These pictures are from a family trip to Porcupine Cabin in the Crazy Mountains, June 2010. The weather was spotty -- some sun, some snow, some hail and a lot of rain. However, we had a good time, thanks in part to the very nice cabin, fire pit and bathroom the Forest Service kindly furnished for us right at the foot of the mountains.

We used topo maps custom-prepared for the area of the cabin by MyTopo.com.  Still, we had a hard time getting around due to new fences that had been installed along the private/public borders within the national forest. In many cases, the existing trails, which were marked well on the map and on the ground, were completely impassable due to these new fences. We spent most of one day trying to find our way around and through them.

Once we got our bearings and figured out how best to hike deep into the higher mountains, we made a plan to head up a glacial valley til its origin, possibly over the pass and down to some lakes on the other side. But deep snow and heavy, cold rain combined with a lack of solid winter gear put an early end to what was to be our most ambitious hiking day.

When the weather looked bad again and our trip wound down, we closed the cabin early and headed to Bozeman to stay at my sister's house for one night. That gave us a chance to walk around town and got us on the road earlier the next morning for the long slog back to Minnesota and Illinois.