Farewell For Now

Spending the last couple months in Alberta had a lot of ups and downs. I'm glad I was able to head up and help my Dad with his company, and that I was able to take such an extended amount of time off from my regular job in Salt Lake but overall it will be nice to get back to regular life. Its been great hiking and doing some fun things in between measuring and estimating roofs, working with insurance adjusters, and dealing with so many people needing their roof repaired after the hail storm, but I'm glad its over for now. Here is a picture of my office. I took over the kitchen table (thanks Mom). I had about 60 proposals I was working on at the height of things. Crazy. The second picture is of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Boulder Valley, Montana that I took on the drive back down to Salt Lake. 

Never thought I would say this but I think the time away from SLC made me like it more. Crazy.

Undaunted Courage

This book by Stephen Ambrose has been incredibly captivating. If you've ever been interested in the Lewis & Clark expedition you should read it. I figured since I've been driving up to Canada so much over the past few years and I pass road signs signifying the different places they stopped while venturing to the Pacific Ocean and back almost 200 years ago, I might as well piece the story together and have a decent understanding of what went on. This book is perfect. Compelling from start to finish.

Stoney Indian Pass

This hike was one of my favorite of all time. From start to finish it was magical. We got great weather, we ate like kings, and we didn't kill ourselves with our pace. We took it all in. With easy vistas like these you gotta. Scott, Brett, and Amy were perfect backpacking companions. I had never gone through the Belly River Valley towards Stoney Indian Pass but had wanted to for several years after seeing some of Scott and Cody's pictures. Next time I plan on going all the way past Cosley Lake, up through the Stoney Indian Pass and over into Waterton National Park. I honestly can't wait to get back there. Glacier National Park was already my favorite NP in the US and this hike I think solidified it for good. *All pics were taken with the iPhone 4s. Kinda wish I brought my Canon but these hold up pretty good I think.

Searching for West

I think this short film is pretty good. A bit dramatized but still good. It seems like the issue they seem to be basing the story around has a simple solution. Maybe its just me. I kinda just wanted to say, "Hey buddy, just don't hunt as much this season and kick it with your wife and new kid. All the wild game will still be around next season". Overall I like how it was put together.

Canada Extras

A few more from the trip up to Canada. First one is Paula and I in Glacier, Second one is Damien getting the perfect shot of Katelin near the visitor center on Logans Pass, Third one is of a relaxing day in Waterton, Fourth is of the crew who showed up for the gathering At Cody's cabin, Fifth is of Matt and I driving Amy's VW bus around. Matt put it in gear as I put the clutch down and steered. It was brilliant and successful. We made it around like it was nothing. Everything about the trip was perfect. I'm glad such a good group of friends got to see how things are up north. Between all the things we did in Montana and Alberta, there wasn't much more a human being possibly could do to properly be introduced. Looking forward to the next trip up there.

Chief Mountain & A Fake Sunset

A storm rolled in out of nowhere and created this rare picture of the sun trying to burst through the clouds behind Chief Mountain. It's rare because the sun doesn't set behind Chief but this picture makes you think it does. Way to go mother nature. Well done.

Roadtrip Revisited

^View of Waterton from the Prince of Wales Hotel.

^Levi knows how much I enjoy Redvines.

^Cameron Lake

^Carthew-Alderson Summit Hike.

^In the clouds.

^The hike got magical. Not even kidding.

^Looking into Glacier National Park fromt the summit.

^More magic.

^Paula, damien, and myself enjoying this little waterfall.

^Some of the men of the expedition.

More pics from the trip. I wish I had more but these should give you an idea of what it was like.

Canadian Roadtrip

^The gang just before we departed Salt Lake. 7-11 was a must for a snack stop.

^Damien, Ashley, Paula, and Katelin met up with the rest of us in Missoula after driving through the night. Once that happened we were rolling 18 deep. Two vans and a hatchback. Wes' family were nice enough to let us crash their pad on the way up.

^We had to stop by this trading post in Hungry Horse, MT. The owner of the place even got in a picture with us wearing his coyote medicine man hat. Classic.

Avalanche gorge with some of the group.

Classic group shot once we started on our way up "Going To The Sun Road" in Glacier.

Looking at some Grizzly bears we spotted from the car in Many Glacier.

Evan, Beau, and Tadd going over the cache of pictures from the day before.

Panorama of Waterton Lakes Nationl Park

I don't know what I got myself into but all of a sudden I was among 17 friends heading up to Alberta, Canada on a roadtrip. What started out as a small group of friends heading up north turned into a much larger group and ultimately a party on wheels. Typically when you think of a group this size one might be turned off, but this was different. Everyone was on the same page. I couldn't have asked for a better mix of friends and personalities. There were some real characters in the group and it kept an already lively group even more lively. Never a dull moment. The trip went on without a hiccup or issue. Coordinating this many people in a foreign land was actually quite easy. I didn't think it would come together as it did but really I owe it all to the fact I have honestly, the. best. friends. ever. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to associate with. If you want to go on the next one, next summer get at me. I didn't think I would have it in me to do another one but after it was all said and done I couldn't wait to show more people some of my most favorite places on the planet.

Youth Lagoon- July

Do yourself a favor and hook some quality headphones into your computer, take a minute to block everything else out and just listen to this song start off slow and gradually build up. You'll thank me if you do it. Promise.

They song starts off with these lyrics:

Explosions pillaging the night
From the fireworks on the fourth of July
It's just my lady, our friends, and I...

Rad.

Trevor Powers is making music that is honestly some of the best I've heard in the past year or so. He is blowing up too and its fun to see. You'll be hearing more about this guy and his project he named Youth Lagoon to pay homage to the nostalgia of being a kid in Idaho.

Get some more info here.

CHIEF MOUNTAIN

Ever since I was a young child I've wanted to hike to the top of Chief Mountain. I remember as a little 9 or 10 year old, watching a group of my older cousins, a few uncles, and my grandpa heading out to hike to the top. I was pretty bummed about not being able to go with them. Well I finally got to the top this summer. It was worth the wait since the mid 90's. Totally worth it. It wasn't even that bad of a hike. The 45 minutes of traversing up the shale was the only difficult part but other than that it wasn't bad at all.

Two summers ago I had an opportunity to hike to the top of Old Chief but wasn't able to make it due to a couple reasons. One being the fact I invited a gal I was spending time with at the time to come and she forgot her passport (needed to get through the border and into the United States, in which the mountain is just barely located) and due to me not really explaining to her that it was a serious hike that requires more than just a pair of Keds (the only type of shoes she brought with her) and a granola bar. I ended up having to tell my buddies I wasn't going to make it, which bothered them considering we had planned the trip weeks in advance and were pumped to conquer it.

I ended up taking the gal on a date which included us canoeing and having a picnic on the other side of the lake we were on and having a really good time. Seriously, it was really fun... but it was not fulfilling my dream of hiking Old Chief. To make matters worse, I had to endure many taunts and various different kinds of verbal abuses, along with them making up a hand signal that mimics the face of the mountain that reminded me how I didn't make it up to the peak like they had (talk about humiliation).They still bring it up, no lie. All in all I learned my lesson and have vindicated myself from here and forever onward with my long overdue excursion.

I won't say anything else about the hike (I'll let the pictures do the talking) except that I'm grateful for Chanel for getting the group together and making things happen.

P.S. If you look at the header to my blog, it's pretty easy to tell which mountain is Old Chief. That's the view I have from my house. Not too shabby.

P.S.S. Here is a picture of Jeff and Ben making fun of me with their silly little hand gesture.