Outdoors

RUN TO THE PUB: Locals pound the pavement over the hill for pints

Published on Tue, 03/14/2017 - 3:16pm

Who would want to run a foot race in a silly costume for a beer, a cupcake, and a chance to win a trip to Ireland waiting for you at the end?

About 4,000 people, to be exact — the number who participated in Saturday’s half-marathon and 10-kilometer run in Bozeman Saturday morning.

After about a week of uncertain weather, including snow, the clouds opened up just enough for a good day to enjoy exercise and beer during the Run to the Pub race on Saturday in Bozeman.

Hard Boiled — An Oregonian’s winter plunge in Yellowstone’s Boiling River

Published on Wed, 03/08/2017 - 12:45pm

As I approached the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park, I marveled at the stone masonry and chiseled declaration of 1903: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”

I envisioned a mustachioed President Theodore Roosevelt and his toothy grin admiring the work of the Organic Act of 1872, the legislation that would bring the United States its first national park and usher in 58 more protected areas available for all to enjoy. 

Mysteries of Pike Peak

Published on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 11:17am

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Eric Swab was glancing at aerial satellite images of his next destination, another remote wilderness along Pikes Peak, when he spotted something peculiar. He squinted at his computer screen: two white smears through the pines.

Maybe, just maybe, he thought he was looking at forlorn mining residue. This is the kind of thing that thrills Swab, who at 78 is showing no signs of slowing down in his quest to uncover the secrets of the mountain’s deep past, reported The Gazette.

Learn how to make a snow cave

Published on Tue, 02/14/2017 - 10:53am

LOOKOUT PASS, Idaho — A group of Spokane Mountaineers shouldered packs and snowshoed out from Lookout Pass with shovels and positive attitudes for their first winter camping experience in snow caves.

“Everybody who heads out in winter should know how to make one,” said Sara Schmelzer, the outing organizer.

They didn’t have to, but they wanted to build snow caves and sleep in them.

A Local Trapper's Education

Published on Tue, 02/07/2017 - 5:17pm

The debate over animal trapping for sport has created sharp differences of opinion in the outdoor community and probably won’t be resolved any time soon. The Rocky Mountains have long been an abundant source of fur both at home and abroad and for now, will continue that role. 

Backyard racers chomp the bit

Published on Tue, 01/31/2017 - 2:41pm

There are few sports that can bring cowboys and hippy ski-bums together.

Welcome to the world of skijoring, a winter sport growing in popularity around Montana that involves horses or dogs pulling skiers through an obstacle course.

Local and national skijoring competitions have become commonplace at Red Lodge, Jackson Hole, Bozeman, Whitefish and Driggs. 

Ice climbing Yellowstone’s Lost Creek Falls

Published on Tue, 01/17/2017 - 4:22pm

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

Published on Tue, 11/08/2016 - 3:46pm

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

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:43pm

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

Published on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 4:18pm

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.