*I hope people use their own wise judgement when hiking always plan ahead and be prepared. One should never go beyond their abilities.*

Over the years I've had a few goals my first was to Summit all the Peaks of Waterton. Here is My Waterton Summit List I completed that goal on September 26, 2016.

My next goal I'm still working on and that is to summit the 6 10,000 foot Summmits of Glacier National Park. I have one left Kintla.

My 2018 Goal that I accomplished was to summit 40 peaks in my 40th year and that I finished on September 26, 2018.

Not sure what will be my next goal, once Glacier's Summits are done?

I commonly use 3 Hashtags on my social media. The first one is #itookthepathlesstraveledby which is to reference this blog. The next two relate to my father and grandfather who were also hikers. #milesformarkellingson is to remember my
Dad, Mark Ellingson and #dustfromthetrailandhowitsettledonme is to remember my Grandfather Earl Ellingson

May 27, 2017

Bellevue Peak May 27, 2017

Well we had our little father and son's outing this year.  But this year my youngest daughter tagged along and so I decided we'd do a little easier hike, since she is only 7.  So I decided on Bellevue.  Most of Waterton is still under a fair amount of snow at the higher elevations, but this peak is not.  We made pretty good time and practically followed the same route we took 3 years ago.  The day was amazing and there was just a couple sections where the wind picked up but it was sunny all day and nice and warm.  The only downside of the day was when we got home we found 8 ticks in my daughters hair and I found 3 in my cloths!

Some of the first flowers of the year

There were definitely a few in this meadow

My daughter wanted me to take a picture of every type of flower we saw, some pictures turned out better than others

Last flower picture

Snow covered Ruby Ridge and Blakiston

Same picture except with a dead tree in it

Our Summit register sign in from 3 years ago

Looking over to Forum Lake and Akamina ridge

Close up of Blakiston

Galwey and the ridge over to Dungarvan SE2

Picture we texted to Mom!

Group shot on summit

There was a little snow on the top

View over to Vimy and Sofa
Map My Hike Track



Bears Hump May 22, 2017

I usually wouldn't post such a short hike on my blog but it was a beautiful view and the day in Waterton was breath taking.  The lake was as calm as I had ever seen it and it was almost majestic.

First view of the morning

The ripples in this picture are from my kids throwing rocks

Heading out in the canoe

Taken from the canoe

Looking at Crandell

View from Bear's Hump
Google Sphere on Bears Hump


May 06, 2017

Sofa Mountain May 5, 2017

Well the weather this spring has been pretty crummy, but a friend texted me a few days before this hike and wanted to hike and so I took the Friday off, being my birthday as well and we headed hiking.  We had planned on hiking in Glacier Park but when we got the border, one of us had forgot our passports so we headed to Waterton instead and decided to do Sofa since it looked the least snow covered.  We had a nice beautiful mostly overcast day with some great sunny parts that made the snow caped mountains look amazing.  We had no real troubles and really didn't have to use our snowshoes that we carried half way, we eventually ditched them once we realized they were not needed.  A great day with some of the best views I've had.

View at the beginning of our day

First flowers of the year

After the waterfall we had the choice to go right or left, I'd gone right the other time I summited but the left looked less snow covered, so we chose left

The waterfall where we left our snowshoes

Getting high enough to see Blakiston and other peaks of Waterton

The snow cornices were incredible along the ridge

We didn't dare walk on any of these cornices as they could have given away at any time

What a view we had Mt. Cleveland on far left

Summit picture.  My Oilers were playing today as well and I hoped it would bring them luck...they still lost

The mountains were just gorgeous.

The cairn with Mt. Cleveland behind

More cornices near the summit
 
On the way up we avoided this snow patch, on the way down we used it

Almost at our snow shoes, this little valley was sure pretty when the sun shone on it

Almost at the end, looking back at what we had done
Mapmyhike Track of Hike