Bomber Mountain 2019

While Matthew was on his mission the Scouts in our ward hiked Bomber Mountain in the Cloud Peak Wilderness of the Bighorn Mountains.  I thought it was something Matthew would love to do since the  Cloud Peak Wilderness is his happy place on earth and he hadn't ever been to Bomber Mountain.  In August Matthew and David finished their summer jobs and Neil took them up there for three days.

Here is Neil's take on the adventure of hiking Bomber Mountain:

"As for me, I am hobbling around the house today (and last night) because of my adventures. Thursday morning, Matthew, David, Dallin, and I packed up and went on a trip up into the Cloud Peak Wilderness area in the Bighorns. We started out at West Ten Sleep Lake Trailhead (elevation 9100 feet) and started hiking with all of our gear. It took us about 5 hours (including breaks) and at least 20,000 steps to get to our campsite at Misty Moon Lake (elevation about 10,300 feet with a population of 1 moose…We saw “Morris” every morning and every evening we were there hanging out on the other side of the Lake). On the way up we also hiked by Lake Helen and Lake Marian. We also crossed lots of small creeks and one river that was a little tricky without getting your feet wet. We got our camp set up and dinner and the boys were just getting fishing good when the rain started. It soon forced us to our tents (around 7 pm) and it rained for at least 5 hours, so we had an early bed-time that night. In the morning we had a little bit of ice on the tents as it was a cold rain. We could see fresh snow a little higher up on the mountains. Anyway, that morning we just took our day packs and hiked up to Bomber Mountain. That was quite an adventure. We hiked past several other lakes until we went over Florence pass and got to Lake Florence. Then we left the trail (and our fishing poles) and started heading up the mountain. Bomber Mountain has lots of boulders and cliffs on it. But we started hiking upward and upward towards the top. We got to cross water and found patched of snow that had not melted yet. We also got up into the fresh snow but there wasn’t much of that and it was melting. We got up high enough that we got “into the clouds”. It was kind of cloudy/sunny, so it would be foggy for a but, then sunny. Eventually, the sun won out and it turned into a nice day. Anyway, we made it to the top (12,000 feet) and were able the find the wreckage of a world war II plane that crashed there back in 1943. That is quite a story in itself, but of the plane would have had maybe 20 more feet in elevation, I think they would have made it over the mountain as most of the wreckage was very close to the top of the mountain. 9 soldiers, preparing to World War II lost their lives there. Anyway, I now know that it takes about 30,000 steps to get from the trailhead to the top of Bomber Mountain. Coming down the mountain, we got into a few situations that were “mildly precarious” but we went slowly and helped each other, and we made it safely down. We lunched near a stream/waterfall coming off Bomber Mountain near the bottom. It was a good place to refill our water bottles out of that clear stream (we had a water filter). After the high we fished our way back to camp. We caught a few fish but not many, but it was an enjoyable day. That night the boys caught quite a few fish at Misty Moon Lake. Worms were the best bait, but Matthew also caught some using spinners. We threw all the fish (Brook Trout) we caught back into the lake as we didn’t have any good way to cook any of the fish. Some of the Brook trout we caught were pretty big for brook trout as they typically are not very big.  We had a little propane stove, but they don’t allow for campfires up as high as we were. (We were camped above the timber line as they weren’t any trees around…just lots of bushes. Our 2^nd night was clear and dry although we did have frost on our tent in the morning. We packed up and started heading back. We did some more fishing on the way back. Anyway, we made it back to the truck, and we stopped in Worland for Hamburgers and Milkshakes as that sounded good after several days of eating backpacking type food. I think everyone had fun but after I got out of the truck in Powell, I could hardly walk as my legs had had plenty of time to stiffen up. A warm shower sure felt good.

            One good news about this adventure was that I should win my “step challenge” for the week as those 3 days gave me a big lead in my challenge this week (I have about 135,000 steps so far this week).  Unless someone goes off crazy today, I will win my step challenge this week with my Garmin step counter. Each week, the computer puts in a group of about 10 others who average similar number of steps each week (I am usually in a group whose goal is 100,000 steps). Anyway, I don’t win the weekly challenges very often, but every once in a while, I will. I frequently will be in the top three on Saturday, the next to the last day of the weekly challenge, but then I get passed on Sunday when I don’t get as many steps as I do on the other days. So I usually only win if I have a big lead on Saturday.

            There were many other great things about our hike. We had a number of tender mercies. It didn’t start raining until after we had camp set up, the rest of the trip didn’t have rain, we made it safely up and down Bomber mountain with no serious injuries (David got his hand scratched). We got to experience some of Heavenly Father’s beautiful creations, our old white truck made it the whole way. There and back, even though it was having a few issues, and we got to spend time together. All in all, a good three days. I am not sure how many more trips of this kind, my old body has left in it as I have found that climbing mountains at such high elevation is not easy. The good news is that the boys could not easily lose me as I was huffing and puffing so loudly going up the mountain that I was easy to keep track of. When we were hiking along the trail, I would gradually get behind them, but they were good to stop every once in a while, to let me catch up."

Cloud Peak (left) and Bomber Mountain (right) as seen from Lake Helen.

If you are interested in the story of Bomber Mountain here is a link where you can read about it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomber_Mountain

Officially a CNA

Emma wants to go to nursing school. She started down the path of following her dreams by taking the CNA course at the hospital this summer.  She finished the course and then had to pass the state exam.  On Friday she took the test in Buffalo and passed. Hooray for Emma!  She passed the written test only missing one question out of 60.  She had to do five hands on skills along with the written test.  One of the skills was taking someone's pulse. Normally she is very good at finding and taking a pulse, but during her test she was nervous and was shaking so hard she wasn't sure if she was feeling the pulse or her shaking.  She did it well enough to pass.  We are proud of you sweet Emma!

Isn't she the cutest CNA you have ever seen?  She has had so much fun buying cute scrubs to wear to work. 

Hiawatha Trail

In 2014 I went to a regional training. Elder Vern Stanfill was there and talked about riding his bike on the Hiawatha Trail in Montana.  In October 2015 he talked about the trail again in his General Conference address. (Link below if you are interested)

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2015/11/saturday-afternoon-session/choose-the-light?lang=eng

When I heard him talk about it I came home and told Neil I thought it was something we should do together.  We were finally able to make it happen this summer.  We left here bright and early before 5:30 Tuesday, August 6th and drove to the Trail.  It was a great drive together to have time to talk and reconnect. We listened to a book on the seasons of marriage. It provided great conversation starters for us.

We got to the Hiawatha Trail about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was hot, and we wished we had more time and more water, but it was still a great adventure together. We planned to walk the trail instead of biking.  We had to wear helmets which we hadn't planned for. Someone who had just finished the trail let us use the helmets they had rented.  I didn't really like the long tunnel. It was muddy and slippery. I was glad to be on my feet instead of a bike. The tunnels were cooler and that was a blessing.

We walked about 6 miles on the trail before we turned around to be back on time.  It was beautiful. There were quite a few bikers doing the trail, but we were the only ones walking that we saw.

We stopped in the town by the trail and bought lemonades. They sure tasted good!  We drove on the Couer d'Alene to spend the night at a fun bed and breakfast.  We ate at a fun little pizza place in Spokane that had board games on the tables to play while you waited. What a great idea.  It was a fun trip and a great experience together.

Cycling merit badge

Dallin recently worked on his cycling merit badge with his friend Dexter Opps. Neil helped them as their counselor.  Dexter's dad, Zac Opps, also went along for the fun.  They had to do a total of 150 miles on their rides.  They did two10 mile rides, two 15 mile rides, two 25 mile rides, and one 50 mile ride.  I went along for one of the 10-mile rides, but that was all the fun I could take. 

On their 50 mile ride, they went from Powell to Lovell and back. They left bright and early at about 5:30.  They stopped in Lovell and had sour warhead Slurpees for a treat.  Neil expected the boys to take some breaks on the way home, but they just kept biking along. When they got home the boys decided to take the tandem bike out for a victory lap. You just can't have enough fun on a bike.  I think they enjoyed this merit badge. It is great that Dallin has a dad who will help him do these things and a great friend to do them with.

Collections

Joshua has an amazing pokemon card collection.  He loves to sort them and do pokemon battles. I think this collection is his most prized possession.

Ralph and Bonnie Sharp Reunion 2019

The Ralph and Bonnie Sharp reunion was on August 3, 2019, in Herriman. We planned it around MaryAnne and Abby's trip to EFY.  Sam and Anne and their family weren't able to come, but the rest of us enjoyed the day together.

We left Powell on Thursday (August 1). It was Matthew's last day of work. He didn't have to work very long so we were able to leave earlier than we planned to. We drove through Yellowstone. We stopped at Yellowstone Lake and Gibbons Falls. The kids had fun trying to skip rocks on the Lake. We stopped at Grandma Karan's to spend the night. We wanted Matthew to have the opportunity to see Grandma. He hadn't seen her since his mission.  We enjoyed seeing her.  Joshua and Lydia performed their clogging songs for her.  Aaron liked playing at Grandma's house and sleeping in her garage.

 On Friday we went on to Utah.  Everyone in the van traveled very well and it was a fun trip.

Saturday morning MaryAnne and Abby went to the temple with Grandpa Sharp.  Naomi and Randy, Bethany, and Matthew went with us to do sealings at the temple. Neil said it was a family reunion on both sides of the veil.  It was a beautiful day in the temple together. Grandma Sharp stayed with the younger children.

We had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house and enjoyed visiting together and playing games in the afternoon.  Grandpa and Grandma took everyone to Culver's for dinner. It was delicious!!  Afterward, we went up the Little Cottonwood Canyon and Nate showed us how to rock climb. The kids had fun playing on the rocks and trying to climb.  Matthew and MaryAnne were able to make it to the top. Lydia and Joshua tried hard and did better each time they tried. It was a super fun evening together.  The canyon was beautiful and the weather was perfect.  It was a great reunion. Next year hopefully everyone can be there.