Flying into Missoula
Mostly shots from the plane on the way back to Missoula and around the Denver area.
Missoula to Denver
Killing some time on the free wifi at the Denver airport. Scenes from the plane.
Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes
For the July 4th weekend we put our bikes on the car and drove 2 hours west to ride the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, 75 miles of paved pathway closed to all motorized vehicles. While riding I was constantly thinking, “Why can’t we have more paths like this?”
Our first day there we did two separate rides, from where we were staying at the lovely Blue Anchor RV park in Osburn, Idaho to the eastern end of the trail in Mullan, about 23 miles roundtrip. In the evening we drove to the Medimont Trailhead and biked to Harrison, on Lake Coeur d’Alene, a ride of similar length.
Lake McDonald Hike
Update: This hike was 13 miles long and after all was said and done I think Mom may have been the least tired.
Climbing Nez Perce Spire, Southwest Face
Yesterday I met Steve at 5:30am and we drove down to Blodgett Canyon to climb the southwest face of Nez Perce Spire. Rock Climbing Montana says it is 8 pitches, 5.10. It is definitely the tallest climb I have ever done.
The pitch length and difficulty of our route varied quite a lot from the guidebook’s. However, it was freeing not knowing exactly how hard what you were climbing was or how long you should go before setting up the next belay. Big ups to Steve for leading all the hard stuff.
I had a bit of a scare on the first pitch, taking a 20 foot lead fall/slide on a slabby section (apparently there was some slack in the rope, none of my pieces popped), and was both grateful and proud of myself to be caught by a #3 stopper I had put in a fairly shallow crack. (A piece of metal a little smaller than a jellybean with some metal wire attached to it.)
The sun was out and we didn’t have any other major incidents, and were back to the car around 7:30pm.
Mom and Dad Visit
Mom and Dad came to visit. One day we took a walk. Dad was not feeling well so he did not go.
