Well I’m a little late, blogging about this trip. It happened almost a year ago, but there was so many beautiful sights and experiences that I needed more than just a 15 minute sit down on computer to sort through them all.

Our youngest son is a pilot for one of the major airlines, and periodically he receives perks of free ticketed airline travel. He gifted Connie and I his perk and we used it on a trip to New Zealand.

We flew into Auckland, and then jumped on a domestic flight from Auckland to Christchurch. In Christchurch we rented a campervan and began our 10 day road trip around the south island.

Now this was a super long trip and despite getting the luxury 1st class pods on the overseas flight we were exhausted from all the travel. We followed the tour book advice and loaded up on groceries, then headed for a nearby camp-spot. The campervan we rented was from the Wilderness company. Now to be honest they are a little pricey compared to the other agencies, but their equipment is very new and their service is 1st rate. We definitely did not want mechanical issues on this road trip. Our van was kind of a mini motor home rather than the sprinter type vans most companies were renting. Plenty of room for 2 adults and very easy to navigate the narrow roads with left lane drivers. Ya, that’s right it’s all backasswards in New Zealand, steering wheel is on right side of vehicle and you drive on left side of road.🤦‍♂️

Our 1st full day on the island had us at lake Tekapo and up lake Pukaki. We traveled up to see Mt. Cook, but we had to refrain from taking any extended hikes. Connie’s ankle replacement hardware had fractured so she had to be very cautious with it until the new one could be surgically implanted. We camped on lake Pukaki at what New Zealanders (kiwis) call a holiday park.

You are allowed to freedom camp in many areas of New Zealand, as long as your vehicle is certified to be self contained. We used Holiday parks and government serviced campgrounds mainly because we could make a reservation during this busy season and not have to worry about finding a spot late in the day. In hindsight I would definitely freedom camp. There were so many nice places that we would find either just after we had departed our park in the morning, or later in the day when we had already made reservations. These freedom spots can be very secluded and beautiful, but when you’re a tourist you need a guide book showing where these coveted spots are located.

Arrowtown had a lot of hype of being a picturesque resort town that one shouldn’t miss. We again stayed at a holiday park as there are no freedom areas that we found near that community. Personally I would pass on Arrowtown unless you’ve got lots of days to spend in country. Older community with very narrow streets. Difficult to navigate around with a larger vehicle.

We then headed down around Queenstown to Te Anau. This area is wonderful with large streets, easy access, and numerous shops. Te Anau is kind of a staging area for Milford Sound visitors. Leaving Te Anau you travel up a beautiful valley stopping at Milford. We were fortunate to have made reservations early so we camped right at Milford and took our cruise of the sound the following day. Holiday Parks like the one at Milford have lots of amenities including communal kitchens, rec rooms, pools, showers and most important, laundry service. You need to travel somewhat light for a vacation like this and being able to do laundry is very important.

It’s only a few minutes drive to parking area at the cruise site. We had to use the fee area because of Connie’s ankle issue, but there is free parking within about 20-30 min walk. Even at the fee parking expect a 10 min walk to the launch area. Now Milford Sound is one of those do not miss excursions. It is reported to rain in this area like 182 days/year, so expect that kind of weather if you’re planning a trip here. We had the great fortune of nothing but blue skies for our cruise and it was fabulous. Constant waterfalls with rainforest like vegetation and lots of local wildlife (seals). The boats will take you on a 2-hr cruise up the sound and out to the Tasman Sea. Here they turn around and head back and the views just keep getting better. They will park you under a waterfall briefly so need rain gear if you’re out on deck, and they’ll park in proximity of the seals out sunning for pictures. If you take this excursion my advice is to book a smaller boat. The large boats may have more amenities, but the smaller ones get you into the little close spots where the larger charters can’t maneuver.

Leaving Milford and traveling down the valley we found numerous fee and freedom campsites. Unfortunately though, this area has no cell service which for us meant no internet service. We ended up staying at a gorgeous government sight that offered internet access, privacy and great views.

Then we headed up to Wanaka. This is a real touristy area with “That Wanaka Tree” being the main attraction. It’s basically a tree that’s been growing in the lake for like 80 years and if you’re in this area it’s a prerequisite to get a picture with this landmark tree.

We then headed out to the coast, looking for Haast beach and then headed up the coast to check out Gillespie beach and then Fox glacier. Gillespie beach would be worth staying at for sure, but we were not able to. In this area there is no cell service, so no internet, in order to stay you had to pre register with a CC or have cash on hand to do a self registration at the facility. We had no cash so felt it best to head back towards Fox glacier (town). This is an awesome little town and well worth visiting.

The next adventure is to head up Franz Josef glacier. This looks like a relatively mild hike up to view the glacier and surrounding valley. Unfortunately we had to pass on this hike because Connie’s ankle was really bothering at the time. There are so many great places to see though, that having some mobility issues for the bigger hikes is not a problem.

Traveling up the coast you have the opportunity to take numerous side trips to ocean viewpoints.. we traveled up past Greymouth and watched the surfers for awhile, then backtracked slightly to take the highway over Arthur’s Pass. We had another Holiday park reservation prior to Arthur’s Pass, because on the maps we had, camping in this area was somewhat limited. After staying at a very nice facility we headed up to the pass for a planned stop at a little restaurant up on top for breakfast.

On our way up the pass that morning it was pouring rain. We had planned sightseeing stops on the way so we felt bad about driving past a drenched young back-packer gal who was attempting to hitch a ride up to the pass. We hadn’t been in the small establishment 5 minutes when in walked the young lady after being successful in securing a ride. Turns out this business is a stopover point for hikers and they have care packages sent to them for pickup. We observed several hikers come in for breakfast and package pickup. Needless to say we felt pretty embarrassed for not offering the young lady a ride and getting her out of the rain.

After Arthur’s Pass we decided to head back towards Christchurch and turn in our campervan. This would allow us to save a days rental and we could stay in one of the hotels at the airport. The thought of a big luxury hotel bed and shower was more appealing than staying our last night in our comfortable but getting smaller RV.

Now for anyone reading this blog and contemplating a New Zealand trip, I want to give you a little advice for coming home. Get to Auckland international early! The flight we were taking from Christchurch was to arrive 4 hours early into Auckland. Plenty of time right? Well no actually, our domestic flight was delayed 1 hour (which is quite common). You have a 10 min walk to international flights in Auckland. We arrived at customs line about 2 1/2 hours prior to departure. The line was one of those normal airport lines where they channel you back and forth until you get to the front. It didn’t look to bad and we felt we would get through customs with plenty of extra time. When we finally arrived at the front of the line entering another large room, we realized THIS was the actual start of the customs line. OMG for sure we had another 2 hour wait time. Well we did make it through and got to our gate prior to them closing the doors so it was ok, but word of advice – Auckland international sucks, get there early!

Another tip, coffee is like a special delicacy. In the states we drink coffee like we would have a glass of water. In New Zealand coffee comes after the meal and is like its own special course. It’s an event apparently to have coffee. One last tip – try the fish and chips, WOW!

This was such an awesome trip. The campervan type of self tour is very common with both tourists and locals. Absolutely the favorite way to see the island. Lots of YouTube videos out there that are helpful if you’re considering this kind of adventure.

Not everyone gets to enjoy a mountain horse like Tanner. We’ve owned and leased so many horses, but I’ve never been on one that compares to this guy.

Hard to catch, bossy, bullheaded are words I use to describe Tanner, yet when you hit the trail it’s all business with this guy.

11 years now I’ve had the pleasure of looking through those ears down the trail. From pitch black 4:30 mornings during hunting season when we’ve headed up the trail all alone, to countless moonlit nights heading back to the trailhead, Tanner always gets the job done and we have a safe trip.

It’ll be a sad day when this guy slows down and can’t do the big trips anymore. Maybe we’ll both have to retire at that time.

Well we did it, pulled off another year of ranch camp for our grandchildren. Connie and I host these kids each summer for a vacation in the Montana mountains. This year we had 10 of our 12 able to make the trip out.

Horse riding is always the biggest attraction. With 90+ degree temps we were starting mid morning and usually finished up by 2, with everyone getting a chance to ride their favorites.

With the exceptionally warm temps, afternoons were reserved for either lake time or waterpark. We’ve got an enormous floaty that will fit everyone at the lake so an abundance of fun was had by all.

Pretty quiet rides coming home in the evening, total exhaustion!

A fishing excursion with campfire and s’mores, huckleberry picking, and backyard cousin play time rounded out their vacation.

Saying goodbye is always hard. These kids have such a special time with the horses and it is unbelievable how the horses soften their demeanor around them.

Now the house is quiet and still😥. No more bare feet running the halls or playfull laughter. Our goal with this get together is to instill memories that will stay with these kids for a lifetime and I think we accomplished that this year. As they get older it becomes difficult to coordinate schedules to get everyone here at the same time, but they were able to overlap some days to get that special cousin time.

Now we look forward to next year guys!

Our family attempts to get together every other Christmas. 2023 was to be hosted by Connie and I in the mountains of Montana. Our three children, their spouses, and 12 grandchildren were able to travel here to celebrate the holidays. Our grandchildren range in age from 14 yrs to 19 months. So obviously we had the potential for an extremely chaotic, hectic, busy Christmas holiday.

Connie is a Christmas fanatic, so when she has the opportunity to have all her grandchildren on the mountain she goes all out. She started her holiday baking in October and filled our freezers with all kinds of goodies. There was a hot chocolate bar and a goodie bar that was within reach of all the toddlers. Sugar highs ran rampant.

Skiing the big mountain at whitefish was on the agenda, but our snow conditions this year have been very inadequate. Most of the mountain has been closed, but the kids did get one day skiing.

These kids were so busy with activities! Building gingerbread houses,

rollerblading in the shop, and some horse time were a few of the activities for the week. But the biggest hit for the kids had to be sledding down our driveway. We have a stretch of incline that is about 250 yards long and they spent hours upon hours wearing out the snow and ice.

We were also able to attend Christmas Eve church service with the whole clan in tow. Luckily Connie had warned the pastor so they had an overflow section set up and we were all able to sit together.

We even got in a trip to Moose’s Saloon on our last full day together. Imagine 12 kids and 8 adults marching into a busy beer and pizza saloon. We were quite the tribe

When it came time to say goodbye there were lots of tears and hugs, and our mountain home became outrageously quiet. No more little feet running in the hallways, no more morning and bedtime hugs, no more slow down cuddle time. We are extremely blessed that our children make the effort to all be together this time of year. Hopefully we can do it again in 2025.

Wishing you the best in 2024!

We have had some beautiful weather the last couple weeks here in Montana. Sadly nice weather is usually not very conducive to good elk hunting.

We enjoyed our annual elk hunt down in the Gallatin valley last week. My two boys had drawn tags and traveled out, also one of the our original elk camp partners was able to join.

We covered a tremendous amount of country searching for the wapiti, but with the drastic reduction in elk numbers and the blue bird weather we didn’t have any luck locating a nice bull.

We started each day at 3:30, getting horses fed, having breakfast ourselves and traveling to different trailheads to ride into the backcountry by legal shooting hours. So it wasn’t for lack of effort that we were unsuccessful with harvesting a bull.

It’s cliché but a hunt like this is much more than a harvest. Getting to ride all over this beautiful country with my boys and a long time hunting buddy makes a trip like this well worth the effort.

One of our days was spent hunting an area near what is called sunken forest. Back in 1959 there was an earthquake that created a deep fisher on the mountain. The whole side of the mountain broke off and sank into the ground.

Sadly as we grow older, these hunting trips get a little tougher to go on. Our initial core group hasn’t been together in four years now. Schedule conflicts, failure to secure tags, or just the lack of elk numbers in the area have prevented our traditional group from attending. This year John stated, was also going to be his last time making the trip. John has been hunting with us since 2005. Always willing to carry his weight and more, he was a great guy to have in hunting camp. His mishap fiascoes made for great stories around the lunchtime campfire and I will miss these adventures with him.

The boys and I also decided this will be our last year to venture down in the gallatin for hunting. Although it’s always been a special trip, wolves and grizzly’s have decimated not only the Yellowstone herd that would migrate through this area, but most of the local elk are gone now also. It’s time to start scouting for a new area. There will probably be some additional chances at harvesting a cow elk during the shoulder season so hopefully we will still get the freezer full.

Wow we’re almost halfway through October already, leaving me wondering where did our summer go. We started the season working on a new shop site that finally came to completion last week.

We had our 3 yr old gelding to work with this summer. We purchased Sonny as a yearling, but he didn’t get to live full time on the mountain until this summer. He progressed wonderfully and was worked 3-4 days a week in an effort to prepare him for backcountry use. Unfortunately we had an accident last week resulting in a big set back in training. While out alone on a ride he spooked violently to the left and pitched me off his right side. This would have been a non-event except my left boot got hung up in the stirrup resulting in me receiving several kicks from a panicked horse. Nothing broken thank goodness, just significant bruising that will heal with time.

We again got to host ranch camp for the oldest of our grandchildren. This is such a fun time – riding horses, UTV rides to backcountry lakes, water slide outings, target practice with pellet gun, s’mores around the campfire were a few of the activities our campers enjoyed.

We didn’t get many backcountry rides in this summer. Maybe a dozen up the North Fork and just a handful up the Middle Fork. Cody was in town on a long layover so he joined us on a day trip for some trout fishing.

We also had a large fencing project to do this summer. Most of our fence is treated 1/2 rail, but this stretch lies in the backwoods so we went with high tensil smooth wire.

Yes it’s been a busy summer, and now our snow season is just a few weeks away. Hopefully we’ll get a few more rides in before the weather turns cold, but if not we’ll break out the winter gear.

During July we had our annual grandkids ranch camp. This is such a special time for Connie and I. We got the 6 oldest of our 12 grandchildren.

Horse riding is always the biggest event. These kids all have their favorite horse so we wrangle each morning around 9, and then rotate in pairs for about an hour and half of riding for each pair.

The first to arrive at camp was Bella, Sophia, and Jalen.

Then Mady flew in to get a surprise greeting from her cousin

And finally Skylee and Decker flew in with their dad to join ranch camp.

A few days later Steve, Leah and Gavin drove out for a few days so we had 1 more grandchild at ranch camp

We spend a lot of time on horses, but with the hot afternoon temps, we had several lake outings

We took the UTV’s up to Moose Lake for a picnic and water fun. This is a 16 mile dusty UTV ride, but we had the lake all to ourselves😃

Water slide outings, Hungry Horse reservoir swimming, shooting, and huckleberry picking made up the rest of our excursions.

We also had a little fishing trip with the last 2 at camp. They had a blast in the creek on a 90 degree day.

There’s lots of tears when time comes to head home. They say goodbye to their horses with heavy hugs

Until next summer when we hope to get to do it again!

I spent a couple weeks on the farm again this spring. Two weeks with nothing but this to look at.

Actually we had a really good stretch of rain free weather and were able to get a lot of work done. Steve appreciated the help.

Then it was time to head back to the mountain. Horses were under Connie’s great care so they were looking good.

We got our colt back on the ranch also. Sonny is loving life on the mountain, and I’ve been able to take a few rides on him.

Spring always seems to bring a lot of bear activity. We’ve had numerous sightings in the neighborhood. This little guy was in our pasture

Beautiful days on the mountain gave us opportunity to take a UTV ride down by the river. This is an area many locals use for weekend camping.

In a few weeks we will get to host ranch camp for the grandkids again. We can’t wait!!

Are you considering a vacation to Glacier Park? Glacier is one of the most beautiful parks in the nation and every year millions of tourists flock to this destination. Massive peaks, waterfalls, grizzly bears and other wildlife are the main attractions in this pristine national park.

Going to the sun road (GTSR) is probably the most traveled area of Glacier and it’s easy to see why. This narrow winding road allows visitors to drive up over Logan Pass which offers spectacular views from the comfort of your vehicle. Numerous nature trails that range from easy to strenuous also are accessed from GTSR.

Glacier’s popularity has grown to the point that park officials have instituted a vehicle permit process the last couple years. Vacationers now have to obtain a highly sought after permit in addition to purchasing a park pass. For tourists planning a week long vacation to Glacier these permit dates can be planned and if the visitor is prudent to request a permit in the first few minutes they come available, you probably will be successful. If the vacationer is not diligent in obtaining a first come first serve permit then you’re going to get to enjoy the park through pictures or articles like this one.

Out of the area visitors have the fortune to plan their specific dates to visit Glacier. Locals on the other hand have difficulty in embracing this permit concept. Glacier is basically in our back yard, the view from our living room looks at the Apgar range, McDonald valley, Mt. Cannon and the garden wall. Residents like ourselves are accustomed to venturing into Glacier on a whim. Picture a bluebird sunshine morning in July and you get the urge to take a drive over Logan Pass, GTSR is only a 15 minute drive from home. Well that doesn’t happen anymore and it can be frustrating. The only option for the resident without a permit is to access the park before 6 in the morning or after 3 in the afternoon. 6 am to 3 pm are the hours permits are required.

Although it’s disappointing for locals that park access is controlled these days, it may be a justified inconvenience. As I noted in a previous writing, the faces of Montana have changed drastically in the last few years. The migration of people seeking residency in this beautiful state is bound to strain resources and park officials are obligated to take measures to conserve the area plus enhance the experience of those that do visit. This year not only GTSR is restricted, but also the Polebridge, Many Glacier, and Two Medicine access roads.

For many people that live and recreate in Montana’s mountains, the thought of owning horses is a very romantic notion. Thoughts of riding off into the backcountry can be extremely alluring.

For us, horses are a very important part of our lives that we relish and enjoy. We live in an area that is conducive to raising and training our horses to life in the mountains. 

Raising horses on a mountain is not a easy task. There is constant work in building and maintaining fence. Hauling hay, cleaning stalls, visits to the vet, giving vaccinations, deworming, along with daily feedings are all chores that will become tedious if you do not have a true love of living with horses.

Horse people have a term for winter feeding – “headlamp season”. You are always out taking care of your stock early in the mornings and later in evenings so the headlamp is always on your hat.

Then spring breaks in all its beauty and the horse owner is eager to enjoy the backcountry. The problem is most trails need to be cleared yearly for stock access.

So you pack your saw and head out, but after you cut a few miles of trail I guarantee your enthusiasm will diminish.

The next hiccup newbies to these mountains will encounter is the numerous bears that prefer to use the same trail you and your horses are using. Usually bears will shy from encounters with stock, but never-the-less your horse knows the bear is in the area and may spook. The only remedy for keeping your horse calm during these situations is experience, and the only way to gain experience is to get out there and let er buck!

this little guy wasn’t much of a threat, but his mom would be!

For those willing to do the work and put in the time, backcountry stock use can be very rewarding. Riding into that mountain lake to fish or cresting a pass with magnificent views, just you and your trail buddy. These are adventures few people in this world get to enjoy.