Along a mile of trail

Yesterday after completing several things that have kept me from the trails lately (and pretty much away from the blog), I leisurely hiked the first mile of the Spring Creek trail (USFS trail #370), retreating from things that had been pressing and enjoying the deep shade of the canyon which was much cooler than the rather high temperatures in the valley. It was wonderful to see the wildflowers and gratifying to see so many species still in bloom.

Oxeye Daisy ~ Leucanthemum vulgare

Water Speedwell, Blue Speedwell ~ Veronica anagallis-aquatica

Pointedtip Mariposa Lily, Three-spot Mariposa Lily, Baker’s Mariposa ~ Calochortus apiculatus

Woodland Pinedrops ~ Pterospora andromedea

Alaska rein orchid, slender-spire orchid ~ Piperia unalascensis

Grand Collomia, Large-flower Mountain-trumpet, Large-flowered Collomia ~ Collomia grandiflora

Lanceleaved Stonecrop ~ Sedum lanceolatum

Sticky Currant berries ~ Ribes viscosissimum

Harebell, Bluebell-of-Scotland ~ Campanula rotundifolia

Pipsissewa, Common Prince’s-pine, ~ Chimaphila umbellata

American Twinflower ~ Linnaea borealis

High Mountain Cinquefoil ~ Potentilla flabellifolia

Cascade on Spring Creek

This small fall in a series that stretches for miles has a drop of about four feet. The creek is running full now from snow melt on Big Hole Peak, 6 miles upstream and four thousand feet above.

Think cool…

Western Montana is currently in the middle of a drought and a heat wave. Our June, the month that usually produces the most rain, gave us none at all and the temperatures have been running nearly 20 degrees above normal, in the mid 90’s to the low 100’s. Early this morning however there was a cool place to be…

Spring Creek

Clear, and cold, and… vital!

As the ice and snow of winter depart…

It was so nice yesterday to walk on a forest trail, once again among the green.

A stream that hides

There is a small stream not far from where I live that flows through a deep wooded canyon for about seven miles before it briefly enters a larger one which then flows into the Clark Fork River. In early spring the water flow is continuous but after about mid-summer the stream bed for about a mile at the lower end of the canyon is completely dry. The following photos (in no particular order other than just as I ascended the trail) were taken the other day on a short hike up into the canyon and they show a little of what is hidden above the dry stream bed (in the first photo) near the start of the trail. I’m sure that after seeing the dry stream bed many people do not venture up the trail.

Fall colors are beginning to show.

Kinnikinnik

Devil’s Club

Devil’s Club