*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

August 06, 2016

Crypt Lake and "Lewis Range" July 18, 2016

This summer I wanted my family to complete the triple crown of Waterton.  This consists of Crypt lake, Carthew/Alderson Summit Ridge, and Akamina Ridge.  Well this was the first hike and the kids did awesome.  We canoed over since I figured we might be a little slower with the kids and did't want to pay over $100 for my entire family to hike.  The canoe ride over was amazing, the lake was calm and there was a low cloud cover that was pretty.  The hike was great, one of my side objectives was to try and summit Boswell Peak on the hike.  I had read that if you get to the lake and hike up the back side ridge you can head over to Boswell.  So once we got to the lake my son and I left the rest to relax at the lake and headed on our way.  The back side scree was very steep but after some time we gained the back ridge and started heading south west along the ridge.  Eventually we gained the highest point on the ridge and assumed it was Boswell.  Well it wasn't and we figured we didn't have time to head over to the "lower" peak Boswell.  Even in my video on the "false" summit I called it Boswell.  I have later found a website that refers to this unnamed peak as "Lewis Range." Anyways we headed down to the lake to meet up with the rest of our crew.  Then we started our hike back to our canoe.  Well about half way back a storm blew in and well we got pretty wet and even hailed on.  Luckily we were warm, we were just wet.  We eventually got back to the canoe and had one of the prettier canoe rides on Waterton Lake I have ever had.  The water was like a sheet of glass.  We eventually got back to shore at 9pm and went for ice cream!

Heading out on the calm lake in the morning

Beautiful morning on the lake

Looking down Waterton Lake

At the beginning

I've never seen white berries before

Pretty lush vegetation 

Flower shot

More flowers

More flowers

More flowers

The Bear grass this year has been awesome and here was no exception

Another bear grass shot

More flowers

More flowers

Crypt Falls

More flowers

Another shot of Crypt Falls

Almost to the tunnel

In the Tunnel

At the lake

More flowers

Heading up the back side of Crypt Lake

Taken from the ridge above Crypt Lake

On Lewis Range

Lewis Range

Neat little gully, we thought it would be neat to sled down this, except you would probably die!

My family at Crypt (1st segment of triple crown complete)

Hail on the way down

Fresh bear tracks on the trail after the rain and hail

Canoeing back

Look at that reflection, the ripple on the left is from our canoe

Sun set on the glass lake

Another shot, again the ripple on the bottom right is from our canoe

Panorama on Lewis Range


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Rafting the St. Mary's River July 13 and 15, 2016 (Scout Camp)

The other activities we did on scout camp was rafting.  The first day was beautiful except for the crazy hail storm that poured on us, the 2nd day was much better but a little cooler.  The boys had fun and the getting hailed on experience was unforgettable!

Getting ready to go

Floating down the river over one of the rapids

The cliff jump area

The clouds right before the hail hit

Hail Video

First Day Track (forgot to turn off so it shows where we drove to)

Second Day Track


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Avion Ridge July 14, 2016

So Summer Scout camp came around again.  This year we figured we do a little harder hike than usual, so we decided to do the Avion Ridge.  We started a little later than we would have like to and as a result we finished the hike not till close to 10:00 pm and as a result we didn't return to camp till close to midnight.  So supper that night was cooked in the dark. The day itself was a very memorable one.  The weather for the trip was amazing and the views from on top were great.  We had a few boys struggle, but we went slow enough and they all finished it.  It was probably one of the hardest things some of these boys had ever done.  All in all we had 10 boys and 3 leaders come on this hike.  We let the boys sleep in the next morning and have a more relaxing day.  The one thing I've noticed this year in Waterton is how many flowers are out.  Hence, why I took so many pictures of flowers on this trip...I don't know all their names but they were very nice and all over the trails this year.

Our group at the beginning

Pretty little flower close to Lost Lake

Bear Grass by Lost Lake

Lost Lake

This sign was a little misleading, the true summit of Avion Ridge was like 4 km away not 1.6 km 

More flowers

More flowers

More Flowers

More Flowers

Nearing the top

More flowers

More Flowers

More flowers

On the top

Our entire crew on top!

More flowers

More flowers

On top of the ridge looking over top of Goat Lake, on some maps this is the actual summit, but the true summit I think is over directly above the Snow shoe trail

More flowers

Great views into B.C.

This is a special spot in my life.  One of the last pictures I took of my dad was from this very spot.  Great view of Goat Lake and the Red Rock Valley

Getting closer to Goat Lake

Goat Lake

More Flowers

See how thick the vegetation was this year

More flowers

More flowers

Sun set before we finished hike

Panorama on top of True Summit



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July 09, 2016

Bertha Lake Family Hike July 2, 2016

We all dawned our Miles for Mark shirts today and headed up to Waterton.  The morning started with a few of us participating in the Annual Harlan Taylor Run in Raymond.  Some of us ran the 10k that morning then went on an 11 km hike that afternoon.  Waterton was probably the busiest I have ever seen it in my life.  I have never seen so many people on the trail and we sure stuck out with our matching blue shirts.  It was a nice day, perfect for hiking and a great time was had by all.

At the beginning of the hike

Beautiful lookout over Waterton Lake

Line Shot with everyone poking their heads out for the picture

Lower Bertha Falls

Honeysuckle Flower

Another Flower

Great view, on the last switch-back, down onto middle Waterton Lake

Group shot at the lake

Bertha Lake

Our group got broke up for the day because of car trouble, but here is everyone that made it to the falls

Mt. Cleveland in the distance, it was one year ago this day that I was on top of that peak

Final flower shot

Mapmyhike track of hike

Google Sphere Picture at Lake
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