Last night after dinner, as happens nearly every evening, I was invited by my friend The Pointer to go out for a hike, an activity that she absolutely lives for. I grabbed a light pack, hung my camera from the shoulder strap and we headed the Jeep toward an old gated road in the National Forest just a few miles away.
By the time we arrived at the gate a small storm had swept down over the valley from the Coeur d’Alene mountains across the river and a moderate rain had begun to fall. When I checked my pack for rain gear and found the old black umbrella that I usually keep lashed to it for such occasions the thought came to me that hiking through the forest on the last day of spring bear hunting season under a black umbrella was probably not the greatest of ideas!
We then moved our hike to another area, one that was not open to hunting, and on the way found this pretty little fellow and moved him off the road and out of harm’s way, for which favor he posed for me, coiling nicely, vibrating the tip of his tail in his very best rattlesnake imitation, and hissing impressively. (He was a very pretty specimen!)
Montana Outdoors 