Hike to Beaver Ponds, Rodeo

I'll show you some of the pictures from out hike last Friday (the 13th!) and a couple from the Gardiner Rodeo that evening.

It was a glorious day for a hike. We thought the Beaver Ponds hike was classified as "easy" and was no more than a couple of miles. It turned out to be a "moderate" hike and 5 miles long - a lot of that close to vertical. We managed it OK, but Lorraine's knee gave her some problems toward the end. We had to head straght for the lounge for a beer at the end. After that we decided that we really enjoyed the hike.

I'll mostly let the pics speak for themselves. They are straight out of the camera, since I had no time for edits.

As we approached a hill or a curve in the path, we made all sorts of noise to let the bears know that humans were coming. The worst thing you can do is surprise a bear - especially one with cubs. You can see the Beaver ponds themselves, a beautiful pair of antlers, a wonderful view of Gardiner, MT from way up high. One picture shows both the old and new roads to Gardiner from Mammoth.

We saw a mule deer in the middle of the trail. We had to shoo her away to get by. There was a single Pronghorn in a field just below the trail, and a herd of elk not far away. Alas, no bears!

I'll end with a couple of pictures from the Gardiner Rodeo, Friday evening. Sorry about the rail in the middle of the pictures. However, we are glad it was there. This stuff is violent. The local color was a lot of fun.

I have to stop and go to work. I hope this makes some sense.

We go to the Lake area tomorrow to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary, which was Tues.

Bye for now.

Doug P.