Bridge Au Naturale

Although Jacob was born in Montana and spent most of his growing-up and early twenties here, there were many areas that he hadn't heard about; or had heard about but not seen, like Natural Bridge State Park.

In early October of last year, he suggested that we check it out in attempt to pull me from my premature sadness that the mountains I had come to know and love would soon be inaccessible to me. October can be an odd time of year in Montana. There have been years where I was still running around in tank-tops and flip-flops:

(October, 2015)

...or there have been years like this one where it snowed all day on September 30th. October for hunters means deer and elk coming down from the higher elevations, but October for non-sub-zero-tent campers means the end of the season, and October for hikers means unpredictable weather and more active wildlife. Thankfully, last October (2017) was what it should be - a gentle easing into the fall, followed by a relatively unremarkable winter, and it all started for us at Natural Bridge near McCleod, Montana.

 Water going in...

 A couple of milestones were made on this (short) hike: 1) Zoey carried the backpack full of water (and maybe a beer or two for Mom and Dad) the entire way without complaining; and 2) Holden wasn't - or didn't ask to be - carried the entire trail. And since this wasn't anything too steep, long, or rocky, it was also the first time that Louis ventured onto the trail with us.

 The shadow makes it a little difficult to see the sheer rock face that makes this canyon. It's just vertical enough and just high enough to be a popular place for practicing rock-climbing. Or so I've seen on Instagram.

 Water goes out...

Yup, just lookin' over the edge while Mom is a good five-feet away and breathing heavily. Admittedly, this was not my most favorite place because the edges blend in quite nicely, and where giant rocks are, they aren't certain to remain. In fact, the park issues a stern warning that walking around on the actual natural bridge is not recommended because parts of it could give way at any moment, depending on the time of year that you're deciding to take your life in your hands. But, being the enormous nature-hypocrite that I am, when we went back this last summer (2018), we walked around on the bridge and I got closer to a ledge than I ever have before, and on purpose.

 My fear of heights is still rather insane, and I have no desire to do any sort of conquering of any of my fears any time soon; you won't find me holding a butterfly or a bird, either. But my ever-increasing desire to see more and more things now brings me closer to edges than I ever thought I'd be outside of my re-occuring nightmares.

Yes, now I *give* myself re-occuring nightmares but that somehow makes it better.

 Walking the opposite way back down the trail to see the canyon and bridge from the other side.

 A steep, grassy mountain side, yes. The place where we stood to see the water coming out of the Natural Bridge, also yes.

From this trip to the start of January, I was sure each hike was going to be our last. As it happened, our longest stretch of not venturing into the woods was from January until April, and we even got snowed-out of our hike on June 9th.

This last summer - 2018 - after knowing how much fun all of this roadtripping could be, we snagged every opportunity we could to get away, even if it wasn't very far, or for very long. Luckily, Natural Bridge was close enough and cool enough and out-of-cell-phone-service enough that we went back this last summer and spent the night.

First of all, finding a camping spot in Montana is a BITCH. But after so many trials and errors - and a couple of times setting up camp in the dark - we think we're getting a handle on the situation. Numero Uno: hunt for campsites Sunday morning and you'll get the cream of the crop. On our way to this realization, we thought that simply getting there early would be sufficient, and it kind of was. We found a camping spot, and a good one, but it took some work, and was ominously-named Hell's Canyon Campground.

 This was our second time camping this summer, and it was in a more primitive campground than what we were used to, but it was fun. Holden liked gathering kindling for the campfire, and there are no pictures of Zoey because she was always running around pretending to be a horse or a Unicorn (oh, believe me, there *is* a difference...).

We set up camp then drove back to the Natural Bridge State Park. We walked the same trail as in 2017, only on this part:

The kids and I walked down to the bottom, where the water pooled then drizzled through the canyon.

It was very cool, but ultimately not a good idea, and not really worth it. That hillside kicked our asses.

Yes, that is dirt on my teeth.

We went back to our campsite, ate dinner, and told ghost stories, which meant that I tried to make Hansel and Gretel sound as horrifying as possible.

Campfire vibes. 

But in a very non-Hansel-and-Gretel-twist, I ended up being the most scared since I woke up around two in the morning to someone walking around our campsite. No, not a someTHING, a someONE. I was the only one awake and was thisclose to shouting, "WHO'S THERE AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!" when Louis woke up, jingled his collar jewelry, and I heard the footsteps attempt to quietly retreat. This is how I know it was a person and not an animal. Jacob woke up only a few seconds later because he had to use the bathroom, but I was actually shaking. We went to the bathroom together and I was more scared of what person could be walking the woods in the pitch dark than any animal I might come across. If I really let my imagination run wild, I reach Louis-saved-our-lives-that-night level of dramatics, when it's just as possible that it was the Park Ranger we spoke to earlier in the day making sure our campfire was out cold. Regardless, the memory of this is what kept me awake most of the night on our final camping trip of the season to the Badlands.

We are very interested to see what the Natural Bridge looks like when it has water raging over top of it, and for that we'll most likely need to go in the Spring or early Summer, and maybe see if those rumored kayakers who go over the top (or through? I'm not entirely sure) are real. But with our never-ending list of places to visit, we'll tuck this one away for when we need a quick jaunt to remind us that, "Where water is boss, the land must obey."

We Never Pass on the Beartooth Pass

Like I said before, there were a few places we re-visited this year simply in order to get into the mountains in a place that wasn't too far from home because, though we may appear to be, as my high-school-now-Facebook-friend called us, "A modern-day Lewis and Clark expedition," we do have jobs and responsibilities and, like, no money. One thing we do make sure to do almost every year, however, is drive the Beartooth Pass.

This is something we have been doing since I lived in Florida and first visited Jacob over a January holiday, though we obviously couldn't make it to the top, which is pictured here:

Where the gates to the pass are closed, January 2009

Jacob has been driving the highway since he learned how, and after we got together though I still lived far away, he imagined taking me with him. This message from the pass reached all the way to Florida:

(Hi Breanne!)

And once I moved to Montana in May of 2009, it was the very first thing we did.

 Wow, we had so much more (and brown!!) hair...

We drove the Beartooth Pass again only a few months later in September of 2009, book-ending the road's open season quite nicely, and with a LOT less hair. It must have been a hot summer...

We got married at the base of the Beartooths, at the Canyon Wedding Chapel, then we drove it when I was pregnant with Zoey, when she was a baby, and a few years after that:

 Summer 2012

 June 2013

By this time, we had driven the pass as a full-fledged family and this would mark our first time up the mountain as a foursome. I have a baby in my belly here, but unfortunately this was the first and last adventure for this McBun. I miscarried about a month later, then Holden sprouted at the end of October.

Given the nature of the Beartooth Pass, and the nature of life in general, we didn't make it back until Holden was just over a year old:

 With even less hair.

She got it from her Mama.

We didn't go up the pass in 2016; we probably could have but didn't, and it wasn't until driving it come 2017 that we realized the road had become a part of us. Something was off that year and in hindsight, or in just simple personal revelations, I believe part of that off-ness was because we didn't spend any time in nature. In 2017 we discovered that we love hiking and camping, but also realized that it didn't take that much - just a drive through the wilderness on paved roads can be very therapeutic, bonding, and grounding. It wasn't until we didn't spend any time traveling that we realized how much it mattered to us and our well-being.

The Beartooth Pass is considered one of the most beautiful roads in America and the views never get old, as evidenced by the shocking similarities in the pictures I've taken over the years:

May 2009

September 2009

Summer 2012

August 2015

September 2017

May 2009

September 2009

Summer 2012

June 2013

August 2015

 September 2017
The start of the pass brings you up to the mountains pretty quickly. It's steep with a lot of switchbacks (during which I usually slink down and grip my seat-belt) but you find yourself at the top in no time flat.

I've definitely been on scarier roads than the Beartooth Pass, most notably the one-lane dirt death-wish across the valley from the Beartooth Pass, but no matter how many times we do it, it scares the be-jesus out of me. Of course it's too pretty *not* to look, and the part of me that thinks I'm some kind of professional photographer finds itself hanging out the car window every once in a great while. During one of those moments last year, I spotted these - Twin Lakes.

Twin Lakes - 2017

I stand by what I said before in that it took not getting into nature to realize how it actually affected me. Spotting these lakes last year felt like it was for the first time, and I truly believed that it was. It wasn't until putting this post together and looking back through old photos that I discovered that I had, in fact, seen these lakes before. It's amazing how we obsess over the quick passage of time and how much of that time we actually forget.

Twin Lakes - May 2009

Twin Lakes - August 2015

Twin Lakes - September 2018

 It's windy at the top.

September 2017
A lake above Twin Lakes that unless got a name between now and 2014 when our GPS was last updated, I don't know what it is.

That same lake - May 2009

September 2018.
It's crazy, the snow is in almost the exact same shape as the above September 2017 picture. I actually had to open each picture's file info in order to determine which was which.

A bitchin' picture of the Bear's Tooth, May 2009

Second only to the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier, The Beartooth Highway is one of the most beautiful roads and also one of the busiest deep in the summer months. As became our custom last year, we waited until the last minute and wound up with a lot of the mountains to ourselves. As it happened, we went up the pass this year around this same time last year - mid/late September - and while we didn't go beyond the paved road, we were still able to find places to have a little hike, see things we haven't before, have a picnic lunch, and pretend that our exploring would never end.

 Winding around the top of the pass, Gardner Lake Overlook is right off the side of the road and always spectacular.

 A peculiar thing happened last year when we discovered the joys of hiking - once you start looking for trails, it's amazing how many you find. We were still in the honeymoon phase of hiking so really wanted to walk this trail, but when we set out in the car that morning to take a drive, we didn't anticipate doing any real hiking, so we didn't hike very far. Now, hiking-appropriate attire is always packed wherever we go.

 It's windy up there! And the way it whips the water around is always such a work of art.

 On our list of hikes for Summer 2019!

 Sure, there are a lot of big wildlife to see and be aware of, but you come across some pretty crazy bugs and birds as well.

Gardner Lake Overlook - September 2017

Gardner Lake Overlook - May 2009

Whether things are frozen over are not, once you wind your way around the top of the mountain and start to head back down the other side, things greenen-up, and walking around isn't such a windy challenge. Last year, although we didn't venture far from the paved road, we did turn off into a small picnic and camping area to have lunch and see what else we could find. Turns out, we found what has become one of our favorite things - lakes, lakes, and more lakes!

This is Island Lake, so big that the actual island doesn't fit into this picture, and when I did take a picture of it, you couldn't tell it was an island since it contained the exact same scenery as the shore. A little googling told me this lake is 100-feet deep!

 When you venture into the wilderness, learning to operate the camera timer is a must.

 A lot less hair and a lot smaller sunglasses.

 It was warm enough to be summer, but the colors don't lie - fall was on its way.

 Making our way around the lake on the trail that follows it then eventually tucks back into the mountains where there is another - wait for it - lake! 

We don't know this fisherman but he sure made my picture!

Last year we definitely explored more of the Beartooth Mountains than we ever have before, but this last summer - 2018 - we ventured even further into the wild, taking any back-road we happened across. We saw so many lakes that eventually our 4-year old GPS stopped naming them and just said, "Small Lake."

 The tops of mountains can look a little Moon-like.

 This area - Chain Lakes - was where we spotted a male moose with a giant rack just meandering through the forest. 

Beartooth Lake isn't too far off the beaten path but - what has become our manta - we brake for lakes!

As soon as we drove into the area to park at Beartooth Lake, memories immediately came flooding back to me. Again, it's amazing how we forget the things we swore we never would.

Beartooth Lake - June 2013

June 2013

 June 2013

 September 2018

 June 2013

September 2018

The same shoreline, just facing a different direction, plus one child, and one dog who was invited, but minus one dog who we had in 2013 but had gone to the Great Beyond by 2018.

Like I said, in the daylight that we were allotted, there was not a back-road we didn't turn down, which is how we found our way to some more - you guessed it - lakes!

 Lily Lake, which also boasts campgrounds, so you can guess what has made our Summer 2019 list.

 There wasn't any specific marker, but we'll just call this part of Crazy Lakes because it was the first lake listed on the above sign, and the first lake we came across.

With daylight waning, we couldn't drive this back-road any further. But, again, we found a must-camp site come 2019.

For as many times as we have driven the Beartooth Highway, we haven't gone down the other side quite as much. We have only been to Cooke City once, back in 2009:

Beartooth Cafe - May 2009

And we have driven the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway a few times; some times worn out from playing in the mountains, sometimes after dark, and sometimes the road is closed.

 May 2009

 September 2018

 May 2009

 September 2018

Weekends in the woods are for family! 

We were leaving the mountain just as dusk was closing in, and looking out the window I spotted this moose family. The pictures are terrible because I am in no way a wildlife photographer, nor do I want to be. Instead, we just stare dreamily at the wildlife we see until it lumbers back into the woods.

The above picture is the mom and baby and this is the dad with enormous antlers. I kid you not, as we watched them, he moseyed around while the mom and baby just - poof! - disappeared. Nature is a wonder.

I came into this post with the intention of only talking about last year's trip up the Beartooth Pass. But I was reminded of our first trip to Beartooth Lake and then things sort of spiraled out of control from there. Like that family of moose, it's amazing how one road can hold so much for just one family.

Ten years.

From boyfriend/girlfriend, engaged, pregnant (yup, we did things that way), marriage, babies, kids, dogs, miscarriages, arguments, kisses, hugs, animal sightings, sleeping, smoking, quitting smoking, Grandparents, friends, and countless haircuts, this road has seen every stage of our life. And nature will be there regardless - through all of those stages; whether you're a good person, or a bad person; whether you have a good day or a bad day; whether you know what you're doing in the woods or not; nature will keep on existing.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about." - Rumi