So I'm at my 3rd cafe with free wifi of the day. Now I get it! It's good thing (I think) that Heather got me hooked on coffee again because now I look legit when I'm sitting in here, with my 3-way outlet splitter plugged into the wall charging my GoPro, my Sony camera batteries, and my MacBook, which also has an iPad and an iPhone plugged into it. Kind of embarrassing. Anyway, this is all taking place in Missoula, Montana. I am camping just south of town in a quiet little campground on a river. I spent a night in Bozeman at a hotel and had my first legitimate shower in over a week. As bad as that sounds, I really didn't smell that bad seeing as I had been in plenty of water at Bear Lake, a couple of rivers, and in Jackson Lake a couple of times. And the pre-storm sailing that I did on Jackson Lake was a sort of power-washing in itself. Between the great breeze, clear mountain lake water, and Teton Range views, that was some of the best sailing I've ever had. Of course I was too excited in preparing for it that i forgot the GoPro so I didn't get any video or photos of when I was actually on the water. I did take some photos that are in the Picasa album though. Anyway, now that I've justified my lack of shower taking, here's what I've been up. And by the way, apologies if this is getting redundant between the photo albums and this here bloggy thing, but this can offer more of a dictation version of events.

Strawberry Reservoir: This was sort of a stop over on the way to the Tetons and was my first stop after leaving my cozy accommodations in Breckenridge at the Goldsmith Inn. I was really on the fence as to stopping there or not, when I arrived it was quite barren as far as trees and shade, but at a turnout on the lake I got out and felt the breeze which seemed a good one. So I decided to stay. I had the itch to get my rod n reel out and this was supposed to be a hot fishing spot. Well I found out the next day that this was the best time of season for it, but I got me a 3.2 six pack and a fishing license for the day and went for it. Notta at the dam, so around lunchtime I went back to the site and put the NACRA in the water to try for a sail. Wind was a little below average but I took my pole with me to see if I could find any fish in the deeper water. Fail again. I sailed into a canal that connects two parts of the lake which was very cool and scenic, but the wind was very sketchy coming down and around the cliffs and hills so getting back out of there was a chore. Just as I was emerging from the canal the wind pretty much failed all together leaving me stranded for a while. Perfect time to take a "shower"! Breeze eventually picked back up and I tacked back to the beach and packed up my goods to be ready for an early departure the next morning.

Bear Lake: My intent was to get to the Tetons that next day, but on one of my self imposed, required scenic route turns, I happened across Bear Lake. A natural lake this time! Couldn't remember the last time I was in an real lake as opposed to the common reservoirs I usually find myself in. This lake, deemed the "Caribbean of the Rockies" is a large glacial body of water if I'm not mistaken. Apparently it used to be a large gathering spot for a lot of trappers back in the day, who would have a big party there near the end of the season. Eventually a lot of farms popped up on the flat lands around the lake, and fittingly used the water from the lake as irrigation for their crops. Still plenty of evidence of this as there are some older buildings still standing, along with a couple of farms still in operation. Most notably thought was the number of Farmall Tractors on the east side of the lake. I wasn't counting but on a bike ride around the perimeter of the lake I had to have seen over 30 of these old tractors. These hold a special interest for me in that we used a Farmall Super MTA on Cope Creek farm for years. IH must have gotten in good in that area, I don't know any other way to explain the mass majority of these Farmalls. Love it though. Plenty of people are still using them to launch and retrieve their watercraft from the lake. In the campground where I was staying, you could drive right out on the beach, the place also rented jet-ski's and boats and used their tractors to launch the craft.

Tetons: After the 2 day detour in Bear Lake, I made my way north via WY89 and found myself following the Snake River into Jackson. I vaguely driving into and through this town as wee little guy when we did a large family trip umpteen years ago. I wondered how much it has changed since then as I walked around after nabbing a bite to eat. From there it was a short trip to Teton Nation Park. Camping in the Signal Mountain campground was pretty easy. Large turnover of campers that surrounded me, in my immediate vicinity I don't think anyone stayed more than two nights, which I found odd, but what do I know? Bears Bears Bears! Bear proof your food and anything that might smell like food! Did I ever seen a bear? No! Oh well, I guess that's for the best, although Ranger Rick did confiscate my camp stove one day when I left it on my picnic table while I was out for a hike.

 Day one I hiked up to Surprise Lake and Amphitheater Lake which was deemed "very strenuous" on the park map. With my previous attempt at La Plata peak with Ed the week prior, it didn't seem so strenuous. Smoke from some fires, reportedly in Idaho to the west, was reducing visibility quite a bit as far as the vast views were concerned. My poor sense of smell could pick up the odor of camp fire, very faint though as it was. Halfway up the hike, which pretty much did switchback up the face of the mountain, it became hard to even see the valley below me. The closest peaks were in clear view however so there was still plenty to be witnessed. The high lakes were something to behold, and I had always wanted to climb my way up and see one of these on a mountain top, so these two, one spilling into the other, was quite the site. 

Day two I decided I would fish the morning down just below the dam (not much action other than a whitefish and a sucker), then with a forecast for good wind in the afternoon, planned to sail, with fishing gear on-board in case it was "wind" enough. (That one's for you Dan) Well it was PLENTY wind enough. I probably sailed about 85% of the perimeter, and with numerous islands and peninsulas, there was plenty to see around the next corner, all the while doing my best to keep both hulls in the water, most of the time anyway :) This was pre-forecasted storm that was rolling up over the Teton range. Only a few drops actually fell, which I was fine with, because after getting plenty of hull spray and little sun for a couple of hours, it was getting very chilly out on the wire. Back on the beach, with the clouds gone and a PBR in hand, I was warming up nicely and got the shot below before taking the boat out of the water. Diggin this panoramic feature on my camera.

 

The next morning I packed up for departure but wanted to get another hike in, so I drove to Jenny Lake and hiked around the southern half to get to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. I want to say the boat driver mentioned this park of the park being the first as far as recreational hiking and sight seeing, starting around 1912, so these trails have been getting traveled for 100 years!

River rushing below Hidden Falls.

From the Tetons I drove north up through Yellowstone, stopping along the way to see of the sights along the road. 

Caught a couple of waterfalls, and even swam in the river above the Firehole Falls.

Also stopped in for the obligatory viewing of Old Faithful erupting. I also remembered this from our trip many years ago, though here I am confident that the new visitor's center has been added, which explains in great detail the process of the geysers and all of the hotspots throughout Yellowstone. Sometimes I forget this whole place is a massive volcano that would blow up the western half of the US if she decided to erupt. BOOM!!

These Elk were just hangin out in the town of Mammoth Springs, 

enjoying the shade I guess

From Yellowstone I continued on to Bozeman as I mentioned above, then here to Missoula yesterday. The smoke between Bozeman and here was the most prevelant

I have seen and the smell was very apparent, but by the time I made it into town, it had cleared up quite well. Been listening a lot to the XM Satellite radio in my car and found

myself listening to some political channels. One called the "Patriot" and one called "Left". I admire their simplistic names, but their messages were hard to listen to, both sides naturally

being appalled at what was being said and what was happening at the national conventions and both basically claiming what the other side was spewing was straight lies. With

everything being said by either candidate seemingly being the result of spin and fact-bending verbal sewage from both sides, I have little faith in what to believe or who to think is going

to do the least damage to our country. To the guy on the Patriot's credit, he found and played a 2:10 minute long speech delivered by Reagan from before his defeat of Carter (I'm pretty

sure it was Carter), and in those two minutes Reagan said more convincing, factual things than either of our current choices seem to have in weeks. I do not feel confident in our current

leaders as we have them today. I was trying to get info from both sides, and maybe satellite radio is not the best place to do it, but I HAD to change the channel before I pulled into one

of the beautiful ranches along the road and to inquire about being a cowboy for the rest of my life. Where did I find my solace? ESPN Radio of course! It's almost College Football season

and we've got guys saying Notre Dame needs more criminals on their team if they want to be competitive with the SEC, and Michigan is about to beat Alabama down in Jerry World!

GO BLUE!!

Well, all my devices are charged and my coffee is empty, so I'm going to get out of here and walk around

this downtown area until I meet a group to ride some trails this evening. I'll probably catch up again when I am in Seattle, after Glacier National Park.

Lastly, apologies for the formatting here in the bottom half, not sure if my writing is so awesome that Blogger just started

freaking out or if it's a Mac/Apple thing.....