I stood next to Patrick's drift boat on the banks of the Missouri River in Craig, Montana. It was our last day fishing and the weather had been unseasonably warm – highs in the upper 60s with plenty of sunshine all week.
As we started to pack up to go home, Patrick looked at the weather app on his phone.
"Well, I guess it's time to go home for fifth winter," he said.
"What?" I exclaimed.
"Looks like snow on Tuesday," he said.
Well, that was disappointing. I was hoping to head home, grab my mountain bike and start riding. Looked like that wasn't going to happen.
The weather app was right, but behind that "fifth winter" looked to be sunshine and rising temps. Dare I hope for spring?
Yes. I dare. And here we sit, sun starting to make a regular appearance, mountain bike trails opening up and summer creeping slowly closer. Awesome!
For those of you keeping track, I can confirm you can ride Eagles Nest, Ponderosa State Park (roads) and Hazard Creek in New Meadows. I shot a little drone footage of Bear Basin's main trailhead (see video here) to show you just how close we are to being fully open there. Awesome again!
In short, it looks like a great weekend for all of us.
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Have a great weekend!