TravelingMel

A couple weekends ago I went down to Yellowstone with the intention of skiing the Pebble Creek trail near the east entrance of the park. When I got there I read the description of the trail and decided it was too steep and avalanche-y for me to ski myself.

I checked out a few trailheads and ended up skiing the (closed) road to the Slough Creek trailhead, through the campground and across a meadow.

It was pretty.

The beautiful Beartooth mountains.

Downy woodpecker.

Soda Butte Creek.

Bannock Creek ski trail, obviously.

Coyotes mousing.

A herd of bison at Slough Creek. They were not that happy to see me ski by.

Nice photo, Mel. Thanks.

More pics here.

Now, where did I leave off?

The next morning we slept in until 7 am, which is super late for us. It was light outside when we got out of bed. Thanks, Anders!

The boys and I started the morning off playing in the snow while H did dishes and stoked the fire. Thanks, H! The cabin had finally started to warm up.

"Does this snowsuit make my butt look big?" asked Finn.

Finn sitting down to hide his snowsuit butt.

"Mom, can you help me get up?" said Anders, clearly in distress.
"Sure, sweetie," said his loving mom. "Just let me snap a quick photo first."

Snow play in front of the cabin.

Then we headed down the road a couple miles to the Silver Crest Ski Trails. It had snowed for several days prior to our arrival (the woman at the Forest Service office said they got three feet) and then the storm moved on and we enjoyed bluebird sky perfect days.

The only downside to all that snow is that it made pulling the Chariot a lot of work. The ski trails are only groomed once a week (on Saturdays) so we had 5 days of snow to plow through. No problem.

Finn has a little snack before we go skiing.

Off like lightening!

We stopped at an overlook. All we could see were trees. So much for wide open spaces...pretty, though.

Shelter on the ski trail.

Lunch break.

After our ski we drove back to White Sulfur Springs for another swim and some dinner. We brought food to eat in the cabin, but by the time we were done swimming it was too late to go back and cook. Dinner was followed by playing in the cabin and another super easy bedtime.

Anders asked me to take his picture. Then he gave me this face.

Finn had to get in on the portrait action, too.

Anders works on the lacing cards before bed.

Coming in from the cold.

We've been talking about weaning Finn off the paci, but he finds it so soothing that it is hard to take it away from him. However, now that he is going two at a time, we might have to put our foot down. (That's right we only have one foot between us.)

Rigby and Diesel had special cabin privileges.

I made H come in and take this picture of us after we'd been in bed for awhile because even though it was dark, I knew the light of the flash would show Rigby's cuteness.

The next morning we went for a short ski, played in the snow, cleaned the cabin and restocked the woodpile. On the way home we stopped for our third swim in the hot springs pool (Anders' request).

Everyone pitches in. Except Finn who was sleeping in the Chariot.

Dogs panting away climbing a steep hill on a sunny day.

Rigby checks out Showdown, just across the canyon.

Big, flat snow crystals on my ski up Deadman's Trail.

Anders and I made a porcupine.

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.

For the third year running we took part in the public ski day at B-Bar Ranch. The first year it was just Anders and I (and Finn, en utero) since H was in Argentina. Last year we all made it, but apparently didn't take any pictures.

We haven't had any snow for a really long time and it has been ridiculously warm, so we were a little worried in the lead up to the ski day. Fortunately it snowed the day before and the skiing was pretty decent. No bluebird skies or big views, but it was a great day for a ski.

H cruising up the hill with 70 lbs of kids and trailer in tow.

Looking like a Russel Chatham painting.

Aspens chewed by beavers.

H drops the trailer at the Anderson cabin (the turn around spot). Look how light on his skis he is.

Now kidless, H takes off.

Wrangling kids and trying to feed them lunch.

Now I'm happy, but the kids are snarky.

H enjoying the wood stove-heated lunch tent.

After lunch I took a 20 minute ski alone down this lovely trail.

There are a whole lot of horses at the B Bar. I took a few minutes to talk to these two.

I just kept getting closer...

...and closer...

...and closer.

Anders has been all about singing Jingle Bells for the last several months (will it ever end?) so he was pretty happy to see this three-horse-open-sleigh.

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...