Author: cosmo

It’s been two whole weeks since we were last in Glacier, and as fall comes on, we felt like we should go back to see the trees changing color. Boy, did we make the right call– the aspen was spectacular, and we couldn’t have asked for a prettier day: sunny and in the 60’s. We headed up to Logan Pass, at the summit of Going-to-the-Sun Road, where Mount Logan towers over everything:

At the pass, we loaded our packs and headed out on the Highline Trail. This is a twelve-mile trail that winds along the mountainsides, with a couple of branches that lead to Haystack Peak and Glacier Peak Chalet. We were under a bit of a time crunch today, so we couldn’t do the full trail, but we put in about five miles.

It starts out along a sheer rock wall, with a drop of several hundred feet to the highway below. Here’s Pepper as we headed out:

And coming back, where it’s a little more clear how the trail drops straight down to the road. Way cool.

Here’s another view, further down the trail, looking down to the winding highway and, below that, the valley.

So yeah, it’s not for the faint of heart, but the views are incredible. Here’s the valley:

And a view of lines of mountains, ending in Heaven’s Peak (the snow-capped one in the distance):

The colors were breathtaking. I love aspen and larch in the fall.

After we’d covered about 2.5 miles, we had a snack and turned around. We agreed to do it again– this time the full trail— next week.

But you can’t just leave Glacier after only five miles of hiking! So we spent some time along McDonald Creek, which (not surprisingly) has only a fraction of the water it did in the summer. It’s like an entirely different place! Here’s a view upstream to a small waterfall:

We decided to test the glacial meltwater, so we took off our shoes and dipped our feet into the stream. Wow. I think the water was probably 40 degrees.

I just love the crystal-clear glacier water, and the gorgeous green tint. I also love my gorgeous wife.

Looking downstream:

A bit further along is Sacred Dancing Cascade, which was incredible at low water.

Naturally we had to stop near the southern end of Lake McDonald and skip some stones (now becoming a little tradition of ours every time we visit). Like two weeks ago, the water was incredibly still. Unlike two weeks ago, we could actually see things in the distance now that the smoke has cleared.

Yep, another incredible day at one of my favorite places on earth. On the drive home, there was a beautiful sunset over Flathead Lake.

Life is good.

Yesterday we were driving along the east lake shore and I noticed some really cool “God rays” shining over Wild Horse Island.

Today marks our one-year anniversary of moving to Montana. It’s been an adventure, to be sure. We love our new home, we love the area, and we love the people we’ve met. Here’s to many more years to come!

My first attempt at designing a board game was pretty underwhelming. In my head the idea wasn’t bad, but when I made the cards for the game and attempted to play it, things just didn’t work out very well.

On my recent trip to Washington, I had six hours in the car each way when I could either listen to really loud music (which I did) or drive in quiet contemplation (which I also did). During those quieter times, I came up with the spark of an idea for a different board game. It had a few of the elements of my first aborted attempt, and as I continued to think about it, I felt like there was a hint of promise there.

Upon returning home, I wrote down the rules I’d invented. I needed some playing pieces to actually test the game, and despite my closet full of board games, I wouldn’t have enough for this. So I ordered a bunch of little “tracking cubes” and “meeples” from a board-game manufacturing company, and waited. They arrived a few days ago, which also happened to be when Julian stopped in for a visit.

I asked if he’d be willing to be a game tester for this game’s maiden voyage, and he agreed. We sat down, I explained the rules, and we started playing. We adjusted the rules a bit as we found what worked and what didn’t, and he had some good suggestions for minor changes. Here he is, contemplating his next move:

It probably took us two hours to play that very first game. The board got pretty busy after a while, with lots of little wooden pieces everywhere.

After it ended, we both agreed: it wasn’t terrible. Sure, there were some mechanics that weren’t quite right, and we couldn’t come up with a great way to tally up the victory points at the end. But considering it was basically something I made up during a road trip, I was pretty pleased.

We immediately started another game, this time using some significant changes Julian suggested. That game proved to be a lot of fun too– especially now that we sort of understood some strategy– but the endgame didn’t work out. Ah, well, we learned a few more things and can take them back to the drawing board.

So, I’m going to continue refining it. Maybe it will end up being a not-so-terrible game that I can introduce to my friends.

Oh, and I named it Hexteria. We’ll see if it sticks.

Julian is visiting, and he wanted to do a bunch of “Montana stuff”. Sadly, there’s smoke drifting from the western wildfires, and everything’s been hazy for a few days now. We can’t even see Flathead Lake from our window!

But, he’s only here for a few days, so we decided to go out anyway. We headed up to Glacier. The day was amazingly calm, which made Lake McDonald as smooth as glass. Combined with the smoky haze, it made for a cool photo:

That one is facing south; here’s the view to the north:

Wow, the water was so clear! You can see the rocks right through it. I took a picture of them and adjusted the color a bit (for artistic effect), but you can’t even tell these are underwater:

Someone tested their cairn skills.

Because the water was so incredibly still, we couldn’t resist skipping some stones.

We continued onward, hiking up to Avalanche Lake. Here’s part of Avalanche Creek, which has some terribly cool carved red rocks:

A little further along the trail, I took a few more photos of the creek.

The view at the lake was a little disappointing with all the haze. The sheer mountainside in the distance just looked faded.

Julian enjoyed climbing around on rocks to get some good photos:

Here’s my amazing wife:

After hiking for a while, we made a few more stops along the river, and decided to finish with our traditional stop near the southern end of Lake McDonald. By now the sun was lower in the sky, and the smoke made for some incredible views over the glass-still lake.

A few ducks decided to cross the lake.

And of course we had to skip some more stones.

It was a great day to visit Glacier– I continue to be amazed at how different the park is each time we go!

The coordinators for the seminary program asked all of the teachers to take photos of our students. In keeping with tradition, I brought a bunch of goofy hats and wigs to class, and handed them out. The results were awesome, of course. Here’s my class:

Let’s not forget my lovely team teacher:

Yep, it’s gonna be a good year.

It’s another gorgeous day, and since summer is winding down, we felt like we needed to take advantage of the warm sun. We loaded up the yaks and headed to Swan River.

The water was like glass… in fact, it was hard to tell the river was even flowing, which was great because we paddled a few miles upstream and then came back. A few dragonflies hitched a ride with me; here’s one who sat on my bow for quite a while:

Wow.

This morning there was apparently a turkey convention in our front yard.

They say the number and extent of the wildfires burning in the western United States is unprecedented. I was amazed when I saw photos from California and Oregon, all taken in the morning or midday:

Our friends in Colorado tell us that ash has been falling from the sky (although the sky doesn’t have these hellish colors). Scary stuff.

It’s been a little over a year since I “retired” from seminary. After teaching for four years, it was bittersweet to be finished and moving on to different things. Well, we moved a thousand miles away, but apparently I couldn’t escape destiny. I was just called to teach seminary again. And in a super cool twist, Pepper is my co-teacher!

Class starts next week, so we’ve spent many hours in the past few weeks preparing, studying, and meeting all the youth and their parents. We don’t know many of them, so it was a good opportunity to introduce ourselves and get to know a little about each of them. It seems like a great group.

Today we went to the church building (which has been closed for nearly six months now) to set up our classroom. We’ll be teaching in person, which I think will be far better than hosting online lessons. Fortunately I was able to set up the classroom similar to how I’d done it in the past:

We’ll all sit in a big square, on the same level, where everyone can easily see everyone else (no staring at the back of someone’s head, or listening to comments from people in the back). I think it’ll be a welcome change.

I’m excited to return to my favorite calling, and start a new journey with these Montana kids. Let the new adventure begin!