Matt Benchmark with Matt and Jen, then Pyramid Buttes on a Friday Afternoon.

Hanging out with Matt and Jen on the summit ridge of Matt Benchmark in the southern Swan Range.

The last week of summer was a blur. Work was very busy, as I had to video record my first week of lectures, so that I could go to the research workshop from which I write this blog. With all of the advances in technology over the past decades, you'd think this would be an easy process, but it isn't (or wasn't for me). Squeezed into the week was an overnight visit to Family Camp, which is a week long camp that Amy and Matt McQuilken put on every year at Camp Paxson on Seeley Lake. Matt was keen to get out for a hike to a peak during the 24 hours I was there, so we went into the nearby Swan Range, starting near the Pyramid Pass Trailhead, and climbed Matt Benchmark (seemed a suitable peak given the company). Jen joined, and we had a nice 4 hours-ish hike on Wednesday morning.

Soon after we returned to Camp Paxson from the hike, it was back to Missoula for work on Thursday. Thursday was a long day: recording the last of the videos, converting them to a format suitable for the web, and finally, uploading them to my web page. I staggered home late, looking forward to the last hike/peak of the summer on Friday. But something came up with my other job at UM (Grievance Officer for the faculty Union), and I had to go back on campus Friday morning. I finally got out of town at 1pm, making it to the Sweeney Creek trailhead at 2pm, from where I had decided to climb the Pyramid Buttes high point. Once again, I followed the route described in the excellent Bitterroot Mountain Summits, by Michael Hoyt. I pushed it hard to get there and back to the car by dark, and in my haste I forgot to bring my phone, so no pictures of what is an amazing place, so close to Missoula. I hope for at least one more fall hike in the Bitterroots, once the alpine larch start dropping their needles. 

And the week wasn't over yet on Friday. For my brother's 40th birthday, we spent the day on Saturday on the Clark Fork River, until late in the evening. Then it was off to North Carolina on Sunday for this workshop. Whew, what a week!