Sometimes when Nature wants you to see something, She shines a light on it, as She did this little lake that has no name. It sits about 800 feet below Graves Peak, two miles north of the Cougar Peak Lookout.
September 22, 2012
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Montana Outdoors 
Looks like you’re up pretty high. Beautiful spot.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — September 22, 2012 @ 10:00 pm
Yes, the trail was just below the top of Graves Peak which is at 7050 feet. I’m so grateful for those old pack trails!
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Comment by montucky — September 22, 2012 @ 10:14 pm
So pretty..but, careful out there..daughter-in-law had a run in with a rattlesnake..a BIG one near Missoula..it got the dog..TWICE..not daughter-in-law…dog survived..but scary..so watch your little legs and toes 🙂
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Comment by zannyro — September 22, 2012 @ 10:16 pm
This is actually a good time of year for snakes. I’ve only seen a couple of rattlers this summer. I hope the dog will be OK! There are shots for dogs that really will help if they are bitten.
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Comment by montucky — September 22, 2012 @ 11:04 pm
She’s going to be o.k….her neck swelled up huge….they were both lucky..my son said the rattler was as thick as his forearm.
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Comment by zannyro — September 22, 2012 @ 11:18 pm
I’m glad she will be OK! I am always a little concerned about that when I take my dog out anywhere in the lower elevations.
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Comment by montucky — September 22, 2012 @ 11:50 pm
The little rattlers are actually more dangerous than the big ones, as they tend to “shoot their whole load” at once, whereas the mature snakes know to ration it out, or so said the vet that treated my sister’s dog for a snake bite. (It is also much better to get bitten in a highly vascularized area like the face, than at the end of an extremity.)
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Comment by Kim — September 23, 2012 @ 1:12 pm
Wow! Really!?!….I’m glad to know all of this…the part about the mature rattle snake rationing it out sounds familiar…..I appreciate your telling me all of this..something I know next to nothing about!
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Comment by zannyro — September 23, 2012 @ 2:47 pm
That little meadow next to it looks like a golf course.
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Comment by jomegat — September 22, 2012 @ 10:52 pm
Before you play that course, check your bag… Drivers, Irons, wedge, putter, bear spray…
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Comment by montucky — September 22, 2012 @ 11:15 pm
Just superb. I love the tall trees. 7,000 feet is some height – nothing to compare with that in Scotland!
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Comment by Jo Woolf — September 23, 2012 @ 2:16 am
That’s a nicely forested area down there, with a pretty good mixture of species. It’s surprising to see how much moisture there is under a forest like that, even after the drought that we’ve had this year. There are much higher mountains in the northwest, in Utah and Colorado and other parts of Montana. What makes this area interesting is that the valleys are around 2400 feet and the mountains rise abruptly above them.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:17 pm
Well, you’d better give that beautiful little lake a name. I vote for Lake Montucky, but you might have another idea…. what a view!. Lake What-a-View! Has a NA ring to it!
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Comment by Teresa Evangeline — September 23, 2012 @ 3:49 am
Perhaps there is a map somewhere that I’m not aware of that has names for some of these lakes. This one looks as if it could be the headwater of Irus Creek, which might be an interesting name by itself if we could know its origin.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:20 pm
In so many of your photos, blue is the predominant color, because of the vistas and the sky. This surprised me by its “greenness”, and I’m curious about the vegetation along the edge of the lake. Here, it would be water hyacinth, but I’m sure whatever’s growing there isn’t an invasive. It certainly is beautiful. And are those white specks birds on the lake? They certainly aren’t navigation markers!
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Comment by shoreacres — September 23, 2012 @ 5:17 am
I have not visited that little lake, but I suspect the greenery is just native grasses and small shrubs which is pretty much what I see at other cirque lakes around. I was able to zoom in on the photo and could see that the white specks are actually the root ends of trees, the rest of which are submerged in the water.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:24 pm
Amazing… It’s like a Secret Forest. 🙂
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Comment by FeyGirl — September 23, 2012 @ 8:29 am
Yes, it is amazing, the secrets that one can see from the high places. Below the peaks and high ridges there are many tiny lakes, some of which show on the maps and some that don’t. Only the larger ones are named.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:26 pm
Nice. It would be a beautiful place to spend a few hours.
Are the bears in your area pretty active now? My sister lives just down the hill from Lake Tahoe and they have seen a lot of activity. Fall is truly in the air, even here in N. California.
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Comment by anniespickns — September 23, 2012 @ 8:34 am
Yes, the bears are very active now as they always are at this time of year. They are eating everything they can to put on the fat that will carry them through hibernation. That also causes some of them to get into trouble as they come down into the valleys. In fact, one visited our yard last night and snacked on some sunflower seeds we had out for the birds and chipmunks. He didn’t seem to work over the apple trees though which was surprising, and he didn’t make a pest out of himself. I suspect he was traveling through and may well have gone down and crossed the river.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:30 pm
Wow! I had to look twice at that before I could see it properly – not my eyes, not your photography but just the astonishing perspective!
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Comment by Val — September 23, 2012 @ 9:39 am
What caught my eye was the way the sun illuminated just the area of the lake. There is so much beauty in these roadless areas that is very seldom seen by those of our species. I’m very thankful for the cameras we have today!
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:32 pm
Love those trees. We don’t have anything like that here. That is quite a find.
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Comment by sandy — September 23, 2012 @ 12:06 pm
That is part of the ancient forests that covered this area. The lake is very near the edge of the roadless area, and is an area that may well be exploited and destroyed if the roadless area protection is removed.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:34 pm
The trees look pretty healthy and wonderful view…
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Comment by Roberta — September 23, 2012 @ 1:03 pm
Yes, that’s a very healthy piece of forest. There is the normal mix of dead trees and others of various ages. It’s also a great area for wildlife.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
It does look like a golf course like your other commenter said. So you had no idea this lake was here until you spotted it? Very pretty.
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Comment by Candace — September 23, 2012 @ 1:58 pm
Although it is not named, this lake does show up on the map of the Lolo National Forest. I was a little surprised to see it though because I had traveled further than I thought I had and when it appeared I checked my map for my exact location.
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Comment by montucky — September 23, 2012 @ 9:39 pm
What a beautiful hidden treasure ! A wonderful find, thank you for sharing it with us.
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Comment by isathreadsoflife — September 24, 2012 @ 2:42 am
I might have missed seeing this one, but since I was near the top of a ridge I went up there to have lunch. This appeared on the other side.
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Comment by montucky — September 24, 2012 @ 8:50 pm
I love places like that. Here they are usually just beaver ponds and not lakes but it’s always fun to find them.
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Comment by New Hampshire Gardener — September 24, 2012 @ 7:45 am
I think this lake, as with most of these high lakes, is spring fed. I can’t tell if it has an exit stream, but it must have, at least a small one. It would feed a very small stream which leads to a larger one several miles down, and then that larger one will reach the river in about 10 miles. About 5 miles up from the river there is a fairly good sized beaver pond. I’ve never seen them reach, or at least inhabit, the small lakes though.
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Comment by montucky — September 24, 2012 @ 8:53 pm
One more of natures gems! Super find!
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Comment by dhphotosite — September 24, 2012 @ 11:13 am
There are so many like it. I get excited to explore more country when I review my photos from the last few trips, knowing that there will be other nice surprises.
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Comment by montucky — September 24, 2012 @ 8:54 pm
There’s something about all those trees and that small alke that just make me feel relaxed. That kind of thing always gets me.
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Comment by Ratty — September 24, 2012 @ 4:58 pm
Yes, they are very pleasant surroundings. I especially like the ones like this one that are in a roadless area and well away from developed areas or traffic.
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Comment by montucky — September 24, 2012 @ 8:56 pm
Beautiful place to see, even if you didn’t/couldn’t get down there for a closer visit. And I love all of the trees…so pretty.
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Comment by seekraz — September 26, 2012 @ 9:50 pm
Yes, that’s a pretty part of the forest. There is much diversity there and just a few miles to the west it looks completely different.
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Comment by montucky — September 26, 2012 @ 10:50 pm
It amazes me how the forest and mountains can change faces like that, sometimes simply by crossing a ridge….
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Comment by seekraz — September 27, 2012 @ 6:36 am
It amazes me too. Sure keeps the interest level up though, doesn’t it!
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Comment by montucky — September 27, 2012 @ 9:06 pm
Incredibly so!
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Comment by seekraz — September 27, 2012 @ 9:12 pm
This is very beautiful. I could sit there for hours and hours to admire the beauty of the nature. Your photo is fantastic in my eyes.
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Comment by Sartenada — September 27, 2012 @ 11:28 pm
I feasted on that view while I ate my lunch that day. It was a wild and beautiful place.
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Comment by montucky — September 29, 2012 @ 10:27 pm
What a fabulous spot! Can you get up there in winter? I’d love to see it after a snowfall.
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Comment by Finn Holding — October 16, 2012 @ 1:38 pm
I wish I could get up there in winter, but I cannot. I know it would be beautiful.
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Comment by montucky — October 16, 2012 @ 7:10 pm