It's one of THOSE things.....

 ....that you just have to want to do . They're usually not for everybody and quite often you end up wondering why you're doing what you're doing...know what I mean ? Well,  Wisdom Montana is one of those things. You don't get there by accident and you know you've been there if the front of your ride looks like this.

I thought I knew Mosquito's , after all if you spend a lifetime in Alaska you get used to them...But, these guys are little stealthy no swatter S.O.B.s that seem to thrive on deet . And on the morning when the temp was a cool 42 degrees the seem like it and start their day as early as we do....Then there's Ticks....my god, I'd rather deal with a brown bear than a wood tick . I felt something crawling across my thigh and looked down to see the weirdest , scratchiest bug I've ever seen / felt . I hit the brakes and swerved to a stop so I could grab him get him out of the car, he tried to burrow into my hand....ah jeez Louise, so much for my machismo.

So you go through that and some of the most remote and gorgeous country on the planet just so you can do an 8:00 a.m. soak in the soothing waters of Jackson Hot Springs and take silly pictures like this early morning O face.

  

And of course we absolutely love this place , The Lodge at Jackson Hot Springs is perfect. They have a bit of an unusual business model and I like that knowing that people like us enjoyed the freedom of running your own business any old way you'd like. The cabins are spartan, no TV, no internet and no Gidiens bible in the drawer but they're clean and comfortable . Of course the business strategy is to get you into the Lodge and drop some lettuce which is just fine with me. The staff is Chuckly, the food is fantastic, my running buddy who is the consummate carnivore had Prime Rib that fed her for 2 days . I miss my fish so I had that with about the most perfectly cooked crunchy french fries I've ever had.

Like every morning we did our walk . Grave yard with plenty of space left on one side of town and a steaming hot creek on the other side of town where when Lewis Clark found it rather than taking a bath they cooked their meat. Feel free to walk down the middle of the road when you get there, it feels great to kinda stretch the normals in our lives sometimes.

So we drive through town to see how our people live. We had noticed a sign on the road for a Mexican restaurant which I'm sure the people of Wisdom were happy to see land in their little town and we found it in a garage....perfect on those warm summer evenings you can role the door open and watch the stunning landscape and ...oooops... I forgot about the bugs....bad idea Jeff.

So we followed the Big Hole River downstream to almost Butte . It's a gorgeous river that is troubled by growth, like everywhere I guess. Water draw down for irrigation - algae growth - diminishing fish counts - and too many @#$%! guides to name a few of the problems. so having been through a bit of that kinda thing we stopped at one of the  many access points and did a video of a new song....Now don't start thinking that I'm Joe cause I'm not...but like everything I've done in my life I'm learning from the folks that do things well, like Joe .

Hope you're all enjoying the Blog, Mile 14 . I know it's kind of evolved into a personal journal . I toyed with the idea of redoing my title page and making the blog more relevant...then the left side of my brain took over and said...nah,,,,all that is what got ya to where ya are and some things ya just gotta wanna do so just let it flow Jeff, let it flow .

50 years !

 That's how long it took me to get here.

That would be the Sleeping Giant you see in the Beartooth mountains that are part of the Rockies that surround this gorgeous part of the planet earth. Everyone that's ever been to Helena Mt. would tell you the Giant is the centerpiece of this setting. 

The Beartooth Ranch is 1,000 acres that includes the Giant and has been in the Synness family for going on 200 years. So for 50 years we've heard about the Giant from people in town and of course my friend for life Curt Synness who as life goes is now the gatekeeper of the families ranch. Curt had a young couple contact him for permission to climb the mountain to celebrate a birthday and called to see if me and MPeasy would like to come along as he guided them to the trail head....

It was threatening rain and blowing 15 to 20 knots I'd guess when we met Nate and Camy  at the first of several gates. A couple were barb wire posts gates and a couple were these ingenious counterweighted swinging gate like this one Curt is opening.

We gained serious elevation as we crossed from ranch to ranch and finally pulled up to a beautiful meadow surrounded by the original cabins and the shadow of the giant. Here's a pic of the crew . Curt on the left.

Curt gave the 4 of us a cool history lesson of his grandparents and great grandparents. The history of the homestead and the hardships and joys that all went together through the years . We then walked a mile or so up to the marked trailhead that would take the young people to the nose, us ahhhh.....older folks... decided we'd just kinda call that part of the hike good enough.....here's the crew and Camy on the nose eating her birthday cake....well played mam.

That would be the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri river below pretty much in the area of Mann Gulch which is Famous for the smoke jumper tragedy years ago, this stretch of river is the prettiest place to boat that I've ever experienced, discovered and named by Lewis and Clark of course. You can see the elevation and with the wind howling and scattered rain and hail Nate and Camy summited the nose AND the chest of the Giant in 6 and 1/2 hours....And us, well we beat feet over to Curt's cabin for a civilized viewing of the wide expanses of Montana. 

They got that board nailed from the front deck out to tree they topped with about a forty foot drop down. That's about as far as I wanted to go out on it...guess I'm finally run out of stupid .

If I were one of these guys, this is the place I'd be.

and my favorite sign of the day was this one....you know how I love signs.

So,a very special day for me and MPeasy. A special day for our enduring friendship, so thanks Curt. and speaking of friendships have a lookie see at that counter. When I started Mile 14 I thought my first 10,000 reads were impressive and I was humbled and excited for that....well, here we are at 1/2 a million....that's a lot of smiles....THANK YOU to all my friends....How's about a song ?

Keep an eye out for a new Mile 14, I got a really cool song that's coming next.