Sunday, August 12, 2012

5-12 August, 2012 - More camper mods, Camping, bicycle riding, kids-n-grandkids.

We were gone most of the week camping at Red Meadow Lake north of Whitefish, Montana and at our favorite huckleberry spot.  Before we left we finished up more of the interior of the camper.

I put the panelling on the framework around the bed area.

Susan painted the new shelving and installed it on the side walls.  She also put better curtains over the food storage area and put some decorative trim around the top of the walls.  She's also packing to go camping.

This is the area around Red Meadow Lake.  There are a couple of marshes at the top.  This is looking west from our campsite.

This is Red Meadow Lake to our north.  It's a beautiful little lake at the top of the pass.

This is looking east from our campsite.  The treeless parts of the slopes are winter avalanche chutes.  There have been several snowmobilers killed when they triggered avalanches while "high-marking."  They attempt to take their snowmobiles to the very top but few have ever done it.  It takes a very powerful machine and skilled rider.  The slope is  lot steeper than it looks in this picture.

The last time we were there the snow was about fifteen feet deep where the camper is sitting.

Scott loves to climb so we always park the bicycles in such a way that they won't fall if he climbs up on them.  He's making "motor" sounds as he pretends to ride the bike.

Being a toddler he eats his peanut butter sandwiches from the peanut butter side first.  Maybe someday he'll get the idea of eating the bread too.

We took a bike ride toward Glacier Park (east).  These are some of the wild flowers along the road.

We went about 17 miles round trip with the way back all going up hill.  We took a break along the stream and the dog decided to cool off her feet a bit. 

This picture is in the wrong order.  It should be under the next one.  This was taken where we turned around to go back to camp.  The peaks are in Glacier National Park.

This is the view of GNP from where we began our ride.  The road goes through the valley.

This is part of Upper Whitefish Lake.  It's about 6 miles from here up to Red Meadow Lake.  This is a very popular lake for fishing.  All the best places were taken and it was only Wednesday. 

This is where we parked to pick huckleberries.  The road that direction leads to the fire lookout.

If you go this direction you'll end up at Highway 93.

Even though our parking spot was relatively level if the truck rolled back it was all downhill.  I blocked the tires then anchored the truck to a tree for a little added security.

The bushes you see are Thimbleberries.  They look like raspberries and have a mild raspberry flavor to them.  They were loaded with unripe berries.

The huckleberries were pretty sparse.  I forgot to take a camera with me and didn't feel like going back down (then back up!) just to take pictures.  We got enough for a fresh huckleberry pie which Susan made the first night.  We also had huckleberry pancakes with a few huckleberries left over. 

On our road home.  Montana is an open range state meaning that it's not required to fence in your cattle or other livestock so it's not unusual to see small herds on the road.  In this case the fences are to keep the cows out rather than in.

Two of the kids and their spouses came up Friday.  Of course Scott was ecstatic to have all the live entertainment.

Saturday morning I took a little time to shoot my Sharps replica (45/70).  I've never liked the sights on the rifle so I modified them slightly by filing the notch deeper.  It's much easier to acquire a good sight picture now.  I only had about 7 cartridges loaded up for it but I don't often shoot it much more than that at a single time anyway.  The recoil can get a little rough and I don't like developing bad habits like flinching.  I have the same rule with the 338 Win. Mag.

I found one of my mouse traps that I'd forgotten about.  Of course there wasn't a lot left of the mouse!

Had another daughter and her husband come on Saturday.  This is our youngest grandchild (for  now, we have another one due in September).

This is Hanna.  If you read our blog a couple of years ago when we were in Nevada you saw her there also.

This is Logan.  He's a couple of months younger than Scott.

After my shooting session I was going to load up some more 45/70 ammo until I found out that I needed to lube and size some more bullets.  I use Lee Liquid Alox lube and a Lee sizer die.  It works okay but is slow.  These are 405 grain flat nose bullets.  I cast using a Lee Bullet mold.

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