A rainy, cloudy, sunny day.

Yesterday morning the weather didn’t look too promising and the forecast was even worse, so rather than going for a wet hike I chose to go for a drive instead and headed east along the lower Flathead river which can be very pretty under the right conditions. I encountered these scenes as the weather changed from rain to sun within about a half hour time period and over the course of 20 miles.

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Haying time

Clark Fork River Valley, western Montana

Corona Lake

With overcast skies today and a threat of rain, I was going to devote the day to doing things around the house, but in early afternoon I couldn’t keep from taking a little outing. It was a nice surprise that when I visited this small mountain lake up in the Cabinet Mountains there was a short break in the clouds, just long enough to take a few pictures.

Corona Lake in the Cabinet Mountains of western Montana

A short road trip

What started out this morning to be a little hike along the top of Weeksville Divide on a favorite trail, USFS trail 345, turned into a short road trip.

There weren’t any new wildflowers in bloom along the divide except this small Mountain Rose which is a small flower, not more than an inch or so across:

Dwarf rose, Mountain Rose ~ Rosa gymnocarpa

After about a mile on the trail I hiked back down to the Jeep and after about ten miles of driving north on the Weeksville Creek road paid a visit to a small stream that has long been a favorite place to catch a limit of small Brook Trout. I didn’t fish today but caught some pretty scenery instead.

You can see why, besides the good fishing, it’s one of my favorite summer places.

It was a pretty drive back home, the highlight of which was getting to see some wild Hollyhocks growing beside a small spring just above the water of Thompson River. It’s the only place I’ve ever found them. Not a bad morning at that!

Mountain Hollyhock ~ lliamna rivularis

Catching up ~ 2

Group 2 of additional 2018 wildflowers blooming in May & June:

Queen’s Cup ~ clintonia uniflora

Blanket Flower ~ gaillardia aristata

Thread-leaf Phacelia ~ phacelia linearis

Roundleaf alumroot ~ heuchera cylindrica

Flying flower (Summer Azure ~ celestrina ladon neglecta)

Sulphur Cinquefoil ~ potentilla recta

Elegant Mariposa Lily ~ calochortus elegans

Catching up ~ 1

I have been trying to post photos of the various wildflower species found in this region this spring but I’ve gotten behind. This will be the first of three posts of the species I didn’t mean to ignore. Each is unique and pretty in its own right.

Feathery false lily-of-the-valley, Plumed solomon’s seal ~ maianthemum racemosum

Tall Western Groundsell ~ senecio integerrimus

Starry false lily-of-the-valley, Star-flowered solomon’s-seal ~ maianthemum stellatum

Lemon Weed, Western Gromwell ~ lithospermum ruderale

Prickly Currant ~ ribes lacustre

Field Chickweed ~ cerastium arvense

Alaska Saxifrage ~ saxifraga ferruginea