Peace in The Mountains

Hello world as I know it, I'm back. And I feel so refreshed and alive, you can't imagine what a few days hiding out in the mountains did for me. Well, not exactly hiding, but changing my scenery from flat and stuffy Illinois to vast, grand and clean Montana. It's so untapped, and it was suggested to me by my host Andy to tell you that Montana was AWFUL so that it can stay that way. Well, I can't exactly do that. I don't need to explain myself, just add some pictures here - you'll get the point.

A traditional jumping picture before entering the Lewis and Clark Caverns:

(Me, Katie, Lindsay, Brad) Check out my hops!

Group shot in the Caverns:

(Me, Lindsay, Brad, Katie, and Andy)

Lava Lake:

We strenuously hiked straight up for about and hour to reach this lake. It is quite possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen.


A Rainbow!

This is the view from the backyard of Katie and Andy's house.

Hiking the 'M':

A beautiful morning hike with Brad and Lindsay before we picked up Katie from work to raft the Gallatin River. We watched people jump with parachutes from the top and glide down.


Rafting the Gallatin River:

Lovely wetsuits (Me, Katie, Lindsay, and Scooby Steve)

After our adventure down some Class III's and IV's:

What you can't see here is how bad these wetsuits smell, and how cold our feet and hands are!


Mammoth Hot Springs:

I couldn't swim in these! But, Katie took us to Chico Hot Springs, and we swam in those!

The Boiling River:

Our Campsite by the Lake: It's down over this hill.



We stole the 4 Wheelers and went a few miles up into the Tabacco Root Mountains:

And first got here:

But wanted to be closer to the snow at the top, so we took the 4 wheelers again the next morning to eat our breakfast at the peak:
So we did. Then played in the drifts.

Brad sliding down the snow

On top of the world!

A great time spent with my brother and his fiancee, and my cousin and her boyfriend. Andy and Katie were the best host and hostess that I have ever had! Thanks guys, for making it easy for us to come into town.

One last thing, I got the results back of the blood test I took before I left. Everything is normal. Whew!