Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain National Recreation Area, Lolo National Forrest, Montana

A few more inches of snow early this morning, so off for an experiment right after lunch. A mile up forest road 365 it is closed to motorized travel with a gate till May 1st for winter range protection. The road is a steady uphill climb for miles and now it is snow covered. On the way up I looked back once and saw a patch of blue sky. As rare as blue sky has been I had to get the camera out and take a picture.

There are some random sections of fence along the road. Just straight sections that are not connected to anything. The end of the fence showed snowfall from the last 24 hours. It was quite windy prior to that so I know this is all fresh.

The higher I went the deeper the snow became. By the time I reached 6 miles I could have used snowshoes. This little 4 foot tall tree was doing its best to stand up to the snow.

So after a little over 2 hours up uphill walking I pulled off my boots and put on my skinny skies for the trip back down. Would have been better if I had used a slightly wider ski but a steady 6 miles of downhill is a nice way to go. Lot less effort than walking back down. Saved about an hour time wise. Mostly the experiment worked. I need to get the skies on the pack for the trip up a little better next time but I have a plan. Now I will go further up the mountain with my quick trip down. So far 53 days of measurable snow in Missoula, with more on the way tonight this trip will happen again soon.