I am back from yet another hitch. This was a random hitch filled with short day trips and data collection which I will not describe in detail so that I do not put you to sleep. The exception to this was a three day backpacking trip across the Beartooth Plateau on a trail called the East Rosebud Trail. The trail is 28 miles and almost all of it is above 10,000 feet. Every mile or so there is a lake with a different hue ranging from clear bright blue to milky green. Just about every lake also had a large waterfall coming into it or leaving it or both. I saw so many waterfalls that I had to stop taking pictures of them or I would never be able to remember which was which. The weather was not as spectacular as the views but dealing with wet feet and cold hands is much easier when you are looking down a canyon with thousand foot rock walls rising straight up on both sides. The trail was busy since it is the most popular trail around so we did not see much wildlife. The day after I returned I was able to see a black bear from about 100 yards away. I now only have a few days of recovery time and then I am off on my last hitch and then to Glacier right before coming home. 

I was not able to post all my pictures since I took more on this trip than I have all summer. Here are a few of my favorites.

Sunrise over the mountains at Fossil Lake.

Impasse Falls, a 100-150 foot water fall directly next to the trail falling into Impasse Lake.

Two waterfalls falling off a cliff the rises over the aptly named Lake at the Falls, the mist is covering the top half of the cliff.

The canyon the trail switch backed through near the end of the trail. 

For my last hitch I went back to Hellroaring, this time for 8 days. The trip was physically demanding. Many days we hiked for 12 to 14 miles. Two 0f the days were 16 mile days with many trees to be cleared each day. Most nights we were camped near streams and lakes so I was able to do a lot of fly fishing. The mosquitos were absolutely impossible to hide from. At points walking down the trail the mosquitos were so thick that you could not help but breath them in. My record is killing ten mosquitos with one slap.

This hitchbreak has been pretty uneventful. I went on a day hike and climbed the top of rams horn peak which is a ten thousand foot peak but was a pretty easy climb. The last two days of the hitch I went on a solo hike. I left on Monday and had a ten mile hike through the mountains to Fawn Lake. The hike was mostly above treeline with great views and many small mountain lakes. I stayed the night at Fawn Lake cooking dinner over the fire and fishing. In the morning I woke up fished some more and then hiked out 5 miles. I saw no other people for 18 hours.

I am leaving for my second to last hitch tomorrow. I am finally going to the Beartooth Plateau to see some of the most beautiful country in our district. Here are some pictures from some of my lastest adventures.


This is a waterfall I found on my solo hike that was not too far off the trail.

This is a cairn on the trail that marked to path across the meadows. This one is in front of one of the many mountain ponds.

This is the sign that marked the trail I was on. The trail was mostly meadow with little to no tread. I had to use cairns and a compass to make sure I stayed on the trail.

This is a view from the top of the divide during a clearing day on my last hitch. This is halfway through our longest day. 16 miles, 217 trees, 13 hours.

This is a waterfall near the forest service cabin in Hellroaring. I went fishing there and jumped in the water. The water was cold so that as soon as I got in a had to swim as fast as I could to get out.

On our last hitch I headed into Hellroaring drainage in the Absaroka Wilderness. We hiked in twelve miles over a ridge that seperates Hellroaring from Gardiner with long views over Yellowstone and nearby mountain ranges. We stayed in a backcountry cabin for four nights and cleared trails during the day. We had quite a few long days and cleared up to 90 trees off the trail in one day. The mosquito numbers are steadily rising, especially in the wet meadows where we spent most of our time.

For the past many days I have been on break. I spent two days in Cody and cooke city. In Cody we went to a musuem which had exhibits on natural history, western art, native americans, and one of the largest gun collections in the world. We watched fireworks in Cooke City in front of the mountains on the night of the 4th. For the past two days I have been in Bozeman and in a nearby canyon where I did some rock climbing. I am off again to hellroaring and further for my next hitch which will be 8 days, the longest I have been out yet.


Hellroaring meadow with the cabin along the tree line.

The edge of the National Forest where it meets Yellowstone.

A mountain range near Cooke City at dusk.

Fireworks at Cooke City