After climbing into our tents under smoky skies, we awoke to a morning that was much brighter - and much bluer - than I think any of us expected. No one mentioned it - we're all too superstitious for that - but I'm sure this raised our spirits dramatically, as it meant that we wouldn't be going home until the next morning. One of the camera-shy marmots I've ever encountered. For now though, our focus was elsewhere. Today, Mike was one of the first out of his tent, the potatoes that he contributes to the group breakfast requiring more prep…
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It rained on and off regularly during our night at Pear Lake, with gusty winds buffeting the tent and making me glad that I'd tied down the ladder to keep the entire contraption from folding up on me while I slept. With earplugs in and knowing that the tent would have plenty of time to dry out in the morning, I slept well, the patter of rain on the roof a soothing - rather than worrying - sound. There were still a few clouds in the sky when I awoke for the first time, about 40 minutes before sunrise. When…
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For being a fallback location - and but for some flies the previous afternoon - our night at Long Branch Lake was hard to beat. Overnight, temperatures dropped down into a pleasant range for sleeping, and our sheltered location along the edge of the glassy lake meant that we didn't descend our ladders until nearly an hour after sunrise. Good morning, mountains. In fact, a few of us had awoken earlier - when it sounded like one of the dogs was out playing in the lake - but only Ben's van was positioned to witness a cow Moose slosh across…
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I spent an extremely pleasant - if a little windy at times - night on the ridge. Luckily, years of ignoring my parents' advice to use hearing protection when woodworking, preceded by the fact that I was once - a very long time ago - a youngster who listened to music with the volume turned to teenager, relieved me of the worst of it. Oh, and the earplugs I had handy in the tent probably helped a bit too. At any rate, I slept through all of the noise with no problem, waking only once - about half an hour…
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Have you felt it? You know, the feeling that the universe is a little "off" recently? As far as I can tell, it's the only explanation, really, for how this trip got underway. No other phenomenon would explain Monte @Blackdawg showing up before me to kick off an adventure. I say this because Monte is notorious for showing up late. Even on The De-Tour - the first trip I ever attended with this group of guys I now call good friends - Monte's was the last truck to pull into the parking lot at our meet-up point. The Re-Tour was…
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After climbing into our tents to escape the oncoming storm, wind gusts and rain continued in fits and spurts for the next several hours. Even with my tent now tied down, a stronger-than-normal gust lifted it - with me inside - six inches, a situation I was forced to remedy during a lull in the storm. Thankfully however, by midnight, things had significantly calmed down. Winds were in the much-more-reasonable 5mph range, and only intermittent sprinkles fell on our flies. This allowed everything to dry out reasonably well by morning - each of us glad that we weren't putting our…
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After a long camp fire, sleep came easy on the edge of the field, 8,000 feet in the Flint Creek Range. And, with Mike @Digiratus and Zane @Speedytech7 tucked into the trees, there was plenty of time for me to send the flying camera up into the sky for an early morning flight before either of them got wise to my shenanigans. Turns out the meadow in which I'd taken up residence was a little more interesting than it looked from ground level. Fred Burr Lake was glassy as I searched for signs of fellow campers. I found none. Back…
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Having only gotten a few hours of shuteye before setting off on this adventure, the cool night air of western Montana - somewhere in the low 30s °F - made my cozy down comforters the perfect place to snuggle in for one of the best nights of sleep I've had in a long time. I'm not sure if I woke up at all through the night, only realizing when the sky was beginning to brighten that a thin layer of frost covered not only the exterior my tent, but also the top of my bedding. Knowing that I still had…
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Since my first fateful trip with "the guys" from TacomaWorld in 2017, we've tried our best to get together every summer for an adventure. That's not to say that things haven't changed as some of the young guns - once carefree as school let out for the summer - have grown into jobs and families, our two-week jaunts shifting to five days of paid time off, our summer outings shifting into fall. Still, our friendships have persisted - and grown - and this year we are heading back to where (for me) The De-Tour started it all: Montana. As always,…
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The Wyoming Backcountry Discovery route is our 6th BDR in as many years. Through the running of each one, @mrs.turbodb and I are - as you can imagine - regularly comparing the current BDR to the past ones. Starting last year, with the New Mexico BDR, I finally started writing some of these down, and of course - I now feel obligated to carry on that tradition into the future. I like to think of it - a little bit - as a Rig Review for the BDR route. TL;DR - The Wyoming BDR blew our socks off. Before leaving, we were…
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As we'd gone to bed the night before, it had been decided that we'd do a group breakfast the following morning. These are always extremely tasty affairs of bacon, eggs, and potatoes - this time, supplied entirely by Dan @drr. (Thanks again Dan!) By definition, these mornings are always a little more chill, since it takes time to get everything together, and no one wants to rush the eating part. By 8:00am, Mike @Digiratus was cooking up potatoes, I was waiting for the last minute to make eggs, and Dan was busy with the bacon. Zane bounced between all three…
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We were awoken early - just after 6:00am - to the sound of rock trucks speeding down the road near camp. Apparently one of the local quarries started work early, and three of the drivers were trying to make good time to their destination! Dan @drr - already an early riser - was the first out of his tent, Echo excited to get a new day underway. As they headed out on a walk, I putzed around in the tent - a little photo processing and reading - until I heard Mike @Digiratus climb down around 7:00am. The sun was…
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It was a very early morning, Mike @Digiratus an I each requiring an alarm to rouse ourselves at 6:00am - the sky still dark around us, only the first hint of light on the horizon. I made a quick run up to Goose Lake - alas, the darkness still too deep for any photos. We set to work packing our trucks and tents as quietly as possible, Monte @Blackdawg, Devin @MissBlackdawg, and Zane @Speedytech7 still sleeping nearby. Above us, early morning light illuminating the sky and the tip-tops of the mountains around us. Just after 7:00am we were ready to…
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Unfortunately, though we went to bed early, I had my most fitful nights sleep at Sawtooth Lake. Whether it was the temperature (it was cold) or anticipation of our upcoming adventure to Goose Lake I don't know, but as the sun rose over Sawtooth Mountain around 8:00am, I was happy for the warmth and to get out and explore. As usual, I had nothing to complain about as I set out around the lake; the water getting glassier over time, our camp reflected perfectly by the morning sun. As I made my way around the lake's edge, every few hundred…
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As I'd crawled into bed a little after 1:15am, I knew this was going to be a night without much sleep. Not because of rain or snow or cold - quite the opposite actually. Because for the first time this trip we were camped in a location that would allow us to see not only the sunrise, but the glow on the horizon before sunrise. That of course meant being up before 6:00am, a tall order even for me, the early riser. You can imagine my surprise then, when I climbed down my ladder and looked around camp and saw none…
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Overnight, the rain stopped and the skies cleared - I assume - because we awoke to blue skies and sun in the morning. As was becoming a trend, none of us were up early - with the exception of Devin who I only just noticed was up and out of camp by 6:00am or so, since she had to get to work. Pretty cool to show up for one night of camping if you ask me. I was the next one up around 8:00am and with some extra time and nice weather, I set about making a breakfast sandwich -…
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The wet and cold continued all night - or rather, the wet continued and the cold got colder! We awoke, just after 8:00am to a dusting of snow spread across camp and our trucks, and several inches on the surrounding mountains. It was extremely beautiful, though the fact that it snowed on our first night with Monte @Blackdawg wasn't lost on any of us. "Welcome to Montana guys!" he said as he climbed out of his tent. As we all set about our morning activities - breakfast, breaking camp, etc., I headed out to capture what I could - the…
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We were up early, even for me. Mike @Digiratus apparently rolled out of his tent at 5:30am, and Dan @drr and I followed not long after around 6:00am. We had a long day ahead of us to reach Cooke City by our agreed upon rally time of 6:00pm, and we knew that Zane @Speedytech7 was already there, having arrived the previous evening - now bored out of his mind. Being up early also meant that we got to put our tents away wet from the overnight rain - it wasn't much, but that's of little consequence when the sun's not…
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May 28, 2018. We slept soundly until morning - it was our first night of the trip with calm weather and little-to-no wind. That, combined with the fact that we were in a stand of tall pines are the excuse I'll use for not getting up to enjoy the sunrise! It was glorious I'm sure, given the morning hours that followed - those I did get up for, and I shot a few photos of camp, everyone else still toasty and warm in their beds after our great camp fire the night before. As usual, it wasn't long before everyone…
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May 27, 2018. By the next morning the storm had passed and the sun was trying to punch through the clouds on the horizon. That meant there was no beautiful sunrise, but that didn't keep me from rolling out of the tent to capture the first daylight shots of our three trucks in camp. @mrs.turbodb and Mike (@Digiratus) were the next two out of bed and as Mike made his morning cup of coffee, he looked out at the mountains across the meadow and voiced his approval of the site - the Redhead obviously right at home. Not long after,…
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