Family ski day.

The Whitefish Ski Resort officially closed for the season this weekend. So we packed up the entire family (including our 3 year old twins) and headed up the mountain for one last day on the slopes.

The weather was warm, the snow was soft and a party atmosphere was in the air. The closing ceremonies are always a ton of fun and its great to reflect back on another amazing season of skiing in our wonderful little ski hamlet high up in the Rocky Mountains... now its time for fishing and paddling season begin in earnest!

Running with Sasquatch.

I came across this monster grizzly bear track this morning on my daily run in the mountains. It looks like its time to start carrying bear spray again. Winter is over and the bears are up and at 'em.... and hungry after not eating for four months.

Easter fishing.

Easter Sunday brought warm sunny skies, so after a huge brunch at the Whitefish Lodge in Whitefish, Montana, my oldest daughter and I hoisted the canoe on the Jeep and headed out to a remote alpine lake for some trout fishing. The westlope cutthroat trout eagerly obliged. 

After a long, cold winter it felt amazing to drift out onto the water and feel the warm sun on our faces. And to make it even better, we both had fish on the line within a minute of being on the water... and we had nearly non-stop action for several hours. As good as it gets.

Too much matching...

Just by coincidence my 4 year old canoe perfectly matches my brand new Jeep... maybe a bit too much.

Rockin' Hudson Bay Jacket.

Meriwether & Whiskeyjack craftsman Steve L. showed up to work recently sporting his grandfather's Hudson Bay Company hunting jacket from the 1930s. It is insanely thick and warm. What a classic. Steve is also a hunting guide and has pledged to wear this out in the field at least once this Fall.

Just a little build up...

.....of snow on our pup during our morning snowshoe today.

Snow Ghosts...

People email us all of the time asking about the mystical trees looming behind us in our blog photos. Here in the Northern Rockies of Montana they are called Snow Ghosts (the local brewhouse even has a Snow Ghost Lager...)

These amazing and haunting trees might look amazing in photos but trust me, photography doesn't do them justice. In person they are awe inspiring. Its a testament to just how much snow we get here... and just how tough the local pine trees need to be in order to survive at 7000 feet. The tips of many trees get so overloaded with snow that they bend all the way over and fuse themselves to the ground -creating a perfect arch.

And what's more, much like clouds, if you look hard at each one you can find just about any shape or object. Its great fun with our children. Many a long chair lift ride to the summit of Big Mountain is spent calling out things that we can find... Elephants and Wizards and Horses and...???

Our oldest daughter about to drop into Hellroaring Basin.

Barbara snowshoeing the east route just below the summit.

The snow ghost field below chair 5.

Professional Bull Riding Tour

The PBR (Professional Bull Riding tour) came to town last week and we just had to go. I've been an avid fan of the PBR on TV for several years now but have never had a chance to watch it in person. I've seen plenty of local rodeos at county fairs and such but those bulls just don't compare... to witness the the meanest, nastiest bulls on the planet up close like this was amazing.

As an added bonus, Matt Triplett, a local 21 year old who is just making a name for himself on the tour dominated on Friday night. He won the Friday rodeo right in front of his hometown crowd with two amazing rides. Below is a some video I shot of his first ride.

Friday was kids night at the rodeo so we brought the whole family. We arrived early and snatched up front row seats. Rodeos are definitely great places for kids. Our three year old twins especially loved watching these mammoth beasts tossing riders off at will and the angry bulls chasing the rodeo clowns around got them both jumping and cheering.

Mom and Max at the rodeo.

It doesn't get any better  than an ice cold PBR while watching the PBR...

Matt Tripplet of Coulmbia Falls, Montana

X-Country Skiing

Barb and I took a break from the slopes of Big Mountain to do some cross country skiing last week. Since living in Montana we have focused almost exclusively on downhill alpine skiing. So it was really nice to dust off the cross country skis and go for a long trek in the backcountry.

Briskly gliding on the smooth tracks through the snow covered pine forest took me back to my days in Minnesota where cross country skiing was a daily activity for us in winter. It felt great to get back to my roots a little bit. The air was crisp and cold and the scenery amazing.

As a bonus huge snowflakes the size of quarters were gently falling from the sky while we skied. A perfect one landed right on Barb's glove... check the pic below.

Cutting our Christmas Tree

One of the great things about living at the edge of the wilderness is our annual trip into the forest to harvest our Christmas tree. This year we drove up a long, winding mountain road and hiked and hiked in search of the perfect tree. The drive is as much fun as the cutting of the tree. We packed a large thermos of hot chocolate for the trip and sang christmas carols as we wound our way up into the mountains.

After finding several "pretty good" trees, our oldest daughter Josephine discovered this year's selection on a small ridge just off the trail. As always, I did the honors of cutting the tree and dragging it out to the truck.

As a bonus, our 3 year old twins were able to hike the entire trail this year... which made things much easier. The past three holidays we had to back pack them in and out -which made hauling the tree back to the truck all the more difficult.

Concrete Angels.

Jared G. of Betabrand in San Francisco sent us this sweet pic of him making an asphalt angel -while sporting our classic Crossed Axes hat. We love it... Jared and his friends stopped by our store in Whitefish, Montana on their way back from Glacier National Park.

Just switched to Blogger...

Below are some older posts from the Fall from our previous blog... we'll include a link to our original blog on the sidebar. 

Or click here: http://www.whiskeyjackpaddles.com/blog_archive.asp

We have 7 years of amazing photos and adventures to share...

Hunter + Gatherer = Huckleberry Fever.

The Hunter part has always been true of me and come summer very little can get between me and fishing... but for several weeks at the end of each summer one thing can very easily pull me away from chasing fish. Its then that I very much become Gatherer. And that thing, my friends is huckleberry picking. This is the most glorious time of the season. Seriously.


And what a season it has been. The huckleberry picking is beyond amazing with sweet, succulent berries the size of grape tomatos dangling by the thousands on the mountain slopes surrounding our beautiful Rocky Mountain hamlet here in Whitefish, Montana.
These days I am spending every spare minute picking huckleberries. I pick, therefore I am. Seriously. Aching back from stooping, sore quadraceps from climbing up to 6000 feet, carpel tunnel wrists and cramped fingers... all totally worth it to have galllons and gallons and gallons of these incredible jewels of the Mountain stored up for the winter.
There is one problem, however. The grizzly bears. They like huckleberrys too... Alot. And they can weigh 900 pounds... and I'm 160 LB soaking wet. So picking hucklberries right now means having one hand frantically picking and one hand hovering over the can of bear spray attached tightly to my hip. Still, the risk is totally worth it...

Ode to our Springer Spaniel.

About ten months ago we first posted pics of our new springer spaniel puppy. Echo was purchased in November 2011 from a highly regarded breeder in Seattle and quickly became a beloved member of our family. With two year old twins and a 6 week old puppy, let's just say we were oozing in cuteness -and working our butts off catering to the needs of all three.
Springers are known to have amazing noses and have an uncanny ability to sniff out and flush grouse in thick, dense brush and thickets that would be impenetrable to humans. To see a springer work the woods is an absolute thing of beauty and it is quickly evident why they are called "springers". They really do spring up and over fallen trees and brush -and when running through tall grass or weeds they jump up frequently to pop their heads above the grass to gain a view of where they are going.

A thousand generations of selective breeding have made these thoroughbreds supreme bird dogs.

Grouse season opened here in Western Montana on September 1 and I was anxious to take Echo out and let her do her thing. She has been well trained using grouse scents on her toys and grouse wings as rewards for good flushing... but until now she really wasn't quite sure what to make of it all.

We headed out a few miles north of our hometown of Whitefish, Montana in a mountainous region we have been scouting for grouse. Within a few hundred yards of hiking the gated forest road Echo had her first flush. Two plump grouse flushed straight up and I was able get clean shots on both. The site of seeing Echo retrieve her first fallen bird, leaping through the thickets with bird in mouth, is a something I will always treasure.

It all came full circle for her with that first bird and she now truly understands what her calling in life is. Now just the sight of my 20 guage shot gun is enough to get her whining and spinning and howling in anticipation of going back out in the field.

She is only 11 months old and I hope to have many, many wonderful years of grouse and pheasant hunting with her.

I once caught a fish soooooo big...

We've received countless "big fish" photos over the years but nothing has ever come close to topping the photo below. This was sent to us by Whiskeyjacker Steve Dougherty of Florida. Steve is also the associate editor of Florida Sport Fishing Magazineand obviously has mad talent to pull a feat like this off. We've been trying all week just to wrap our heads around it. The logistics of landing a monster like this on a paddleboard are mind boggling... Of course, we were stoked to see his custom Whiskey Bootlegger strapped safely on his deck.

Whiskey Caribou Canoe Paddle.

Brent W. of Michigan sent us these great pics of his custom redwood ottertail canoe paddle that we made for him a few years back. These pics were snapped somewhere up in the wilds of Canada.

Killer Brat.

I'm not ashamed to say it... The Subaru Brat is my dream car. If I wasn't always hauling kids, canoes, lumber and paddleboards around, this would be my ride -and I would be the envy of all. I came across this classic beauty this morning while out mountain biking on Big Mountain. It didn't have the iconic rear facing seats in the flat bed any longer but it did have some sweet after-market gauges mounted on the dash.

Its as if the the genius engineers at Subaru looked at the El Camino and thought to themselves "Let's make one of those -but awesomer and with 4 wheel drive too..."

Labor Day Family Camping Trip

For Labor Day weekend we loaded up the kids and the dog and a tent and headed out into the wilderness. The Real Wilderness. Its still out there, you know. I'm not tallking about some jammed packed public campground with RVs and generators and blaring music. We do the Real Wilderness. Montana Style.

Fortunate for us we do live in a state where its still possible to find remote forests, wild rivers and vast wildernesses -and have it all to ourselves. What we seek is just a short drive from our home in Whitefish, Montana -pick any direction and go. Literally. Pick any road and take it out of town and in a short while you will be all alone. No people. No electricity. No cell phone service. Just mountains. Just the way we like it.

For this trip we headed down to the South Fork of the Flathead River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. A vast and remote wilderness designated by the U.S. Congress with special protections, "The Bob" as the locals call it, is loaded with moose, and elk and grizzly bears and mountain lions and wolverines. 

The one thing "The Bob" is not loaded with is people. Again, just the way we like it. No offense to the people reading this blog. But I'm sure you understand -and totally agree. Camping in the wilderness is way better without you, right?

So there we were. All alone. 

Camping. 

Hiking. 

Reading spooky campfire stories. 

Skipping stones in the gin clear waters of the South Fork. 

Plunking cans with my daughter's .22 rifle. 

Fly fishing. 

Making s'mores. 

Just us... and the mountains.

Its still out there. You just have to look for it. Or pick the right place to live.