Maah-Daah-Hey Trail 09/20/2009
Well as usual I am always playing catch up, Beth and I spent two weekends during the past month getting a taste of what the near by Maah-Daah-Hey Trail in the Badlands has to offer. The conclusion is MUCH!!! W have certainly found the most technical and beautiful trail in North Dakota. And even by Montana standards the trails length which now entails around 125 miles of continuous single track makes riding it end to end a noble feat. Although I am not sure when we do plan on trying to fit this in so let us know when you are available and join us. It is a can't miss event, great riding, beautiful views, and great camping. Oh and believe it or not there are trees and hills that will make you sweat. Don't believe me, check out our pictures or watch the slide show. Cheers!! Chapter 3: Hyalite Canyon 07/17/2009
![]() After leaving the Big Timber area behind we dropped my brother and his wife off so that Nick could perform as a dutiful groomsman for the upcoming wedding, restocked the car with food, picked up Beth’s younger sister Suzie and her boyfriend Ty and headed back into the mountains. This time we camped along Hyalite reservoir a place I frequented in college but never officially camped. After setting up camp we weathered a brief shower which brought beautiful rainbows, ate dinner, and make a quick hike up to Palisade falls, arrive just as the sun set. The next morning after my parents again beat us out of bed.. we attempted to hike to Hyalite lake. We saw a moose and many great waterfalls but as before we turned back at waste deep snow and a thunder storm within smelling distance of the goal. What wonderful parents I have to put up with all this adventuring. ![]() First stop on the trip was in Columbus, MT again during the wee hours of the morning for some critical hours of sleep. The next morning we continued to Big Timber, MT and headed south about 45 miles along the Boulder River which separates the Absaroka and Beartooth mountain ranges. We found a wonderful deserted camp site near the end of the road (which was very soft in places and certainly of MT forest service road stature having bottomed our poor little Honda Fit out numerous times) with ample tent space about 10’ from the roaring Boulder River. Spring has been very wet here and on the way in we stopped at Natural Bridge and were treated with a rare site. What we saw was a large 100+ft waterfall with large underground channels of water joining it near the bottom. (See Pictures) However normally the main falls is nonexistent and the entire flow of the river disappears into the riverbed reappearing from the channels at the base of the falls only to disappear again one hundred yards later for a more extended stretch. We talked about the runability of the main falls by kayak while we took pictures and just before this writing I confirmed that it has been run by a Kayaker. Check out http://egcreekin.blogspot.com/2008/06/natural-bridge-falls-105-feet.html for details. We spent two nights in this wonderful camp and put in about 20 miles of hiking in attempts at several lakes but were turned back my continuous waste deep snow every time. We even found time to string up the slack line and put in a little time tuning our rusty balance. Anyone that has not been in this area … it is a must visit. |
GOTELI














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