Adam's Recent Visit

Last week Adam came to the house to visit and hang out.  He arrived late Sunday night, May 13.

Monday, May 14 while I was working, Adam went kayaking down the Yellowstone River.  Adam wanted to kayak in Montana, and he certainly got his opportunity!  He started at Point of Rocks and ended at Emigrant.  His little dog Douglas went with him and was sitting on the front of the kayak for a good share of the trip down the river.  When I got off work, he was already finished kayaking and I had to pick him up.

Once I picked him up, we went to Percie's Poolside Grille for a late lunch.  I must have been pretty hungry because I ate a salad and a half-pound cheeseburger.  It was good to catch up with him on everything.

Tuesday we had a lot of activity too.  I had to work for about half a day, and I got off work around 10:00 a.m.  Adam and I met Mike at Super 8 an hour later, and then we drove to Mammoth to start hiking to Cache Lake.

Because we couldn't see the beginning of the trail from the road, we started at the Upper Terrace Loop, where we found numerous crisscrossing paths that eventually led west.  We hiked to an intersection going in four directions--toward the Hoodoos, over Snow Pass, to Grand Loop Road, and to the Upper Terrace Loop.  To get to Cache Lake, we took the trail over Snow Pass.

Along the trail we came across a deep crevice in the ground.  We dropped a rock down it and realized that it was very far down--I'd say maybe even 50 feet.  Later we came upon a herd of mule deer as we gradually climbed the pass.  Near the end of that trail we started following a power line.  We saw Clagett Butte next to us, and then we got to a couple ponds.  From there the trail diverged in ways that weren't on the map.  It took us a little while to figure it out, but we eventually went to the northwest where we found the correct trail next to Glen Creek.  We followed Sportsman Lake Trail for quite a ways into a large meadow where we got a great view of Electric Peak.  While we followed the trail we saw a cow moose, a sage grouse, and heard a lot of frogs in a pond.

A large crevice next to the trail

Mike and Adam hike along Snow Pass Trail.

Glen Creek

A sage grouse hen

A cow moose

I'm standing in a meadow in front of Electric Peak.

For the last mile or so of the trail we had to hike through some big drifts of snow.  We were close to the lake, and the snow was just barely passable.  Finally there was an opening in the forest and we were suddenly at Cache Lake.  In the distance we saw a lone wolf, and right by the lake was a salamander, about a foot long.  We had dinner by the lake before we headed back.  Of course we had to trudge through the snow drifts for the first part on the way back.

Mike waves from Cache Lake.

A salamander

Adam in front of Cache Lake and Electric Peak

Wayne at Cache Lake and Electric Peak

Getting back to Mammoth was shorter since it was a downhill trail from Cache Lake.  Once we got to the intersection near Mammoth that I mentioned earlier, we chose the path that took us to the road instead of the Upper Terrace Loop.  We saw that the trail was unmarked at the road, so we really didn't miss it.  It is right before the grove of aspen trees before the two pullouts.

In all, we hiked about 10 miles and were out in the park for about eight hours.  It was definitely a hike that I would do again; I really enjoyed it.

That evening Adam and I watched Interstate 60, a comedy starring James Marsden. Adam hadn't seen it before, and he liked it as much as I did.

Wednesday and Thursday Adam and I hung out around the house.  Adam and I played some Army of Two (the original one) both days.  Jean came to the house on Thursday, and we all did a bit of nothing.  It was nice to have a couple days off to just mess around.

Friday Adam had to go back to Helena, and I had to go back to work myself.  We had a good week together, and we don't get to do it often enough.