February 5, 2012
Snow-coated trees
When I was considering the snow-covered trees at the top of Baldy Mountain (in the previous post), I recalled one day toward the end of September of 2008 when I was fortunate enough to have hiked to the top of that mountain after Mother Nature had decorated the trees up there with wind-driven snow during the previous night.
(Photos taken at the top of Baldy Mountain in the Baldy Mountain roadless area in western Montana)
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Montana Outdoors 
looks like they were hit with that snow in a can stuff…
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Comment by Sandy — February 6, 2012 @ 12:52 am
Lots of cans of it!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 10:50 pm
Wow, you can see how fierce the wind must have been by the way the snow lies on the branches. The views are just stunning!
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Comment by Jo Woolf — February 6, 2012 @ 1:18 am
The peak gets a lot of wind. In the heat of summer, it feels good, refreshing, but in winter, my goodness it can be cold! The peak is nearly a mile higher than anything within about 10 miles and it often has its own weather conditions which are greatly different from anything around. A magnificent place to be though!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 10:55 pm
Love!!
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Comment by TheDailyClick — February 6, 2012 @ 4:15 am
Thanks!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 10:56 pm
We don’t get that often around here but I remember going skiing near Algonquin Park one year when the snow was like that from the night before. By the end of the first day it had started to fall off again as the temps rose during the afternoon and the wind came up again but for a half a day it was magical.
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Comment by dave1949 — February 6, 2012 @ 4:48 am
I don’t know how long this show lasted. It was cold enough that I didn’t stay all that long. When the winter wind is playing up there I tend to descend fairly quickly down about a thousand feet to where there is shelter in the forest.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 10:58 pm
These are just gorgeous!! I’m so missing ‘winter’…and loving seeing it thru everyone else’s lenses. Beautiful!
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Comment by Marcie — February 6, 2012 @ 6:38 am
Thanks Marcie. I do enjoy having some winter weather, although maybe it could be a little shorter.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:00 pm
Really “out of this world”. Isn’t that the same place you and your daughter hiked in the summer?
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Comment by Tammy — February 6, 2012 @ 7:44 am
Yes, one of the places. There was still a little snow there in August.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:00 pm
Wow, that’s just gorgeous. I always love how pristine the landscape looks when it’s dressed in new snow. Had a chance to get out on my snowshoes a week ago. It was beautiful but not like this.
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Comment by anniespickns — February 6, 2012 @ 7:46 am
You are ahead of me, then! I haven’t been on my snowshoes yet this year.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:01 pm
Crazy beautiful! đŸ™‚
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Comment by seekraz — February 6, 2012 @ 8:06 am
Encountering scenes like these is one of the things that drives me to hike into the high country whenever possible.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:02 pm
On top of the world!!! Gorgeous !!!
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Comment by dhphotosite — February 6, 2012 @ 9:15 am
This peak is especially enjoyable because aside from the few trees at the very top it is all rock for a thousand feet down here it hits the forest, giving 360 degrees of unobstructed views. I always go there several times a year.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:06 pm
Wonderfully dramatic photos! Nice job.
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Comment by btweenblinks — February 6, 2012 @ 9:46 am
Thanks Rick. I took a lot of photos that day, but if I even encounter a similar circumstance I will take a lot more than I did!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:08 pm
Wow! What a beautiful winter wonderland! I loves the colors, textures, stark white snow in contrast, and scene in the second photo. An awesome sight.
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Comment by Anna — February 6, 2012 @ 10:17 am
I thought of it as a winter wonderland that day too, Anna! The conditions that day were very rare.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:09 pm
Hi Montucky, All are gorgeous but I especially like the third in the series. Enjoy your winter. It is so warm here in Cumberland County, TN, that some yards are sporting Daffodils in bloom already! Amazing! Have a great day!
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Comment by wildlifewatcher — February 6, 2012 @ 12:25 pm
Daffodils already! Wow! The climate is so different there!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:10 pm
Great photos!
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Comment by apostolcornel — February 6, 2012 @ 12:27 pm
Thanks Apostolcornel!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:11 pm
Wow! Absolutely very cool photos! Beautiful!
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Comment by Barbara — February 6, 2012 @ 1:00 pm
Thanks Barbara!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:11 pm
I am so glad you got up there take these photos. They are all beauties.
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Comment by sandy — February 6, 2012 @ 1:09 pm
I just hope to encounter similar conditions again some time!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:12 pm
They look like those white-flocked trees that model railroaders put in their winter train scenery. What neat photos! It’s fun to look at your snow pictures since we’re not having much of a winter here. Warm and spring-like today — it even SMELLS like spring! So I have to remind myself that February isn’t over yet!
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Comment by Mama's Empty Nest — February 6, 2012 @ 2:11 pm
We are having a fairly normal winter in the high country, but a very strange one in the valleys. I’m going to try to get up into the mountains in the next week or so if I can. My, it’s too early to feel like spring. There might be a few surprises yet to come!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:34 pm
Beautiful photos, Dad!! The second photo is my favorite of the batch. I sure miss the beauty of Montana winter!!!! I love you!
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Comment by Juls — February 6, 2012 @ 2:44 pm
I wish you could be here now. Lookout Pass has some good snow and the skiing is excellent! They have made some improvements since we skied there. Love you too!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:36 pm
So very beautiful!
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Comment by Roberta — February 6, 2012 @ 4:33 pm
Thanks Roberta.
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:36 pm
I love to see snow on trees. It usually only lasts a short while before melting or being blown off. It is magical.
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Comment by jomegat — February 6, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
This seemed to be a combination of wind-driven snow and perhaps a little hoar frost. I wish I could have been there while it was happening!
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Comment by montucky — February 6, 2012 @ 11:37 pm
I see from your comments to others that this was a rare day. While the snow and such is beautiful, it’s the quality of the light that’s utterly transfixing. I can’t remember ever seeing such clarity. Now and then we get just a hint of it in the winter, when the humidity drops and you can see “forever”. Still, we’ve never approached anything like this, in my experience. Simply stunning.
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Comment by shoreacres — February 7, 2012 @ 10:51 am
Our air here is very clear, especially on the high peaks. The nearest town of any size at all is over 80 miles away and unless there is a wildfire burning somewhere, the air is pure. On a clear day in fall or winter, you can see a hundred miles from the top of that mountain.
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Comment by montucky — February 7, 2012 @ 9:14 pm
What a beautiful series of photographs. It looks cold but still inviting to be up on Baldy Mountain!
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Comment by Maureen — February 7, 2012 @ 5:34 pm
I wish I could be up there right now, but that’s impossible. It would have been gorgeous today with a clear sky!
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Comment by montucky — February 7, 2012 @ 9:11 pm
Truly looks like a surrealistic winter fairyland scene!
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Comment by Candace — February 7, 2012 @ 9:47 pm
It was. The top of the mountain covers perhaps a couple of acres, and a scattering of trees and they were all like these.
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Comment by montucky — February 8, 2012 @ 12:46 am
Snow? What’s that?
Love it when snow acts like spray paint on surfaces like this. Beautiful.
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Comment by Scott Thomas Photography — February 8, 2012 @ 12:22 pm
Just wait a year, Scott: it will all come back to you! I do too. This was especially pretty because I think there was also some hoar frost decorations along with the snow.
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Comment by montucky — February 8, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
They are all gorgeous but I like the second one best, the red rocks in the foreground, the mysterious blue shadows in the background, and the very contrasty looking trees framing both sides. Splendid!
Another place for good ghost trees is Big Mountain, or as they call it now Whitefish Mountain Resort. And you can ride a chairlift right up to the snow-encased trees. But you won’t have them all to yourself, like you did here!
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Comment by Kim — February 8, 2012 @ 6:35 pm
Yes, I’ve seen them also at Lookout Pass and some photos from Blacktail. I do prefer the solitude though.
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Comment by montucky — February 8, 2012 @ 9:19 pm
She sure did a grand decorating job, and you captured it so well!
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Comment by farmhouse stories — February 8, 2012 @ 9:46 pm
I love Nature’s decorations! These are a few of about 50 photos I took that day.
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Comment by montucky — February 8, 2012 @ 10:07 pm
Well, I do not know how to praise Your photos – incredible bautiful. The same phenomen is also in our Lapland as in Your photos. Mother Nature know how to drees trees and landscape.
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Comment by Sartenada — February 10, 2012 @ 12:31 am
Thank you, Matti! I would imagine that snow-coated trees would be even more common there than here. Yes, Mother Nature does know how to decorate!
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Comment by montucky — February 10, 2012 @ 10:58 am
Looks like winter in Montana! Beautiful shots… a couple of them though… well, you know. YIKES!
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Comment by kcjewel — February 11, 2012 @ 8:34 pm
That’s 10 miles north and a mile higher than here, but it’s real winter up there.
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Comment by montucky — February 11, 2012 @ 9:59 pm
Breathtaking. These might just be the most magical snow photos I have ever seen.
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Comment by kateri — February 12, 2012 @ 8:06 am
It was a magical place that day!
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Comment by montucky — February 12, 2012 @ 10:34 am
These 4 photos are marvelous. I love the way the snow covers the trees, and the fact that the fresh snow hasn’t covered everything too!
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Comment by Orel Di Angelo — February 20, 2012 @ 3:09 pm
Thanks for the visit and the comment, Orel!
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Comment by montucky — February 20, 2012 @ 9:28 pm
Awesome, stunning photos ! Your photos are amazing !
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Comment by Inspired and pretty — February 23, 2012 @ 8:25 am
Thanks, Jocelyne. It is an amazing world out there!
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Comment by montucky — February 23, 2012 @ 10:12 pm
Revisiting this set of photos to say goodbye to winter!
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Comment by Anonymous — April 4, 2012 @ 6:13 pm
At least for another 6 months!
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Comment by montucky — April 11, 2012 @ 8:42 pm