Morning on Eddy peak

The photo I posted yesterday reminded me of another morning in 2010 at the top of Eddy Peak located in the Coeur d’Alene mountains overlooking the Clark Fork River valley.

West from Baldy

While contemplating a hike next week I was looking over some photos taken there a number of years ago and noticed this one taken on October 9, 2013 that I had never published. A storm was just sweeping in from the south but a window remained looking out over the clouds that filled the valley toward the west.

Think cool!

Two miles up the Spring Creek trail on a hot summer day. Crystal clear, ice cold water cascading down a deep canyon under the canopy of tall, old-growth cedars…

Cabin Lake

Yesterday a friend and I hiked to Cabin Lake, one of the many cirque lakes in the Cube Iron/Silcox roadless area in the Plains/Thompson Falls District of the Lolo National Forest here in western Montana. Following are photos of the trail and, of course, the lake itself which sits at about 6,000 feet.

The destination, Cabin Lake

In several places along the road to the trail head, which follows the west fork of Thompson River, it was necessary to build retaining walls to keep the rock slides from covering the road.

At the trail head, this bridge for foot and horse traffic spans the stream that issues from the lake. It is very welcome because the stream would be very difficult to ford.

Along the bottom part of the trail it is covered by the golden leaves of Black cottonwoods; the “Yellow brick road”.

A smaller stream which is fortunately fordable without going over the top of hiking boots crosses the trail.

The lake sits in a glacier-formed recession just above and to the right of the cliffs in the background.

From the middle part of the trail you can see the mountainside that slopes down to the trail head.

The trail tops out in a saddle, then descends down to the lake which sits just below the peak in the distance.

This and the remaining photos are of the lake itself.

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

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