The summer months have officially come and gone, as has our time here in Montana and Wyoming. This might be the quickest a month has gone by on this trip and although I’m excited for roads strewn with fallen leaves ahead, I feel sad to leave this beautiful corner of the world. I have loved almost every second here. You might find this blog a bit image heavy compared to the usual post, I blame these beautiful places.
Apologies or you’re welcome…
Broad, glassy blue rivers flowing over colorful rocks and speckled with people fly fishing and floating.
Dramatic, rocky ridge lines towering over the valleys below.
At the start of the month I didn’t think anything could be more beautiful than the tall golden grasses blowing in the wind on Montana hillsides, then I smelled the sage after the rain in Wyoming. I think sitting here typing these words out, with the Tetons in view just beyond my screen, I feel the most content I’ve felt in a long time. I think a lot of my most content moments on this trip have been in these two states.
We got to explore three beautiful parks (Glacier, Yellowstone, and Teton National Park) and enjoy the company of two family visits. Geoff got to experience horseback riding for the first time and we even stumbled upon a preserved ghost town on some backroads in Montana. We ate good food, enjoyed landscapes both familiar and unfamiliar to us and saw more wildlife than we thought possible - elk, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, deer, pronghorn, beavers, otters, martins, marmots, pikas, eagles, hawks, and even two grizzlies playing with a toppled tree by a pond in Yellowstone. On the top of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort we got to watch paragliders leap from the mountain into the wind, the colorful chutes weaving in and out from one another as they made their way down to the valley.
With all of our family visits, we got a break from dirtbag showers in forests off the side of the road. I even got to take a bubble bath in what has to be the world’s coziest cottage. I got lost in stories of imaginary places as late morning sun filtered in through the window above the tub, sipping the last of my coffee as aspen leaves flitted in the wind outside. I still wonder if there’s anywhere more beautiful than sunset over the Crazy Mountains on that back porch in the middle of nowhere Montana. This month we finally broke our fire tower hike curse summiting Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone with my dad on his birthday after 3 failed attempts on this trip. The most dramatic of these was making it all the way to the base of the tower in Glacier only to realize that the stairs were being guarded by a mountain goat the size of a horse.
M O N T A N A .
Y E L L O W S T O N E .
W Y O M I N G .
Emboldened by our time on steep Washington trails in July, we also tackled some of our most challenging hikes yet starting with the Highline trail in Glacier National Park. 14 miles along rock ledges, through valleys carpeted in wildflowers and up to Grinnell Glacier boxed in by steep mountain walls.
18.5 miles meandering as far we could in the Wind River Range to get a glimpse of backcountry landscapes we’ve dreamed of for years. The mountains reminded us a a more jagged Yosemite and we got caught in our first trail downpour of the trip.
Thanks to the nook of pines that sheltered us, especially during the hail bit.
The pièce de résistance of the month was our summit of the Middle Teton in Teton National Park. A 4am start filled with 15.5 miles and 5,900’ of elevation gain of boulder hopping and scree scrambling through the most unbelievable alpine landscapes we had ever seen.
We started the month on the banks of the Flathead river in Montana at one of the best campsites we had found yet on this trip, sipping hazy IPAs under the hot summer sun with our feet in the water and rafters floating by. I now find myself in Wyoming writing this entry at an equally amazing spot perched up on a mountain, tucked into my hammock with a near perfect view of the Tetons. Mountain bikers sail down the dusty trail next to our site towards the valley below and I wave to the occasional car driving by like I would a neighbor on my front porch back in Houston. I close my eyes and I get a collage of beautiful memories from the past few weeks. I feel emotional, but in the best of ways…like I’ve finally broken through some mental barrier that’s been fighting me for the last few years. I felt myself tearing up while painting on this dirt road earlier today. It might be the dust in my eyes, as it’s exceptionally windy today, but I feel teary eyed now just typing about this past month. I’m so damn grateful for so many things…the people in my life, this adventure I’m having, this beautiful, beautiful planet we are on. Leaving my life in Houston behind was the scariest thing I’ve ever done but it’s moments like this that I’m reminded of what I had to gain from pushing past all my doubts and insecurities. I was meant to be here on this windy day in Jackson, watching a squirrel eat a mushroom in the woods alongside me.
I’m exactly where I want to be and so excited about where I’m going.