A Tale of Two Summits

(I started this post a few weeks ago, and it feels strange to pick it up now; the mountains and hikes described herein are now covered in snow. But that's a story for another post. For today, let me tell you about the mountains of Helena, Montana.)

Helena, Montana lies just east of the Continental Divide, tucked in a valley with mountains on all sides. Just as in Chicago you can always figure out where you are by knowing the number system for the streets (thanks, Dad), here you can always get your bearings by the mountains. The city of Helena is nestled pretty closely to mountains in the west and the south; Mt. Helena is easily identifiable in the west, Mt. Ascension to the south. There's a great big valley before you get to the mountains in the north, but those are easy to find because of the Sleeping Giant, a range of mountains that look like a huge giant snoozing. The mountains to the east are similarly a ways off.

This is a photo of our neighborhood taken from the top of Mt. Helena:

Mt. Ascension is off to the right in this photo, and those are the Elkhorn Mountains in the distance.

It looks nothing like east central Illinois.

One of the privileges of my temporary life of leisure (AKA unemployment) is that I have time to hike in these hills. I also have extensive amounts of time to drink coffee. So that's pretty much what I do - hike and drink coffee. My partner in crime on these ventures is most often my dear, dear friend Malena (along with Charlie the Amazing Goldendoodle), though sometimes I go on my own. Sometimes I hike fast, sometimes I hike slow, sometimes I bring my camera, sometimes I don't. It's pretty great that within a few minutes of leaving the house I can be at a trailhead and on my way to the top of a mountain.

Malena and I hiked to the top of Mt. Helena a few weeks back. It's a great spot to see all of Helena spread out below:

From the west side looking east. You can see the cathedral in the middle.

Looking west.

Charlie the Amazing Goldendoodle

The Sleeping Giant (Mt. Helena view)

A few days after that I hiked to the top of Mt. Ascension by myself. These photos were taken on my phone so they aren't as sharp, but you get the idea: