Heart Lake (2)

That day was cold and cloudy, good for hiking but I would have preferred a clear sky for photos.

Heart Lake (1); the trail

Heart Lake is the largest alpine lake on the Montana side of the northern Bitterroot Mountains, located in a cirque basin just below the Montana/Idaho divide in a huge area known as the Great Burn which is part of the three million acres that was burned in the fire of 1910. On October 22, I hiked up to it on the part of trail 171 that follows the South Fork of Trout Creek up from USFS road 250. Following are photos taken from along the trail. I will post photos of the lake itself in part (2).

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange

Orange brings pleasant memories of beautiful evenings and the creations of the clouds and setting sun.

Arizona Desert Sunset ~ 1973 (Converted from 35mm slide)

Bitterroot Mountains along the Montana – Idaho border ~ July 2012

Coeur d’Alene Mountains in the Cherry Peak Roadless area (western Montana) to the left of the river, Cabinet Mountains to the right ~ September 2009

Coeur d’Alene Mountains in Montana ~ August 2009

Orange you glad it’s photo challenge time?

Cool, cool water

The daily temperatures here are heading up into the 100’s for the next few days, and I know it’s hot also in a lot of other places now, especially in the western states of the U.S. Seems a good time to post some “cool” photos that were taken on the first of June this year of Revett Lake on the Montana/Idaho border. (Hard to believe, only a month ago.)

Revett Lake is a small mountain lake that sits at an elevation of 5800 feet in the Bitterroot Mountain range just west of the Montana/Idaho border in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. From Thompson Pass, which is about 20 miles west of Thompson Falls Montana on highway 471, you can take Forest Service road 266 to its end at the trail head for the lake (about a mile and a half). From there, USFS trail 9 will lead to the lake, a mile and a half to two mile hike with a fairly easy climb in summer; not so easy in June.

Waterfall on Cascade Creek

The trail to Revett Lake crosses the stream just below this waterfall. (Photo taken on June 1, 2013)