Counting the Days

Ya-hey.

Well, I’m not actually counting the days. Well, maybe I am. Regardless, the post title comes from the Collective Soul song, not from my state of mind. Even if I am counting the days. Right-o.

As it happens, I’m listening to Collective Soul very quietly, mostly because I can’t get my door closed because there’s too much stuff in the way. My room is really a most amazing mess right now. I can’t hardly see the floor. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight, because my bed is covered in all sorts of stuff, and there isn’t space on the floor for the stuff on my bed. Maybe I can sleep on top of it.

Of course, however I sleep, I’ll probably sleep better than I did last night. For some reason, I decided (while camping out w/ Sagar in Veadeawoo) that I would sleep under the stars, with an old army blanket as my only protection against the elements. Fortunately, it didn’t rain, but it was a long and cold night just the same. For the record, sleeping out under the stars is overrated. There is, in fact, a reason they sell tents.

But yeah. So Sagar, his little brother and I got up at like 6:00AM and climbed for a few hours out in Veadeawoo. Being on real rocks is both surprisingly similar and surprisingly different from the sport-gym experience that I’ve been accustomed to. It’s a good time, regardless.

I’ve been considering becoming Buddhist.

Not really. Well, the thought did cross my mind, but only for a brief moment. Go figure.

Montana was wonderful, albeit entirely too short. I love the country, and I love the people. I find myself a little disconcerted about the lack of sales tax, but somehow the mountains and sky make up for it…

It was good to see my brother, his wife, and my sister for a few days. Lord knows it’s going to be long enough until the next opportunity to see both of my siblings at the same time.

On Tuesday we hiked up to Inspiration Point at Jenny Lake. At the point, there was a multitude of friendly and hungry chipmunks. Fortunately for them, we happened to have a few extra Cheese-Its to share. I managed to sneak a video clip, which you can see here: eateggs.com/upload/chipmunk.avi (12mb avi– 56k== your life sucks as much as mine).

After Inspiration Point, my brother and I continued up the trail to Solitude Lake (9000 ft), which was just high enough for there to still be plenty of snow around.

Don’t be deceived by Brian’s bare-chestedness. Instead, realize that he’s standing in snow, and the snow submerged in the water isn’t melting.

Not to be outdone by Brian, I found myself wading out to the to this island in the middle:

For those of you who have never been in sub-40 degree mountain water, the most noticeable effect of the cold is that it becomes difficult to breathe because your chest is contracting.

Anyhow. We made it to the island, and jumped off the other side where it was a little more deep. And good god– talk about COLD!

All in all, though, I think the Solitude Lake trip was prolly the highlight of the trip (well, Montana adventures being in a league of their own…). It was a 18.5mi hike, round-trip.

There was also an enjoyable white-water raft trip, the obligatory trip through Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, Mammoth Springs, etc.

And then it was over. And now I’m back at home, and not looking forward to waking up at 6:00AM tomorrow morning to go move dirt. But such is life.

Well… my apologies that this post has been entirely devoid of humor (chipmunk aside, I suppose), humanity or wit. I’ll do better next time.

In the mean time, I’m going to try to find a place to sleep. Whoo!