My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

As the old saying goes "all good things must come to an end" and so it was that we headed back to the rig.....



This time we took an entirely different route.....we crossed the trail at one point but mostly we just wandered in the direction of the rig. I had spotted a herd of elk to the south when we were on that sunmit and that got me to thinking that we just might get lucky and find a set of antlers (sheds).....




.....and the best way to do that is to stay away from the trails. The dogs.....they had something else on their minds.....water.....



One thing about a thirsty dog is that they become focused on their thirst mostly and not too much else.....and eventually they'll wander far off searching for water.....forgetting about their hiking companion(s).....



We hiked and hiked and we never found a single antler.....we never saw a single Grizzly Bear.....but eventually we did once again come across the remains of what appeared to be that tiny glacier.....



The dogs were probably a good half mile or more ahead of me when they arrived, and by the time I arrived, they were both drenched in that cool glacier water.....




Now this little ice feature.....maybe a half mile in length.....was exactly what the dogs needed. Water to cool their parched throats and ice to cool their skin and coats.....



The dogs got bored with the large somewhat flat slabs of ice and began to explore along the baseline of the tiny glacier.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Trapper seemed to be particularly intrigued with this ice feature.....Tanner.....he seemed to follow me while Trapper hugged the edge of the ice feature.....



I wasn't particularly concerned when I noticed that Trapper began to walk underneath the ice wall.....Tanner seemed maybe a little concerned.....



We continued to loiter around the ice wall.....and the longer we loitered, the deeper under the ice feature Trapper went.....




Before I knew it Trapper was doing a belly crawl.....getting as low as she possibly could.....and went deeper and deeper underneath the ice wall.....



Now I was just taking pictures of her not thinking that this situation was particularly dangerous.....I actually thought it was kind of humorous.....until she disappeared into an ice cave and I didn't see her again.....



A few minutes passed by and now I'm frantically calling her name.....whistling like a wild man having gone into total panic. The entrance to the cave was not much larger than her body diameter so there was no way that I could go after her.....

I wondered was it dark in there ? Did light filter through the ice ? Was there adequate space to even turn around ? Was the ice stable ? Could it all come crumbling down ?

I was in total freak out mode until finally I saw this.....



Look at the face ! The face of a true adventurer.....



If dogs could / do smile.....then I'd definitely say that that's a smile on that dogs' face.....



Sometimes you just gotta take some risks in life. It seems to me that whatever she saw in there was well worth the risk that she took. The whole experience made me wish that I too could have crawled into that tiny ice cave to have seen what she had seen.....

I often like to say that we go to new places to "see what we can see".....

Trapper.....she's a.....

Lucky dog.....

 

[chet6.7]

Checking for mammoths.

 

[Foy]

Great pics! Showing the elevation of Tolman had me scratching my head for a moment as I recalled Montana's high point being something under 14,000'. I see that Tolman is in Wyoming. I don't expect you'll see big money invasion of the Beartooths any time soon since they're a solid mass of Forest Service and BLM land while the Crazies are the checkerboard of public/private which arose from the land grants to the railroads in the late 1800s.

 

[Sierra Valley]

This is a spot id like to visit in the Beartooths might have to take the jeep. https://maps.app.goo.gl/S4EWLUMRbBHJtcWD6

As far as spending money and time on climate change that's a waste of money when you have China, India and other up and coming country's pollution unchecked. The demise of public access is going to be the sxs....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

chet6.7.....if we could be so lucky to find a dinosaur bone.....

Foy.....just today I read an article that stated that 2/3 of the private land in Montana is owned by 4,000 private individuals / corporations (think Ted Turner for one). Nothing surprises me anymore.....

Sierra Valley.....you could only access that area with 4 wheel drive. I tried taking my rig to Independence, Montana a few years ago (I posted on here) and it was impossible to get to. I didn't have my Jeep with me then but I've thought that I'd like to get back there one day (with the Jeep).....it must be magical there.....



Shortly after that trip to the Beartooth Mountains the highway was closed temporarily for a few days due to a snowstorm and a week after that it closed for good due to a blizzard.....

And then it was October.....2025.....the leaves turned golden and the crystal clear water somehow turned even more crystal clear.....a mountain phenomena.....I believe.....



At the cabin.....down in the valley.....trees too began to take on that golden hue.....




As October passed the drought continued.....I watered my trees and plants constantly.....preparing them for the frigid temperatures that can be expected during a Montana winter.....





We'd often drive into Bozeman, Montana and walk along the streets.....the southside of town mostly.....




And sometimes down Main Street as well.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

A friend came to town.....



......I needed to make another trip to the hospital to have a test performed on my heart.....a full day in the hospital was going to be required.....




We decided to make it a road trip since the hospital wasn't local.....it was a 200 mile drive.....





The towering Cottonwoods.....their golden tones were especially spectacular.....I never tired of walking these streets.....nor did the dogs and my friend.....



I envied the family that owned this particular house.....this one really spoke to me.....a small lot in the city yet it almost appeared to be on a mountainside somewhere far from the city.....



On the southeast side of Bozeman, Montana there's Pete's Hill.....another great place for long walks just on the outskirts of town.....



The views from up there.....overlooking town.....are superb. And the trails.....they too are special.....miles of them.....

 

[Foy]

Yeah, not surprised by the "2/3rds of private owned by 4,000 individuals/corporations" statistic, but I'd want some additional info before getting too worried about it: Certainly Ted Turner comes to mind and is within the 4,000, but likely that many (most?) of the remaining are actual working ranches or farms which are still in a chain of family ownership within small business corporate or LLC structures. In short, not every (or not even many?) of the 4,000 individual + corporate owners are detached non-resident "trophy ranch" folks such as Russell Gordy down in the Crazies. I even hesitate to criticize Gordy in that I've read favorable things about his stewardship of property outside of the more ostentatious trappings around Hunter Hot Springs. And at least here in the East, Ted Turner is praised for his wildlife protections in place on his expansive ranch properties in Montana and other states. But I'll admit that podunks like yours truly aren't welcome on either Gordy's or Turner's property, so public access us surely diminishing.

 

[chet6.7]

I can smell an apple pie baking.

 

[ITTOG]

Wow, what a beautiful time to be in Bozeman. Makes me want to go again.

Seeing your property and all the work you did is amazing. Especially all the time you took to build the rock walls. I would love to know how many hours that took you! It definitely looks great.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

All the work he has done, it really does look amazing. Hard to imagine it like it was before.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Foy.....one thing that I neglected to mention is that many of these private landowners are also conservationist and they're actually a good thing. They protect and preserve the wilderness and the article stated that they're an integral part in saving the west. Without some of these landowners, large swaths of land would be bought up by developers, the land subdivided, and then there's no going back. Again, Ted Turner comes to mind. It's remarkable to see what this one man has done with his vast land empire.....

Chet6.7.....well said.....

ITTOG.....it was a great little town that's going through enormous change. I feel blessed to have discovered it more than two decades ago. Regarding the stone walls, I'd guess it may be as high as 1,000 hours. And even more hours was put into the wood walls in the cabin and the barn. Just try to imagine each board being 3.5 inches wide and covering all that territory.....

PNWY.....you alone once again are responsible for these next posts. I had no plans to post this until I read your post. A few new people read this thread and I got to thinking that they have no idea what you're talking about so these posts are for them (and quite frankly, it felt good to look at my old pictures and to reminisce).....



In 2017 I bought myself a beautiful home on a small lot in Bozeman, Montana. I quickly realized that this was the wrong home for me so I sold it and then lived in my truck camper for approximately 4.5 years. Then a friend offered to sell me a couple of acres and a cabin shell and so it was that I built this little cabin in southwest Montana.....

We broke ground on April 17, 2021.....



The footers went in on April 19, 2021.....



Next came the foundation walls on April 22, 2021.....



Before we could set the cabin shell onto the foundation, we had to build an additional support midway across the cabin base.....May 1, 2021.....



Several times progress was slowed due to cold and snow.....not unusual for Spring in Montana.....



On the morning of the move we had to take down quite a bit of fencing from several of the neighbors' properties as the cabin shell was located a half mile away. Not a single neighbor balked at our request to temporarily remove their fence and cross their property.....early morning May 3, 2021.....



The cabin shell was purchased from the owners of a home at the top of the street. It was a planned addition to their main house.....a planned in-law suite. They sold their land and had their house moved so my friend bought the addition and we had it moved onto the concrete foundation walls.....late afternoon May 3, 2021.....




The dirt that was removed for the crawl space was used to build a small screen between my property and one of the neighbors. I transplanted Quaking Aspen trees here.....this was the beginning of the transplanting of over 300 Quaking Aspen trees.....May 4, 2021.....



May 12, 2021.....now the cabin shell was securely mounted to the concrete foundation.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Next I started to demolish the side of the cabin that faced the mountains. I had big plans for this wall.....it was going to be a complete transition.....May 13, 2021.....



Once the demolition was completed, I added floor trusses and plywood flooring.....May 25, 2021.....



Bert the Hoarder (my neighbor who passed away May, 2023).....never to be forgotten.....loved the demolition faze.....he rarely left empty handed.....




Once the flooring was completed I was good to go to start on the exterior walls.....May 27, 2021.....



Access to the cabin was also a high priority.....I had to build approximately 700 linear feet of gravel driveway.....June 1, 2021.....




I added new roof trusses and covered them with new plywood. Also added plywood to the exterior wall on the side that was completely rebuilt.....June 8, 2021.....




I also needed to add a bunch of fencing.....lots of digging holes through hard packed river stone.....all by hand.....this project darn near killed me. This may have been the dogs favorite project.....they finally had a few acres to roam.....early June, 2021.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Adding the sod was another project that darn near killed me. I added seventeen pallets of sod.....



This would have been a massive cost to me but I was very fortunate here and actually a friend of a friend that owned a 600 acre sod farm gave it all to me for free.....I made many trips to the donut shop to express my gratitude.....



On the seventeenth pallet I brought a cake for the guys.....they offered me more sod and I graciously declined.....I was dead.....



I also made many trips to the dump.....old building supplies and cleaning out the barn.....



And Lowes was another place that I often visited.....they were my primary supplier of building supplies.....



I worked simultaneously on restoring the old barn while still building the cabin.....the driveway was complete.....mid June, 2021.....



I removed the not so old roof that came with the cabin and yet another friend of a friend installed all new roofing.....June 23, 2021.....




Next another friend of a friend installed the gutters and the chain downspouts.....June 29, 2021.....



Now that the new roof and the metal gutters were installed, I was able to tackle the interior.....I insulated all of the interior walls for a sound barrier.....that actually worked pretty good.....July 1, 2021.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Many other aspects of construction were taking place throughout the same time frames.....installation of the sewer system.....May 17, 2021.....





Connecting to the existing waterline (I hooked up to my neighbors' well.....another significant savings had).....June 12, 2021.....




And the installation of the 250 gallon propane tank.....June 14, 2021.....




I painted the metal siding on the cabin black.....and added landscaping.....June 24, 2021.....



Then did the same with the old barn.....June 19, 2021....



I removed 50 % of the metal siding from the cabin and replaced it with cedar boards. Every board was stained twice before installation.....it seemed to take forever.....August 7, 2021.....