Wednesday, August 6

Thanks to Amy’s knee, we knew we had to head back in, rather than go further into the mountains.

Somehow, today was a much easier hike, as our bodies had gotten into the swing better. Today’s greatest difficulty was dealing with mosquitos and the giant horseflies that were about the size of a quarter.

It’s easy to over-idealize time spent in nature. It always sounds nice when you’re back home, but when you’re in it, you’re often swatting the many things trying to bite you, pushing your muscles past their limits, doing things that require more oxygen than your body can hold, slipping on rocks and getting owies in your left knee (Amy) and on your left knee (Bryan).

The mountains remind you not only how little you are, but also how challenging it is to exist on earth without any infrastructure, technology or conveniences. It’s a good reminder. Maybe we need a little pain and frustration, otherwise we might get too comfortable and start to think things about ourselves that aren’t true.

Though our short trip wasn’t the most successful, there’s still a deep satisfaction that comes from hiking into the woods with everything you need on your back (regardless of life-sustaining backpacking technology). You know you could survive for several days with simply what you’re carrying with you. There’s some kind of freedom in that.

Here’s some Indian Paintbrush. If we had been here about a month earlier, the hills would have been covered with it…



We searched for cool rocks by the water, took a couple (don’t tell the national forest district), and pumped some cold, delicious, snow-melted water from the river. Nothing beats fresh-pumped water.




Here’s a rock that I think closely resembles the “foot on a stick” at Cone City, right, Mom/Dad/Jeff??



Bryan managed to injure himself again. This time, he was simply walking on the hiking path and he slid on the rocks and his feet separated under him. He managed not to pass out this time at the site of his own blood and was therefore able to act real tough about it:



We hiked about 3 miles back to our car, drove through beautiful Big Sky country, stopped to see Rockhaven Camp, where Bryan worked in 2004, and ended up back at the KOA campground swimming pool. Mock it all you want, but after being kind of beat up by the woods, the pool felt amazing.



We also decided to celebrate our short jaunt in the woods with a steak dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill. We stuffed ourselves with buffalo pot roast and burgers, and returned home to our campsite fat and happy.



The perfect ending to a short but hard journey.