Greetings from August.
The summer is quickly spiraling towards the inevitable week-long
drive back to Maine. The impending joy of moving into another
apartment, buying books again, and figuring out the parking patterns
of people who have classes near me. How late can I get to school
and still get a reasonable parking spot? Hopefully all of the
people who parked behind Nutting last year in the commuter lot have
all graduated, and I'll have it all to myself. Fat chance. Maybe
I'll start riding my bike to campus. I'll be living within riding
distance to campus for the first time, so it'll be a novel
experience. Perhaps I'll see how long I can go without buying a
parking permit.
There was an arts and music festival in Bozeman this past weekend.
It's similar to the National Folk Festival in Bangor (or whatever
they're calling it now), except it was far smaller and they charged
$10 at the door. I went with my careless coworker Rob, and we sat
in the shade and listened to some bands for a couple hours. We
heard a nice Celtic/Scottish folk band, a blues trio, and a drumming
troupe. All pretty good stuff, and it was in a beautiful park
within walking distance of downtown Bozeman. Not quite the Bangor
riverfront, but it'll do.
Did a little hike around Garnett Hill near Tower Junction on
Sunday. It was fairly level, and I managed to avoid getting any
blisters. We came across a suspension bridge over the Yellowstone
River, which was really amazing. Roaring rapids below us, 100' high
cliffs, beautiful blue water, and no apparent way for a suspension
bridge to appear in the middle of the backcountry. We passed by a
dozen talus slopes, and they all had small populations of marmots.
They aren't very fast animals, but they're very nimble and their
environment gives them plenty of opportunities to hide from
predators. Did a little more climbing during the week. Finally got
a chance to do some top roping. Couldn't quite make it to the top
(about a 5.8), but it afforded me great views of the Yellowstone and
Yankee Jim Canyon.
Nick
