Today, we shuttled to the Flying Diamond Ranch at the base of the Absaroka Mountains, where we met some real Montana cowboys. Brothers, Jack and Martin Davis, grew up on this ranch, where they raise cattle and take guests on horseback to trails up in the hills of their ranch. The trails were rugged and the views were fantastic. Jack and Martin did a great job of explaining the geology of the area and the history of the wildlife.

Horses at the Flying Diamond Ranch

Martin - a real Montana cowboy, and a guest on Be Careful

Jack - a real Montana cowboy

On the trail

After the ride, we returned to the Chico Lodge for a picnic lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and hot tomato soup. It was a good fuel up for our last bike ride of the week. After lunch we shuttled north from the lodge to 5 Mile Creek. We biked on a paved country highway through the foothills of the Absaroka Mountains. It was a good mixtures of downhills and short uphills. Matty K. even prepared homemade ice cream roadside…at this point, I wasn’t surprised. We eventually made our way back to the lodge and got cleaned up for dinner. We had a short soak in the hot spring pool and then enjoyed one final meal at the Chico Dining Room. After dinner, Matty shared a slide show created with photos he’d been compiling throughout the week. It was a good time to relax and reminisce on the short (but action-filled) week. He then presented the guests with one final Wow Gift, 2009 Austin-Lehman T-shirts…on a silver platter of course.

This week, Bill shares his “Rules for Reading a Book”.

Rule #1:
Always check the copyright date before reading a book. Subtract one year from that date and you are close to the year that the author finished writing the book. Why is this important? Example: A book on terrorism written in 2000 will be completely different than one written in 2002 after 9/11. The publication date will give you a good perspective! By the way: this is as important for fiction as it is for non-fiction.

Rule #2:
Alternate! If you love fiction, make sure that one out of three books that you read is non-fiction and vice-versa. You will enjoy your reading even more. Its like “cleaning your palate” in between sipping two different wines.

Rule #3:
Keep a book diary. It’s cool to look at the diary at the end of the year and see how many books you have read. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Buy one of those little Moleskin notebooks at the bookstore. Write down the following:

• Month you read the book
• Title
• Author
• Copyright year
• Short comment: Example “ I loved it, I bought copies for each of my son’s for Christmas”

Rule #4:
If there is a book that you have interest in, but don’t feel that you would have time to read it? Then get the book on CD and listen to it in the car, or as you go to sleep at night. The secret to recorded book listening is to find a book narrated by the author. When it is their “stuff” that they are reading, it sounds wonderful!

Rule #5:
Always! And I mean Always! Bring a book or books with you when you travel. No matter what happens….snowstorm, sprained ankle, canceled flight; you can turn any situation into quality time with a good book!

Safe reading my friends!
Bill

Today was a great sightseeing day. We were able to see a lot of natural features as well as wildlife. Our first stop was at Artist Point, on the south rim of the Yellowstone Canyon. This area is a popular viewing point of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone as well as Lower Falls. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is an erosional feature that resembles a mini version of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The canyon is up to 900 feet deep in places and gets up to half a mile in width. Today, the canyon is still being eroded by the Yellowstone River.

Our next stop was at the Brink of the Upper Falls on the north rim of the canyon. The Upper Falls is the shorter of the 2 falls at just over 100 feet tall. A short jaunt down put us right at the edge of the falls. This observation point provided a great view of the canyon and the river. Another short shuttle brought us to the Brink of the Lower Falls, also on the north rim of the canyon. The Lower Falls is the tallest waterfall in Yellowstone Park at a height of 308 feet. A half a mile of paved switchbacks brought us to the observation point. The power and magnitude of these falls is truly breathtaking and it is amazing to just stand and watch. To top it off, Matty K. surprised us with a silver platter of Bruschetta when we arrived.

View of Lower Falls from Artist Point

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Lower Falls from Artist Point

Brink of the Upper Falls

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Our next destination would be the Boiling River. Our shuttle ride took longer than expected, because of some amazing wildlife we encountered. Our first encounter was a rogue male bison. He was sitting peacefully in an open field, catching some rays of sun. Our next encounter was a grizzly bear just before we reached Mount Washburn. We were able to get a good look at the bear as it dug through the dirt looking for insects. A few miles past Tower Fall, we spotted a female black bear with a cub. We also saw another grizzly bear further off the road and I wasn’t able to get a picture of it.

Rogue Male Bison

Grizzly Bear

Female Black Bear

After passing by Mammoth Hot Springs, we arrived at the Boiling River. We had a nice lunch of wraps and sandwiches and then made our way to the river. The Boiling River exists where a large hot spring flows into the Garnder River creating a warm pool suitable for soaking. After a good soak, we shuttled to the small park entrance town of Garnder to meet our river rafting group. The rest of the afternoon was spent rafting the Yellowstone River, which was great fun.

After rafting, Matty K. treated us to root bear floats and a little kite flying expedition. Our hotel for tonight was Chico Hot Springs Resort. Chico is a historic resort that is nestled in the foothills of the Absaroka mountain range. We enjoyed an outstanding dinner at their restaurant and a relaxing soak in the natural hot spring pools.

We started today off with another buffet breakfast at the 320 Ranch and then it was off to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was established as a national park in 1872 by the U.S. Congress “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People”. We ran into quite a bit of traffic shortly after entering the park gates, but realized quickly that it was due to a couple of bald eagle sightings. Our first stop was at the Lower Geyser Basin. We walked by several thermal features including a spring named Leather Pool, a mudpit named Fountain Paint Pot and geyser named Spasm Geyser.

Leather Pool

Fountain Paint Pot

Spasm Geyser

Our next stop took us for a short hike to a “secret” vantage point of the remarkable Grand Prismatic Spring. This spring is the largest hot spring in the United States and the third largest hot spring in the world. This was my favorite site of the day.

Grand Prismatic Spring

After arriving at Old Faithful Village, we were treated to a hot picnic lunch, consisting of tacos, nachos and all the fixins. It was delicious and just what the doctor ordered! After lunch we were able to witness a national treasure in action…Old Faithful. An ice cream cone kept us busy as we waited for the next eruption and the wait was well worth it.

Taco Time!

There she blows!

Waiting for Old Faithful to do her thing.

We then shuttled to our accommodations for the night, Lake Yellowstone Hotel. The hotel is on the banks of Lake Yellowstone and our rooms had outstanding views of the lake. We enjoyed a very nice dinner at the hotel and a walk along the lake to end the night.

Lake Yellowstone Hotel

Lake Yellowstone

We started our day this morning with a terrific buffet breakfast at the 320 Ranch. Our meal included scrambled eggs, bacon and hashbrowns, along with several choices of fruit, cereal, toast and juice. After breakfast, we hopped in the van and shuttled through the town of Big Sky to our stop at the Beehive Basin Trailhead.

Our cabins at the 320 Guest Ranch

The Beehive Basin trailhead

This trail gave us spectacular views of several mountain ranges and high peaks, including Lone Peak, which is park of the Big Sky Resort ski area. The hike was about 6 miles total and included steep uphills, meandering switchbacks and a mountain lake at the top. We stopped midway for a snack of giant pretzels and Easy Cheese (at the guest’s request), and had sandwiches, fruit and dessert at the lake when we reached the top.

Matty K. nibbling on moose droppings

Midway snack and Lone Peak

Eating lunch by the mountain lake

Beehive Basin

After our hike, we contemplated a zip line run in Big Sky, but we ultimatly decided to return to the 320 Ranch for a few hours of downtime. Later that evening we joined other ranch guests and members of the community for their weekly pig roast. We were serenaded by acoustic guitar and singing and indulged in the pig we saw being prepared the night before.

Dinner!

It was a grand time!

After dinner, Matty K. shuttled us to a private fire pit for marshmallow roasting and campfire songs. It was a memorable night cap!

Getting the fire started.

Matty K. and the guests roasting mallows