Munson Creek Ice

Just foolin’ around at Munson creek on a cold winter day.

Eddy Mountain ice falls

Large ice falls at the base of Eddy Mountain. The tree at the base of the falls provides some size perspective.

The original post has been edited to show this photo of the falls in a more complete landscape:

Annual visit to the cliff ice at Buffalo Bill Creek

Each year I make a short winter hike up into the Buffalo Bill Creek canyon to see the icicles that form on the canyon walls. This time last year I was just starting to learn to walk with a brand new titanium knee and hiking into the canyon was out of the question. Today, after hundreds of hours of working with the knee (including walking/hiking for over 1400 miles) the trip up into the canyon was extra sweet!

In past years the weather was more fitting for the formation of the icicles than this warm winter, and the icicles were larger and more beautiful and photos of them can be seen in older blog posts, but I brought back some photos of them today to show them from a slightly different perspective and because the story written in the snow told me that no on else has been there this winter; aside from this post they would be completely unseen. The first photo shows a little perspective of the cliffs on which the icicles grow. It is sheer in most places, perhaps 200 feet tall and a bout a quarter of a mile long, and difficult to photograph because the canyon bottom is so very narrow. Anyway, here are a few photos.

Galaxies in the ice

This afternoon it seemed appropriate to visit a place a few miles from the house where a tiny part of the Lolo National Forest sits right where a small stream enters the Clark Fork River. It’s a remote place, not because of its location, but because it’s rather brushy and boggy and rocky and therefore few people visit there. Animals do though; bears, deer, coyotes… and beavers.

A beaver dam which, of course, must be investigated.

The water backed up by the dam has frozen now and the ice there is nearly a foot thick. (I checked that very carefully before stepping out onto it.)

In the preceding photos small white circles can be seen and when they are closely scrutinized (with a little imagination saved from childhood) they become little galaxies, frozen in the ice.

A garnish of crystal

Cold waterfall

This waterfall is found on the Flathead Indian Reservation near Rainbow Lake. In three seasons its roar can easily be heard at some distance: now it is nearly silent, its water runs behind the ice.