montanapalooza 2002

“Moon over Montana, Certaintly! LOL”

“Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip, and see all of those pics!

Did ya get Griz pics?

Should be no problem shipping the fruit & veg bars. Send me your addy.”

“Welcome back, Snow People. Whitney tomorrow? You rock.”

“Welcome back snow people I am glad that you had a great trip!!!!

Hey Hodg my Montana picks are up on the clubs website.You can get the link on the "Crazy Mikes New Look"Thread!

8D”

“Gotcha, Mike !!”

“Good deal dude!

8D”

“snow nymph/dude: glad to see the two of you made it back ok. So how did you like the winds . . . say compared to Montana, the Sierra's?”

“Hey Snow Nymph and Snow Dude -

I am still drooling over that digital camera Dude had..I guess I'm showing my age when I drool over gear and not men, huh?

Can't wait to see your picts, I know they'll be fabulous! I'm glad y'all made it back safely and look forward to hiking with y'all again. Maybe this time if I wear my running shoes, I can keep up? LOL

It was a pleasure to meet you both, tell Dude I said "Hey!"

Tex”

“You can use what never patch you want to use. It will prolly be ok mebbe.

I am happy that yall had the goooooood times in the Wind Tooths. Me and my daddy has been ther be for the bunch of times...

Did that ol' bare get yalls suppers? I hope not!”

“Snow people -welcome home - it was a pleasure meeting you - I hope to hike with y'all again sometime (when you are feeling slow!!).”

“SnowPeople, glad the Winds trip went so well. It sounds like you got to see most of the animals on your list. Thanks so much (again) for letting me borrow the pack and clothes. I haven't mailed it back yet, I didn't think it was a good idea for it to sit around at the post office or your place until you got back. I'll get it mailed out this week. I learned lots from watching you guys. Thanks for adding so much to Montanapalooza.”

“Hodgeman: We did get some Griz pics. These are a couple I took:

Griz Picture 1 ,
Griz Picture 2.

That's Snow Nymph's camera in the foreground of the first picture. I was hiding behind her.

It was a blast meeting everyone on Montanapoolaza!! Hope to hike with you all again. You're all welcome to come join us for some snowboarding at Mammoth this winter!

Special thanks to Aero for putting this all together and for letting us use his cabin afterwards. You rock dude!!

Also special thanks to Om for going above and beyond in helping us with our shuttle for the Wind Rivers, and to TxWoodswoman for her EMT expertise. You gals kick all known forms of a$$!!

Gforce - The Winds reminded us very much of the Sierras. We're looking forward to doing another trip there. Snow Nymph will I'm sure post a long trip report. When we go back we'd like to spend more time in the Indian Reservation wilderness areas. They were unmaintained and more remote.

Newgirl - We did see all the animals on our list, so we went home happy. Except the Grizzlies were from the road in Yellowstone, so we haven't really seen Griz until we've seen them in the backcountry.

TxWoodswoman - Hey!

To echo what Snow Nymph already mentioned, the Rangers at the trailhead were very appreciative of our fire fighting efforts. We saved them a lot of trouble, in addition to saving some beautiful wilderness.”

“Dude, are you supposed to get some sort of permit from the indians to go into that part of the reservation?

Hoped you enjoyed the Winds as much as I have. I think, currently, it is my favorite place to go.

I'm curious as to the amount of people on the western side. Were there alot of people/horses/llamas/pack goats over there?”

“Chief, yes, you have to get a permit through the Indian Reservation.

It was definitely more crowded on the western side, particularly near the Big Sandy and Elkhart Park areas. Horses and people, no Llamas or pack goats. There was a 20+ group of Boy Scouts at Clear Lake,(fortunately we weren't camped there) and Island Lake was tent city. Weren't many people in the Middle Fork area, though.

On the Eastern side, Lonesome Lake & Valentine Lake were somewhat crowded, but after passing Grave Lake we saw only one other person in 2 1/2 days on the Onion Mdw Trail, 20 Lakes Trail, and then the Kagevah Pass Trail.”

“Cool pic of the bear!!!!

Bears rock!

8D”

“I would of sh1t my pants being that close to a bear, expecially a cib(wheres the mother?).”

“SnowDude: Sounds like you had a great trip. I kicked around going out for a week after Montana too, but my bro wanted that week off. I've got a lot of questions, but I'll wait to catch SN's report first. COOL PICS!”

“So Chief are you (and Gordon)up to leading a pack of tt'ers through the winds next year?”

“Hey gforce -

Awesome idea! Now that I would put on my calendar in pen..Chief AND gordon in the back country.

Hmmmm..bet we could get Om to come fer sure!

Sign me up, and give me the dates - I'm in !

Tex”

“Prowler - we never saw the Mother, but we were watching for her! We saw 2 cubs, and they were highly entertaining.
At one point they ended up in the road and one started grooming the other, completely oblivious to the fact they were stopping traffic in both directions.

This picture was from a long ways off, but you can see them in the road:
Griz cubs grooming in the road ”

“I definitely think that Chief and Gordon should lead a trip through the Winds next summer. What do you say Chiefy-poo?”

“You know, Gordan carries a gun ALL the time, and I carry a gun SOME of the time, depending on where we are at.

Now let me see if I got this straight...Tex can get om to come if Gordan and I come. Hmmmmmmmm...interesting thought.

I think Gordon would insist on an invitation only trip, and I bet om, newgirl and Tex would all be invited to come too. Probably snownymph and snow dude too. And maybe even briar rabbit. Heck, he might even let me come.”

“I'm fine w/ the guns. I grew up in the boonies w/ a Freeman for a grandfather. We used to target practice (when I was about 12) w/ a "modified" gun called "Bad Bob." I'm down.”

“No reply. I think I scared Chief. LOL!”

“Well, whatever Gordon says is OK with me. He da man!

Guns? Hey whatever your thing is, that's fine with me.

Guns - fine, Booze - I seldom drink, Smoke - never, Sex - I have very high standards (too high, I'm told).

OK, That's my Bio, if Gordon still wants me on the guest list, I'm in.

Course, this could always be a pre-amble to another Montanapalooza or a post Monnyloosa get together -

Ahh, ideas, I have lots of 'em!”

“I always wanted to hike the Winds.”

“I don't want to see NewGirl with a gun!

8o”

“What are you scared? You saw how I kick arse hikin', Mike. I promise I can handle a gun just as good.”

“A pistol with a gun.”

“My bio:

Guns-sure, anytime
Booze-I'm small, I can't drink much
Smoke-once in a blue moon
Sex-I've no interest, thank you

Can I still get invited?”

“You can't call it Montanapalooza, though. It has to be Wyoming_____ (something).

How about Wyomanina?”

“Good one Gojo! Hey, how's Gizschmo and Saraschmel? BTW, happy back to school.”

“That's the perfect name Aero.”

“I'm back, I was in a meeting. You know I do SOME work her on occasion. Going to be alot more too. We just signed papers to acquire a bunch of properties in OK and TX. Interest in over 140 gas wells.

I think Aero meant:

Wyomania 2003!!!!

Not WyomaniNa”

“I think you've got something, there, Aero”

“How bout wyOHMAGAWD!?

Chewy -
The kids are fine.
Gizzy has been on cloud nine. He's organized a hiking club among "the posse" and other neighborhood dogs. So far, they've done a couple day hikes in the nearby woods. He's also conducted several seminars on backcountry first aide, the best stinky rocks, creek hopping, and firefighting.

He and Bruh Weenie are planning to "kimp out" in the back yard this weekend.

That boy be trippin!”

“I'm down fer the Wind River Range!

If I can get invited that is.. even if I cant. I'll bring the whole fam damily. Maybe get good and liquored up and smoke a big bag of weed. Er not..

Is it time to start a new Wyomania 2003 Thread?”

“LOL at Gojo!!”

“Hey Gojo - What did "the ferret's" parents say when they found out he spent the Summer trippin with you and 'belle? Did they even notice he was gone?

What do you think the 'posse' will come up with for a dog posse patch??

LMBO..you are too much!!”

“I haven't told his parents yet - I haven't seen any vehicles in their driveway. I'm considering dropping a photo (of Giz) in their mailbox. I have an excellent one of him with Impasse Falls and mts in the background. Mebbe Belle will write a little note on the back...”

“That's great Gojo. You can really tell that Gizmo is a leader.”

“What? The one of him driving isn't good enough?”

“LOL @ Naviguesser!! Really, that one of him driving down the Chief Joseph Hwy is a classic!

I mean, it's not every ferret, err, I mean dawg that gets to drive! Even CMB didn't get to drive!! LMBO!”

“wyOMing...the winds.....invited by gordon the cowboy
ya...i would probably come :)
~~~~”

“om, I really wanted to meet you...and all the things that jerbear mentioned about you to Gordon, I think he was dissapointed HE didn't get to meet you too.

Glad you enjoyed the walk in OUR country.”

“All right I am down with the 2003 thing so you all can count me in!

Just let me know when!

8D”

“"...OUR country."

God Bless America!
(and Canada too... ay?)”

“Eh ???”

“Huh?”

“Oops sorry Gojo... not meant to be a question.... eh ?”