of. Control.

Heather is extremely tall. No, alpine plants are short and hardy.

Coming down from Wahsburn was pretty steep for a couple miles. Heather had trekking poles. I think I want some.

Paintbrush.

Getting closer to Canyon.

One of my favorite flowers, and one I don't see very often--elephant's head.

This meadow is filled with elephant's head.

If you look at the top of the mountain in the middle of this photo you can see the Washburn lookout.

We passed Washburn Hot Springs in the rain. A ranger on horseback we had passed a little earlier told us a nasty storm, complete with hail, was coming our way. So, we barely paused and kept on walking.

More hot springs. It never hailed and only rained for about 10 minutes.

Heather got off trail and ended up on Mars.

We thought the meadows were kind of pretty.

From the Washburn Trail we turned onto the Sevenmile Hole Trail. It was pretty much a parkway for the last few miles.

That narrow waterfall in the shadow is Silver Cord. We didn't hit it at the best time of day for photos.

I made it to the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone! I made Heather take another silly picture!

We both showed up in these goofy shoes. More on them later.

There's the Yellowstone River down there.

After our lovely hike we met my mom for dinner at the Roosevelt Lodge, then got ready for another day on the trail.

This really shouldn't be titled "Glacier" since we left Whitefish and drove home this day--without going into the park at all. But, it is part of a series and so the name must remain constant. I'm a stickler like that.

I wish there was day 7, 8, 9....30 to report. I could have stayed a lot longer. We had a lot of fun exploring the Big Sky State on the way home, though.

We started the morning by going out to breakfast in Whitefish at the Green Tea House. H had spotted it a couple nights back as he tried to drive Finn to sleep and thought I might like it. I did.

Then some fun at the city park and we were on our way.

Henry suggested we go to "Green Tea". It's a vegan/glutan-free/modern hippie/all natural restaurant. Isn't he sweet?

Fun on the phallic slide in Whitefish.

Henry is having a ball.

Our first stop was at Seeley Lake. We look for places where we can eat outside and the boys can get some energy out. This campground on the shores of Seeley Lake was perfect. Anders and Finn loved playing in the water. H and I wished we had gotten our swimsuits out. I could have spent a week here (or more) if it weren't for the skeeters.

Running like a boy who has been strapped into a seat for a couple hours.

Splish splash, Finn and dad were having a blast.

We definitely want to spend more time at Seeley Lake.

We drove some more and when dinner time hit, we stopped at Fairmont Hot Springs. It fit our criteria--food and fun. H, Finn and I LOVED the four story waterslide and Anders tolerated it once. If we had a little more moola, we could have spent a couple days here.

More fun in the water.

Half boy, half fish.

Fortunately, we needed gas as we neared my all time favorite truck stop--the Flying J just west of Butte. I was a little disappointed to discover there were no "Our Ladies of the Rockies" postcards. (Jen, you know why.)

Rainbow over the Flying J.

We arrived home at 10pm with two sleeping boys. It couldn't have worked out better if we had planned it.

This weekend I took a bold step and went camping alone with the boys. Last year we took one camping trip without H and while fun, it was a lot of work.

The truth is, it wasn't just me and the boys. We met my friends Brooke and Peter, their one-year-old Matine and their three dogs. When we arrived Thursday night as the sky darkened, I was so appreciative of their help setting up my ginormous tent and getting me into a beer.

We camped at Pelican Point Fishing Access on the Missouri River. It's north of Craig, between Helena and Great Falls. Although I've driven through a bunch of times, I've never really explored the area. This time of year it is green, green, green and so lovely.

After a night of very little sleep (thanks, Finn) we awoke to a beautiful overcast day. It seemed like it was about to rain all day, but it never did. After breakfast we took a walk along the river.

A fishing guide asked Brooke if we had set up a fish camp for a couple weeks. Her response, "Yeah, something like that."

Brooke and Matine on our mini hike.

Missouri River at Pelican Point fishing access.

Pelicans.

Watching pelicans.

Pretty flower.

Anders enjoys the pretty flower.

Some people would say that the highlight of the trip was throwing rocks.

Snakeskin I found in the rocks. No sign of the prior inhabitant.

Pete fishing.

Dogs and little kids don't mind standing in freezing cold water.

Then we hung out at the campsite a bit before I had this great idea to go to Tower Rock State Park. It was only a mile or so from the campground and with a cool name like that, what could go wrong?

We loaded up our vehicles with kids, dogs and lunches and set out. Peter was surprised he hadn't heard of it since he is up there all the time working as a fishing guide. When we pulled into the parking lot he said, "Oh the place between the dump and the highway..."

Turned out it was a picnic table and an outhouse surrounded by yuck and noise. We later discovered that the rock was an important landmark to Lewis and Clark and served as the gateway to the Rockies. So, we drove to Hotler Lake/Reservoir and ate lunch under an imposing and impressive dam. I didn't take photos.

It got windy that night and the boys were not happy. I'll just skip over the night. I had planned to spend a third night, but it was so incredibly windy that I had to leave. I can't believe our tent survived.

We stopped in Helena on the way home for a ride on the carousel and a trip to Exploration Works!

Of all the interesting animals on the carousel the boys picked horses. On the second ride I put Finn on a bison.

How adorable is tiny Mattie on the fish? Super adorable.

Ride 'em, cowboy!

This carousel went so fast that I started to feel a little nauseous.

We can't get enough horse riding. We found these fillies at Exploration Works!

Anders took flight and tried to steer this glider down a river. He crashed early and often.

The Lewis and Clark trail connects the carousel, Exploration Works! and the other businesses in the Great Northern Center.

To break up the drive home we stopped at the hot springs pool in White Sulfur Springs.

The boys we were beat after all that fresh air, activity and lack of sleep. They both fell asleep on the last leg home and refused to wake up until 9pm (Finn) or 5am the next day (Anders).

Other than the nights, we had a great time. This was the first time I camped with another family (I was a little nervous about how much crying would come out of our tent...) and it was so much fun. Brooke and Peter were great to hang out with and I hope we get to camp with them again (and I promise not to suggest we visit any places embedded in the dump.)

You can check out the photos Brooke and Peter took here.

I took the boys to the Boiling River for a nice warm soak. I called ahead to make sure the Park Service hadn't closed it for the season, which they do when the river gets too high and floods the hot pots. Everything looked good.

It was a pleasant drive down to the park--no fights, no crying and only one stop to pee along the side of the road. Anders and I hiked the half mile to the Boiling River while Finn rode in my backpack. We got into our swimsuits and stepped into the pool. Not exactly boiling.

The day was the warmest of the year so far at about 70 degrees F so it was fine standing in lukewarm water. Leaning against the hot spring waterfall was pretty nice, though.

We threw rocks, climbed on rocks and threw sticks. We splashed, giggled and accidentally went under water.

Pre-swim rock climbing.

Getting in the not-so-boiling River.

Splish splash.

Post accidental dunking.

After the swim we sat next to the Gardner River and ate lunch. Then it was up the hill to Mammoth Hot Springs for ice cream. I think they used to have Livingston-made Wilcoxson ice cream in the park, but this wasn't Wilcoxson. Maybe I'm not remembering right, but it didn't seem quite as delicious as I recall. Still yummy, though.

Mint and chip for the little dude.

Mint and chip for the big dude.

Since Finn slept for 20 minutes in the backpack on the hike out, he wasn't interested in napping any more that day. Anders slept on the drive home. I put Finn in his bed, knowing he needed more sleep. He fussed around and made a lot of noise, but eventually went to sleep. When it was time to wake him up this is what we found.

Oh how did that get in there?

Henry posted some photos from our trip to Maryland. I put the link at the bottom so you'd have to look through all my photos first.

So you want to see pics from our Easter extravaganza? (Aren't you glad I didn't say eggstravaganza?)

Here's how the day went.

Too early: H gets up with the boys. I hear Anders lamenting that the Easter Bunny didn't come. I hop out of bed, tell them I am getting my phone out of the car. Quickly, I hide our 10 eggs and leave baskets on the porch. With much enthusiasm, I announce that I thought I saw an egg in the planter outside.

Our beet-dyed eggs. The cracked ones are Finnzilla's.

Note to self: Use smaller baskets so the Easter Bunny doesn't look so chintzy.

Reaching for eggs is even cuter when you wear footie-jammies.

Forget eggs; there are rocks to collect.

Well hidden egg.

8:30am: The eggs have been found, pancakes eaten and the kitchen cleaned up. Now what? We make an impromptu trip to Chico Hot Springs and soak in the pool. The camera was not in attendance.

12:00pm: Home again. A little lunch and then we walked down to Sacajawea Park for the annual community egg hunt. It is freakin' cold and my hands hurt, but still lots of fun. Hundreds of eggs are scattered across the soccer fields. When the sirens on the firetruck screamed, hundreds of kids rush onto the grass and grab as many hard boiled eggs as they can. Anders came back with more than 20 eggs. Finn got two--he was too overwhelmed to pick them up, so I grabbed a couple before considering that we really didn't want all those eggs.

Anders awaits the start of the hunt.

Lu comes over to play with us.

Hunting grounds.

Finn guards the stroller.

Our annual family photo.

Double basketing.

The haul. What are we supposed to do with all these eggs? The dogs already got one each.

When Lu barely touched our stroller, Finn promptly grabbed the baskets out and protected them from her.

Too cute to be an egg stealer. Or was that her plan all along?

Man that kid is cute. I'm not just saying that because he looks just like me at that age.

Post-hunt swinging.

More post-hunt swinging.

Sara and Lu battle the wind.

2:00pm: Home again. Finn naps. Anders goes in and out of his room enough times that I give up on his nap and let him watch the Polar Express.

5:30pm: A dinner of bunny and chick-shaped pasta with veggies. Fancy.

Oh, how did that get in here?

There are more pictures from Easter here.

And definitely check out Henry's photos from Maryland.