montanapalooza 2002

“Day 2 - Bald Knob Lake to Dewey Lake

The day dawned clear again, and we marveled at our incredibly good luck on weather and bug issues. With me doing the bulk of the camp chores, it took a while to pack up, and we didn't hit the trail until almost 10. The hike up to the divide and Fossil Lake was warm, and all of the stream crossings, like the previous day, were quite easy. We reached Fossil Lake at lunch time, so found a good spot out of the light wind, ate a big lunch (trying to eat our way to lighter packs!!), and even fished a bit. Then we headed down the ER Creek drainage toward Dewey Lake.

We noticed a gathering storm chasing us down the valley, so our pace quickened a bit. When we got to Dewey, it was starting to sprinkle a bit, so we found a good campsite, and set up our tents in record time and dove inside. It rained for about 15 minutes, which gave us time to organize our stuff. When it stopped, at about 4:00, out we popped, and down to the lake we went. I caught two cutthroats (9" and 12"), which we later ate for dinner (they were DELICIOUS!) along with our Alpine Aire garlic mashed potatoes - yum! I guess that comes to $11 per fish, based on the $22 2-day fishing license! Shortly after catching the fish, I loaned my lure to Dad, since he had neglected to bring the one he has like that one. Three casts later, and he had "lost" it, although I never technically searched his gear to verify this assertion.

After dinner, the real storm was starting, so it was a mad dash around camp to get the smelly pan and other dishes cleaned and food put away. The thunderstorm was fairly short, but there were some lightning strikes pretty close by. Fortunately for Dad and his $16 Walmart tent, there was almost no wind. Cameron got pretty scared by the thunder and lightning (we don't have that in the SF Bay Area), but, then again, the wilderness ranger, camped 200' away, said he got a little scared, too. There was some pretty good rain later during the night, but we stayed nice and dry.”

“Day 3 - Dewey Lake to Rainbow Lake

We awoke to a weird fog in the air (not in our heads!). I was afraid that might mean rain during the day, but didn't say anything for fear of worrying my hiking partners. Due to some issues that needn't be mentioned here, we got an even later start, hitting the trail at a little before 11. Not long after starting, the rain began, light at first, but really picking up after lunch. Unfortunately, this meant that I wouldn't be taking too many pictures for fear of the camera getting wet, and this on the day with the best scenery! It was also a day of nerves, as the sections of trail with cliffs (e.g., at Impasse Falls) were quite scary for a father watching his 7-year-old hike. Knowing the short attention span of a child of this age, I was compelled to repeatedly remind him to "make sure every step you make is in a good spot; go as slow as you have to to be safe; focus only on your steps for the next few minutes...." Of course, after the scary parts were over, I asked Cameron if the trail and cliffs bothered him, and he said, "No, not at all."

We hiked very slowly this day because of the scary parts and the river on the trail. For grownups, the "trail river" was no big deal because of the size of our feet. For Cameron, it was miserable, as every step in a puddle submerged his hiking shoes. His feet stayed reasonably warm, but it meant a lot of slow hiking, trying to find the best route through every puddle - ugh!

There was a brand new bridge over Granite Creek, the one shortly before Big Park Lake. I seem to remember photos of some 'paloozers crossing the creek, with some debris from the old bridge nearby. Shortly after passing Big Park Lake, we saw a few deer, the only non-human large mammals we saw on the trip.

It was really raining hard at this point. Once, upon catching up with Dad during a break, Cameron and I told him, "When you look up the phrase 'It sucks' in dictionary, it has a picture of this."

Fortunately, about this time, the heavy rain stopped, and the sun even peaked out for a couple of minutes. The views at Lake at Falls were stupendous, of course, but I left the camera in the pack because it was still sprinkling a little. After our break, our hiking neighbor Theresa scampered up to our break spot and chatted with us a bit. She noted that they had seen an otter in the lake a few minutes earlier but that it had headed down the lake from them. Sure enough, Cameron spotted it a few minutes later, and we got out my REI monocular (3 oz.) to verify the sighting.

It was a pretty slow and tiring slog on to Rainbow Lake, and we camped at a remarkably dry spot about 100 feet above the trail. Dad tried his luck at fishing, while I got water, etc. and hung out our wet stuff to try to dry it a bit. Cameron put on his warm, dry clothes (I LOVE ziploc bags!) and hung out in the tent. We had our favorite backpacking food dinner, Mountain House Lasagne, while the wilderness ranger sat and chatted with us. It was then that we discovered he is the regular wilderness ranger's (Lauren's) boyfriend - I could sense a huge sigh of disappointment in the force. Or maybe it was just gas....”

“Day 4 - Rainbow Lake to East Rosebud Lake

Cameron and I slept in 'till 7 - practically a backpacking record for us! When we got up, we rejoiced upon seeing the blue sky. Before long, the sun was hitting the nearby peaks - yee haw!! Let the drying begin! Despite focusing on hustle, we still didn't hit the trail 'till 10, but we felt better about it with the blue sky above.

There were a few nerve-wracking trail segments during the hike down, but less so than the previous day. Again, there was a lot of slow hiking, this time because Cameron's feet and one ankle were sore from the 20 miles of hiking during the previous 3 days. Also, the rocks protruding from the trail were no match for my grownup feet, but presented a much more tangible obstacle for a 7-year-old. This (the slow pace) turned out fine, as it gave us a chance to enjoy the forest and the lovely scenery, like Rimrock Lake. Again, Dad hiked ahead during much of the morning, and eventually radioed that he had a primo lunch spot in the sun, just beyond the cascading outlet of Rimrock.

After lunch, Dad packed up and headed out first, as Cameron and I spent another 10 minutes resting in the warm sun. About a half hour after getting underway, Dad radioed that he was in a really good rhythm and thought he might just bomb down the trail and meet us at the end. I responded that we were going pretty slow, which was fine with us, and told him to go on ahead if he wanted. About a half hour after that, we met a backpacker heading up the trail, and he said, "Was that your dad down the trail?" "Yeah, that's my dad - he's hiking a little faster than we are." "Did he have a sleeping bag wrapped in a white plastic bag?" "Why yes," I responded. "Well, it's sitting beside the trail." Hah! This had the makings of a great story already. We thought he would take a short break, notice it was missing, and radio us to meet him halfway or just ask us to haul it down. When he finally called, it was to say that Theresa and Pat had invited us to their cabin for a drink when we finished. No mention of the sleeping bag. We figured he was either clueless or was playing dumb to avoid on-air embarrassment. With about 4 miles to go, there was the bag, all 6 pounds of it. I strapped it onto my pack and we headed down, discussing what the "fine" should be. We settled on $5 a mile, plus a 6-pack of Alaskan for me and a purple Gatorade for Cameron.

We began picking up the pace before Elk Lake as another storm was trying to chase us down. It began sprinkling, so Cameron put on his windbreaker - I just stayed in my T-shirt, as I didn't care if I got wet at that point. For a while, we really boogied - I could barely keep up with Cameron. Then the trail got rockier and Cameron got tired again, so we slowed to a crawl. No problem, as ER Lake was coming into view, and we were enjoying the abundant berries and seeing the changing colors of the willows. We thought for sure we'd see a bear or moose, as the flora appeared to provide perfect habitat for both - no such luck, though.

Finally, as we passed the third (?) cabin, my radio crackled to life, and Theresa, Pat, and Dad burst out onto the cabin's back deck. We scampered over the rocks to their gorgeous abode (rebuilt after the '96 fire) and went inside for coffee (me) and cookies and milk (Cameron). I approached Dad: "So, feeling pretty good hikin' down, huh? Maybe even 'light on your feet?'" He looked puzzled. "You're not missing anything from it, are you?" He went over and looked at his pack. "No, why do you ask?" "Does this look familiar?" I asked, as I turned around. Embarrassment followed. Many laughs, too, at least from Cameron, Theresa, Pat, and I. Funny, he never did pay the "fine."

After a short visit, Dad walked up the trailhead and drove down to the cabin to pick us up. We loaded up our packs (with his sleeping bag still strapped to mine!) and headed down to Roscoe. We had a yummy dinner at the Grizzly Bar, as instructed by Geezr. Then it was on to Billings and a night in a real bed.

Post-Hike Activities

I draped my wet tent over Dad's pickup overnight, so it was dry by morning. I spread it out on the driveway, and cleaned up up a bit, along with some of the other gear. After lunch it was back to Geezr's place for some storytelling (and beer-drinking, of course!). That night we had dinner at my aunt & uncle's place (north of town a bit) - they especially appreciated the sleeping bag story as they enjoy teasing Dad when they get a chance.

We flew home on Friday without incident. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot radioed the air traffic controllers to find out if the baseball players were on strike - good to know those guys are concentrating on the important stuff!

Cameron just about knocked Pamela down when she met us at baggage claim - despite the great trip, we were glad to get home.”

“Thanks for the great report, martyb. It was just like being there.... especially since I have been.”

“It's like deja vu all over again....”

“Marty, just arrived home from hiking into Hauser Lake, Solar Lake, Fort Lake, Rainbow Lake and No Name Lake in Wyoming. Them fish liked to have wore me out. I'm gonna take a shower, read your trip reports and have an Alaskan Amber. Here's a toast to you!”

“Good for you, Geezr! Forgot to mention in those last few paragraphs that my aunt and uncle served Alaskan Amber that Thursday night - woo hoo!”

“I see there's an attempt to overthrow this thread as the reigning king of all threads.

LONG LIVE THE KING”

“It may take something like Sierrapalooza to do that!!”

“This thread has a good lead already. Plus I think it's taken on a life of it's own by spontaneously posting to itself.”

“Even that 'Quote for the Day' thread looks small, by comparison”

“Aero, what tent is yours and how do you like it? I'm looking at a Kelty Dart, as well as a MSR Zoid. Any suggestions anyone?”

“I have the Dart II. It's OK, but gets some condensation. But, I like it for all the reasons it was designed for; small, lightweight, packs down well, sets up very easy /fast and it's fairly roomy for one. It's less than 3 lbs (2lbs.,14 oz.) Kelty discontinued it and now has the Aero II (can ya believe it?). It has more ventilation but is otherwise the same as the Dart. The Dart held up well that night at Windy Lake too!!”

“this is a little odd - you guys live about a mile from each other and communicate through TT.

LONG LIVE MONTANAPALOOZA 2002!!!!!!!”

“Geezer, get a bivy!
Light, easy to set up, withstood the storm at Windy Lk., and very roomy (the whole outdoors).
And the STARS!”

“Or. . .get a warmlite (2.13 lbs). . . lotsa room!

Heeheee, the Montanapalooza gang is awake!”

“Navi, what does your bivy weigh? They list the Dart 1 @ 2lbs 4oz. There's 29" of headroom so you can actually dress in it, read at night, etc.

Is anyone else having trouble getting on Webshots this morning?”

“Aero - I was going to mention the Aero, to you. It was briefly on the REI site, I think. I'll have to look again. It looks quite a bit like my Arch, actually. Let me know what you think, if you get a chance to see one.”

“Snow Nymph- That reminds me. I still have Snow Dude's belt buckle. I keep forgetting to get it in the mail. Hope his pants are still up!”

“The OR bivy is 2 lbs.

And yes, I'm having trouble with webshots! I was also on TT, and it disappeared. I was able to get back on a few minutes later. Still can't get on webshots. I'm transferring albums. 8-(”

“Ya, Geezr.... I couldn,t get Snow's link, from another thread”

“Hodgeman- It had bigger side vents than the Dart, which was about the only difference I could see. I'm a fan of the Dart, tho. it packs down about the size of a football and I can sit all the way up in it.”

“Geezr - I saw a NF Trek Bivy, the other day. It's a Goretex bivy, alright, but it's a little larger than some. It actually has a foot pole and a vestibule, of sorts”

“The OR Advanced Bivy is 31 oz.
The headroom is a little close in bad weather, but in good weather it's 1,000's of miles.”

“How cool is it that Kelty has actually named a tent the "Aero." Aero is like an ultra-TTer now. He has gear w/ his name on it!”

“I have gear with my name on it.




(It's in laundry marker, but it's my name!)”

“The Kelty site has the Aero2 on the two-man page

Link”

“Navi, point taken. Plus, I would get more use out of your Planishere (star gazer), which, by the way, is going to Canyonlands, Zion and the Grand Canyon with us in Oct.

Hodge, will research the Trek, as well as the OR's Snow Nyymph.”

“Geezr - have a look at the 'gear wish list' thread, from the other day. I did a pretty good job of turning that one into another tent thread. LOL

Most were posting about the Hilleberg tents. They look pretty good”

“Oh My Gawd! I totally keep forgetting to mail Snow Nymph's clothes back too Aero. Maybe you could get the belt buckle to me and I can mail all of it to them. Plus . . . some goodies since I'm a huge a-hole for taking so long!!!

Sorry Snow People!”

“G, that Planishere (star gazer) is traveling more than I am.
Have a great trip.”

“Ok, I'm on my way.”

“What kind of goodies might the Snow People enjoy?”

“NG- something freeze-dried!”

“NG - Take a trip to that little shop we were at, in Red Lodge..... Maybe you could send me some more of that salt water taffy, while you're there. ;-)”

“LOL! I was thinking we should locate some MT specialities for them Aero. Got any ideas? I saw some yummy looking MT coffee at Morgan's Market.”

“NG, send them some TIME.
SN was complaining about not having enough of that over lunch yesterday.”

“NG, don't feel bad.

I just got Navi's stove to him yesterday! And earlier this week I FINALY made it to the post office and mailed Obi his stuff from early August! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's slow!

No rush!”

“Next time I'm in Red Lodge, I'll be sure to send you the taffy Hodge.

SnowNymph, glad you don't mind. But seriously, would you guys like me to send some treats too?”

“I guess if Hodge likes that taffy, send a sample.”

“GoLite Trek Pack $139 2lb 8oz
Kelty Dart 1 $100 2lbs 4oz
Therm-a-rest 3/4 $ 52 1lb

Looked at both the Hilleberg and Stenenson tents. The only Hillenberg that would fit my needs was $340 and the Warmlite was $780. On the plus side, everyone in the Stevenson site was in the nude. Why, I don't know.”

“Ya Geezr - I know what you mean about the prices..... That Hilleberg would be 500+ cdn.

Hmmm.... maybe I'll have a peek at the Stenenson site.... yah”

“They were in the nude? What the heck?”

“Geezr, when you get the Therm-a-rest, get the chair kit too.
Comfy, comfy, comfy.”

“Don't get the Dart - I bought one and used it one hot and dry summer night. The condensation was terrible. You have to get out of the tent to open the bigger vents. It's long and thin with lots of useless room at the foot of the tent.

I've heard the OR Advanced Bivy is great - I've been thinking of getting one for summer backpacking.”

“Must be nice to not be claustrophobic - 2 lbs, 3 lbs for a tent. Oh well, I'm looking at the REI Half Dome Plus 2, which is under 6 lbs. anyway. $120 with the 20% discount they're giving during a special sale a week from tomorrow. Other than that, I think I have all the gear I need for now (blasphemy, I know). Well, maybe a new pack - I don't even know what mine weighs....”

“I guess we can now all picture Geezr sneaking down to his basement while Malinda is sleeping to look at Warmlite gear online. TMI, TMI!!!”

“Claustrophobic?
I've used bivies for over 10 years, and only twice (Montanapalooza) did I have to close it up. The rest of the time I had the stars.
Beats any tent for claustrophobia.”

“Nav - You definitely haven't been living around here, for the last ten years ;-)”