30 miles in 3 days for Angel's 30th

Angel turns 30 this September and she decided that she wanted to hike 30 miles to commemorate the event. So Dustin and I headed up to Montana for a Labor Day weekend of backpacking. We brought Sophie and Kieko along to try and wear them out a little. The trail was labeled 'strenuous' but we figured, we're badass, right? We can do this. Needless to say, I got my butt kicked and was feeling muscles I hadn't used in a while. It decided to rain on us at the end of the first day, so we hurried and set up camp at Goose Lake and stretched our sore muscles. Sophie and Kieko were still running around, all riled up by the mules in the camp next to us. Luckily, Dustin was very nice and had packed in our air mattress (I have no issues peeing in the woods, but I don't like to sleep on the ground).

The beginning of the hike


A long series of switchbacks across a meadow. I was very very tired, but Sophie and Kieko were still trucking along quite nicely.


Goose Lake


Hanging out at the tent.

The next morning turned out to be cloudy and chilly. We packed up and headed for our long uphill climb. The top was very foggy, and you couldn't see much over the cliff we came to. I was very glad I had my beanie and NorthFace jacket, because they definitely came in handy. The wind would tear across and blow the water droplets off the trees and into our faces. kept looking at our map, but we were still unsure of how far we had traveled, and which lake we were passing at the moment. Eventually, we came down a hill and found a road right in front of us. We checked the map again. No, there wasn't supposed to be a road here. Heath flagged down a car to try to figure out where we were. Evidently at the very beginning of the day, we had somehow taken the wrong trail. Heath hitched a ride to go back and get the car and Angel, Dustin and I pitched the tent (it had started to rain again) and waited for a ride. So all in all, we had traveled about 20 miles in 2 days, which wasn't bad, but it wasn't 30. We'll try it again next year, before Angel turns 31.

Time to check the map and take off our packs for a minute.


Heath and Angel trying to figure out which lake we are looking at.


Dustin's knee was hurting him and the girls felt bad.





What the?! Is that a road?


Heath talking to some people, trying to figure out where we are.


Doesn't Angel look thrilled?


Sophie's a big baby and was shivering, so Dustin stuck her in his sleeping bag with him. Kieko toughed it out and slept on the hard ground.

Kieko didn't think we should be finished hiking yet. She loved running in front of us and then running back to make sure we were keeping up.