montanapalooza 2002

“Aero-I have 2 bear cannisters. Are they required or needed? OM? Naw! LOL”

“We'll have 3 (Bearikade)canisters, and can probably loan out 1, (maybe 2) for Montanapalooza, but will need them back for the Winds.”

“Then I should have been dead along time ago!

8)”

“Come on ya' wimps! Take advantage and drive fast! LOL!”

“Man!!!!! Billings is like 100 bones less, would any of you kind souls from MT. be willing to help me out say on the 13th and then again on the 20th? With lifts to and from the airport and a section of flooring to crash on if needed?”

“Speed=Fun

8)”

“yo bear or snow nymph~~~~~~~
I would be interested in the use of one of your extra bear cannisters if you still are offerin' I got a kewl key yo bear ;)

aero....i too can send $ for a topo unless you can give me an address or phone number or website to order one myself...thanks!

biz...heh...I did experience and make it thru college and the flower power hippie times in the late 60's early 70's .......I wouldn't say "LOTS" heh..:) ....ifn you get yer vibe cuz of my digging polar plunges into those alpine lakes..well...more due to hotflash than flashbacks! LOL

getting very excited about walking and sleeping and playing in the montana woods with this crazy bunch!

make love not war~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:)”

“om- I'll check on the maps. There are a couple different scales out there. There's a good one with two 15 min. quads on one sheet of waterproof paper. I'll check at the local gear shop and let you know.

As far as I know they don't require bear cannisters in the Beartooths (go figure!). I've never seen anyone use one before up there. We just hang everything up.”

“Found this on another site about waterproofing maps. I print a lot of mine (zoomed in, now that my eyes have hit 40), so I'll try it:
"Ok, a couple sites over the last couple years have had people asking how to make waterproof maps at home, and I just found something that works pretty good.

I make my maps at home with an inkjet printer and as you may know if your palms get sweaty or the maps get wet some other way then they smear. I went to my local backpacking store and the only thing they had was some liquid crud that says not to put on waterbased anything- hello, what's the point! Anyway, the guy there is also an artist and he sent me to the local stationary store that sells art stuff too and told me what to get. It is made by Krylon and is a spray can of stuff called "crystal clear" acrylic coating. Krylon had 4 kinds of stuff like this, but the girl there said this one sounded like what I needed. I sprayed 2 light coats on and you can't really tell anything is on the map unless you have tape cuz that gets a little shiny. But when you wet your finger and run it over the map-viola! Nothing smears! I can't imagine this is as durable as a plastic map, or a map you have covered with contact paper, but it will totally work for me!
Can't say how affective it would be should you live in Wash and have to hike in the rain most of the time, but in the Sierra it will be just dandy!
Just thought I'd pass it on! Dee
"

Aero, we're interested in maps too, keep us posted.

OM, we'll bring the canisters. We can play polar bear while the rest are hanging.”

“Ooops.

Address & Phone Numbers

Alpine/Cooke City Quadrangle
15 Minute though
Tearproof, Waterproof

Rocky Mountain Surveys
P.O. Box 21558
Billings, MT 59104-1558

406-656-0366

Earthwalk Press
2239 Union Street
Eureka, CA 95501

800-828-maps

The Earthwalk Press has maps (also waterproof) of The WindRivers for sure. The Northern and Southern Winds. I have the Southern. I believe the Northern is mostly Indian Reservation. You could call and ask them if they have others, I am sure they do. The Southern Winds is a 1:48,000 or 1-1/4" = 1 mile.

These are excellent maps. They also have a bunch of good/neat info on them. If you're going to be on the Reservation, you better check the regulations. You might need a special permit to be there. Otherwise, registration is voluntary at each trailhead, at least as of 1995.”

“I don't know if I would use one. Since the bears are NOT familiar with them there, they may just play/bat them around to the point you never find it again. We also just hang our food.

I have a waterproof stuff sack I put everything in. Everything that needs be is in ziplocks, everything else is just loose in the sack. We have a small pully system we use (two doubles & nylon cord). Throw a main rope over a branch, then hoist the pully up to the branch and tie off.

At night the bags are up to the branch. If we are in camp, the bags are about chest high so we can get in them, but the little critters can't.

We did have trouble at Mermaid Lake though, no tall trees. No bears though either.”

“Although I've only been on this trail once, I did not see anything remotely resembling bear sign. Most of this area is too high to be preferred bear habitat. I understand that there are some bear issues in the river drainages just north of Yellowstone (far from E. Rosebud trail). All we saw were giant whitetail dear and mountain goats.
Bearbagging when below treeline should do the trick.”

“Hey folks, I've been reading this thread because I plan to do the same route in late August w/ 69-year-old dad and 7-yr-old son (should be an adventure!).

Re: maps. . . I use the TOPO! digital maps - basically, USGS maps on CD. You can draw your route, get a profile, annotate the maps, etc. I'm kind of a map nut, so I dig all that, but they are easy to use, print out, etc. Also, if you're a GPS junkie (like me), you can transfer stuff to that.

They (National Geographic, which bought TOPO a couple years back) also offer a special waterproof, tearproof paper that is virtually indestructable. I was "in charge of" bringing maps for a recent XC ski/winter camping trip - everyone was amazed. I would upload a sample map image for y'all here if I could figure out how to do it (haven't I seen other images in people's posts??). (No, I don't work for TOPO! :-) )

Hope the Montanapalooza goes well - I look forward to reading accounts of the trip!”

“great info on maps”

“I am ready to have fun with all you cool cats!

8)”

“There's a bunch; 15-16 possible.”

“The higher the number the better.

8)”

“Bring beer”

“Briar, I can sure help you w/ getting to and from the airport. I have a very small place and a wild 19 month child though, so I may not be the best alternative for a place to crash. Let me know.”

“I'll see what I can do as well. We live close to the airport so a few could probably use our floor space.

we can figure it out when you guys get your flight schedules. Keep me posted.”

“Yeah, as soon as we know flight schedules I can plan on shuttling people from the airport to hotels or Aero's place and I can take people back on whatever day. I can also pick people up on the morning of the 14th when we head up to Red Lodge.

Hey, Aero, are we going to have breakfast in Red Lodge? If so, where? I like to think about food.”

“Hank's Place. It used to be PD McKinney's. Maybe we should try for around 9:00 am with all these people. It might take awhile to mobilize everyone!”

“I have to be to Red Lodge by 9:00 am?

How am I going to get a round of golf in?

I guess I'll have to pick up the keg on Saturday.”

“I'm going to have to leave my place my 5 in order to stop in Billings and load people up and still be in Red Lodge by 8. So 9 might be a good plan. By the way, I will definitely be there for the Banff Film Festival. My Bozeman plans got canceled.”

“I bet it'll take close to 3 hours to get the vehicles over to E. Rosebud and back to red Lodge. That E. Rosebud road is slow going! So figure 1:00pm back in Red Lodge, then another 2 hrs. to Cooke City (by the time we look at stuff up on the pass). By then it's barbeque time!”

“Uh-oh, Aero, you are messing w/ a serious golf addiction now!”

“So, what you are saying is that we should be in Cooke City by about . . . oh . . . Beer:30? We are getting Moose Drool right?”

“Maybe.”

“What are our choices for a keg Chief?”

“8 or 16”

“How much can you drink?

You gonna get the empty back to me?”

“8 or 16, I don't get it?”

“Do we really need a whole keg? You can get those mini-keg deals of Moose Drool at the brewery in Missoula. I have friends coming from Missoula the weekend before. Maybe they could bring some down for me.”

“I will be drinking by then!!!!

8)”

“I just called the liquor store and I CAN get a keg of Moose Drool. 5.8 gallons. No worries, I have enough 'Keg Coupons' to get it for FREE!!!!!!!!

My guess is the small keg will be sufficient, as I doubt that none of you will want to hike the first day with a hangover.

If there are enough people, and you want me to get a big keg, we can decide later.

pssst (in a whisper) How do I get a pic in here? We won't tell Matt.”

“I think that is plenty. I'm not up for hiking w/ a hangover. Moose Drool . . . yes! You are the man Chief!”

“great map info guys...thanx
thanx SN....
really looking forward to meeting you all
moose drool?.....hmmm....well...try anything once...twice if i like it..:)”

“I can't wait to meet everyone!!!!

It is going to be a blast!!!!

8)”

“I was just reading today in the new backpacker about the "anaconda mountains" the read like it would be a nice place to hike. However it was menchend that you can easily get lost. Lois and clark did.”

“I don't remember any Superman comics being set in the Anacondas....”

“Louis & Clark?”

“lois lane and clark kent”

“They're having a big Lois and Clark Bicentennial out here in 2004”

“Sounds Super!”

“Lois is actually the one that got lost. She had a real problem w/ the limited facilities while exploring the frontier. So she totally takes off and says she's "sick of this mapping crap and going home." She'd "rather cross the mighty Missip on her own." So Clark says, "fine then, go. I told you there weren't going to be toilets and wash basins and I'm sorry we ran out of freakin' tooth powder." Then later Clark regrets his words and goes and looks for Lois. Thank god he found her holed up in a cave. To this day those caves are called the "Lois and Clark Caverns" and they are only about an 1 and 1/2 from the Anaconda Mtns.

Since you like twisted spelling Tea, I thought you might like twisted history.”

“I'm crack me up!”

“I just realized something, newgirl....


Your secret is safe with me!”

“after July 14th there will be no more secrets.................”

“The "I'm" part. I know. What an idiot. I'm trying to make fun of Tea and I have a spelling error.”