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12 September ~ 2007

After backpacking in the Beartooths a month ago, I came down and stayed in a campground on the Clarks Fork River for several days. I camp there every year, in my favorite campsite, which is just yards from the water. Its awful peaceful to hear the water percolating over rocks as I fall off to sleep, with Ben and Maggie beside me.

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The campground hosts there, Agatha and El, were very friendly and somewhat of an inspiration, since in the 70's they are still very active hikers. I told them that I got some good photos, and would send them a link for them to view them, which I have done. I formatted them into two sets, a few shots, and all of them.

It may seem lonely to go on vacation alone, and it is a little bit, but me and Ben and Maggie are the best friends this world has ever seen, and I am used to being alone. All the wondrous things we see in the backpacking seem a small price to pay for a solitary life.

And now and again things seem to break it a little. The owners of the campground across the street from Cassie's dancehall in Cody remember me from all the years I have come up there. They like my dogs and she calls me sweetie. I asked him if he sold all the golden retriever pups from last year. He did, and he said his girl is going to have one more litter, in a few weeks, which will be her last one. I told him how cute I remember those pups were, which made him smile.

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While in Yellowstone at the Canyon campground, I sat down at the counter in the coffee shop, to have some ice cream. A blond lady sat opposite, with her young daughter, who looked to be about nine. After they ordered I struck up a conversation with them, telling them all about the mother bear and cubs up on Dunraven pass. I even went to my truck to retrieve my camera so they could look at the stored pictures. The mother's name was Jill, and her daughter was Anne. They had flown to Yellowstone from California via Billings, and were driving back to Billings the next day. Jill said this was their first time to Yellowstone, and really loved it. They were staying in West Yellowstone, and I suggested that if they didn't sleep too late, they could easily drive over Dunraven Pass and up the Lamar Valley, then over the top of Beartooth Pass to Red Lodge, then into Billings by evening. Along the way there would be a good chance they would see Grizzly and Wolves.

Jill told me she had backpacked in Denali a few years ago with some friends. They found so much fresh Grizzly sign ('everywhere,' she said), that the next morning they hiked 18 hours straight, through the Alasksa midnight sun, to get back to a trailhead. She said they just werent' prepared for how wild it was.

I told her about the fresh Grizzly claw trees I saw up high in the valley I backpacked in, and said you tend to get used to it, the more you do it.

It is pretty interesting how people who are a tad lonely tend to find each other, and make the world seem like a warmer place. Jill and I talked while Anna ate her hamburger and fries. When it was time to go I said goodbye to Jill, and she said thanks. I then said 'Goodbye Anna,' and pretty blond Anna lifted her head and sweetly said 'bye. '

Down at Jackson I went to the Cowboy Bar and got to dance more than I expected, especially with Zoe, a slender cowgirl with blond hair to her waist. The bikers coming through town on the way to Sturgis sat at their tables and watched. Once I walked over to the pool tables and asked an attractive Brunette to dance who I had noticed smiled warmly at me. She said she would love to dance and I held her hand as we walked through the tables to the dance floor. She was a passionate, happy person, and we had a good connection on the dance floor.

Another summer season is winding down, and me and Ben and Maggie had a great one, starting with a high ridge in the snow in April, then out to the Western Colorado Canyon in May, to some trailless subalpine valleys in June and July, and Montana and Wyoming in late July and August.

For now we are stuck to the lowlands, while the fracture in Ben's right foot heals. The good news is the splint is off and he actually walks normally on it. He only lifts his paw when he runs. It is not a bad fracture - only of one of the bones in his foot, and I expect that it won't take long before we are up high again, albeit a little gingerly.

In a writing group last Friday I wrote that I was a little cautious about getting involved romantically, since I worry that the free and easy life I love, of dancing and wilderness, might be curtailed some. They way I see it, if it works out, ok, and if it doesnt, then I also gain.

One of these times though a woman is going to get a line on how much love I have in my life, and find a way to get some of it directed to her. Then I will be in trouble, but maybe it is time.

Or not.