Uppa Kintla

12 miles, a backpack full of booze, and stellar weather often account for a pretty decent weekend. Throw in cribbage and the entire Kintla valley and you all but assured a good time. The wind and annoying park regs prevented us form hooking bull trout... I mean Cutties... but I'm not complaining. Yessir, looks like summer may finally be here.


The stoke level is obvious.


Find the hidden animal.


Kinnerly Peak from the morane.


Ice bridge.


Sarah wishing she was back in Havre.


Kevin teaching the griz how to properly steal food from a bear hang.

Killer Kalispell Krap from Kila Kraig

...Its chossy and slabby, but alas, it is stone and it is close. Also the views are nice. Plus we saw a moose. Also, I am weak.

Puma.

Saw this guy yesterday. He was sniffing a sweatshirt I'd stached on the side of the road, while out on a jog. I think he was taking notes on how best to stalk me.



Cool Cougar facts.

-Can jump 17' into the air from standing (Yes, that is approx a second story window), and 60' in distance while running.
-Successful in killing prey 8 out of 10 tries. (In comparison, wolves are successful less than 3 of 10).
-Takes down a deer a week, or every three days when with young.
-When mating, cougars will bone 60+ times a day for up to a week.
-Has a roar capable of producing sudden onset urination in even the most hardened woodsman.

Grace Lake

A stellar patch of weather happened to coincide with a nice weekend. Drew and I decided that we'd be fools to let such an opportunity squander, and figured we should get into the park. The the inner North fork seemed like a good bet, due to its low elevation and location in a rain shadow. We backpacked 13 miles into Grace lake (above logging lake) and despite, poor fishing and chronic bear sign induced nervousness, had a pretty epic time. Here be some photogs.


There was still a little spring runoff... Stream crossing Vietnam style. Note the .44 in hand.


Mt. Gedhun, above the lake.


Grace Lake


Home in the woods.

Fisher: the tree fox.

On a recent trip to Grace Lake (pictures coming soon) Drew and I happened to see to coolest of animals: the fisher. A large tree dwelling weasel, the fisher looks like a mix between a cat, a fox and a squirrel. The fisher preys upon everything from chipmunks, to rabbits and is extremely adapt at flipping and eating porcupines. While my initial reaction was, "Shit, a stripeless skunk!" I was actually pretty excited to see a giant nocturnal weasel. Apparently this means I have been living in the woods too long. Here are some pirated pics of the fisher so you'll have some idea what i'm talking about.

Doug Fur and the House of Horrors

A long standing debate has raged at Big Creek about the possibility of climbing an old Douglas Fur that sits in the middle of camp. Using a bow and arrow, some twine, and rope skills it was indeed proven to be possible. Why? because it was there...

Later that night the folks from Aerie Backcountry Medicine suckered us in to helping them with their "Mass Casualty Incident." This involves putting on wicked makeup, red corn syrup, and bloody plastic limbs then screaming in the woods all night. Many a Wilderness EMT's in training suffered crippling panic attacks. Fun.


"The Arborist


My stump. Result of a bad chainsaw incident.


Blood and Gore.

Les Avalanches a la Memorial Day

Over a surprisingly nice memorial weekend a crew of us headed into the park for a pretty spectacular morning. Steep sunbaked slopes and sloppy wet snow meant avalanches rocked the surrounding mountains all day. (Pics: Ryan Nelson)


Not a waterfall... Snow gushing out of a drainage.


The cirque.