"Montana Vacation Part III - Drifting Along, Unfettered"
Saturday July 5th, 2008
Ah, early in the morning. That is the time one needs to get up to float a river apparently. Even though I would be doing so with my dad and two best friends, I wasn't very enthusiastic. Maybe it was the morning, maybe the fact that they would be fishing and I would not. For whatever reason, I was rather complacent.
We were at the BH2 by, well, a seemingly early time. Lucky, one of the boys brought some beef jerky, which I appropriated for myself. I spent a good deal of time pumping up a raft while others dropped off a vehicle at our take-out point.
Camera in hand, we embarked on the river, which was quite high.
I have tons of pictures. I was a little disappointed as mostly cloudy days make the worst picture-taking days. The clouds tend to scatter the sunlight and you end up with white skies. Boo, but I still wanted to capture the moments ... so enjoy them:
My dad fishing at our first stopping point.
That would be Ed, probably being mouthy.
Caught ... weeds.
Weathersexual alert: Small cumulus cloud encountering the capping inversion and showing a pileus cap. ... oh yeah, and some mating bugs.
Oh look, it's the Jolly Roger!
Ed and Brad show a "knowing" glance.
The second pit stop ... I ate more jerky.
Continuously sassy.
Brad disagrees with Ed's techniques.
One of my favorite past times is harassing Ed. I also enjoy encouraging other to do so.
When you don't fish, you take pictures ... apparently.
... of the same things, over and over, kind of like a Nirvana song.
Into Maiden Rock Canyon.
Not really sure the point of this one ...
So, we pulled out at Maiden Rock. I did get to experience a few things on this journey.
Firstly, I have no business rowing a boat. I have done so in the past and done so well, but for whatever reason, I failed massively, causing my dad boil over with irritation and drag the boat (on foot!) out of a channel I was NOT supposed to go down.
Second, Montana has enormous mosquitoes ... and LOTS of them.
While we were pulling the boat out, some game wardens stopped us looking for fishing licenses and life vests. I didn't fish and thus did not have a license. They did not seem to believe me but didn't really harass me about it.
Brad and Ed arrived very soon thereafter and we packed up everything. I did have a lot of fun considering that in the morning, I was not looking forward to going. It provided a nice opportunity to just be alone (if you will).
We stopped at the Blue Moon Saloon in Divide. I bought a round of beers and then had some amazing sandwich that just owned me. It was delicious!
Eventually home, I took a bit of a nap and tried to organize a night out with all the people I wanted to see while in town. I ended up getting together at Hops with Ed, Brad, Mikie Lee, Jay, Anna, my cousin Stacey and her boyfriend Kevin, Katie O, and various other folk we ran into. We had a couple drinks and laughed a lot. It was pretty damn good to see these people again.
Jay had to run, which sucked, but we moved on to Spud's, which is not my favorite place in the world, but oh well. I think I had another drink before four of us headed up to the M&M for a much needed omelet. Let me tell you good sirs and madams ... it did not disappoint.
Ed dropped me off at home and I was asleep in no time.
Dann.
Ah, early in the morning. That is the time one needs to get up to float a river apparently. Even though I would be doing so with my dad and two best friends, I wasn't very enthusiastic. Maybe it was the morning, maybe the fact that they would be fishing and I would not. For whatever reason, I was rather complacent.
We were at the BH2 by, well, a seemingly early time. Lucky, one of the boys brought some beef jerky, which I appropriated for myself. I spent a good deal of time pumping up a raft while others dropped off a vehicle at our take-out point.
Camera in hand, we embarked on the river, which was quite high.
I have tons of pictures. I was a little disappointed as mostly cloudy days make the worst picture-taking days. The clouds tend to scatter the sunlight and you end up with white skies. Boo, but I still wanted to capture the moments ... so enjoy them:
My dad fishing at our first stopping point.
That would be Ed, probably being mouthy.
Caught ... weeds.
Weathersexual alert: Small cumulus cloud encountering the capping inversion and showing a pileus cap. ... oh yeah, and some mating bugs.
Oh look, it's the Jolly Roger!
Ed and Brad show a "knowing" glance.
The second pit stop ... I ate more jerky.
Continuously sassy.
Brad disagrees with Ed's techniques.
One of my favorite past times is harassing Ed. I also enjoy encouraging other to do so.
When you don't fish, you take pictures ... apparently.
... of the same things, over and over, kind of like a Nirvana song.
Into Maiden Rock Canyon.
Not really sure the point of this one ...
So, we pulled out at Maiden Rock. I did get to experience a few things on this journey.
Firstly, I have no business rowing a boat. I have done so in the past and done so well, but for whatever reason, I failed massively, causing my dad boil over with irritation and drag the boat (on foot!) out of a channel I was NOT supposed to go down.
Second, Montana has enormous mosquitoes ... and LOTS of them.
While we were pulling the boat out, some game wardens stopped us looking for fishing licenses and life vests. I didn't fish and thus did not have a license. They did not seem to believe me but didn't really harass me about it.
Brad and Ed arrived very soon thereafter and we packed up everything. I did have a lot of fun considering that in the morning, I was not looking forward to going. It provided a nice opportunity to just be alone (if you will).
We stopped at the Blue Moon Saloon in Divide. I bought a round of beers and then had some amazing sandwich that just owned me. It was delicious!
Eventually home, I took a bit of a nap and tried to organize a night out with all the people I wanted to see while in town. I ended up getting together at Hops with Ed, Brad, Mikie Lee, Jay, Anna, my cousin Stacey and her boyfriend Kevin, Katie O, and various other folk we ran into. We had a couple drinks and laughed a lot. It was pretty damn good to see these people again.
Jay had to run, which sucked, but we moved on to Spud's, which is not my favorite place in the world, but oh well. I think I had another drink before four of us headed up to the M&M for a much needed omelet. Let me tell you good sirs and madams ... it did not disappoint.
Ed dropped me off at home and I was asleep in no time.
Dann.