Hello blogging faithful. Well, we've had a wonderful adventure in the North lands of Montana and Wyoming, exploring the vastness that can be a beautiful wild frontier or a wildly hostile monster. We were lucky, we mainly got beautiful frontier...um and some of the hostile monsters. I shall start at the beginning though and give you all the whole story. We both enjoy adventures of many kinds and this adventure began on July 4th 2008, Independence day. We caught a flight from Jackson Int. Airport in a long day of travel that routed us to Houston, TX. Next stop Colorado (Yeah)! We had a short delay at DIA, but wished it could have been a bit longer so that we could say hello to the family and my Colorado mountains. We grabbed our seats on the next flight and headed to Bozeman, MT. The plane bounced its way through the mountainous landscape on its descent into Bozeman and you could feel that this was going to be a great trip.
After our bags were collected, one for clothes and one for gear, we were greeted by Ross and headed into town to do some last minute work and collect our groceries for the trip to the Clarks Fork or better known by the few who love the place as the Clarky. Few details will be given on the exact location of the Clarky to protect its isolation and wildness. We were loaded and ready to hit the road. We left Bozeman and headed to Livingston, MT to enjoy roller skate delivered hamburgers and shakes and to put some petro into the C2 so we could make the approximately 3 hour drive. We drove through Paradise Valley and entered into Yellowstone NP. The drive through Yellowstone was fun, we saw antelope, elk, mule deer, and of course the Yellowstone bison. After Yellowstone we saw fireworks in Cooke City, MT and then headed to the Clarky. Upon arriving we were immediately and completely swarmed by the hostile monsters, moskoes to the locals, and mosquitoes to the rest of us. They were a blood thirsty army that never let up. Did I mention that Ross forgot (maybe on purpose) the tent? We thought we could tough out that first night so we threw the trusty sleeping bags on the nice mountain side and proceeded to stay awake fending off the evil horde, no way were we going to do that the next night. Alas the night was nothing that couldn't be fixed with some fresh brewed Yellowstone coffee.
Next plan, set up the slackline. I didn't know it at the time but we wouldn't have much time for the slacking because we would be climbing and adventure hiking for the next few days. The slackline hadn't been set up for more than a few minutes when we were ready to go scope out the canyon and the river and hopefully locate some climbing. The trail was steep and the moskoes bad but we made it through the woods and across the boulder fields to some of the most beautiful vistas I have ever seen (the pictures of course will do it no justice). We adventure hiked across catwalks and scree slopes trundling as we went.
Ross had a climb in mind that he had been thinking about from previous trips. This climb had never been done before. We stashed the gear we wouldn't be using and set up the first belay station. The climb was the left side of a column on the wiggle wall and it looked solid.
(Sorry about the picture here but we left the cameras with our gear and this is the only picture of the wall taken and no pictures of the route) The first pitch was so much fun that I wondered how could life get any better and then I realized that we had three more to go. The second pitch was classic. This type of climbing is what is known as blue collar climbing because you get down and dirty. Trundling rocks to remove hazards, raining dirt from every crack, and lichen encrusted granite turned you into wonderfully darker versions of yourself, ask Lesley someday what it's like to have black teeth instead of white ones. By the third pitch, and lots of blue collar climbing, the rock was assaulting all of our bodies, well maybe not Rossy's, it was grueling. The fourth and final pitch became a low angle jaunt to the top where we finished out. Because it took us awhile to complete the route we opted to hike out and back to camp leaving our gear stashed to retrieve in the morning. The route that I just described having never been climbed before was dubbed by Ross "Johnson's Column, Left Side" and gave it a rating of 5.8, I think that rating is a sandbag though.
Camping was about to be a whole lot more comfortable because Ross's friend Peter showed up with a plethora of camping amenities, including a four season tent, and a moskoe proof bivy. Les and I set up the tent and proceeded to cook dinner. Cooking is a big deal camping. Food always tastes better after a hard day in the hills and this was some of the best cooking I've had. We cooked all of our meals gourmet style. Breakfast burritos and andouille sausage pasta for example. After a few beers and good conversation around the campfire with everyone the moskoes again got the best of us and it was time to retire for the day. Waking up in a cool, relaxing tent without half our blood being drained does wonders for a person. Man, we felt great in the morning, thanks Peter. More Coffee and it was time to adventure hike back to get our gear down by the river.
Ross went ahead to gather the gear while we ventured down a different route to visit the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone river. I didn't mention it earlier but there was a lot of snow throughout the west this year as many of you know and the river was screaming. Much too dangerous to cross or swim in, although we were able to lay over a rock and wash some of yesterdays climb out of our hair. It was non-the-less beautiful in its power.
We enjoyed sitting on the rocks just looking and listening, and Ross enjoyed collecting the unique driftwood that the river had brought up. After we rested we decided to hike out and head to another climb, Ross packing out his sweet find as well.
This one a little further away. A one pitch route over a raging creek that Ross had climbed once before. I rappelled down to the creek to start. This was going to be a fun top rope climb for me because I was still exhausted from yesterdays adventures. I picked my way through this classic dihedral route (Look closely at the picture and you will see me on the climb).
I made it to the top exhausted , and pumped. Ross's turn.
Ross is an excellent climber and this route gave him no trouble. After Ross got back up we set up a new anchor on a more difficult "futuristic" climb next to our last route.
I was tired and I didn't have the experience to climb but I was all for belaying Ross. When he got back he looked beat and said that the route was probably a 5.12, and I was glad that I hadn't attempted that one. We had a lot of daylight left, and we where close to Sunlight Valley so it was time for a drive. This was in the top 10 of most scenic drives I have ever made. Ranches and green pastures surrounded by snow capped mountains.
We pulled the truck over and made a little side hike to check out some rock and the views up there were absolutely inspiring. This is Grizzly and Wolf country and the signs of them were everywhere, from the high fences lining grazing pastures to the gun in the rack of every pickup truck but we were not blessed, on this trip, to spot one although I know they where there. Back at camp we had to give up our tent when Peter left but luck for us Witt and Kim also left and when they did they left El Casa there for us to use so one more night protected. We enjoyed a nice evening around the campfire and talked until we made our retreat to our skeeter free zone.
Monday we had to pack up and head back to Bozeman so we decided to go the long way over Bear Tooth Pass. This is also now in my top 10 most scenic drives list. It was crazy to see so much snow in July but now I know why the Rivers and Creeks are exploding right now.
Above tree line people were skiing, hiking, driving, and enjoying the mountains. We wound our way through the switchbacks up one side and down the other eventually making it to Red Lodge, MT. We kept on until Bozeman. Once in Bozeman we found our way to Conrad Ankers house, a friend of Ross's, who let us stay there while they were out of town. We cleaned up and grabbed some bikes so we could tour the campus of Montana State University where I have been interested in one of their graduate programs. We also took the bikes to Ross's welding shop the "Stronghold".
Pat, whom also works there was there when we arrived and we visited and shot some prairie doggies, who have been eating up the garden, with a bow and arrow, how very Montana like.
We invited him to dinner with us at Aleworks and ended our trip on a good note. I won't bore you with the trip home because it was basically the same as the way out but in reverse. I will say as I end this post that I had one of the best times just camping and climbing and I can't wait to get back out to Montana. We have a couple more trips planned this summer so there should be a lot more excitement to come.
We also saw Whiskers (I think that was his name) He is a giant albino catfish. The museum had a fantastic exhibit that showcased all of the swamps and lakes of Mississippi.
We would have liked to spend a lot more time there, maybe next time. We had to rush out to go get our ears lowered. Through some shrewed business arrangements Lesley was able to secure, in trade, hair cuts for life (maybe not life but at least for a while). Jeremy isn't so shaggy anymore and Les is down right Cute. The hair cuts were important though because we were heading to a five course dinner at Ro Chez'.
One choice, thats what you get when you eat at Ro Chez', what ever they put in front of you. The pictures won't do it justice but the food was fantastic. We hope to return again, maybe after we amass a small fortune. I would list the menu for you but just look at the pictures.
The next day (which was actually the "Birth Day" we decided to have a BBQ at Lesley's moms. 
I baked a cake, my first, and we had a lot of fun all celebrating together. About the cake, Lesley has a favorite cake that has been made in her family for years and this is the cake she asked me to bake. I had to call her grandmother Lynn for the recipe. I made three thin white cakes out of organic ingredients, whipped up a lemon filling and made a seven minute frosting. All assembled it looked decent, but tasted great. We managed to eat the whole cake in about one week. 
We also made home made peach ice cream to go along with it. 
I think Les had a good birthday.
He also built a nice new building for his truck drivers to use while they are at the elevator. It has A/C a shower and places for cots. I'm sure they will love the new digs.
So, thats the news for now a lot of exciting things are on the way so check back soon.
