Rainy day

Sometimes it’s good to just burrow back into the brush and the rocks, under the trees, and enjoy the rain.

KooKooSint trail

The KooKooSint trail (USFS trail 445) starts about a mile north of the junction of the Thompson River road and Montana Highway 200 and makes its way up to the top of the western end of KooKooSint Ridge. In about two miles of hiking through eleven switchbacks on the primitive, rocky and rugged foot trail you climb about 2,000 feet to the ridge top from which this photo was taken looking to the east over the Clark Fork of the Columbia River. Somewhere near this point was where the Copper King fire started this past summer.

Monday morning, April 22

The river this morning:

Late afternoon on the river

There are ways to judge the success of a fishing trip other than the number and size of the fish that are caught. (June of 2011)

The third rapids

There is a stretch of river near where I live that contains some sections of rapids. It is commonly thought that there are two rapids, but actually there is a third. It receives very few visitors and that’s just the way I like it!

Muddy water

The Clark Fork of the Columbia river is about at its peak flow now and while it does spread out a lot that is normal for this time of year and not a flood problem. In an area of rapids not far from my house the water level is eight to ten feet higher at the moment than it is during late summer and winter. The photo does not quite show the proper perspective, but the river is a mile away and a thousand feet below the end of the meadow and the flowers.