Probably the last one....

Well reality is soon to set in, and summer is coming to an abrupt end.  I ditched the responsible notion of "getting my stuff ready for school to start" and went on another hike with the ladies and one of my kids.  This one was a little different from the others in that it was a fairly short hike but we ended up on the top of the mountain.  This is officially my first mountain top, I've been to lots of ridges and passes but not any mountain tops.  It is called Oberlin Mountain and it is one of the peaks behind the Logan's Pass visitors center.  The neat things about the group that I've been hiking with is that it makes me feel young cause frankly I am the youngest one there and the other is that it give me hope for the future as I see the 60 to 80 year olds in that group out there hiking.  I am hoping that I can be out there doing this in 20 years. The things they know about the trails and the wildflowers is amazing, I didn't soak up much of that knowledge this year, so maybe in the years to come.

8180 feet above sea level, around 1900 feet in elevation gain

The Bucket List Hike

Granite Park Chalet

This week's hike was the one I've been looking forward to all summer.  It was the Highline Trial over top of Swiftcurrent Pass and down into Many Glaciers.  We got an early start on the morning and hit the border at 7:10 am. We had to leave a vehicle at Many Glaciers and then take the other one to catch the shuttle to the top of Logan's Pass.  By the time we got to the top it was 10:00 and we started out to reach the half way point which is the Granite Park Chalet.  We stopped at the Chalet for lunch and ended up staying there for an hour.  During this time the weather got a bit worse so we decided that we'd better hit the trail before the rain started to fall too heavily.  We ended our hike at 7:00 in the Many Glaciers parking lot.  We traveled a total of 15+ miles and saw lots of wildlife along the way.  Goats, mountain sheep, and marmots, but thankfully no bears.   It was a great hike, sooo glad I did it.  It is a beautiful world out there in the mountains.

We had lots of clouds roll in and out

Top of Swiftcurrent Pass

Looking down into the Swiftcurrent Valley

Grinnell Glacier

This week we headed for a glacier in Many Glaciers.  It was a great hike with lots of scenic views.  This was our first sun filled day of hiking and it got pretty hot by the end of the day.  The wet bandanna tied around the neck does wonders to ward off the heat and luckily there were lots of snow-fed streams flowing along the trail.  Because of our cold, wet weather this spring and summer there was a lot of ice left on the glacial lake.  It was at least 10 degrees colder sitting next to the lake, a welcome reprieve from the heat and the work out we got coming up to the top.

Grinnell Lake

Piegan Pass

This weeks hike was to Piegan Pass. It is a 9 mile round trip that starts off the Logan's Pass road. It was alot easier than last weeks (Ptarmigan Tunnel) so I wasn't stiff and sore the next day and the view was once again worth it. I am continually amazed at the view from on top of these ridges. Hopefully the memories will make the winter months go by faster. I am taking lots of pics and I am thinking that I should make them my screensaver on my school computer.

Logan's Pass in the Jeep

It was finally a nice day around here so we decided to go for a drive to West Glacier. Kevin worked for a few hours in the morning and then called it quits and we took the top off the jeep and went for a drive in the beautiful sunshine. Here are some pics of our adventures. We were lucky to find some friends at Apgar who had their boat out on the lake so Shane bummed a knee board ride. It was a fun day.

Ptarmigan Tunnel

The Ptarmigan Tunnel was built in 1930 through the Ptarmigan Wall at an elevation of 7200 feet in Glacier National Park, near Many Glacier. It is 250 ft long.


On the way up to the lake.


This is from about half way up the switchbacks that take you to the tunnel. Ptarmigan Lake is in this shot.



Wow, what a great view on the other side.




It was pretty cold up top, so we didn't stay too long. I wanted to sit and relax in the sunshine but no such luck. We made a hasty retreat down to the bottom where it was warmer.

This is the valley we hiked through.

Hiking Chronicles

To commemorate the big 40 and to also cross off one of the things on my bucket list I've decided to do a 15 mile hike that starts with the Highline Trail hike in Glacier National Park and finishes in Many Glaciers. The midway point is the Granite Park Chalet (Night of the Grizzlies location.... so the overnight stay in a tent is not happening). The plan is to do it in one day.

In order to get ready for it I am doing some smaller hikes and the first one was at Waterton. It is called Bennett Pass and it is at 7200 ft. and it is a 1400 ft. climb from Wall Lake up to Bennett Pass in 1 1/2 miles. I had never heard of it before but some well-seasoned hikers told me about it and said the view was spectacular. They were right, so worth the stiff and sore muscles I was feeling the day after. It starts at the base of Wall Lake and takes you to the top of Akamina Ridge.



This is a panoramic from the top of Akamina Ridge looking towards the United States.



Just reached the top, definitely had to stop and catch my breath. The wind was howling up there, but the view was amazing.



Wall Lake from the top of the ridge.

Ptarmigan Tunnel is on next week's schedule so I will get some pics up from that one.

Photo fun

Just having some photoshop fun on a cold Sunday afternoon.

A first....

Today the newly turned 16 year old got his driver's license and drove into town for the first time on his own. Yikes I am so not ready for this life changing event. I am sure it will take a few days for me to stop "worrying" about him driving. He is going to get sick of it and will probably be rolling his eyes at me in no time. But isn't that what mother's are supposed to do? He is a responsible kid so I know that he will be careful, but still.....

He recently had a tournament up on Calgary, here is a couple of pics of the action. The lighting wasn't that good in the gym so the pictures aren't the greatest but they will have to do.
























I went for a walk in the snow today and took my camera with me. I am thinking that I should get ready for winter, it will be here sooner than I want.

An early Halloween

A funny thing happened in the house the other night. We had a visitor from the "that should only happen on Halloween" category. Let me give you a hint about our unwanted house guest. It has two beaty little eyes, some sharp teeth, wings, and hangs upside down. I think he was living in the house for a few days cause I found a "present" on the window sill that I thought a mouse had left for us. So that morning before school I am busily setting mouse traps before I head off for work thinking that a mouse had found his way into the house but also wondering how he got up on the window and why that "present" was bigger than normal. Anyways on Thursday night Rylan pushes up the blind so that he could see the new truck that Kevin brought home for Colton (that's a whole other story). As he gets the blind up to about eye level I see him stumble backwards and he's trying to mumble something that I can't understand. He takes off into the bathroom and then runs back and points at the window all the while on the verge of hyperventalating. I look over to where he is pointing and see this bat hanging upside down from the bottom of the blind. He doesn't move he just sits there watching all of us. Rylan said that all he saw when he was nose to nose with it is pink, his pink mouth opening up to bite him. He was pretty freaked out. Luckily Kevin was home so he got the pliars, grabbed a leg, and set him free. Meanwhile all of us "chickens" were hiding out in a bedroom with the door closed.


Not sure if it looked this menacing but Rylan sure thought so......

My brother's cute family

So this is a couple of the pics I got of the cute little neices and their mom and dad. Luckily they were in a good mood that morning so we were able to coax some smiles out of them. I took my youngest out there so he could dance in the background and make them laugh. They seemed to enjoy his "monkey dance" the most. Can you imagine my brother's life in 5 years with all those girls? Yikes!! Good thing they have two bathrooms in the house.

Bit of an update...

I've been busy camping at the hills, working outside, and helping Kevin a bit on the farm. Spent all of yesterday afternoon in the tractor baling hay, sound like fun?? Made over 150 round bales in 6 hours. I had that John Deere cruising!! In the morning I took pics of my brothers family when I get them finished I will post a couple, he has some cute girls, though hard to get everyone to smile at the same time and not close their eyes. I took Shane with me so he could do the monkey dance and make them laugh. It seemed to work!! The weather has been pretty good lately and we hope to go up to Many Glaciers camping for a few days. The hiking there is great. Summer is slipping by way too fast and I am feeling the need to get out and do more stuff.

Conference update

The week of Love and Logic is nearly over. I've learned a lot. Hopefully I can use some of it to make me a better teacher, I guess that will depend on which students you talk to. I spent the week with some colleagues from the high school and we had some time to go out and explore the sights of Colorado Springs and we had a great time, but I am also ready to to home. I will post some of the highlights when I get home. One thing for sure is that I ate way too much, going to have to do something about that when I get home.

Colorado Springs

I am in Colorado Springs at the moment, going to a conference on Love and Logic, sure hope that it all makes sense after 5 days of hearing about it. Then we have to go back and teach the rest of the staff about it. I am going to have to take good notes and stay somewhat focused for 5 days, I think sometimes teachers make the worst students. A little ironic don't you think.

We are staying at a pretty nice hotel and the convention is right here but the thing that irks me is that there is no free internet in the room, only in the lobby which is where I am sitting typing this thing out cause I am too tight to pay $10/day for internet. The people in the lounge next to me are having way too much fun by the sounds of it. I've decided that I am way too addicted to the internet, I was starting to twitch up in my hotel room with nothing to do. I will have to share my new found knowledge on love and logic in the near future.

Grade Nine Grad

My oldest son, Colton, had his junior high honor night this past weekend. He is a great kid and we are very proud of him. He made the principal's honor roll which means that he got above 90% in all subject areas on all 4 report cards this year. I can't believe I'll have a kid in high school in a few months, at least I can keep an eye on him. I'm sure he'll be dodging me though, unless he needs lunch money or something.

Finally

Kevin finally got my top off.............of the jeep that is. Summer finally feels like it is here. I got to spend some time cruising around town in the jeep on Saturday. I am looking forward to some more of those days in the future. Here is my new t-shirt that I got to celebrate the occasion. I missed the official date, come to think of it we probably had snow then!!

Grad

I had the opportunity to attend the CHS grad ceremonies last night. It's only been 21 years for me but in some ways it still seems like yesterday. Except I don't think I could fit into the dress anymore!!
The six girls in the picture with me are the seniors from the basketball team that I have coached since grade 8. What a great group of girls and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to watch them grow up and become the awesome kids that they are. Definitely one of the upsides to coaching is the relationships that you build with the kids.

Busy Week

The kids have kept me hopping this week. First the 4-H sale and then divisional track meet. The sale could have been better, the kids won't put as much in the bank as last year, but I guess that is the reality of ranching. It is a valuable lesson to learn I think. Now I can plant those subliminal messages of "you need to be grow up to be a dentist/doctor".


It was Shane's divisional meet today and he did pretty good. I was working but was able to slip out and watch him do most of his events. The downside was that I had to run up the Lion's Park hill 3 times today. I managed to actually run up it twice but by the third time I was walking. Definitely got my exercise for the day.