November 12, 2017
From a winter past
Today the trail to Baldy Mountain called to me but heavy snow has already closed the road to the trail head. So because I couldn’t take photos today, here from the archives, are a few photos taken in September of 2008 on a cold day at the top of the mountain. Most of the trees are stunted and twisted from the blistering hot summer sun, the bitterly cold winters and the incessant winds across the top. The trees had been decorated during a storm during the night before my visit.
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Montana Outdoors 
Nice! We didn’t get that freezing cold yet, but I enjoyed lokking at yours.
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Comment by bentehaarstad — November 13, 2017 @ 7:06 am
So far this winter we have had periods of very cold weather, then snow and for the next week or so, fairly warm and wet. Strange year.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 9:04 am
These are some of my favorites among your winter images. I’m glad you posted them again. Quite apart from the blue and white beauty, the forms the snow has taken under the force of the wind are nothing short of spectacular. They certainly give substance to the phrase, “frozen in time.”
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Comment by shoreacres — November 13, 2017 @ 7:24 am
I have always wished that I could go up there in mid-winter, but I doubt that I could make it. It must be amazing.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 9:06 am
What amazing shapes and light. Some of these images almost look like an alien landscape.
A couple remind me of the eery shapes when the sunken Titanic was visited with underwater cameras. Another one reminded me of a dragon shape or even…….a Harry Potter film set.
(ok, Terry, I know i have weird imagination 🙂 )
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Comment by Vicki — November 13, 2017 @ 7:43 am
There is a quality to the light at altitude. Crisper, sharper. Details stand out much better than further down the mountain. You captured incredible shapes of ice and snow.
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Comment by Sally — November 13, 2017 @ 10:17 am
That’s one of many reasons why I love the tall peaks. Often too the weather there is completely different than in the valleys below.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 10:21 am
Any plant or animal has to be tough to survive up there. Beautiful photos!
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — November 13, 2017 @ 10:53 am
Seldom are there animals up there, just ones that pass through in their travels, and the trees have a very tough life.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 11:32 am
It looks “hard,” yet beautiful in its own way.
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Comment by wordsfromanneli — November 13, 2017 @ 11:51 am
So magical!
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Comment by heartandsoul974 — November 13, 2017 @ 3:10 pm
It sure was. I was a one-of-the kind encounter with Nature’s decorating.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 4:14 pm
The best kind of decorating!
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Comment by heartandsoul974 — November 14, 2017 @ 5:04 am
What great shapes, patterns, and textures. You must have been thrilled.
In the first photograph, do you think the rocks were naturally heaped up that way, or did people have a hand in piling them up like presents around a Christmas tree?
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Comment by Steve Schwartzman — November 13, 2017 @ 4:06 pm
Yes, that was very rare opportunity. The rocks are all natural. The top thousand feet of that mountain is all rock like that, including the trail which was built in the early 1900’s for horse and foot access to a fire lookout on the peak. Every time when hiking back down I’m ready to kiss the ground when the trail goes back to regular dirt.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 4:13 pm
Then we’ll appreciate your photographs all the more for the trouble you went through to take them.
It’s good to hear the rocks are all natural. In too many places on recent trips my would-be photographs have been thwarted by stacked stones.
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Comment by Steve Schwartzman — November 13, 2017 @ 4:17 pm
Once in awhile I see stacks too but very seldom and only on a few of the more-used trails. I don’t understand why people do that.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 7:47 pm
It’s such a very beautiful world up there in winter. It’s too bad you couldn’t get back.
We had our first snow here today. Just a dusting, but there’s more to come I’m sure.
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — November 13, 2017 @ 4:41 pm
Yes, I’d love to get up there in winter, but it’s a little too heroic to try that on snow shoes. We are in a period of rain, but more snow is forecast in the next several days. The high country is receiving more snow daily.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 5:11 pm
I don’t blame you for not trying. I usually wait until someone else breaks a trail these days.
It sounds like good news for any potential future droughts.
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Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — November 13, 2017 @ 5:56 pm
I’ve thought about trying to get up there in winter but it would be an ordeal. I would have to hike 4 miles on the snow just to get to the trail head, then it’s about another 3 to the top with an elevation gain of 1500 feet.
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 7:43 pm
Whether current pictures or those from your archives they are always wonderful to look at. Maybe it’s time to start at the beginning and follow through again. That is what I did when I found your blog. In fact I changed the background on my computer the other day to another favorite of mine taken on the Cabinet Divide trail (360) looking out over a vast valley. I would like to visit there once.
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Comment by Ron Mangels — November 13, 2017 @ 4:55 pm
Hi Ron!
I wouldn’t mind visiting the divide again myself. It’s quite a hike! (About 3 times the hike to the Big Hole Lookout.)
I hope everything is going well for you and your family!
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Comment by montucky — November 13, 2017 @ 5:13 pm
Gorgeous photos! Wow to that frost. I have never seen it like that. And it was created sideways, what a tale that tells!
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Comment by Tammie — November 14, 2017 @ 5:15 pm
I wish I could have been up there to see those decorations form! The sideways shapes would indicate a pretty good wind I’d think.
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Comment by montucky — November 14, 2017 @ 9:00 pm
Such beauty! Frigid cold really does bring out the colors and detail so nicely. I love the way some of the snow gathered on the trees, as if fancy lace were wrapped around them.
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Comment by bayphotosbydonna — November 14, 2017 @ 7:44 pm
The air is very pure (and thin) at the top of the peak and the sun came out making it look as though there was a spotlight on the trees. I was so happy that I had a camera along!
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Comment by montucky — November 14, 2017 @ 9:02 pm
Wow, those are such ‘cool’ photos! Such beautiful ‘decorations’ on those trees!!
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Comment by Mama's Empty Nest — November 15, 2017 @ 7:52 am
These were the prettiest I’ve seen, although something similar can be seen nearly every winter.
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Comment by montucky — November 15, 2017 @ 9:47 am
Beautiful!
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Comment by Mother Hen — November 16, 2017 @ 11:44 am
Beautiful images .. I bet that is hard going hiking over that ground ..
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Comment by Julie@frogpondfarm — November 16, 2017 @ 11:50 pm
It is. The trail can be seen in the next to last photo.
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Comment by montucky — November 17, 2017 @ 12:08 am
What gorgeous sculptures! But some pretty extreme conditions needed to create them. Fab photos.
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Comment by Jo Woolf — November 17, 2017 @ 3:27 am
Yes, it would have been an interesting night to see.
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Comment by montucky — November 17, 2017 @ 8:41 pm
Beautiful! Thanks for trying to get us in the holiday spirit, hard to do down here, you know…but that’s okay, I’ll look at your photos instead.
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Comment by Candace — November 19, 2017 @ 3:01 pm
It’s still pretty mild for this time of year. The snow (Most of it) in the valley has melted, but the last two days my son and I hunted a little higher up in the snow.
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Comment by montucky — November 19, 2017 @ 7:21 pm
Your photos are wonderful. Snow is so white and it decorates trees in a very beautiful way. Thank You showing them.
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Comment by Sartenada — November 22, 2017 @ 1:22 am
The mountain peak was very well decorated on that day!
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Comment by montucky — November 22, 2017 @ 12:06 pm
Baldy sure is an elegant beauty! 🙂
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Comment by kutukamus — November 23, 2017 @ 9:53 pm
Sure is, at almost any time.
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Comment by montucky — November 23, 2017 @ 11:31 pm
You’ve really captured the bitter cold hoar frost and snow of the high country. These are lovely images.
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Comment by rangewriter — November 24, 2017 @ 7:52 am
Despite the cold, the snow in the high country can be very pretty.
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Comment by montucky — November 27, 2017 @ 9:07 am
I couldn’t agree more! Grew up in Wyoming, live in Idaho, skier, lover of mountains, and my favorite season is winter.
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Comment by rangewriter — November 28, 2017 @ 11:23 am
I lived away from here in the Arizona desert for many years and I’m glad to have the four seasons again. Each has remarkable beauty.
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Comment by montucky — November 28, 2017 @ 1:52 pm
They are wonderfully wrapped in in snow, Montucky. Very beautiful pictures ❤
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Comment by Hanna — November 25, 2017 @ 10:15 am
Mother Nature decorates much better than I’ve ever been able to!
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Comment by montucky — November 27, 2017 @ 9:07 am
This looks absolutely fabulous! ❄️❄️❄️ Wonderful impressions.
I miss the snow so much, we have hardly ever see North Norfolk covered in white.
Best regards, Dina
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Comment by Dina — November 28, 2017 @ 12:47 pm
Thanks Dina. I love the winter and Nature’s decorations. Our tradition here is that when it’s bitter cold outside and the snow is deep, we go out and play in it.
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Comment by montucky — November 28, 2017 @ 1:54 pm
I’d love to join you. ❄️🤗❄️
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Comment by Dina — November 28, 2017 @ 3:21 pm
Very interesting photos!! And beautiful of course.
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Comment by Giiid — December 17, 2017 @ 5:25 pm
Thanks Giiid!
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Comment by montucky — December 17, 2017 @ 9:06 pm