Paddle like crazy

The last few months have been pretty crazy with Explore students here at camp.  Explore is the outdoor education and leadership college program from Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada.  The program partners with Camp Bighorn to do a variety of skills and courses here at camp for half of the school year.  On Sunday, we woke long before the sun rose to say goodbye to the forty-something students who had been here the last two months.  Gabe and I, being facilities people, checked their dorm rooms one last time, to make certain that they had cleaned and tidied their rooms.  Then we all stood in the cold, dark morning and waved goodbye to the bus pulling away.

A quietness has spread over camp in the evenings with the lack of students.  But our days, at least for operations staff, have begun more pressing projects.  One of the top priority projects is to get the snowcat and the two military trucks into working order for when the students arrive back in January.  The trucks and the snowcat allow us to transport students up to Siegel Pass where they do their winter skills such as tele-skiing, snowshoeing, survival and avalanche training.

Today I wanted to share with you all some photos I took back in September during the college students skill time.  One afternoon, I headed out with Dianna, the office manager at camp, and we took pictures of orange team canoeing and black team kayaking as they all came through Cascade rapids down the road from camp.

Graham and Dennis...I love Graham's expression

and down they roll...

Ethan and Joe followed by Josh and Katie

In my mind I envision this being Lewis and Clark on the Columbia...but, alas...

Is Joe practicing his acrobatic tricks?

Looby hitting the wave train

Megan fighting to stay upright

The aftermath

A Visit to the land of Glaciers : Three & Four

Our last two days in Glacier were relaxing and much colder than the first two days.  Gabe spent time fishing.  On the last day we headed out in the fog and worked our two canoes across Kintla lake.  It was a beautiful trip...I look forward to going again.

Fishing

 

The whole crew of us

A Visit to the land of Glaciers :Two

After spending the night in the front country campground at Kintla Lake.  I woke early to find Gabe had already slipped out of the tent.  I grabbed a snack and headed out to the lake with my camera.  The world was quite still and the sun was still behind the mountains.  Its pinkish light lit the mirrored lake, Gabe was in the canoe fishing some distance from shore.  He spotted me and came and picked me up.  Till the sun rose above the mountains Gabe fished and I drank up the beautiful stillness.  Following that we ate breakfast and headed out in the canoes with Josh across the lake.  We had six miles to paddle to find the backcountry campsite.  In the early afternoon the wind picked up and urged us on towards our goal.  Gabe and Josh fished the entire way.  We ran into another guy in a canoe heading towards the front country, he let us know that the night before they had to chase a black bear from the campground with pots and pans.  We continued and finally came upon the campsite area.  We set up camp and soon Becky, who hiked in that day, met us.  In the afternoon, Josh, Becky, and I, hiked further back to find "glaciers".  On the way we discovered an amazing waterfall, and stopped and pondered flowers in the midst of a burn area.  We made it all the way to upper Kintla and paused on the shore for a break.  As we sat, Becky noticed a black bear meandering on the shore across the lake.  We watched till he disappeared, then we headed back to camp for dinner.  Thanks to Josh for the photos of Gabe and I!

 

Gabe fishing in the early morning light

The day before at Avalanche Creek

Heading to the backcountry

This little girl kept stopping to smell the flowers

The day before overlooking Lost Lake

The kitchen and bear bag area in the backcountry site

The waterfall

Becky and I at Upper Kintla Lake

Our view of the glaciers

The trail

Our cozy home

A Visit to the land of Glaciers :One

Following a very busy summer, we were given a week's reprieve from our work.  During that week Gabe and I headed out with two other friends to Glacier National Park for a few days.  On the first day, we made several stops at fly shops, so that Josh and Gabe would be prepared for fishing.  Then we stopped at the Ranger Station to pick up back country permits.  From there, we took the shuttle up Going-to-the-Sun Road.  I was in utter amazement...there were sharp peaks...and huge expanses.  We got off at Logan's Pass and hiked to the overlook of Lost Lake.  The short hike is on a boardwalk through alpine meadows full of small blooming flower.  Snow and ice water dotted the path as we hiked, and hoary marmots scurried around and sunbathed.

From Logan's Pass, we headed back down to the truck with the canoe trailer on it.  Oh, by the way, did I mention this was going to be a back country canoe trip?  We took the looooonnngg drive up to Kintla lake...most of the drive being on dirt roads in bad need of grading.  At sunset we reached the front country campground.  When we arrived, the sun was casting pink and purple tones on the hills and the fish were jumping.  Before setting anything up (or even talking with the campground host), we unloaded the canoes and paddled out onto the lake.

Gabe at Avalanche Creek

Avalanche Creek

Huge beetle on the boardwalk

Riding on the shuttle, you can see the road we drove up cutting down the hill of the right

Logan's Pass

Small marmot trying to steal food

Gabe and I at the overlook of Lost Lake

Josh and Gabe talking

The sunset over Kintla Lake front country campground

Blackfoot River: Canoe Scouting Trip

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I got an amazing opportunity to go on a canoe scouting trip on the upper portion of the Blackfoot River, which is just east of Missoula.  My friend Becky was scouting the river for possible future use by the Explore college program and needed a paddling partner.  I offered myself because I remembered paddling as a kid and I am interested in getting more involved in whitewater canoe ventures.  We paddled twenty-four miles in two days.  It was relaxing and quiet after a long summer of working with and alongside multitudes of people.  The section we did was from Cedar Grove to Russell Gates.  We spent Monday night camped at River Junction.  It was a fairly calm area with mostly ripple sections and several areas with quite a few strainers.  There was only one rapid section that followed the box canyon that we paddled through.  It was a good opportunity for me to practice paddling strokes and learn to steer.

The view from the back of the canoe

Our campsite at River Junction

A cozy night's stay

Our tent is on the far right