MIddle Fork Salmon

We are officially back in California and beginning the New Zealand move prep. Our road trip was amazing and finished with an 8-day Middle Fork Salmon River trip with some good friends from Humboldt. Teresa and I made it to Stanley, Idaho and begin our river trip prep.  Every time I make it to this area, I am blown away by the Sawtooth mountains. They are offically on my bucket list for future trips. Lots of of big alpine peaks with lakes all over the place. 

The Humboldt crew picked us up in Stanley and we drove to the put-in. I always have so much fun at river put-ins watching all the different crews getting boats ready and working together to get the boats on the water. We met people from all over and talked to a bunch of really cool folks. 

The river trip went wonderfully even with the low water during the first couple of days. We had some excellent hot spring camps and saw a ton of wildlife including black bears, big horn sheep, chuckahs, grouse, osprey, and more. One moment that stands out is watching a huge dead douglas fir fall to the ground on the hillside across the river from our camp. I heard a huge cracking sound and looked up just in time to watch it hit the ground with a thunderous thud.  I was blown away and realize just how fragile everything is. 

 I want to send out a big thanks to Corin, Sarah, Ryk, Justin, Jeremy, Iva, and Steven for a great trip.  

Sawtooths from our spot in Stanley. 

Put-in eddy and ramp with our boats rigged up.

Sarah and Iva always smiling.

Teresa and I were in our kayaks and we had a couple of IK's (inflatable kayaks) on the trip as well with Justin and Steven manning those. 

T-bird and Sarah catching up.

Ryk n Roll. Our buddy from the engineering program at Humboldt State. Always good for a story and a laugh. Miss this guy.

"Merica" themed cocktail night. We sang the Pledge of Allegiance and drank budweisers. 

Ryk and Justin in patriotic attire. 

Corin and Sarah!

T-bird in her element. 

The Middle Fork Salmon flows through the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. 

There are hot springs all over the river. 

Scouting Tappan Falls. We did this river a few years ago at much higher water and it's amazing how different the rapids were. 

Day hike up from camp.

Campfire time. We bring a fire pan with us on the river to catch our ashes. Pack it in, Pack it out. 

The crew at one of the many waterfalls. 

River mode in full effect.

Sunflower hot springs right above our camp. 

Sarah and Jeremy cooking up a feast.

Goat balls.

Teresa taking a nap in my kayak. 

Soaking up the sun at camp. We had great weather with hot days, cool nights and even some thunderstorms lower in the canyon.

Baby grouse hanging out in camp.

Not sure what is going on. But it made sense at the time. 

Just happy to be on the river with such good people. 

A Rock Chuck laying down trying to hide from us. 

Fun with Friends

We got to spend some time with some long lost frisbee friends in Missoula and Bozeman.  Patches (Tommy) we played frisbee with in Humboldt and Leah his wonderful girlfriend opened up their home to so for a few night. We loved Missoula and were able to add a few more brewery stickers to the now covered growler.

Great surfing wave in downtown Missoula.

Miss Treu (Samantha) and her partner Ross took us floating on the Madison River, where we all got a little burned and drunk.  We all camped out and really loved spending time with such great people.  

Teresa, Greg, Samantha and Ross 

We are currently in Stanley, Idaho getting ready for the river trip.  We organized our gear and took a shower (it had only been a day).  We then watched the sunset over the Sawtooth Mountain Range. We are looking forward to a nice massage in the morning before putting on the river.  (A special thanks for my mom, Marcia, for making this room and massage possible).

Sunset over the Sawtooth Mountain Range from a hot tub.

We will be putting on the MIddle Fork Salmon river tomorrow for a nine day trip and wifi is hard to come by in the FRank Church River of No Return Wilderness, so this will be our last post for awhile.  Wish us good weather and raging rapids for the trip.  Thank you to all those who have followed this silly thing and we appreciate you all being with us on this journey.

Glorious Glaciers

After leaving the North Cascades, we travelled east on Highway 20 through northern Idaho and into Montana. We stopped in the small town of Whitefish Montana and quickly found the The Great Northern brewery. Great beer and shuffleboard had us smiling while we made our way to the local farmers market. Not a ton of fresh produce for so early in the season, but a lot of arts and crafts and some good food booths. We asked around for a good place to camp and ended up at the Whitefish Bike Retreat. A bike specific campground with showers, a bike wash, and trail side access to the Whitefish trail network. I rode the trail the next day and found great singletrack that weaved through a number of small lakes. Great trails that are growing every year.

After two nights in Whitefish, we travelled to West Glacier and the entrance to Glacier National Park. We had intentions of backpacking in the park and headed to the backcountry permit office. We were surprised to find so many options available. Based on a recommendation from someone that had worked in the park, we settled on the Belly River basin in the northeastern corner of the park.

A three hour drive around the southern boundary found us at the Many Glacier Campground for a night of car camping and trip preparation.

The next day we drove north to the Big Chief Trailhead and hiked into the Cosley Lake campground. We spent the next three nights at the lakeside campground and spent the days hiking to various parts of the basin.

On one of our day trips we headed into one of the side drainages with the hope of getting close to one the many waterfalls. As we worked our way higher into the basin, Teresa let out a bear call and pointed up valley. Sure enough an adult grizzly popped out of the vegetation and was walking down trail towards us. We both let out a big bear call and caught the attention of the grizzly. It stood up on its hind legs and sniffed the air looking for us. We started backing down trail and watched as it took off up valley into the bushes. Quite a thrill to be that close to a grizzly and really glad that it didn't follow us back down the trail.

We took a ton of photos and are trying not to overwhelm everyone. So below is some of our favorites.