Outdoors

Ice climbing Yellowstone’s Lost Creek Falls

The packed snow squeaked loudly beneath the climbing party’s boots at Yellowstone’s Tower Junction parking area, ice axes glinting in the afternoon sun. Their walk soon gave way to undisturbed, gossamer stretches of powder as they passed Roosevelt Lodge and entered into the blueish shadows of Lost Creek Canyon.  

About a half mile in, Lost Creek Falls appeared through the pines – an imposing but beautiful tower of solid ice.   

Crow tribe pays back $2 million that it misspent from US

BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana's Crow Tribe has reimbursed the U.S. government more than $2 million that was intended to pay for the construction of a new transit building but was instead put into the tribe's general budget, tribal and federal officials said.

Federal investigators said in a report issued Monday that officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs knew the money from a 2012 transportation grant was misspent and failed to take action.

FINDING FALL’S FULL SPECTRUM

As our planet circles our life-sustaining sun, its Northern Hemisphere tilts away from its star’s warming rays this time of year, pulling Montana a little farther out of the direct light. 

While darker days are still to come with winter on the way, we are fortunate to live at a latitude where we are treated to the visages of summer in an annual display of evanescent color. 

Bill would end longstanding ban on bikes in US wilderness

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 100 million acres of America's most rugged landscapes designated aswilderness are off-limits to mountain bikers, but two Utah senators have introduced legislation that would allow bikers to join hikers and horseback riders in those scenic, undisturbed areas.

The proposal is controversial within the biking community and opposed by conservationists who say bikes would erode trails and upset the five-decade notion of wilderness as primitive spaces.

A FEAST FOR THE EYES: Mount Blackmore in Gallatin Valley offers one of area’s most stunning vistas

It’s really hard to equal the vistas afforded by hiking Park County’s highest peaks, but Mount Blackmore south of Bozeman in Gallatin County does the job.

Summiting the 10,154-foot Mount Blackmore reveals stunning vistas where you can, in one awe-inspiring, 360-degree sweep, see the Bridgers, Spanish Peaks, Gallatin, Crazies, Tobacco Roots and Absaroka mountain ranges, including, in the latter range, Park County’s own Livingston Peak.

PASSAGE FALLS: A pleasant day hike full of fireweed and furry critters

Passage Falls is among the Absaroka Range’s classic day hikes. The jaunt falls into the category of required hiking for Livingston and Paradise Valley residents, but unlike the Absaroka’s famed Pine Creek Falls and Lake, Passage Falls is much less taxing due to its gentle elevation gain. 

Even the smallest member of our hiking party, Bandit the miniature Dachshund, trekked the whole way on his own four stubby legs, much to the bemusement of other hikers.

Paddle powered, vegan fueled: kayaking and camping Yellowstone Lake without, meat, dairy

Imagine kayaking on Yellowstone Lake, exploring the remotest reaches of the lake, far from civilization. 

Livingston resident Parke Goodman, along with some friends, made that exact trip last week in Yellowstone National Park.  

Goodman, a local artist and co-owner of Mordam Art on South Main Street, went off for a five-night backcountry trip, leaving on a Monday and returning to Livingston by Saturday night. 

STAND-UP PADDLEBOARDING: Popular water sport gains traction in Livingston and on Yellowstone River

On the quiet Sacajawea Park Lagoon, with temperatures reaching into the 90s, a sea of paddleboarders leisurely row their vessels nowhere in particular.

Paddleboarding, which originated in Hawaii, combines the balance of standing on a board with using one’s core strength to paddle through a body of water. 

Forest Service to update Custer/Gallatin forest plans

Community meetings have begun for public input on the revision of the 1986 Custer and 1987 Gallatin Forest Plans. Meetings run June 15 to 30 in eight communities throughout southern Montana and South Dakota, focusing on educating the public and identifying current landscape trends to help in the revision process for the current forest plans.  

SEEKING SOLITUDE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES: The quest for a quiet trail in Montana’s national parks

It’s summer and Livingston has a little less elbow room, thanks in part to Yellowstone National Park – now arguably the world’s largest petting zoo and most fatal hot springs location.  

But many  Montanans have relatively close access to a slightly less crowded, but no less beautiful iconic national park.