Who would not like to walk along this stream on a cool spring day? Today I was able to make it about two miles up the Spring Creek trail before the stretches of deep snow across it made it more tiring than it was worth. In a week or so maybe the snow will have melted enough to make it passable.
The first two miles proved to be a steep hike for as the stream cascades down, the trail beside it changes elevation 900 feet in the first two miles reaching 3,400 feet elevation at that point. The rest of the trail will also be steep though because after another five miles the top is at 6,900 feet. I really look forward to being able to hike the whole length!
At its mouth, the Spring Creek canyon enters the Weeksville Creek canyon a few miles upstream from the Clark Fork river, but Spring Creek itself goes underground about a mile short of Weeksville Creek and I presume simply serves to supply the underground water table. If so, it’s possible the sweet cold water in my well at home may be coming from this beautiful little stream.
As you might notice, I got a little carried away with photographing the creek, but it’s inspiring and comforting to me to be near an ice cold stream of pure water, the thing that makes life on this planet possible in the first place.
(Spring Creek originates in the TeePee-Spring Creek roadless area in the Cabinet Mountains of western Montana, Lolo National Forest.)