Day 8

We woke up today set on going hiking, so we went through the usual breakfast routine of Dave improvising something great to eat and then headed out on our way.  The trail we had in mind was recommended to us by Mr. Bloom, and lay about 30 minutes outside of downtown Bozeman.  

The head of the trail began at the shore of a large, mountain reservoir and then proceeded up the mountain.  We followed the trail for about a mile and half before reaching the other end of the reservoir.  Although some of us wanted to continue along the trail, we were losing daylight and most of the trail was covered with snow at this altitude.  It was at this point that we decided to cross one of the snow melt streams feeding the reservoir so that we could easily walk along the opposite shore to get back to the car.  This required some ingenuity, as there were no bridges crossing the stream.  We hiked up along the mountain until we found a 20 foot log that had fallen across the stream, allowing us to cross.  This led to a walk along the other side of the lake, which produced some incredible views of the alpine covered mountains.  

After this, we stopped by the grocery store to get food and then Dave made us some of the best burgers we had ever tasted.  We ate these while watching the Pacers beat the Heat in the NBA playoffs, which was a perfect end to a perfect day.  

 Jake about to take a dip

Dave and Evan take in the view during the hike