Summertime, and the living's EZ

In a list format, this is just a reminder, mostly to myself, but others are welcome to read, of the things I've done this summer.  It's been a BUSY one!  Had a bit of a late start since returning from China due to a rainy spring, but overall it's been a great summer.  Definitely have been making the most of my '4 days', which we refer to as our time off when you work our schedule, which is 48 hours on and 96 off, or more simply 2 on 4 off.  Because of my schedule, my summer kind of goes something like this:  Get off work, pack up truck/car/motorcycle, hit the road to go camp/climb/etc.., get back last day and unpack, work 2 days, get off work and repeat.

-Solo motorcycle trip to central Oregon, crashed my bosses camp outside of Bend (no, I didn't crash, I just crashed his camp).  My longest single day of riding that first day, 470 miles.  Rode from Bend through the backside of Mt. Hood and on to Hood River for another night.

-Motorcycle trip with Amanda to Grand Coulee Dam

-Truck trip to Bigfork, MT for the whitewater kayak festival and Quinn's Hot Springs

-Motorcycle trip with Amanda to Canada to do one of the beautiful Selkirk Loop rides.  We stopped over in Nelson, took the Ferry to Balfour, and ended up coming back to Idaho through Bonner's Ferry.

-Day trip on motorcycle to Thompson Falls, Mt over Thompson Pass, always a beautiful ride.

-Rode motorcycle to meet friends in Riggins, ID for white water rafting trip on the Salmon River.  A fire department red shift traditional trip.

-Took car with Amanda to Jackson Hole, WY to meet my friend Terry, a Canadian turned Australian who I met earlier this year in China.  He was doing a Northwest U.S. and Canada trip so it was a good place to meet him during his travels and do some climbing and whitewater rafting on the Snake, River.  We camped just outside of the Teton National Park with a great view of the range.  We had many meals and beverages at The Snake River Brewery, the best brewery in the world is all :)

-After returning from Jackson and working 2 days we turned right around and headed the same direction towards Colorado.  This trip was a pack the truck full of gear to survive 2 weeks living in it trip.  This is my annual 2 week self named "Mountains and Microbrews" trip that I usually take in Oregon, and consists of the obvious, climbing mountains and scoping out new breweries.  We covered all of Montana including a stop in Billings for Montana Brewing Co. and most of Wyoming the first day of the drive and only had a few hours left in the morning to get to our first destination, Boulder, CO.  We spent a few days in Boulder doing some climbing, mountain biking, hiking, and exploring of the yuppy, overcrowded, but cool town.  Next stop was through Boulder Canyon to camp outside of Nederland.  After getting rained out climbing here, we took off to spend a few days in Estes Park, the gateway town to Rocky Mtn. National Park.  We found an awesome place to camp nestled way up on the nob of a mountain that overlooks the park.  From there we hiked in roughly an hour each day to a climbing area, and each day hiked/ran back to the truck being chased by rain and typical afternoon thunderstorms that happen in the Rockies.  We spent a day driving through Rocky Mtn. Park but didn't do any climbing, just did the tourist thing.  After the park we ended up in Steamboat Srings, CO.  I contacted a friend that I thought was living there at the time and I just happened to be right.  In fact he was working at one of the timeshare resorts by one of the local ski areas in town and he hooked us up with a free timeshare that was disgustingly huge and fancy.  We would have been happy parking the truck in his driveway, but we settled for a this 3 room suite complete with hot tub, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, living room, etc....  In Steamboat, which is an awesome town btw, we went hot springing, mountain biking, hiking to the falls that is advertised on the Coors can, and sampled the nightlife with our friends.  Steamboat was our last official destination, then the trek home through Dinosaur State Park, Flaming Gorge, and the Wind River Range began.  We made it as far as the southern end of the Bitteroots in MT before we spent the night coming home.  The next day was a leisurely pace from Salmon, Idaho and up to Missoula to get home.  In 2 weeks we covered parts of 5 states (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah).

-I drove to Canada to climb the south ridge of Mt. Gimli with a guy named Matt from Leavenworth, WA.  It was a climb I had wanted to do for quite some time and was worth every bit of getting up there.  It is located in the Valhalla Provincial Park, and is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I have ever seen.  The climb was equally as pleasing, as it is one of Fred Beckey's 100 Classic North American Climbs.  It was a 14 hour day from truck to the mountain / climb / and back to the truck.

-Relaxed near home for a weekend to go to the Silver Mountain Microbrew Festival and took a day trip on the bike up to Priest Lake.

-Amanda, Cliff, and I Made a trip in the truck to Lake Koocanusa to climb at Stone Hill.  Always an enjoyable trip that we try and make time for every year.  We love the area, the climbing, and the lack of people.  I have loved this area since I was a little kid when when we used to come here a lot to go fishing and camping.