TravelingMel

A few more photos from the horsepacking trip. The first ones are here.

Getting ready.

Oliver loves being on the trail.

Guacho in the creek.

John in front of some pretty nice scenery.

Monkey flower in Sentinel Creek.

View from my tent.

Sentinel Creek near the spring and our camping area.

Packing Lars for a day trip.

Bill during a quick break.

Nancy watches Peter ride up.

Peter joins the crew.

Sunset Lake.

Sunset Lake outlet.

Lake Ha Hand

The lake from above.

Horses and my tent.

Asters

Last week I had the good fortune to put my equitation class skills to the test in the beautiful backcountry of the Madison range.

My friends own Willow Ranch Outfitters. In addition to hunting trips, Peter also takes folks on backcountry fishing trips (front country, too, you should call him if you want to go fishing!).

I tagged along on a one of the fishing trips in hopes of wrangling up a story (I'm pretty sure I sold the story, but I'll keep my mouth shut until it's definitely sold).

In addition to me, Peter (our guide) and Brad (his sidekick and guide-in-training), there were four amazingly nice clients from Texas and 11 Norwegian fjord horses (seven for riding and four for packing gear).

We rode in about eight miles to Peter's camp, set up tents, cleaned the horses (that means take off all their tack, for you non-equitation class graduates), set up a kitchen, cooked and ate food and relaxed under big sky surrounded by countless wildflowers. Peter and Brad did all the work (I helped out a little) and the clients--John, Nancy, Bill and Susan--got to soak in one of the prettiest places in the world.

The second day, we rode up to a lake in the Hilgard Basin for flyfishing. Not being an angler, I took photos, hiked around and thought about how lucky I am to get to go to places like this. I don't know how people survive without a healthy dose of mountains, lakes and wildflowers from time to time.

We rode out the third day and I was feeling pretty good about my horse skillz. I tried not to think about how easy my horse was. She was a sweetie, but I'll continue to pretend it was the rider, not the horse, that made it so pleasant.

I took Henry's fancy camera. I'm just posting a few of the photos here, but you can tell the difference.

Waiting to get on the trail.

The meadow we camped at. It was ok looking.

Of course I'll post another wildflower photo. Thank you for asking.

Brad and Peter hard at work in the kitchen.

Riding above treeline on our way to the lake.

John tries to lure in a fish.

Reeling it in. The cutthroat were throwing themselves at these anglers when we first arrived.

Bill catches another trout.

Peter takes Nancy's fish off the line.

Peter shows us how it's done.

Obligatory fish shot.

Bill, Nancy, John and Susan enjoy an evening around the campfire.

Pretty horses.

Brad, Susan, Bill, John and the campfire.

Boiling the dishes.

Wait! There are more photos here.

I was checking out a friend and fellow blogger's site (it appears that Brooke is just as addicted to blogging as myself) and she posted a trailer of a steelhead flyfishing flick.

This made me want to post about Henry's--actually Reel Action Media's--new website, The Weekly Fly. Each Monday he posts another video of fly tying experts tying their favorite flies.

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Check it out and tell all your fishing friends about it. If you stumble, be sure to stumble upon this site. If you don't know what that means, don't worry about it!

Tomorrow I’m heading over to the Beartooths (a big, beautiful, really old mountain range) for a few days. I’ll spend two nights in Red Lodge; hiking and seeing the sights. Then a drive over the Beartooth Highway into Cooke City will leave me at the northeast entrance to Yellowstone. From there it is a lovely drive through the Lamar Valley (famous as the location of the wolf reintroduction in 1995) to Mammoth Hot Springs, then up the Paradise Valley to Livingston.

Look for lots of Red Lodge and Beartooth posts in the next couple of weeks, but for now I leave you with a video of fishing in the Beartooths. Even if you are not an angler, you’ll appreciate this video for its glimpse into one of the most scenic ranges in the world.

The fishing is still good in Montana. Find out more from one of these books.

Montana Blue-Ribbon Fly-Fishing Guide by Steve Probasco

Seasons of the Trout: Strategies for the Year-Round Western Angler by Neale Streeks

Seasons of the Angler: A Fisherman's Anthology by David Seybold, Joseph Fornelli