A Ride & A Hike

 Friday, I headed over to Jeannie & Jeremy's house to hang out for a while (You know, since I havent started a job yet...)  When Jeremy got off early, Bailey begged to ride and so we all loaded up for a ride up the hill on the horses. Bailey's horse, Rosie, surprised them with a colt this spring so Pippin joined us for our jaunt, keeping up with his mama and occasionally sneaking a snack along the way.    I took several pictures on the way up the hill, which was pretty steep...I was leaning forward and holding on tho the horn most of the way up!  The "hill"  behind their house belongs to Jeremy's family and their cows are up in that pasture.  It's quite a view from the top, just a little high getting up there.  

Have I mentioned how much I am in love with the panoramic feature on my iPhone?  Let me tell you again... its amazing, awesome, and about the best way I can show you what it's like up here... and really, there isn't a camera made that I believe can compare to seeing it in person! Jeremy and the girls played tag when on horse back when we finally go to the top of the hill while Jeannie and I followed along a little more leisurely.  From the top of the hill you can see all of Columbus and almost over to where the Stillwater River flows into the Yellowstone.  One of these days, I hope we're going to get the chance to float down those two before it gets too cold!  

While Pippin was sneaking a snack, Bailey bailed off on him, he wasn't quite sure what to think, but I'm pretty sure that by the time he's old enough to break, his only problem is going to be that he's TOO gentle!   

 I didn't take very many pictures on the way down... quite frankly, I felt like I needed to channel some Man from Snowy River on the return trip... but I did snap this picture when we started back.  

I'm really thinking I should visit a spy store and invest in a pair of glasses with a camera in the corner so that all I have to do is touch the corner of my glasses and it takes the picture... that would be a whole lot easier some of the places we've been lately!  When we made it back down to the bottom, Bailey and Addison were in the lead and I couldn't pass up the chance to snap such a sweet sister picture!

Saturday Morning, Mesa and I got up early and drove over to meet the crew for a day trip up to the Big Timber Creek (pronounced Crick) Falls in the Crazy Mountains.  Since J&J were bringing their dogs, Lucy got a chance to tag along and make her first hike!  I wasn't quite sure how she was going to do, but I should have known she would love it!  She even behaved so well, I let her off her leash and she got to run with the "big dogs"  The stinker even sneaked a strawberry Twizzlers out of the back-pack while we were playing in the creek.  (I'm not sure how that's going to work out digestively, but she liked chewing on it!)  And, she is still the only dog I know that doesn't like to play in the water.  I would sit her down in the creek and she would very quickly climb her way back out.  (Of course, it might have had something to do with the temperature of the water! 

Bottom Up & Top Down 

This was my first time hiking up in the mountains and I realized that I am gonna need some serious practice before me make any really long ones!  The falls are about half to 3/4 of a mile from the trail head, and according to Jeremy, we were at about 7000 feet in elevation. (Thin Air... that's what I'm using as my excuse)  We stopped at the bottom of the falls and another family was there.  We THOUGHT he was going to jump in to the pool at the bottom, so we kinda moved on slowly, but he never did while we were waiting... oh well. Right before we moved on, I looked up and saw a guy standing at what looked like the top of the falls, so on the way back down we hiked up to where he had been standing and I took picture looking back down to where we were that morning.


The other reason they picked this trip is the natural water slide that's a little above the falls.  Talk about cool!  Jeremy was the brave one and went down it first and then the girls all rode down it with him!  Maybe next time I'll get brave enough to go down it myself!  (I tried to attach a video of him sliding down it below... but it didn't work. I think I'm eventually gonna have to find someone to help me figure that one out!)


After everyone who wanted to had a turn going down the water slide,we spread out on some of the rocks below and had a snack/played in the REALLY COLD water!  (Can we say colder than the springs... like ice your foot cold!)  The girls scrounged around for wild onions and wild flowers like Indian paintbrush while we snacked on bottles of water, Twizzlers, and granola bars.


The dogs splashed and explored and I even saw a fish fly over one of the little falls!

Before we left, I snapped a picture of the girls on the bridge.  The walk down wasn't quite as taxing, but there was a lot of rocks, which required paying some attention to where you put your feet!  At one point on the trail down, we stopped so the girls could pick some wild raspberries that were growing in one of the rock slides.  We had to have a talk about good berries and bad berries before we headed up, so it was really cool that they got to pick some on the way down.


Once we got back to the trail head, we started looking for somewhere to picnic.  We ended up driving back down to a campsite where they stayed the last time they went camping up in that area.  It was right beside the creek and the kids were able to play while Jeremy grilled hot dogs.  And the best part was that we basically had the whole area to ourselves!

I tried to wade in the creek at that spot, but was quickly reminded that before we make another trip, I need to purchase some water shoes!  (OUCH!)  I say "before we make another trip" because I can't wait to get to go again!

On the way home, the girls crashed out in the back seat.  I guess all that playing was hard work!  

The Perfect Picnic Spot