Simply Amazing

Well I have come to the conclusion that this area of the country has the best weather, at least for this time of year. It is in the 30-40 degree range at night and then up 70-80 during the day. Blue skies, puffy white clouds and amazing colors in the sky at sunset. We have had no rain,which we do need desperately. The other evening it was threatening to rain but never really did. Instead there was the most amazing rainbow. I have never seen anything like it. It was a double rainbow, bright and lasted about 15 minutes.

I went on a wonderful 12 miles hike this week with my new friends. I rate it in the top 5 hikes I have ever taken. The views were stunning and the wildflowers were incredible. We expected to see a bear any minute since there was bear scat everywhere. We entertained the bears instead by singing. My new friend, Karen, is a retired kindergarten teacher of 39 years so she taught us all new songs. I am sure the bears figured there was no way they were going near that crazy gang.

Until next time,

Denise

Hiking 101

I finally got out to do some hiking in this beautiful area.  On Tuesday I met up with the group of women I had been in touch with to do a 5 mile hike on the Continental Divide in Montana. The name of the group is the WOW's which stands for Wild Outdoor Woman. The group has a total of 130 women and 38 went on this hike. The wildflowers were in bloom and those in the know were teaching me about them. I met a woman through this hike who invited me to join her and a few friends on a more strenuous hike on Friday.  We went hiking in the Gallitan National Forest which is just outside the west area of Yellowstone.

Hiking here is a little different than I am use to and the altitudes do make it more difficult to breath . We went to a trail called Avalanche Lake. It was a 11 mile hike starting at 7300 feet and an increase of 2300 feet change in elevation. When we got into the hike we encountered a good amount of snow still at the higher elevations which made it interesting to find the trail, or should I say not find the trail. Due to the snow there was alot of runoff in the streams we had to cross which also made things interesting. As you can see from the pictures though it was a beautiful day and great hike and I could not have asked for better company.

I am glad that I went out of my way to find a group to hike with and it is going to make my summer here mush more adventurous.

Happy Trails,
Denise