Author: DaveC
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Slough Creek packraft and bison scout
There are bison in Slough Creek. This did not surprise, the whole premise of my coveted tag this year is mostly older bulls who spend the summer and early fall up on the verge of the subalpine. The bison in Slough Creek are very large, also not a surprise, but a pleasure and something of…
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Our internal Yaak
Diffidence. That’s the nicest thing I can say about the ocean of trees, 5500 foot ridges, and 3000 foot valleys that stretches from the Flathead to the Cabinets, the Kootenai to the Clarks Fork. In half a dozen years living on the eastern shore I made a handful of excursions into and across the green…
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Now that’s a pack
Last year I wrote this, a rather grumpy paean on a favorite per peeve, backpack capacity. In the 15 months since the world has taken no visible notice, with perhaps one exception, and continued to undervalue the worth of a big ole pack bag, and overstated the capacity of said bag, often radically. The one…
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Moonlight on Mount Ascension race report
The number of items on my lifetime outdoor to-do list is no longer especially long, viewed from a discipline perspective. In a few years I went far enough with mountain biking to know that continuing to progress would require many hours a week training, and involve a high probability of more concussions. I can go…
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I need a posse
One of the more awesome, and frustrating, things about hunting is that on a random day you might just get one of your most dearly held ambitions, via email. And prior to that day you’ll likely have little clue if this year or next decade or ever will be your time. I knew I’d get…
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The grand Helena brewery tour
Montana brewery laws take some getting used to. The Kafka-ishiousness does not approach Utah levels, and the peculiarity has quite inadvertently given birth to an institution which adds a lot to a quiet, family-centric, even staid city like Helena. Before recent beer and pretzel adventures are further discussed, some juridical background is in order. In…
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New eyes
The line of my paddling “career” has been an idiosyncratic one, such that it has only been recently and occasionally that I’ve had cause to see it as such. Late in 2011 I sat down with a pile of maps and a laptop and made a spreadsheet of all the waterways in Glacier and the…
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Somewhere else in Montana
I rode my bike up the hill, slowly, and down the hill, not as fast as expected. The 3/4 mile of creek upstream of where we put in last year contained a surprisingly sustained gorge. With respect to challenge and beauty it recalled lower Youngs, and the larger drop towards the end was walled in…
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2018 Bob Open unofficially official report
The 2018 Open took place on a long course, and during extraordinary conditions. A record winter saw the entire Bob complex at over 150% of normal snowfall, with certain areas in the Scapegoat exceeding 200%. At 2.5 weeks until the start the road to the scheduled start at the Indian Meadows TH was still snowed…
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Bob Open 2018; what is the point
This is how all those other people experience backpacking. A thought that echoed through my skull with each step, achilles and calves and quads miles beyond tender and enduring the powdery downhills, sprinked with edged loose running rocks only because of the trailhead and car and beer and fast way out waiting, 3 miles further.…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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