McDonald Creek and Fish Lake

Glacier National Park, Montana

The first day of summer. I woke up at the Apgar campground after a pretty good nights sleep in my RV (also known as the bed of my pickup). Time for some quick day hike miles prior to returning to Missoula. I started out at the McDonald Creek trail which is a gentle path through the cedars. It goes just over 3 miles up the creek then you have to return the way you came.

The trail parallels McDonald Creek. Of course I had to take the "not recommended" path out onto the rocks to look at all the falls. While this one isn't the biggest of the falls, it shows just how beautiful Montana is and why I live here.

The water coming down the mountains is so clear that even though it is several feet deep you can see the bottom clearly. The clear water sure lets you know if the fish are there or not. In this case not.

A quick shift back across the creek and three miles down the valley is the Lincoln Lake trailhead and part 2 of today's adventure. A steep climb up a bit over 1,000 feet then I connected to a fire trail that brought me over to Fish Lake. There is a shorter way but this allowed me to have the trail to myself. I only know of a few places where there are Lily Pads growing in the park, and this pretty little lake has the most. In areas the Lily's were blooming with pretty yellow flowers but my pictures of them just didn't turn out well.

I was back at the truck by 1:30 with about 15 miles in. A great day to cruise quiet trails in the main West Glacier valley while most everyone else was driving up the Going to the Sun road.

Glacier NP West Lakes and Mount Stanton Summit

Glacier National Park, Montana.
18, 19 and 20 Jun 2015
The weather has been great lately so the odds of some high country adventure seemed good. Drove up to Glacier NP and walked into the back country permit office and was able to get the areas I wanted with no problem. Back country use doesn't ramp up till July so my early season timing was good. Hiked into the west side of Lake McDonald to a way underused campsite. The forest along that side of the lake was devastated by a major fire a few years ago but the scenery is still pretty good. Besides it is a wonderful lakeside camp area. Fireweed is in full bloom along this section of the lake, many of the stalks over 4 feet high and at least one was over 6 feet.

Awake with the sun after sleeping out under the stars I quickly packed up and headed for the Trout Lake trail. The climb starts quickly to gain the pass into the west lakes drainage but halfway up I ran into a wonderful patch of wild strawberries that were just getting ripe. Although the size of my small finger they have more flavor than a big berry. I spent 45 mins picking and eating them. There is no wild berry that taste better right from the vine, even fresh picked huckleberries come in second to this treat.

Reaching the pass between drainage's I decided to climb Mount Stanton, it didn't look all that high from where I was. Turns out I was looking at the false summit, when I got to it there was still another 800+ vertical feet up this ridge to the summit. It was a wonderful climb...

…and once at the top the views were great. Unfortunately the blue skies were quickly clouding and from the northwest side dark clouds were moving quickly towards me. The hit and miss storms were about to make a direct hit right where I was. One quick photo of the summit cairn and back down I went. Once near the false summit again thunder and lightning started along with cold rain. My position was pretty exposed so straight down the north side of the mountain towards some trees I went. That was really steep slippery war down. Made most of a 2,000 decent on 60 degree slopes. What should have taken only 1 hour for the climb down took just over 4 hours.

This Mountain Bluebird kept me company from a distance once the sun came back out. I like these better than the Western Bluebirds. Likely it is because of where they live.

Eventually the decent was done and I made it to Trout Lake. This lake played prominently in the book "Night of the Grizzlies" due to the fatal bear attack that occurred here in the late 60's. With miles still to go my break here to enjoy the view was short. The lake I was headed for is up the valley a ways.

After a wonderful nights sleep at Arrow Lake it was up the valley and past the end of the trail. The going was slow but so much fun. For me when the trail runs out isn't the fun and adventure go way up. I also know that fewer people get to experience these wilder areas.

The flowers are in full bloom and are so pretty. I took more pictures of flowers this trip than of the wonderful mountain views. If you look closely at the Showy Fleabane Daisy's below you can find more than one spider hanging out in them. I only saw one when I took the picture.

Don't know what this flower is yet. Not in any of my books for the area but it sure was pretty.

I often get asked if I saw any "bears". Not on this trip but I did see some Bear Grass in bloom...

…and this was some really fresh Bear Poop and the pile was a lot bigger than this picture makes it look. So there was a Griz around somewhere near...

Skookum Butte Lookout Revisit

 Skookum Butte National Recreation Trail, Selway and Bitterroot Forests, Montana and Idaho

A morning drive and hike with Geri into some wonderful forest land just 20 miles from Missoula. The trail starts gently for 1/4 mile then it turns steep crossing back and forth between Idaho and Montana.

The uphill effort is worth it as you soon come to an abandoned L-5 fire lookout. It really does look over lots of the Bitterroot Mountains and would have been a wonderful place to work in years gone by. I have looked for a picture of it in its heyday but so far have come up empty. Later this year I will go up and camp at the summit so I can get good sunset shots. Maybe try a time lapse of the sunset if I can figure out how to do it effectively.

 Like all the trails in western Montana right now, you just have to stop and look at the flowers. Every color is represented somewhere. Even saw some Bear Grass trying to bloom. It is kind of early for the Bear Grass, and as last year was a big bloom year I don't expect much activity from them. Here are 2 flowers that I have not posted photos of recently.

Big Creek Valley

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

The plan: a quick trip in the Bitterroot to grab a summit and take advantage of the early warm weather in the valley. Like most plans it didn't pan out exactly as I had hoped. Recent rains and warm temps have sped up the snowmelt, but at the cost of high, fast water in the mountain creeks.

The flowers are taking advantage of the conditions and I saw more blooms of Wild Alberta Roses in 2 days than I have ever seen. They made the Big Creek valley really pretty.

Not to be outdone there were lots of other flowers blooming along the valley floor as well, but I have taken so many photos of flowers lately I thought I should give them a break. This wonderful Mountain Arnica was off by itself although it had lots of mates along sections of the trail.

I don't often find toads around the mountains, but this guy was taking a break near where I was exploring, nearly stepped on him. He was a lot bigger than I expected, almost 6 inches long just in the body. Last I saw of him, he was creeping along looking for lunch.

Once I was 7 to 8 miles up the valley the mountains started showing themselves. I was eager to get out of the valley bottom and head up to the summits. First I had to get past the lake at the head of this closed in valley.

When I got to where I wanted to cross the fast water it was just a bit more than I had bargend for. There would be no way to survive a slip down the falls so I looked around and then started looking for a good camp location for the night. About 2 miles down the valley near the south fork of Big Creek I found a great spot near a downed tree. Bugs were minimal so I opted to sleep out under the stars. Makes camp so easy to get set up.

On my way back to the truck on day 2 I found that aliens had invaded. The mushrooms sure looked like visitors from another planet anyhow.

I also ran across a mom grouse that wouldn't fly off and was making cooing noises. I knew there were little ones nearby...

…and I found 3 of them. But not wanting to upset mom more I just took a picture of the one furthest from her and quickly moved on down the trail to my truck and the road home.

Mount Powell and Deer Lodge Mountain Summits

Flint Mountains, Anaconda-Deer Lodge National Forest, Montana

Finally a chance to do some mountaineering with others. Met at 5:30 am for the 2 hour drive to the climb. No trails today, parked at the side of a single-track dirt road and started going uphill. Dark clouds kept me looking skyward as most of the day would be spent above treeline. By mid-morning the clouds lost their menace and a wonderful blue sky kept us company. Out of the first trees and up a large open meadow we went. Two elk kept a weary eye on us as we went up into a whitebark pine forest.

Once out of the trees we could see the summit of Mount Powell still over a 1,000 feet above us. Looked easier than it was. The 8 miles from the truck to the summit took me almost 4 hours, and there was a long way to go still.

So many small clusters of flowers blooming up high. I took a lot of pictures of them. Timing to catch them all in bloom was luck, but wow what a sight!

These purple ones were my favorites. I like how this picture came out as well.

After having a bite to eat we started down towards the ridge to get to Deer Lodge Mountain. Pretty steep down climb to catch the ridge...

...and the route we followed along the crest once we got to it. If you don't like high places and long drop offs this wasn't a climb for you.

One thing I never expected to find was an unexploded WWII practice artillery round. After 13 miles off trail I stumbled upon it. Called the coordinates in to the forest service when I got to town and it is going to be disposed of. Turns out there was a training range nearby during WWII and every year or two someone still finds a round.

This Missouri Iris was 300 yards from the end of the hike, and is a native plant here, but one I rarely see in the wild. Also known as "Blue Flag" it is the state flower of Tennessee and national symbol of France. Here in Montana it is just one more pretty flower.

When the day was done we had covered over 16 off-trail miles in a big loop, hit the summit of 2 mountain peaks and climbed and descended over 10,000 vertical feet. Great day in the mountains!

Blue Mountain's Backside

Blue Mountain Recreation Area, Lolo National Forest, Montana

After heavy rains yesterday evening the day started with low clouds that soon began to clear. With Blue Mountain only 10 minuets from the front door, it seemed like the place to go today. As soon as I got to the trailhead I knew it was going to be a great hike, as a young whitetail deer just starting his antlers for the year greeted me. Nice of him to stand in front of the burned tree as well.

I quickly realized that lots of plants were blooming, as I moved up the mountain the colors changed, at first it was white blooms…and they looked great with the blue sky and all the green. Even saw some white wild strawberry blooms as well but didn't take photos of them. I did remember where they were so I can go back and pick some of the fruit!

A few patches of purple started showing in the burned areas, that soon gave way to lots of purple…

 then red...

 then the red and purple were mixed together.

Very few yellow flowers, but I did find some...

Finally I made my way back down the mountain and by the time I got back to my truck, my feet were soaked. The grasses and flowering plans were still wet from yesterdays rain. Had a snack looking at the meadow at the trailhead, then it was time to go back to the house. Clouds were beginning to take on the look of a repeat performance of yesterdays storm and I didn't want to be in the middle of it.

Kootenai Creek Valley

Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness, Montana

A nice warm spring day after several days of afternoon storms so off to the mountains I went. The sound of the creek as I approached the valley let me know it was flowing a lot faster than normal. Soon I saw what is normally a crystal clear ribbon of water along the valley floor was instead rushing and churning to get to the Bitterroot River.

As I explored along the river and up the sides of the valley I found that I was looking at all the flowers in bloom. Trying new settings on my camera I got some of them with good photos, and some of the photos were not very good at all! These are a small sample of all the beautiful flowers. I wish some of the mass of purple ones had turned out, they were among the prettiest groups of flowers I saw all day.

 I have not been able to find this purple flower in my identification book. I loved the delicate bloom, and the great design on the leaves. I will have to keep looking because I really want to know what it is.

As I was finding a good Trillium to take a picture of, I stumbled on some black bear footprints in the mud almost 5 miles up the valley. I have never seen any bear prints in this valley before. Usually all I find are wolf prints.

This Indian Paintbrush was such a unique color, it caught my attention. Most of them were a very deep red, but a small area had these orange ones.

I like this flower as it goes to seed. Looks like it has a hair style fit for a punk rocker.