Muni Backpacking

 

Jace, Hallie, Mark & our munis

It was Jace's idea.  "Dad, we should go muni backpacking sometime. Wouldn't that be cool?"  How do you argue with that kind of thrill-seeking, teenage logic? 

Muni (mountain unicycle) outings are nothing new for the one-wheeling Holyoak clan (Jace, Hallie and I), like this one last summer up Bass Creek in Montana's Bitterroot Valley.  Usually, we just mess around in the driveway in front of the house or ride down the steep hillside to Lolo School for some trick-riding.  Our most visual and well-known muni ride was a couple of summers back when Jace and I took the chair lift to the top of Snowbowl Ski Resort above Missoula and rode our munis to the bottom.  (Our friends at unicycle.com since posted it on their web site as a way to showcase Jace's Nimbus muni--see our video here.)



Have backpack, will pedal

But this time, we added a whole new element by backpacking in to a camp spot for an evening under the stars.  After I got home from work, we gathered up supplies, filled our backpacks, loaded up the munis and heading into the mountains.  

Jace & Hallie motoring through the mountains

The plan was to take a logging road and drive to the previously designated spot at about 8,000 feet or so in elevation in the Bitterrooot Mountains just below Lolo Peak (9,100 feet).  We'd actually drive to the camping spot, drop off a big cooler of water (because of high fire danger) and some camping chairs before backtracking to a parking spot back in the trees.  A hitch developed in our plan when we arrived only to find a couple of teenagers already there--dang kids!  So we continued to drive past our favorite,semi-secretive huckleberry picking location up the mountain. 

Luckily, it was only about another mile or so until we came to another great spot to camp--maybe even better than our first choice.  The downside was the road ended a short distance later.  So instead of a one mile uphill muni ride, we now had only a four-tenths of a mile downhill ride to the camp site.  We took some photos along the way, had some laughs, stopped and ate some huckleberries, and eventually rolled into the camp site.  I don't think thebackpacks made any difference at all for any of us.  We all just booked along as if we didn't have any extra weight on our backs.   

Hallie and I set up our tent and Jace found a couple of trees where he hung his hammock.  The gourmet dinner menu included hot dogs, Cheez-its, and apples.  We only made a small fire because of the dry conditions, but it was more than good enough to heat up dinner.  My favorite thing about camping is sitting around the fire and chatting.  We did that as the sun set and twinkling stars filled the sky.  The weather was perfect--high 80s when we started and temperatures in the upper 40s at night. 



Mmm, camp food!

  The new day brought a beautiful sunrise that none of us noticed at first because we were zonked.  When we did get up, it was already warm enough to be in short sleeves.  I hopped on my unicycle and rode up to the truck which I drove back to the camp site.  Then, as the kids slept, I hiked up the hill to pick a cup of huckleberries to go with our powdered doughnuts for breakfast.  We took some more pictures on the rocks high above an expansive scenic overlook.  Shortly after that, we loaded up the truck and headed for home.  I did find another trail I'd like to ride in the future that goes further up the mountain, but we'll save that muni outing for another time. 



We came...

   

...we saw...

  

...we conquered!