Where the Hell is Roscoe?

I don’t even know where to start anymore with this place. I am finding it incredibly and increasingly difficult to portray how much I am loving it and how beautiful it is here. I was tempted to just post a bunch of pictures and let your imaginations run wild. But I’ll say a few words..or a million words. Saddle up.

I’m back with another slew of soul rejuvinating, magical weekends of fun. This place you guys. When I told people I wanted to go to Montana for the summer I got a lot of “are you going to live on a ranch?” “Why are you going there?” etc. There are a lot of actual cowboys out here but to me that’s all part of the awesome culture of this area. That being said, I came out here to see what you have all seen in my photos because I knew that was waiting for me. I guess when you don’t know much about an area you rely on the stereotype. I hope I am changing some minds out there.

In my previous post I talked about meeting Brad while we were in Bozeman and how he ended up joining us for our last adventure. Well, Brad and I have had a few of our own adventures the past couple weekends and it has been THE BEST.

Two weekends ago he and I went to East Rosebud  on Sunday morning. It’s about an hour or so away from Billings in the Beartooth Mountains. Brad had borrowed a sprinter van from a family he’s close with (also came with a dog). Anyway, this van had a small kitchen in it and the top popped up into a “bedroom.” So we were not roughing it. We hiked to Elk Lake – which I posted a photo of on the insta account. As you could all see this place was beatuiful! I was walking slower than molasses because I kept staring at everything. Everything is SO BIG. You guys, we are so small in this world. It’s insane. Also everything is SO GREEN. My head and heart want to explode when I look at all of this. There are a select few humans who are probably close to their wits end with me saying everything is pretty and green. 🙂

I was telling Brad I feel so sad for people who can’t enjoy things like this. I also feel so sad for people who can enjoy it and choose not to. Blows my mind.

After we were done hiking we (when I say we, I mean Brad because I have no idea what I’m doing) found a campsite right next to the creek. Although the “creek” is currently the equivalent of a engraged rapidly moving river because of all the snow melting. It was such a pretty spot. It should be mentioned that the areas to camp here are in the middle of nowhere and there is no one around you. We actually moved a fence and went down some random dirt road to find this place. We made dinner and had a beer while the mountains and the sunset served as our television for the night. We just sat by the creek and watched the light change on the mountainside. So so pretty. When the sun did go down we ended up taking out the sleeping bags and the mattress from the top of the van and laying outside, had some wine and good tunes and watched the stars slide across the sky again.

The following morning we woke up and Brad made coffee and breakfast while I took a stroll and grabbed some awesome morning light photos. After breakfast we walked back down the path near us and picked a wildflower bouquet. Both of us had plans for later that day so we had to head out of the camp and get back home.

We got back to where my car was parked in Columbus and grabbed some lunch. It was sunny, warm and an all around gorgeous day. At some point in this time frame we both decided to completely ditch our plans for the day and keep going. I told him last weekend you can’t have a time like that with another human and not keep going. So that’s what we did. We drove back toward the mountains, grabbed a six pack from an incredibly tiny and hilarious town store in the middle of nowhere and proceeded to spend a solid part of the afternoon driving and following the river through the mountains. We made multiple pit stops along the way and laughed so hard we cried.

Since we had only planned on camping one night we had run out of rations for food for our spontaneous second night. Luckily there is a fantastic little bar and grill in Roscoe called The Grizzly. You have to experience this place to understand the uniqueness. Half of the events that happened during our two days of adventure are not even worth trying to describe via blog post. Just know the hilarity that ensued included terrible country music, a prom queen bartender, half of my food on the floor and a gentleman in a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a nice button up with cows on it and two people who thoroughly enjoy eachother’s company and have a wicked sense of humor.

Last weekend I ventured back to Bozeman to spend the weekend with Brad. Friday we drove out to Hyalite Reservoir to paddle board as pictured on my instagram. We paddled across the reservoir and sat in the grass watching the mountains and having a brew. We got back out on the water for a bit before we were hoping to go hike to a waterfall. However, I decided to move my feet around too much on the board and went right on overboard. This water is unbelievabley freezing. It literally took my breath away. I actually panicked for a few minutes because it was such a shock that I felt like I could not breath. Remember Rose from Titanic? My voice sounded like hers did when she was on that board in the ocean. I feel you Rose, I feel you. I managed to get back on my board and muster up the inner warmth to paddle around a bit more before Brad told me my lips were turning blue. The hike did not happen.

Brad had to work Saturday and Sunday afternoon so Saturday we went to brunch and walked up on these bluffs overlooking the town and then he headed into work. I decided to hike the “M” Trail in town. It was a really beautiful view of the valley and the wildflowers are unreal right now. The whole hillside was covered in them! We spent the nights cooking dinner and listening to good tunes, enjoying wine and sitting out on the porch soaking up the beautiful evenings. Again, I am not going to attempt to explain the hilarity. We are awesome and we are funny, that’s all anyone ever needs to know.

Yesterday! Casey and I ventured out onto the Beartooth Highway. We had plans to drive the whole highway and stay in Cooke City but there was so much snow this year that it was only open to the Wyoming state line. The part we did see was, as I have said about EVERYTHING, beautiful. I can’t wait to drive the rest when it is open soon! I’ll have several pictures posted below. We headed back towards Red Lodge and did a hike at Lake Fork Trail. This was a really nice trail that paralleled a creek so it was a really peaceful hike. Afterwards we met Dylan (the first straggler we picked up and went hiking with when we first visited Red Lodge a few weeks ago). It was such a nice day so we sat outside in the back patio area at the Red Lodge brewery with Dylan and a few of his friends and had a few post hike brews. See a theme? Hiking and beer go together like cheese and wine.

That’s the best I can do right now. My life is currently like a movie and I can’t properly exude the enthusiasm and content feeling I have so I’ll continue to let my photos speak for me while I occasionally throw a vague description out to you guys.

Enjoy the photos below, there are A LOT this time.

Cheers!