TravelingMel

Last week we spent two nights and three lovely days at the Kings Hill Forest Service cabin. If you don't know about renting Forest Service cabins you can read more about it here.

The short story is that the Forest Service rents no-longer-used ranger cabins to the public. We are the public. We rented a cabin.

The Kings Hill cabin is in central Montana about 28 miles north of White Sulfur Springs. I'm sure everyone knows where White Sulfur is, right? The cabin is on Kings Hill Pass, the highest pass that remains open in Montana in winter. At least that's what I read somewhere.

We originally wanted to get the cabin on a weekend so I wouldn't have to take any time off work, but when I tried to get a reservation in October, it was booked every weekend of the winter. It turned out to be a good thing we didn't go on a weekend because there are a lot of snowmobiles up there on the weekends. I like snowmobiles as much as the next person who doesn't like snowmobiles, but man they are loud en mass. Wednesday and Thursday were peaceful, tranquil and wilderness-y. It started getting louder on Friday.

We drove up after story-time at the library and lunch on Wednesday. My grand plan was for both of the boys to fall asleep in the truck and stay that way for the 1.5 hour drive to White Sulfur Springs. Finn complied. Anders waited until we were about 15 minutes out to fall asleep.

You might want to check out the photos from our September 08 trip to White Sulfur Springs--partly to see how much the boys have grown and to note the new murals at the pool.

Pulling in to the pool in White Sulfur Springs.

H and the boys get in.

This is the face Finn gives us when he is looking to make some trouble.

This is the face Anders makes when he is looking to have some fun.

After the swim we drove up to the cabin. The log cabin is in the Little Belt Mountains in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The cabin is about 300 feet below the 7,393-foot pass and across the canyon from Showdown Montana. It was dark when we arrived, but we spied the cabin through the trees.

Our first order of business was turning on the electricity and starting a fire. The cabin is heated by a wood stove and it was COLD in there. See-your-breath-cold. Keep-your-down-jacket-on cold.

The thing that most worried me about this trip was the thought of putting the boys to sleep in the same room. At home we STILL put Finn to bed in our room and then move him in with Anders when they are both asleep. It used to be that Anders was a real challenge to get to sleep. Now it's Finn.

Of course, what I think is going to be hard never is. Anders asked to go to bed at 7:30. We put Finn down at the same time and they both went right to sleep. What? Who are those kids?

Since it was so freakin' cold in the cabin we were a little worried about Finn. He doesn't stay under covers. His little hands were freezing. H kept waking up throughout the night and putting him back under his covers. I kept getting up to add wood to the stove. Finn survived.

There was no way I was taking off my hat or jacket to read Anders a bedtime story.

H reads next to the stove after the boys fell asleep.

That"s Rigby's unhappy ear position. He prefers to sleep at his own house.

Well, there is a lot more to share, but I got a little chatty here and I need to leave the house by 7 tomorrow to get to work. I'm taking an equitation class (that's horseback riding) so I've been going in early and taking a long lunch on horseback.

Today the boys pretty much refused to nap. They were in their respective rooms (correction, Finn was in the portable crib in OUR room and Anders was in their room), they were in their respective beds, but there was no sleeping.

I could have gotten frustrated and tried to force it, but I decided to roll with it instead. I grabbed our always-packed-and-ready-to-go Chico bag with one hand, stuffed Finn under the other arm, told Anders to boot up, and headed out the door for an afternoon at Chico.

As you may recall, the boys WERE NOT TIRED. They refused to sleep. They had more energy than a hopped-up clown. Until we got in the car. Finn promptly fell asleep and started snoring. Anders was able to keep up a constant monologue.

We got to Chico (about a 25 minute drive), I took Finn out of the carseat, Anders hopped out, we walked through the Grille, past the pool and into the changing room. I set Finn down and here's what he looked like.

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For the third year running we took a little ski tour with our friends from the Sacred Mysteries Bookstore. David, the owner, gets a group together and I act as the unofficial guide (really I just ski...).

Last year we skied around the Mammoth Terraces in 0 degree weather. The year before, we skied to Tower Falls.

This year we skied to Tower Falls again. The weather was lovely, the bison were present and the falls were frozen over with running water behind the ice.

We started the day at the Boiling River and then met up with the other 6 folks at the Mammoth Hotel. From there we caravanned to the Tower Falls trailhead. Even though it hasn't snowed in forever and there wasn't much snow on the drive over, the trail was surprisingly good. it had just been groomed that morning and was lovely.

On the trail to the Boiling River.

Enjoying a steamy soak.

Finn is a naturist.

Bison along the trail. Skiing past them may have been the highlight of Anders trip.

Looking for grass beneath the snow.

Big mountains and basalt columns.

Armando skis past a frozen spring.

Richard, the Aussie massage therapist, coming down a hill.

Finn takes a break in the sun at the Tower Falls turnaround.

Anders, happy to get out of the Chariot.

Tower Falls.

David coming down a hill on the Campground Loop that was steeper and longer (and more fun!) than it looks in this photo.

Erin makes it down the hill.

Armando descends.

Passing the bison on the way down.

The boys watch bison.

Almost back to the truck.

So sleepy from the ride.

Hotel building. I just threw that in for fun.

In case you were wondering what it sounds like when the boys sleep...

We had big plans to go skiing today, but I wimped out and suggested we go sit in a hot spring instead. L-A-Z-Y.

After breakfast at Chadz we drove down to Yellowstone, walked the .5 miles to the Boiling River and soaked. Hot springs with kids aren't quite as relaxing as when you don't have to spend your whole time keeping someone from drowning, but we had a ton of fun.

Finn did not enjoy the getting in and getting out of the water (imagine being carried to a river, stripped down to nothing in 30 degree weather, then doing it in reverse--while wet--after a lovely swim) but he was all smiles in the water. Anders was pretty darn tough and handled the cold like a boy born in Montana in January.

Just a little ice in the river and three handsome dudes in the foreground.

Brothers comparing rocks. Even in the water these boys find rocks to throw.

"Look at my rocks," says our Chief Collector.

Smiley Finn.

Throwing rocks off the bridge after the swim.

There are going to be a lot of pictures in this post. A lot. Don't look if you don't like pictures of majestic animals in scenic splendor. Don't look.

So, you're going to look? You were warned.

Car thermometer as we got ready to leave our motel in Cooke City.

Fuzzy bison.

Wolf food.

Immature red tailed hawk. We think.

Slough Creek

Sage above Slough Creek.

Heather glassing for wolves.

Another hawk in a tree in front of a lovely mountain.

Mules on the road. Not the wildlife we were expecting to see.

With their escort.

Reunited with the wrangler they ran away from the night before.

Fox or coyote tracks.

More elk. Where are the wolves?

Heather learns something.

Elk above the Huckleberry tuff. When the area blew up long ago a lot of ash covered the area. It was compacted and turned into these rocks.

Hairy woodpecker, or perhaps downey.

Hairy or downey? Hairy woodpeckers have bigger bills, but I have nothing to compare it to.

Warmed up and time for a little walk.

Big boy.

Fall colors. Nice to see a little fall this year. Seems like it went from summer to winter overnight.

Chasing girls. Still no wolves.

Cute calf.

Bighorn sheep.

Climbing rocks.

We decided when it hit 20F it was warm enough to get into the Boiling River.

Grass.

Steamy.

Above the Boiling River.

Getting ready to get into the water.

Getting in...quickly.

Yeah! Soaking in the warmth.

The Boiling River

The pool we spent 2 hours soaking in.

Dainty little coyote.

Mailbox in the wilderness.

Fox.

Finally we saw a couple wolves through this guy's scope. They were a couple miles away and we didn't even have time to set up our scope before they slipped over the ridge.

Soda Butte Creek.

Heather takes a photo.

Chuck.

Catch the whole weekend:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 (morning)
Day 3 (afternoon)