Cliff Lake, MT

Erin and I rented a canoe this past weekend to do a little "relaxed" camping. I thought the canoe would be a good way to get away from the crowds of car camping while having the comforts of decent food and gear that is too heavy to carry in a backpack. We actually fit all the gear, ourselves, and Kaya in the Canoe all at once; which was good because the campsite I was told to paddle to was a mile into a 20mph wind and I didn't want to do it twice. Kaya didn't love the boat ride too much. I don't know why, she didn't have to paddle.


After setting up camp we went down to the lake to set up the hammock so Erin could take a nap while I tried to fly-fish in a tropical storm. While I was looking for the two trees of ideal separation for hammocking, Erin was alert enough to notice that the boat was no longer where we left it.


I started running down the shoreline, knowing very well that the most likely stopping place of the canoe in the now 30mph wind was at least back at the car where we started, if not further down valley. As I was turning around to tell Erin that I would be back to camp in July some nice people yelled from down the shoreline that they had intercepted an unmanned, quickly moving canoe. I was greatful.

I did get a few minutes of sort-of calm to fish after the 75+mph winds.

Kaya ended up helping out around camp.


But it took a lot out of her (that and her staying up all night defending us from every grizzly bear and squirrel in a 10-mile radius).


All in all it was fun. Windy. But fun.

Extravaganza revisited

We went back up to the same job site near Big Sky today and saw three bears (no days). My coworker was able to get a bunch of pictures of a little bear cub that I think has been abandoned. It looked like it was doing OK; it was eating and looked healthy enough but I don't know how screwed up it is for bear cubs to grow up without parents. Maybe it will make it, though it will probably need counseling later in life. That's all for now. . .small blogs are less intimidating for me to create.

Wildlife Extravaganza

Wednesday was my first field day at my new job. We spent the day in the Big Sky area. It was fun and I definitely have a challenge ahead of me in learning a bunch of new skills. The highlight(s) of the day was seeing a TON of wildlife. It started with Big Horn Sheep, then Elk, two Black Bears, and a couple of days. The guys I went up with saw a moose when I wasn't with them, too. My co-worker was quick enough to get a photo of the second bear we saw on the side of the road, near a gated community development. It was pretty sweet.