Columbia Mountain is evil.

Went on another hike yesterday. That made a total of 42 miles in one week for me. Whew! No wonder my legs feel like rubber today...

Kyle and I attempted to get to the top of Columbia Mountain, which is just outside Columbia Falls, which is the next town over. It sits between the town and Hungry Horse Reservoir, and is apparently one of the most strenuous day hikes around. Of course, we didn't find that out until after we suffered through it.

The trail is made up almost entirely of switchbacks. If I never encounter another switchback it will be too soon. (Okay, not really, but holy uphill there were a ton!) We trudged on for 3 hours going straight up, until our legs finally just gave up on us. That's like being on the stairmaster for 3 hours -- it sucked. We didn't quite make it to the top, but both of us were weighing the end and it just didn't seem to make up for the means, so we stopped and turned around. It was frustrating enough to keep seeing the ridge at the top but not feeling like you were getting any closer to it.

So what comes up must come down, and we certainly did. It only took us about 2 hours to get down but it felt like an eternity because our legs were already tired. We jogged quite a bit because it was easier than trying to slow ourselves down but the rock underfoot was loose so we slid several times. I was never happier to see my car at the end than at the bottom of the trail.

Check out the rest of the pictures here.

So how did we recover? With a fabulous meal on the patio at the Lodge, watching the sun set behind the lake, listening to some live music. Perfect way to end the day, even if we did just fall asleep as soon as we got home!

Today, we continued the recovery process by taking a dip in Murray Lake, just a few miles outside of town. What a gem of a spot! The water was deep and bright blue, pretty darn clear, and not nearly as cold as Whitefish Lake. Not to mention there were only a handful of people on the entire lake so it felt nice and secluded. Definitely going back on hot days to cool off and catch some sun.

Bakin' and bikin'

I'm spoiled.

I have a live-in chef. His name is Kyle. He makes pretty much all meals but breakfast and dessert (yes, dessert is considered a meal in this house; and both of those are my specialty).

And I love it.

But when I get a chance to shine I take full advantage.

The ever-popular berry tart, my new summer fave.

Lately I've gotten the baking bug. Luckily it has been unseasonably cool the past week or so, and so the oven has been runnin' full steam on my days off.

See, I have this list written down of things I want to do this year, and it's a reference for me when I'm sitting around saying "I'm bored" (I know, hard to believe that happens here where there are so many things to do, but sometimes I need a little reminder to get me off the couch...). On this list are a few foods that I wanted to hand-make instead of buy, like bread and jam. I made jam before and it was actually really fun and satisfying, AND I haven't had to buy the expensive all-natural, organic jam like I used to at the store since last fall -- even better!

So this week I decided to tackle high-altitude bread baking. Whitefish is at about 3,000 feet which is just at the cut-off for needing to adjust for altitude. So I found some recipes online and gave it a shot.

First attempt - ehh not entirely stoked at the final product. Especially since the loaf rolled off the counter onto the floor and just about busted into pieces (by some miracle it stayed together...) when I was dumping it out of the pan. The flavor was nice and nutty (100% whole wheat) but it didn't rise much so was really dense and short.

Second attempt - voila! More yeast and kneading and the thing rose to the heavens! AND the second recipe didn't have any oil so FAT FREE (though more honey next time, definitely more honey).

So of course I HAD to make some blackberry jam to go with this delicious bread. I found a recipe (by the way, the bread and jam came from http://highaltitudecooking.blogspot.com) that didn't require ANY sugar, just honey, berries and citrus, and used gelatin instead of pectin. Good and good for ya, even better!

AND to top it all off I made a zucchini and yellow squash quiche. My very first pie crust and very first quiche. Not too shabby, and quite tasty!

I don't know how long this kick will last, but both Kyle and I are enjoying it while it does, that's for sure.

And oh yes, I had a nice trail ride the other night and just wanted to share, once again, why I love Montana. (Though I could have done without the black and blue leg from tumbling end over end down the singletrack after attempting to go over a huge log...but that just comes with the territory and my penchant for hurting myself).