Burgess Lake, an April visit

Early in May I first visited Burgess Lake and it seemed like a good place to visit again today to perhaps see what spring was doing up there.

For some reason I had forgotten just how steep the little trail was and felt pretty happy that it was short. It’s not a great hike for those who have an aversion to “up”. It occurred to me that if you were to go into the main floor of a 40 story building, find the stairs and then climb them to the top you would find the exertion similar, although you’d need some very loose rock on the stairs and a few downed trees strewn across them to create a more accurate effect.

Today the ice that completely covered the lake in March was gone and the signs of spring were everywhere. This first view at the top of the trail

seemed like an invitation to visit the opposite end, which turned out to be serendipitous because on the way I encountered a Serviceberry which had just begun to show its first blossoms of the new spring.

Once at the other end, the view of the lake from there was also quite pleasant

and the high country above the lake still has not forgotten what winter is all about.

In my visit in March I discovered the first buttercups of this spring, and it seemed to fit that on today’s trip I would discover the first Shooting Stars of this year there too

including this unusual five-headed one.

I have to admit that I had another reason to visit the lake today and that was to find a Diamondback or two, but seeing the new flowers in bloom made up for the disappointment of finding out that the rattlers have not come out of their winter dens yet.

(Burgess Lake is located just above the lower Flathead River in western Montana about a hundred miles south of Glacier Park and is on the Flathead Indian Reservation.)