Planning 2007's hikes

This morning I cleaned up the remaining debris from where the tree branch went through my garage roof. Then I returned Tony's camera and ended up chatting with Tony and his wife for over an hour. Tony is part of a movement to build an ice skating rink in Kalispell for the kids who play hockey.

Since I would be driving part of the hiking group from Bill's house to Joyce's ranch I cleaned my car by taking a water hose to it. I air dried the car as I drove to Bill's house. I was running a couple minutes late and everyone was in the driveway waiting for me.

Joyce's driveway is no longer a sheet of ice. But a few frost heaves were present and I hit one hard. A red flag was stuck in the road marking the other one and I drove around it.

Everyone was there by 2 pm. Joyce, Sue Ann, Gary, Bill and Marianne, and Arnie and his wife. Marianne and Arnie's wife don't hike much but we convinced them to join us. They were slower hikers but the group waited for them.

The hike was NW of Joyce's ranch on the same logging trail she and I cross-country skied less than a month ago. We only saw snow in one small area. The rest of the road was dry.

A beautiful day: clear sunny blue sky and no wind. The temperature was around 50 F.

On the top we could see north across Flathead Valley to Big Mountain and the Whitefish Range, and east to the Swan Mountain Range and then as it went SE. From this height we could see over Teakettle Mountain by Badrock Canyon and into the many mountains in Glacier Park. All the mountains are topped in white and the Glacier mountains especially so. Gorgeous, gorgeous view.

An Ecuadorean multi-millionaire owns a lot up here. He drilled a well some years ago and it went 720 feet down before striking water. He still hasn't built a house.

Gary used to live in the area and we could see his former house below. Gary has a gold washing machine that he built on the lot his ex-wife owns. One of Gary's hobbies is panning for gold. Instead of swirling the gravel in a pan he uses the machine to shift and shake the gold loose. He hasn't done this for a few years, but when he does it again he promised to take me along. Once I realized he has done this I added this to my imaginary "things to do before I die" list. Mining for gold would be fun.

We took a shortcut back to Joyce's house. Down the side of the mountain through the trees. I found a couple of interesting rocks - and you know me - ended up carrying them down the mountain back to my car with the larger rock balanced on my shoulder. Earlier I had found a full un-opened can of Pepsi on the logging road.

Joyce's calf, who had a broken leg from another cow stepping on it when the calf was a newborn, has healed and the cast is off. He walks well. We saw a few mama cows and baby calves in a pasture. Cute little calves!

We returned at 5 pm. 3 hours of hiking. Marianne and Arnie's wife survived, but I am sure they will sleep well tonight. Not bad for ladies in their 70s and 80s.

The ticks are out and many people kept finding ticks on their clothing. Arnie and I wore dark clothing and were the least affected. Arnie ended up with one tick and I had none. That makes me suspicious as some people had many ticks on their clothes. Even after the hike was over, and while we were inside eating, Sue Ann and Gary each found a tick in their hair. Am I missing my ticks?

After our return it was time to eat. Joyce had sloppy joes made from beef they raised. Joyce also made the whole wheat buns from scratch. Arnie and his wife brought a salad and another dish. Bill and Marianne brought two homemade pies: apple/cranberry/pecan and a gooseberry pie made from gooseberries that grow in Bill's yard. Both were delicious. Joyce kept bringing me more sloppy joe burgers until I was stuffed. Gary and I are the single guys in the group and the women like to keep us well fed.

Gary is taking dancing classes through the local community college's adult education program. He finished the class on jitterbug dancing and is now taking a class on two-step dancing. The classes are equal number of men and women and are limited in size to the number of men taking the classes. He is having fun and claims to have two left feet. The jitterbug group got along so well they are meeting informally now that the class is over and will get together at Gary's house tomorrow night.

Arnie - at 81 years - went downhill skiing on Big Mountain a few times this winter. If you are 80 and over you can ski for free on Big Mtn.


After everyone was full from the meal we got down to picking the hikes we plan to do this year. In the summer we will try to hike twice a week. Everyone had hikes they wanted to go on and at times it was chaos trying to decide what hike and when. Complicating matters was some people's vacations and not scheduling at that time a hike they really wanted to go on. I have several people planning to visit me this summer but no firm dates so I didn't have much to work around.

I got a few of my suggested hikes accepted. The rest either are new to me and therefore trails I want to do, else trails I have been on and would welcome doing again.

We have our long planned "Bowman Lake to Goat Haunt and into Canada" hike planned for July 6. This is a 22 miles over the Continental Divide and one we have been talking about doing since last year.

The group will also hike the Gunsight Pass trail again. Part of the group hiked this 20 mile trail over the Continental Divide last August and enjoyed it. I missed this hike and I've always wanted to do this hike, ever since 1991. I don't remember when we scheduled this hike... sometime in June or July. If you visit me that day, plan on either hiking 20 miles or using that day for exploring the Flathead Valley without me.

It was almost 8 pm when we broke up our meeting. Full from good food, good friends, and with a list of awesome hikes planned for this year.