Beargrass

There were fields of Beargrass today. It turned my gloves white as it was tightly along the singletrack. It is three to five feet high and abundant in the mountains at the moment.
PS. Good to see you in the hills today Bedrock. Have fun in Utah.

Lower Rock Creek Sheep

Here are the sheep I said I'd post following our recent fishing excursion. This is a flourishing bighorn herd and these sheep were wandering on private property along the Rock Creek road. We're kind of partial to this animal as they generally roam in the higher elevations, and along jagged peaks - such as our banner photo area at the top of this blog!

I have only seen sheep on Sheep Mountain once and they were right below the peak along the spine in the banner shot above. As soon as I came around the top near where the above bike is resting, the two rams ran down to the trees to the right in the base of the Wisherd Ridge area. The Rock Creek herd did not have a care in the world and acted like they owned the place. Reminded me of the turkeys around here now - especially those in the Miller Creek drainage. I once accidentally drew a ewe tag for this herd, thinking I had put in for a male only. When it came in the mail, I was jumping for joy, and then when I opened it it was for a ewe. I had filled out the paperwork incorrectly when I submitted it. The animals get very smart when fall rolls around and head for the higher elevation (which in Rock Creek there plenty of) and stay in the thick forest areas as well. A friend of mine recently drew a tag and shot a beautiful ram in the East Fork of the Bitterroot with a longbow. That is hard to do!

It seemed an odd time of year to be mating, but I don't know much about sheep and their behavior pertaining to this particular matter. However, the ram's were busy.

Welcome Creek Trailhead

As a University of Montana student in 1990, I used to spend a lot of time in the Rock Creek drainage. It is about 20 minutes east of Missoula and is considered a Blue Ribbon fishery. Over the years, like all things it seems, things have changed a bit in this area. Similar to the Blackfoot, all camping along Rock Creek is now in designated only areas. This is a result of more pressure in the area and of course an attempt to further protect the stream. There is an attempt to lesson the influence of the brown trout in the creek in order to enhance the cut throat's ability to propagate. I'm not sure how this is working, as I have not read the recent studies on the water shed.
However, in the spot where LR is fishing below, I did catch a beautiful cut which wiggled out of my hands as we fumbled for the camera. Most of the rafts today were upstream, as the salmonfly hatch has moved completely through the creek by this point. We were having success on golden stones, though the big bugs were still around. I think the fish have seen a ton of fly fisherman presentations and were pretty well schooled on what was going on. We chose a weekday evening for a reason, and things were still quite busy on the stream. We only caught a couple of fish.
I know some folks who have had some success hunting elk in the Welcome Creek Wilderness, but they tell me it is a ton of work getting an animal out of the area. To the north east of Welcome Creek is the Quigley road that takes one to Sliderock Mountain (red flag on above map). This is an area I used to hunt in quite a bit, and once on the Willow road was cornered by a large bull moose. That was an interesting day. Driving up the Quigley road in snow and ice can be quite an experience. That also is another interesting story!
One year in the early ninties I was grouse hunting in the Sliderock area. It was a crip fall evening and the sky was perfectly clear showing countless stars. I was camped along the Sandstone Ridge with a (then law student) buddy and a couple of my bird dogs, a black lab (Lexie) and a lewellen setter (Rebel). At about two in the morning a lion came up from the Rock Creek side screaming its head off. It literally sounded like a screeching lady and scared the hell out of us. We jumped into the back of the jeep pickup as fast as we could until it stopped. Eventually, the cat went back down screeching the whole way. The next day I asked fish and game what would make that kind of noise and they said that it probably was a lion. I'll never forget that, ever.
Now, I ride my mountain bike along the Willow area. One can drop out eventually along the Skalkaho Road, and head to Philipsburg or over to Hamilton. Another nice area to grouse hunt used to be along Ranch Creek (see map), but I have not been hunting in the area in quite a long while. It is beautiful and eventually, like all the terrain in this drainage, climbs straight up. A last highlight of the evening was driving out and seeing the lower creek sheep herd. I'm going to post some pictures of this herd following this post. Rock Creek remains a treasure.

Barbarossa Day

Got a nice photo to close out Father's Day today. On a darker and tragic note - tomorrow is the day in 1941 that Germany made the decision to invade the U.S.S.R. in operation Barbarossa.

erg & mtb

I can't shut down so I figured perhaps some green tea and I'd write for a bit for the "team's" log about the evening. Since school is out I've been trying to find points to sneak off with the rascals and do whatever. Yesterday (16th) late in the day, LR and I did a ride and some fishing. It was laid back and most welcome. We were late for dinner, however. My friends tell me that one day I will blink and they will be out of the house, so enjoy them and spend as much time as possible with them. So, that is what we do.

I keep thinking about that Cervantes quote as well. Thus far the road has been a good time. July and August are going to be full on this year with one ultra each, but the road may be what is remembered most. Last week between rides I rowed a half marathon and really blew it. My tail started hurting big time at about 15000 meters but I stayed with it after cramping and getting up once realizing finishing it would help if I decided to give it another whirl this week. I have not been rowing as one needs to stay focused on the task at hand, namely long mountain bike races. Yesterday's relaxing day and Monday's relaxer as well meant I might have another go at it today.

I decided that I would renew at the UM and row there this time as there is a lively environment and some background music. I cannot row (or mountain bike) with my walkman as the sweat causes the plugs to fall out of my ears. One of their ergs is now gone (hopefully for repair only). I had a much better row today. 1,2,3,4,5,6,...100... 1,2 ,3,4,5,6...200...2500.... I just look out the window at a set spot between the trees in front of the Clark Fork and start counting up with each stroke. Other rowing writers refer to this as "zoning." If my concentration begins to wane, usually thinking of a problem somewhere in my life (we all have them), I try to turn the thought back to something positive like the races ahead or the kid's last events or something positive. Also, I try to think of my stroke and technique to recenter things. It's a lot of counting. The spm was lower, but the watts were better. It was a better effort. I still felt great, ate a gel and headed to the Bowl for the evening's tempo intervals.

21,097 meters
82.22.7
33 spm
217.7 w
1.57.1/500m

When I got up there, I noticed the gate was open and there were three bright yellow school buses in the parking lot. I also noticed the lift was running. I parked outside of the gate, not in the lot, for fear of finding a locked gate when I was finished. As I rode to Second Thought, I noted the owner was loading folks on the lift and they were coming down as well. It was raining and things were wet from the recent rain as well. I passed a lady going up who was walking and said hello when I passed. Coming back down I visited. She had an umbrella and said the accent was Russian. The people were visiting for a "remote sensor" convention (college of forestry I think, ecosystem processes) being sponsored by the UM and were up at the Bowl for the afternoon and evening.

On my second trip up she had turned around (above Sunrise). On my third one up (they were only 15 min each) the others were finally walking down, so rather than turn back down and ride through them, I did the 4th one from below Spartan up to the upper lake. I've been up here a bit recently and every time I am, I think of holding up the ski traffic at the lake with Brittney during the ski season so that the Life Flight hele could land and friends (patrollers) could load the foreign exchange student to be evacuated after hitting the tree at the base of Lavelle. That was an extremely tragic accident. I hope the Beargrass gets cleared soon. Aside ~ Latest read Three Cups of Tea. This work is recommended reading.

Along the Blackfoot Today

We snuck out this afternoon with our friend Peter (from the Hanger) in search of lite crowds and maybe some fish. The Blackfoot is still up and off color.

The good news was that we did not have issues with other folks, although there were quite a few rafts floating by with guide's clients throwing large stonefly nymphs into the bank. My chats with them indicated that things were still a bit slow along this drainage. We did not catch fish on the main river. I hooked a nice little brown in a tributary that got off and Pete caught a small rainbow. The real show however was the casting lesson occurring along the feeder stream.

Careful along the trees and bushes in the area because there are numerous flies in them (with hooks)! There were also numerous rat's nests on a few of the reels! It's all part of the deal though. Kids actually do have a lot of patience. It would be a bit easier, and probably way more productive, dunking some earth worms!

This was a popular attraction and we were not certain what it was. Perhaps a fawn that did not make it this year?

The flowers (Wood's Rose shown) were beautiful and are blooming all along the drainage. The only damper to the afternoon was the chip sealing that was occurring along 200 east of Missoula which meant slow going to and fro.

It's always nice getting out. Today the legs were most appreciative of the break as well. The river and creek felt great.

Little olive stoneflies were out among some of the other early summer hatchers. We did not yet notice the big salmon flies. The Blackfoot is not there yet (one of the last usually to go among Missoula's big options) but we decided to avoid the crowds on Rock Creek and some of the others. It is time, however, to get the raft out.

Choosing the Steeper Grade

I headed out on the trail at 0650 this morning hoping to cram in 13k in 7 hours. I did a couple of lower Sheep loops (to last bail out - tree issues on top still) first coming down Three Pines (Larch?). There was a nice large black bear (w/in 20 yards - I did not stop) on second trip down. I was a little tired (from yesterday) and could not clear a tough section at the top until the third attempt. I then headed up to the Ravine Trail and over to the Bowl. It was my first time on the Ravine and what a sweet descent! Fun!

I then rode up the Beargrass for about two seconds until the first portage and said that was not going to work knowing that there were going to be too many to get things done in time. So I went up Second Thought and then to the Upper Lavelle Lift where the snow line is at present. Then down and then back up again, cutting it a little shorter knowing the Ravine should get the last elevation I wanted going back. Well, coming back down Second Thought the second time a "gun shot" echoed throughout the canyon as my rear tire (Race King 2.0) literally exploded after a sharp rock sliced through everything! This tire is A+ for XC racing, but not for this. So at 6 hours fifteen minutes it was game over.
As I was "repairing" things (dollar bill, some receipts and a cliff bar wrapper), Toby and Andrew (two seriously strong single speeders) came bombing down and we had a good visit. Toby is doing the Puff this year. Andrew rode in the Great Divide race last year. They came up the Beargrass and confirmed the downed tree situation. I managed to limp down to the lodge and then half way down the bowl road when my wife and kids met me and drove me to the truck at the Rattlesnake parking lot. I thought about going for it, but decided to make the call. Just another day! Life is good.

PS: Johnny, The shock now is working smooth - thanks!

Up to the Asphalt Again

Pushed this into today's lunch hour rather than yesterday. Work first. Was not sure if I should go back to Deer Creek for a repeat or no? Need a new spot, but I decided back to the culvert again once more. Shaved a little over a minute off and felt great still at the end. Chased down a car for the last 2 or 3 minutes with h/r at the max. Not a good idea with all of the dust heading into the lungs doing that. Pretty sure next time this will be done elsewhere - legs, however, are feeling good along with the lungs. Tomorrow it's back to the mountains!

School's Out

LR and I went into some beaver ponds late yesterday in search of some trout. All we managed to get into though was a blue heron, some ducks and a great evening ride.The fish were quiet. Perhaps the heron had had some success in our hole prior to our arrival. He flew off and left us a quill. Pretty soon the salmon flies will abound and life will be good!

0634

0634 was when I embarked from the Gold Creek gate this morning. It was a nice central location for some long riding to a few new peaks along now gated roads. I can remember driving in this area in the early nineties. I ran into the below sallie heading to Mineral Peak area (just below as snow is a problem).It was snowing and cold. I rode by a couple of cows and one with a calf. I turned around and rode back down passing a truck driving up (this road is not gated, and still offers access for some good grouse hunting in the fall).I then dropped into the Primm area (below). Gold Creek had quite a fire in 2003. After some minor climbing I headed back over into the Belmont. Then, east of Gold Peak (NW is tribal primitive) as marked on the map, I was heading around a bend looking down at the garmin and for some reason I looked up and was headed directly into a mother grizzly and her cub that were leisurely walking down the middle of the road. This was a startling new first, as I have never biked into a grizzly. The mother bear was brown and tan and had the characteristic hump. So, I'm ninety eight percent certain of what type of bear it was. The whole thing happened so fast that I did not get the opportunity to get a photo. I was able to apply the breaks immediately and turn around just prior to the bears. The bear spray was available and accessible, but I did not need it as I quickly rode out of the area.Now, there is something that does not happen everyday! I told a few anglers back at the Gold Creek gate. Wonderful morning. Mineral Peak shot below. Additional photos posted at my Missoula Various site. The coffee at the truck tasted great too!

Morning Gear