montanapalooza 2002

“Oh.”

“Hodge - you in for round II in our Country, eh? Maybe a side trip to the Canadian Rockies??
Oh, Canada....(You know I love your anthem!)”

“Absolutely, Tex !!! Did I mention that I'll be in my beloved Rockies, in just four short days. Can't wait... can't wait !!

I'll be packin' my woolies, though. The forecast is for overnight temp, as low as 25 f. Brrrr!! Normally, in August it would be about 40”

“That's it, rub it in just a little bit that you're headed to the Rockies. I am so jealous!!

You wouldn't have to worry about packing your woolies if you had better 'Sleeping Arrangements', ya know. Body heat is a WONDERFUL invention..LOL”

“Ok OK you all get back to work. enough of all this talk about backpacking.”

“Awww, Chief, you're being a wet blanket, iffin ya know what I mean!

Keep smiling, buddy! ;-D”

“Hey, I'm smiling now.

Doing regulatory work to get some new drill wells permitted. What a pain in the A$$!!!!!!!!!

That and the engineer I work for is being a real BlTCH. Glad she's gone for the rest of the week.”

“Dude I know what you mean about the boss!

Where I work my boss can suck about 70% of the time and the other 30% he is not in the shop.

8D”

“Mike, she's not really my boss, but I do have to work for her, her and another engineer who's a guy. At least HE's not a BlTCH, he's cool.”

“you just want this thread to get to 3000, don't ya? well, figured id help ya out one post at a time.”

“I'm still working on the pics! I took over 720+ and SnowDude took ~250. Trying to pick, and label them. Should have Montanapalooza pics done early next week.

Then I have to work on the Wyoming trip pics......”

“Can't wait to see all the pictures Snow Nymph!

8D”

“Fortunately, I seldom see my boss... in my shop, anyway. I see him in the office or in the halls every day, but seldom in the shop.

I could count on one hand the number of times an adult comes around (the shop) during a typical week.

Can you say "autonomy"?”

“snow nymph and dude (aka...pocahontas and doonesbury..heh)..glad you are back! (i just unpacked and will be mailing yer stuff....!) the grizzly pic are "kick s$$" heh.. i drove thru too early i see!

anxiously awaiting your pics.....720??? whoa daddy....!
i wanna go back!!!....will do that thru your photos!!

my modem was fried last sunday during a wild storm that came thru , i had been scanning my trip photos all weekend and then unable to upload, will try again this weekend....

this thread is a spirit...... there is no death”

“Hi OM. I meant to thank you again for driving back over to the cabin that night. Hope it wasn't too bad. I'm looking forward to your pics! I hope there's some good embarassing ones in there!”

“OM, I owe ya some goodies. Sorry we were closed for vacation. The good side was I got a trip in up to the Uintas. I'll email ya for a shipping address.”

“I'm back from the 10 day pack bridge construction project in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming. They gave us 10 days to construct it and we completed it in 4. The remainder of the time we did trail work. Hope to have photos downloaded and posted in the not too distant future. Currently I'm resting, trying to get 10 days of trail dust washed off and peeling my sunburned ears. ;-)

Om, e-mail me your address if you don't mind. I have something I think you'll enjoy.

Snow Nymph and SnowDude . . . welcome home! Anxious to see your photos!”

“Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone, but if you just go to their webshots page, you can see what they have up so far. As you might expect, they're awesome!! (even the full moon shot....)”

“Who was it that wanted the stargazer chart for this trip?”

“Glad you are back Geezer!

8D”

“I don't know about the Stargazing chart, but here's one Snow Nymph got for the "Moon-gazers"!!

Moonrise Over Rainbow Lake”

“Look at Webshots III, and scroll to the bottom. Still working on it, but its almost done.

There's another moon shot, in the album before.

I added you all to the TT Internet Friends album (for those of you who just want to see who's who). Go to "Other Links" and Internet Friends 2 are all TTers. Will start a TT Friends 2, starting with Windwalker.

Will start on the Winds trip (and the Whitney dayhike album) when I get home next week! Have a great weekend!”

“Snows - I added your links to the group page
Link”

“Wow so many cool pitures!!!

Way cool!

8D”

“That's for sure! I spent about an hour looking at all of them. Some really good pics, of everyone in the group.

Dude - That's a geat shot of Snow Nymph, at 10,500. The sunset and rainbow shots are cool, too”

“Thanks for linking us, Hodgeman! Its kept me busy, haven't had time to do much other than work on the pics.

Aero, I like the series of 3 pics of you in Rainbow Lake !!! The look says it all! Heeheehee!

Next week I'll start on the Winds pics.

Right now I'm heading for the Sierras. Not sure where (unexpected change of plans/I'll let Obi explain), will try to get a permit for whatever I can.”

“What an epic journey. Fiction could not exceed the reality of it. Nice job SN.”

“SnowNymph-- Mike was on all fours and someone didn't tell him about the....WHAT????

Pics of course were great everyone. Beautiful country!”

“Snow Nymph your pics kick all forms of ass!!!!

Great job with the links Hodge!”

“glad to hear your trail maint. trip went well. And geezr just remember . . .

don't worry, you'll be ok!

:):):):)”

“gforce, that's the same thing my shrink said as he placed me in straight jacket and hooked up the electrodes!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“snownymhp n snowdude....are ya'll like millionairs er sumpthin? i can't imagine being able to hike as much as ya'll do. it would be great...”

“i started looking at your photos at midnite..est...., it is now 2:30 am.....during the last two and a half hours, i relived the mp2002 experience.....those are some of the best trip shots i have ever gazed upon! I am grateful that you captured on film the beauty I could only stand before and be bedazzled by. I still cant believe i slept thru the rainbow and no one woke me!...thanks to you guys, i can at least see what i missed...
i will drift off this night with those images refreshed on my minds "screensaver" jai~~~~

aero.....it was all great! (and snowdude drove while i tried to catch a z or two ).....thanks again for sharing your cabin...it was a most comfortable nights rest!

griz....really? ....oboy! thank you!~~~~~~~~~~~

geezr.....really?...oboy! I can't imagine!! here comes an email!~~~~~~~~~~

my photos are scanned..... now it will take twenty million hours to upload them on this dinosaur computer....tho they seem anti-climatic (did i just make up a word?) compared to snow nymphs......heh~~”

“I'm back from Montana. The TT snow grafitti has faded, and there was no visible sign of your passing.

We had a great trip, starting in Alpine and camping at Elk Lake, Rainbow, Dewey (2 nights), Mermaid, and Ouzel.

Martyb:
Skeeters were bad only at high elevation camps (Ouzel, Mermaid, and Dewey) whenever the wind eased off. Stream crossings are no big deal. Fishing was fantastic for cutthroat and brook trout, hitting Adams drys on top of the water.

I got caught in a mini-blizzard Friday driving over the Beartooth pass that was pretty cool.

The trail was pretty crowded compared to 99, but we met some cool people.


BTW: The guy who owns "The Bike Shack" in Cooke City is now doing a shuttle for E. Rosebud hikers for $100, which is good news. He also makes a mean Espresso.

I'll post a few pics soon.”

“Thanks for the update!!! My dad has been worrying himself into a frenzy about insects - we're well-prepared, so I'm not going to worry. Good news on the fishing, as we're counting on catching fish for one of our dinners. We will be using spinning tackle, though - my new lightweight reel is probably arriving at home as I type this.

Two weeks from right now, we will be arriving at Dewey Lake, having camped at either Ouzel or Bald Knob the night before. Son (age 7 and 3 days) and I went on a practice hike yesterday - an 8-9 miler with hills in 85-degree weather in about 5.5 hours, including breaks. Photos here.

Will check in from the Cooke City Sinclair right before we begin.”

“Martyb,
I only put my headnet on once, while fishing. A little DEET did the trick the rest of the time.

On the Cooke City side of the divide, you will catch mostly small Brook trout. They are fun to catch, but it would take a ton of them to feed you. The cuts are much bigger, and are readily available in the East Rosebud drainage. Try the stretch of river between Dewey and Twin Outlets, and just below Twin Outlets.

Be sure to check the board re: fire situation; there was a full ban on backcountry campfires when I was there.”

“The fishing situation sounds like it will be ideal for us: not planning on fishing much until across the divide anyway. Uh, the cuts won't be too big for my frying pan, will they?

We aren't usually campfire makers anyway, so a ban on same won't matter to us. We just hope there will be enough periodic rain that they won't ban all outdoor activity like in '88 when I was there. No offense, Geezr, Aero, and Newgirl, but without outdoor activities, Montana's not the most exciting place :-) ....”

“Martyb- we'll be up there in Cooke City around that time. Let me know what the exact dates are and maybe we can plan a rendevous in town or Billings for that matter.

It's been raining a lot here lately so the forest should be pretty good for (lack of) fire conditions for a couple weeks.”

“Schedule and contact info is in your email....”

“marty, hope you guys have warm sleeping bags for this trip. It was 42 degrees at 7:00 am in Cody this morning.

Bugs shouldn't be a problem for you anyway.”

“Thanks, Chief. Yeah, we use 20-degree bags as our "warm weather" bags anyway. I didn't even get inside mine on my winter camping trip in February! I found a couple of automated weather stations in the area, too. The one nearest Cooke City recorded a low of 25 the other day - gotta love those sub-freezing temps to kill the bugs!”

“Forgot to mention: my new lightweight (5 oz.) fishing reel (spinning) arrived yesterday. Woo hoo, I can almost taste those trout already! Oh, sorry, I guess I just forgot to brush my teeth....”

“Rosebud side...
two trout, period.

Cooke side...
10 trout, of which only two can be cuts, or, all ten can be brookies.
(it would take at least ten of those lil'brookies to meet ones' nutritional needs... heh)

I was surprised to read about the discrepency in limits until we crosed the divide... many more fisherpersons on the R'bud side. Less fish, too.”

“Limits! We don't care about no stinkin' limits!

The best fishing I thought was on top at Fossil and Windy lakes. Two guys fished for four people. There were a couple they threw back because they were too big (?)

We also had Idahoan Au Gratin Potato's as a side dish. And, we were able to cook in foil in coals from fire.”

“Thanks gojo. With three people fishing times two fish each, that oughtta be enough for us, especially if they're the°CÛQtana-sized kind I've caught there before!”

“That should be "Montana-sized." Do you all see the weird characters that I do?”

“Chief -
Seems like there was a slot on the size of some species, or length limits, or something like that...

There's been recent research that's revealed that many species are getting smaller and lighter due to "big ones only" regulations.

Marty -
It would be advisable to get a copy of the regs...
Just when you think you're in the middle of nowhere, those DNR Wardens have a tendancy to pop-up.”

“Wardens!!! We don't care about no stinckin' wardens!!!

They can stick their slot limit up their slot allright!!!

J/K I don't really know the reg's in MT, but I really doubt they would even be up that high. Might watch it near East Rosebud and over below Russell. Anywhere else I wouldn't worry about.”

“Maybe this will help. They're in there somewhere....

MT Fishing regs”

“If you can afford a fine of mega$$$ per fish, the possible loss of your vehicle, and the hassle of a jailhouse overniter - go right ahead and take that chance. I'd pack tuna before I took such a risk...”