First archery elk

It's been crazy around here, things have been moving at a frantic pace since summer. But I did the get chance to disengage from the electronic world for 8 days. Nothing but wind in the sage, GPS screen (don't count) and the sounds of elk. Thank you to Tracy and MO for making it possible, you don't know how much I enjoyed it! I missed the kids, but the quiet woods were nice too. I think I may have repaired a couple chips in my sanity.

 My long time and regular hunting partner and I convened in elk central and hunted our assess off. We didn't miss a morning or evening the entire time, rising at 4 am everyday and usually not getting back to camp until several hours after dark.

He helped me get onto a bull and I was able to capitalize on a 35 yard shot with my bow. The draw and hold back pushed me to over a minute, but the arrow flew true to its mark. The harvest was big and the pack out rewarding. The opportunity to kill an elk with bow was not taken lightly. I think I may like bowhunting (end cheesiness).

July fun in Montana

Lots of activity lately, soaking up them rays, not much time for words. Enjoy.

Sun

We like sun and we like the warmth. Although the girls could definitely watch non stop Scooby Doo, we're trying to soak up summer. Western MT is entering the first piece of prime weather of the summer. Long days and perfect evenings make for some great camping.

We went camping for the first time last weekend and only managed to forget a few things. One item being the fuel to run the stove. Luckily I talked the campground host out of a bottle and then walked over to the firewood vending shed and plopped in 16 quarters. Blam! A saran wrapped bundle of fire wood came down the chute. I'm getting lazy ain't I? Anyone ever seen one of these? I hadn't.



And no Matt, I didn't post this to piss you off. :-)

Water

Wet and muddy in Montana these days. If you live anywhere in the state there's a good chance you're sick of the rain. May was gray and wet. The NWS data I looked at said Missoula's May had 21 days of light rain and 5 days of "rain". Enter Seattle references here. The graph above shows the Clark Fork almost tripling in a little over weeks. The surges and crest keep rising. Had it not been for some cold temps and snow in the high country, the heavy valley rains may have spilled the banks in a big way. The river sits at 12.5 feet and had originally been predicted to go to 14ft. The Missoulian put up some interesting aerial photos showing the flooding around town. Keep in mind there is still 90" of snow in the Rattlesnakes (7400ft).



The girls I took a ride down next to the Clark Fork and admired the power (and the people) of the river. Some great people watching down there, eh? We followed up the bike with a carousel/playground 1,2 punch. Knocking out the day with watching the fire department burn down a house (practice burn). Lucky.

Yes, you were supposed to say that in a Napolean Dynamite accent. But seriously, how cool is it to be a kid watching a structure burn while eating a piece of pizza?

Anyway, thanks for following along with the random stories and facts. Does anyone like these new little Facebook and comment buttons below? Bueller?

Spring in Montana

The rivers are running big and brown around the state. It is the hot topic for media. Snowpack and runoff are reaching all sorts of records and predictions are for the rivers to stay high for quite some time. The northeastern, eastern and now the central parts of Montana are flooding. Most folks predict the flows to be as high if not higher than the record year of 1997.

But really, the stuff we're seeing around here pales in comparison to the other major disasters around the country. My thoughts go out to all the people affected in Joplin, MO.

The Campbell clan has been busy enjoying the out of doors as much as possible. The lawn is all greened up and going apeshit, requiring multiple mowings per week. The first batch of homemade compost was applied to some of the garden beds. Finally, that stuff takes a long time to make.

And best of all our chickens are plumping right up. Yep, chickens. The peeping chicks slid into the household while I was zonked during post surgery. Oh that T, she's a smart one. We've lost 2 out of the 5, most likely due to the fact they've been living outside during some cold temps this spring. I think that might make them taste better.

On my knee- I am recovering well and making progress every week. It's slow progress but good. I returned to work after almost seven weeks. I'll have another month until I can return to regular duty. The road is long, but I can see the light at the other end. I'm grinding out my 6 days a week of leg exercises and almost enjoying it. I'm cleared to ride trails that are less steep, but hey at least it's outside. Watching the flat screen in front the basement spin bike was getting a little stale. I've also finally got back on the weights, I see lots of squats in my future.

Back to the outdoors, everyone has been enjoying the blast of life that has hit the valley. I'm reminded how much I love spring in Montana every year. Lilacs and fruit trees spill forth the color that we've missed for the long winter months. Hopefully you too are out enjoying spring and getting after it. Check back soon for some lively Montana spring pictures. Cheers

Camping along the Blackfoot River

I can't say how lucky I feel to have camped the last 2 weekends and wore shorts with flipflops the whole night. Both spots were along the Blackfoot River at fishing access points. How was the fishing? Huh, nothing doing but the chilling, views and beers were great. We're guessing this will be the last camp trip of the season. All in all I think we spent 6 nights camping with the girls this summer. Much improved over last summer with only one night. They are really getting into it and refuse to wear shoes, that's my girls.

Tic, Tic, Tic...do you hear that?

That's the sound of summer slipping away. With a mere 17 days left in the oh so short summer of Montana we eeked out another picture perfect day enjoying the bounty of the local area. Armed to the teeth with toddlers we struck out for the Clark Fork with the rafts and way too many snacks. Only an hour after our agreed meeting time we left for the put-in. Those kiddos seem to have an effect on punctuality, weird.

Five kids all under the age of five, good times indeed. They thoroughly enjoyed the 4 hour float, of course the lollipops, Cheezits, string cheese, juice and crackers helped. We were even able to wet the lines and land a few dinks. Another first for the girls.





And last week we had the opportunity to listen to the great music of Bruce Threlkeld at the Ten Spoon Winery here in Missoula. By the way the 2007 Prairie Thunder Petite Sirah is damn tasty. The venue is nothing short of perfect, wine, views, music and open skies.

Water

It seems like you can't get enough of it or be close enough to it during the summer. As the days start to shorten here in Montana, I find myself trying to incorporate it into my plans as much as possible. Here's a few pics from this summer's water escapades.

P-dog commanding the water gun

Up the trail from one of Montana's finest sandy beaches

Another sandy beach just down the road from the house

And as usual I'll throw in something that might make you damn. This boy has some ballz and then some. This is on the Truckee river in Tahoe, like they say if you're gonna be tough you gotta be stupid.

Western Montana lakes

Recently the family and I got out of the Missoula Valley and did some camping near some of Western Montana's finest lakes. We set up camp at Holland lake for 3 nights, relaxing and exploring the lakes shore. There were 2 campgrounds to chose from, both of them were pretty full with many of them reserved for the weekend. The mosquitos were a bit thick, but nothing a little deet couldn't take care of. Reapplication was key. One of the girls faces got absolutely hammered by the little buggers, coincidence that she's the one with the sweet tooth? Hmmm

We hiked up to Holland Falls (3 miles RT) and took in the great views of the Mission Range. I think the girls enjoyed the hike even more than we did, as they rode in the backpacks the entire way. We're thinking this summer might be the last time they take advantage of that luxury.

On of the other days we needed some downtime (see tired of chasing the girls around) so we got in the car and drove down to Seeley. The DVD player was just what the doctor ordered and the girls were soon quiet, call us lazy....whatever. The day use beach at Seeley is great, so we lounged and enjoyed the dull roar of watercraft in the background. A burger and icecream down at Bayside Burgers, we were all set. On the way back up north, we decided to stop at all the lakes and check out their campgrounds.

We checked out the trailhead for Clearwater Canoe Trail, sounded interesting... one of these days I might have to get a canoe and try it out. Lakes Alva and Inez had some nice campgrounds. Rainy Lake looked nice, a little more primitive without the facilities for motorhomes etc. And Lindbergh Lake was beautiful, we couldn't believe all the homes that surrounded the lake.

The next day we picked up camp and headed north up Highway 83 towards Bigfork. Avoiding the tourist trap that Bigfork seems to be, we stopped in a Flathead Lake Brewing Company in Lakeside. They've got a great outdoor seating area and an even better Imperial IPA. Their pizza hit the spot. Next stop was Finley Point on Flathead lake, an awesome waterfront cabin owned by a retired MFD fire chief. We had a great time on the boats. The grand finale? A tweaked right knee, how bad? I'm not sure at this point, but its pretty swollen although it seems to be improving.

All in all we couldn't have asked for any better weather or company. The temps were in the high eighties and low 90's all week, with no wind or clouds. I took quite a few pictures and have whittled them down, have a look over here (there's a few from aren't from the trip in there too)

http://picasaweb.google.com/kneetopia/MissoulaSummer?feat=directlink





If you double click on these, they'll open up into a bigger screen for better viewing pleasure. Thanks for looking

Conflict of the seasons

Last Saturday proved to be too nice and a few of us took advantage of it. We ambled slow, very slowly down the Bitterroot. Crazy there was not a patch of snow or a piece of ice on the entire 5 hour float. But thats what you get when its 55 degrees in March. Not quite as warm as this 2008 trip

What season is it? Snapped these before leaving Missoula

My quest to get sunburned

Hot Damn! It's a heat wave in Western Montana. We've had 3 glorious days of much needed warmth and sunshine. Today the temp got to 79! It doesn't take long to notice that people have been enjoying it, just look around at the sunburned faces. I noticed 2 different guys at a BBQ yesterday that had the tell tale signs of floating a river, racoon eyes.

Did I have sunburn envy? Maybe.....I thought about getting out on the river. T and I gazed up at the Bitterroots from our friends house in Stevi, missing that view that we too used to have. Not too long after that I got a picture text from my buddy, a new raft sitting his garage.

"4 hr Broot tomorrow?"

"Hell yes, I'm in"

And so my quest for sun began. Being that I really haven't done anything "outside" for 2 months, I was jacked. We got out of town on a leisurely pace and headed for the Root. I dropped J off at Bell Crossing, then I took the truck and trailer to the Stevi take out. I then rode my bike 7 miles back up to the put in.

Alas, the sun was strong, but the fishing was lacking. We got Skunked, with a capital S. We missed 2 fish and probably saw 20 risers. We both kept waiting for the bugs to turn on. We saw a few skwalas, but not a lot. We ended up trying everything, buggers, streamers, all the dries....nothing.

But I did get my sunburn, so who cares?