today I fly over the divide. fly west. fly over the ocean. fly away home.

like migration patterns, we all scurry away as the season ends. in the past couple days I’ve had a hard time deciding which place is harder to leave. here or there. for the first time, I feel like I am saying goodbye to montana for a bit and it’s really hard and sad. I don’t want to leave. as little as 6 weeks, when I look around me, it feels like an eternity. when I return, life will be different. winter friends will switch to summer friends. skis will switch to mountain bikes, fishing rods and neoprene.

montana is stunning. more importantly the madison valley, jack creek road, beartrap canyon, norris pass and the plains are stunning. my life here is stunning. Ennis is stunning.

I am in love. I’m in awe over how much can change in a year. how much better everything can get. in previous years I haven’t had that many people to say goodbye to, or come back to in montana, but this time around I find myself saying goodbye to a lot of friends and finding myself missing them. missing our adventures together. so many to be had, so little time. so many invites I have to turn down. smith river with the yellowstone club ski patrol?? damn.

I took a last big sky ski day yesterday. skied the north summit solo. I stood there and stared down into the valley and felt dreadfully sad at the thought it would be another 9 months until I might be standing here again. I wanted to cry. as I skied around big sky yesterday, I ran into a lot of people I know and I was surprised to realize how many people I do know and how many know me. I never realize how many people see me when I am out skiing there. and recognize me. it’s damn near impossible to play hookie from ski patrol. everyone is watching.

I’ll miss the wolf pack. I’ll miss everyone. I’ll miss the skier girls of big sky and ripping the shit out of the mountain with them. if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s ski. the funny thing about progression, is that you don’t notice it happening until one day you realize you’re there. something I didn’t realize was happening until I went skiing with some people I used to ski with, and found myself to be painfully faster and better than them. few folks ask me if I know/ski Marlee and when I tell them I do, people have gauged my skiing abilities based on that Marlee likes to ski me. fascinating.

my seasonal life is taking on another season. my life is so fucking fantastic!

love this life. the best life. bonfire life. love. love. love. time to get out of bed and pack my things into my truck. fly over the divide.