Yesterday was cloudy and gray and, with a little breeze, cold. Except for just a very few minutes around ten o’clock:
it seems like there’s always a window open somewhere.
November 29, 2008
November 28, 2008
After the fog
On Thanksgiving eve a heavy fog rolled in and hid the valley, thickest along the river, completely obscuring the view, but once the fog cleared, as it always does, there were new things of beauty for those who would see them.
November 26, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Among many other things, I’m thankful for mountain peaks that are still pristine,
(Cherry Peak in the Cherry Peak roadless area)
places with southern exposures that look like this,
(the Bitterroot Mountains in the distance viewed from Penrose Peak)
northern slopes still loaded with snow in July,
(The Northern slope of Penrose Peak on July 7th)
and little critters that still live in these beautiful places as they have for thousands of years.
(Columbian Ground Squirrel in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains)
Most of all I’m thankful that there are still folks around who also love places like these!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
November 25, 2008
Big Hole Peak in July
Every summer a number of folks will hike up USFS trail 368T to visit the old lookout on Big Hole Peak in the TeePee – Spring Creek Roadless Area in western Montana’s Cabinet Mountains.
What most don’t know is that the lookout isn’t exactly on the top of Big Hole Peak. From the old cabin, a quarter of a mile west (if you’re a Crow or a half mile if you have to walk), and a few feet higher is the peak itself. I’ve found it well worth the extra walk! Here are a few photos of it taken in July of 2008.
If you want to get away from the rest of the world for a few hours, or days, or however long you want, I highly recommend it!
November 24, 2008
Vermilion Peak
On September 24th, the last work day for USFS trail maintenance for 2008, we completed maintenance on the trail to the top of 6682 foot Vermilion Peak in western Montana’s Cabinet Mountains. (Actually the trail to the peak is an offshoot of USFS trail 528T.) I think, despite the weather that day, which was cloudy and cold after a snowfall during the night, a few photos of the area turned out well enough to be worth posting. It’s an awesome area for wild country and wildlife.
The peak photographed from 700 feet below at Vermilion Pass:
The site of an old Lookout at the top:
The Cabinet Mountains to the northwest:
The view south over the Clark Fork River Valley:
An open hillside just below the peak:
About half way between Vermilion Peak and Highway 200, the ice cold water of Graves Creek forms this pool
just before it drops to the canyon bottom.
November 22, 2008
Let’s not forget the wildflowers of summer.
Tolmie tulips
(Photographed June 1, 2008 at Munson Creek in the TeePee-Spring Creek roadless area in western Montana’s Cabinet Mountains.)
