Gates of the Mountains

My folks came to town and as our "big adventure" we rented a pontoon boat for the day on Holter Lake and went and zipped around through the gates of the mountains. We brought fishing gear and bait (yes bait), and I caught one walleye. We didn't get much of chance to fish since Jr. was keeping us pretty occupied. It was also around 100 degrees, so we didn't want to really stop the boat.

The Gates of the Mountains (above)

The captain with pontoon boat in the background.

A little rest and relaxation.

And Jr. even got his first fishing pole.

The Main

I had a great time on the Main. Although still low, it was the highest I've floated it, 2.5 "on the shoes". Pretty straight forward run at that level. Met some great new folks, had one day of welcomed rain and ate lots of good food. I even got a ice cream sandwich at Buckskin Bills.

Our TL, Ken.

Apart from a flippin IK'er we had with us, the closest carnage we had was seeing Ken stand his cat vertically in a hole on the second day.

I didn't take a lot of pics this trip, but that's OK cause most of you have seen it anyway.

A river runs thru it...

Caught some sort of trout while fishin for smallmouth the other day. I think I got the pose right but my "catch and release" skills could use some help. The camera accidentally got switched into video mode...almost like candid camera - good fun.

Camping in the Lodgepoles

We headed out with Jon and Kim and the two babies to go camping by the Boulder River. The place we wanted to camp was packed with RVs, motocross bikes and ATVs. I guess that is what we deserve for going camping by Butte. Needless to say, we decided not to stay there so we went to this other campsite tucked in the lodgepoles that we had to ourselvelves. Take a good look, since this whole site is about to be clearcut as the majority of the trees were dead or dieing from beetle kill and the campground was marked for timber harvest. It'll be interesting to see the changes in the landscape over the next few years because of the damn beetles.

Camping was great. Nice scenery, great company, good food, and even got the bacon/BBQ stink out of the rapid shelter. Camping with multiple babies was a good time for all, except when Jr. bit Adrienne. Oops! In the end everyone had a blast and we'll hopefully be heading back to the woods again soon.

Interesting Quote

This quote was in the newspaper this morning in an article about cap and trade reducing greenhouse gasses. This individual who is quoted is identified as running a conservative issues website, which explains why my dog might have a bit more common sense. Judy Martz and Dan Quayle are going to be jealous of the brilliance of this statement:

Blane Dillon of Nye said he is for helping the environment but against cap and trade. "The environment needs to be saved but not at the expense of humans," he said.

Lochsa

It was a soggy rotten weekend on the Lochsa...of course good fun too with plenty of carnage on Saturday....

Ed was nice enough to let me sleep in his camper. Check out the photos...

Crap!

Not Successful

2009 MOOSE LICENSE (326-20)

NOT SUCCESSFUL
District 326-20 was your 1^st choice for the ‘2009 Moose License’ Drawing.

2009 SHEEP LICENSE (283-00)

NOT SUCCESSFUL
District 283-00 was your 1^st choice for the ‘2009 Sheep License’ Drawing.

Few Pictures

I thought I would add a few picutes since I'm new to the blog.

Deso. Canyon

Sheep on the Green River

Green River Deso. Canyon

Here is my Dad's elk from the Elk Horns.

Judith River

I don't know a damn thing about the Judith, but a guy I work with floated it and took these photos. It appears to be worth floating someday down the road.

How I roll

This is really how I roll. 3 nurses, Beavertail to Turah, and me.

Brian....

I think you lost your coffee cup!

Deadline June 1st

Good luck!

Pending*
2009 ANTELOPE LICENSE (491-00)
DRAWING NOT COMPLETE
District 491-00 was your 1st choice for the ‘2009 Antelope License’ Drawing.

2009 ANTELOPE LICENSE (491-10)
DRAWING NOT COMPLETE
District 491-10 was your 2nd choice for the ‘2009 Antelope License’ Drawing.

2009 DEER PERMIT (298-40)
DRAWING NOT COMPLETE
District 298-40 was your 1st choice for the ‘2009 Deer Permit’ Drawing.

2009 ELK PERMIT (380-20)
DRAWING NOT COMPLETE
District 380-20 was your 1st choice for the ‘2009 Elk Permit’ Drawing.

2009 MOOSE LICENSE (326-20)
DRAWING NOT COMPLETE
District 326-20 was your 1st choice for the ‘2009 Moose License’ Drawing.

2009 SHEEP LICENSE (283-00)
DRAWING NOT COMPLETE
District 283-00 was your 1st choice for the ‘2009 Sheep License’ Drawing.

Ft. Pecker, new knee, etc.

Welp, another massive fishing expedition under the belt, it is safe to say that we truly are river fishermen. This chinook Ricky caught wasn't supposed to exist according to the local yokels.

Here's my fish of the trip, we later lost it when we left it hanging over the side as Matt dropped the hammer. 

Here's my oh shit moment in the falls this year. No left foot to hold on with so over I went.

Here's my newly repaired knee, courtesy of Dr Price at Missoula Bone & Joint it's big and puffy and it hurts and I'm gonna be ok and skiing again when the bullwheel turns next season. 

  And here I am getting my last taste of whitewater for the spring on the gorge with some hot chick.

Jr's First Float

It was a great weekend! Camping on the Blackfoot and going rafting. I wish I could say that the float was 100% happiness. It wasn't. There was 20 minutes of sheer joy, 10 minutes of crying, and 30 minutes of somewhere in between. Oh well, you gotta crawl before you can walk. It was great to see you all, and thanks for all the help with Jr and making this weekend an excellent camping/floating trip!


We're going to trade the rights to the above photo to Artie for a duckie.

We had just launched and Jr. was trying to figure things out.

A little fishing with the little man.

Making friends and pulling hair...let the good times roll.

And a camping trip just isn't complete without seeing an enormous mule penis.

Phillies 5 dollars

I hope this finds everyone in great health and ready for summer!!!
Well after much discussion it was decided that Idaho simply could not erected a tool booth on the side of the mountain so they did the next best thing, put out legislation for a 5.00 boater registration fee in Idaho for the invasive species protection. This is how they are funding the invasive species mitigation program. I am sure the majority of the invasive species came from Montana anyway. There is a catch however, the registration can only be purchased online at this point or by mailing the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation in Boise a check for the 5.00 this is for ALL vessels over 10 feet and even on inflatables. This legislation was passed and finalized with the swoop of the governors pen on the 8th of last month get ready for some more interaction with the government.
Now that I have the bad news out of the way when are we going to be rafting again. I just got my yearly Montana fishing and hunting license so let the death begin!