In July when it was really hot, too hot to be hiking, I foolishly decided to hike to the top of Ovando Mountain with my good friends and neighbors, Steve Kloetzel and Andrea Morgan and their kids Adin and Zia, and some of the staff of the Montana Nature Conservancy -- Laura, Erik, and Niki. Steve is the local land manager for the Nature Conservancy. Also along was Kent Perlman and his son (Chance?), and Monty Miller, another neighbor.
Steve carried Zia about half way up in a backpack; Adin was hiking in sandals, and obviously has way tougher feet than any of the rest of us. Kent had to leave early, so he and a few others headed back down from the half way point. For some dumb reason, I didn't get a picture of everyone at the cliffs half way up where we stopped for a breather.
It's about 3000 feet elevation gain, and it was hot, but we made good time and were on top in nice weather to enjoy the great view.
|
|
|
| Everyone, top of Ovando Mtn |
The mountain elfs played tricks on Monty and tripped him up, so he got a bit banged up. Here he is recovering with Laura.
 |
| Monty and Laura |
Niki was just learning how to be a rodeo queen, and she just couldn't get the hang of how to wear a hat. We were riding in the back of Steve's flatbed, and it kept blowing off. We finally took it away from her and she had to use a thermarest.
 |
 |
| Niki's new hat |
Afterwards we went swimming in the North Fork and had a BBQ with more TNC folks and friends and neighbors. Adin entertained us playing the pennywhistle and Niki made old turkeys like me feel decrepit by walking around on her hands and doing back flips. I tried standing on my hands, but I couldn't push up from standing on my head. Ugh. What a wimp.
This page last updated on 2013-10-23.
