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25 July ~ 2007

This has been a long week for me, since I am so excited about leaving for Montana. It's because I know what is in store for me - some long health-affirming hikes up glacial valleys, that are a small price to pay for the incredibly beautiful country I will end up in.

In the evenings after we have eaten me and Ben and Maggie will wander around and explore some, then come back to camp and just watch the mountains as the light fades, as quiet settles in on real wilderness.

So many people don't go up there overnight, for fear off what might happen in Grizzly country. What they don't realize is that the risks are very low, as long as you hang your food right, and pay attention to what is around you.

Here are the facts. There have been 107 fatalites in all of North America from 1900 to 2003 from black, grizzly, and polar bears. However in 2003 alone 42,884 lost their lives in car accidents in just the United States. The number of fatalites per year from automobile accidents remains slightly above 40,000 in the United States.

So yes, I need to be careful in the backcountry, but I need to be really careful driving to the trailhead.

I have been doing quite a bit of research about where to go, and I found some references to one lake that Grizzlies tend to like to swim in. I might try to get up to that one.

I have come across tracks before that showed a Grizzly walked across the mud and straight into a lake.

Having Ben and Maggie as companions on a trip like this makes it the more rich for me. They become so alive up in the wilderness, and show so much affection to me for taking them up there. The love we have for all of it equals the love we have for each other.

Those two have been backpacking with me in the mountains of Montana every summer since 2001, when they were both one year old.

I would like to think we will do this forever, but I know in a few years it will get harder and harder for them. Then we might have to go on some easier trips, and I think then I will have to get a border collie pup, so Ben and Maggie can teach it their mountain ways.

But for now, on this trip to genuine wilderness, us three are going to live like there is no tomorrow, in happiness and joy, and love and freedom.

(to see a 700 pixel wide image of the above collage, click here; to see a 1400 wide pixel image of the above picture, click here.)