This past weekend Hunter graduated from his one year program at Montana Wilderness School of the Bible. It’s been a fast 9 months.
Abbie and I flew out to Montana and attended the graduation and then we drove home with Hunter in his rig. He will be home for a couple months getting surgery on his wrist + recovery.
We snapped a couple of cool picks of the windmills and farmland on the north central Oregon plateau on the way home.
This weekend there has been a deep cold snap across the northwest!
Hunter is near a town called Augusta Montana and they had temps down to -57 F. They had fun throwing hot water inter the air watching it instantly freeze.
Kelly and Abbie were in Portland this weekend. It usually just rains in the winter but they had temps down below zero with windchill and snow on the ground!
PJ, Noah and I were in Bend. We also had some cold temps -6/7 F all day on Saturday with over 12 inches of snow. Still cold today in single digits (around 5) so a little warmer and sun!
Hunter finished the first two weeks of school and as a school they went on a fall backpacking trip for 7 days. Each student could sign up for a 10, 35,45 or 70 mile trip. Can you guess which one Hunter chose? You got it…..he chose the 70 miler.
Here are the pictures of the students and a little write up of the week.
Hunter is registered to attend the Montana Wilderness School of the Bible in the fall is 2023 so we wanted to do a visit to the campus before going. The campus is located on the edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in central Montana.
We flew into Helena Montana - the capital on Wednesday and visited the capital building and surroundings.
From Helena we drove 1.5 hours north to Augusta Montana - the closest town the the school. Augusta has around 400 people. We stayed at an airbnb on the edge of town and grabbed dinner at a local diner
Thursday we visited the school. Sat in on the classes and toured around. It’s a beautiful spot at the end of the road in a canyon. There is a river flowing through the campus. We stopped by a frozen lake at the entrance to the canyon where the kids go skating
Lots of beautiful open country even in the middle of winter.
Friday we travelled north to the coolest little ski hill called Teton pass. A true locals hill open open Friday to Sunday. It felt like you were transported back to the 1960s. There might have been 40 people skiing this day.
Saturday we drove back south and stopped by a semi ghost town call Marysville. From there we had lunch at Costco in Helena before heading to the airport. Helena is a small regional airport but seems pretty new. Very nice inside.
If all goes well we will be back to this area late summer to drop off Hunter for school.
Our main vacation this summer was a trip to visit our friends - the Kerr’s. Their family has a condo on whitefish Lake in Montana. After spending a couple days in northern Idaho we arrived in whitefish July 10. The days are long there in the summer, staying light until close to 11 pm. Lots of time to. Explore and play.
The condo itself is at whitefish lake lodge and is beautiful with views over the lake.
What’s nice is that the condos have access to the lodge amenities such as the private beach, pool, and pool bar.
The lodge itself looks like a really nice place to stay. Couple pictures from inside.
The family has a boat so we went tubing with the kids lots. With the early hot weather this year the lake was already warm for swimming.
On one of the days we hiked the “Danny-On” trail at big mountain (where the skiing is in winter). Hot but beautiful and the ice cream at the lodge at the top made it worthwhile. We rode the chairlift down for some great views.
There was a trail ride rental shop with a Big timber sled out front in Columbia falls that we had to stop and see.
We spend a morning shopping and exploring whitefish town.
Overall an amazing trip that was too short. We love Montana. Second summer in a row visiting and I’m sure we will be back.
While on our trip to Whitefish we journeyed into Glacier National park to see some of the amazing sites. We went in the evening and had amazing weather and the lighting was great for photos.
MacDonald Lake
Going to the sun road
Logan Pass
Some pictures from around the cabins we stayed at along the Gallatin River.
Hanging out by the river
Some more!
We were looking to find a hike that all boys could do from youngest to oldest. We decided to try a 3 mile hike to a place called Lava lake Just north of Big Sky. While only 3 miles (each way) it was uphill so by no means a walk in the park. Everyone made it, and it had to be one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever been to - the ascetic beauty and great for a dip!
The hike up:
The lake:
Today we spent the day in and around Big Sky. We got some amazing views from the chairlifts and hiking around the tops of the runs.
In the afternoon, we hiked at an area called Ousel falls near town.
