I hate the word "summiting" but used it anyway. Climbers use it, so why not runners? Anyway, I waited until the kids (Hannah and Tony Demma) left to go backpacking to run today, which meant I went up Baldy Mountain (all the way, I might add) in the midday sun. It wasn't too bad for an ascent from the car of probably 1,400 feet or so, but the footing for the last pitch to the top was bad — no road, lots of big clumps of bunch grass, etc. For some reason it was easier going back down (maybe I could see routes better?).

This view is looking west northwest from the top. The distant mountains with snow on them are part of the Swan range, which is 50-60 miles away.


This is turning just a hair south from the previous picture, and the mountains on the far horizon are the Missions, where Hannah and Tony were going. They're 10-20 miles farther away than the Swans, so it's a clear day.


Turning 180 degrees and moving a bit to find a hole through the trees (the back side of Baldy is more wooded), you can see the rocky west face of Crater Mountain from an unusual perspective.

It didn't appear that much of anyone (with the exception of a small herd of horses) had been up here in a long time. The trail was badly overgrown and not mashed at all. Oddly, though, there was a pickup parked at a switchback on the way down. No one was around, and it hadn't been there on the way up, so who knows. It had Missoula plates, so maybe it was someone looking for Ted Kaczynski's old digs. His place used to be directly down the gulch from about where the truck was parked.

Nice day — 65-ish when I started and 80 when I finished. The breeze made it bearable for someone who is usually heat-averse. Before logging off, I'm going to try to post a short video of what I did with the kids on Monday. We just hung out Tuesday and went fishing yesterday.


If it worked, this is doing a "trust fall" (backward) off the tower of the zipline near Gardiner (Yellowstone National Park).

7; 7; 104; 684

Nope. No movement in the video,