There's always some kind of beauty to behold on our backroad walks.
Welcome to my "neighborhood". :)
There's always some kind of beauty to behold on our backroad walks. Welcome to my "neighborhood". :)
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It was still a little nippy outside with the wind, but I enjoyed these views and more on an early spring walk today along our Montana backroads. :) As darkness gave way to light one morning last month, I noticed that the faint bit of color in the sky was stretching out farther to the south than usual... which meant a beautiful sunrise was quite likely upon the horizon. However, since we are surrounded by trees, we don't have much of an open view for sunrise photos. So I quickly woke up the girls, threw on some shoes, grabbed my camera (along with a coat and gloves for the cold), and away we went. I was hoping to not be too late as I headed to a spot up the road I knew had a wonderful view of the Sapphire Mountains to the east. My suspicions of a great sunrise were spot on and our timing couldn't have been better. We enjoyed a fabulous color show as it unfolded before our eyes for over half an hour. And a small herd of elk came along to lounge around and graze nearby, so we also enjoyed hearing a bit of bugling behind us while watching such a spectacular sunrise! As you can see, I took more than a few photos. Enjoy! :) As the more intense colors disappeared, the serene afterglow was a lovely finish to our dramatic sunrise. It was colder than usual for a mid-October morning, so we were more than ready to get back inside and warm up with some hot cocoa by the fire. :) On our way back from our hike last night, we got a chance to see the peacocks that reside just outside of Victor. They are always a fun sight to see roaming freely about. :) We came across a few deer alongside the road on our way to the trailhead yesterday. Seeing a buck, a doe, and a fawn all hanging out together is not very common for us, so it was a nice early morning start to our all-day mountain adventure. :) A view of a small portion of the Bitterroot Valley and Sapphire Mountains to the east. I took this photo from the Bitterroot Mountains on the west side of the valley in February of 2016. I love living where I do and never tire of the endless amazing views. Enjoy! :)
When the sun shines through the smoke in the evening, it often casts a very noticeable color glow on everything. We occasionally have ash falling all around, and oftentimes the smoke is thick enough to completely obscure our view of the mountains.
This year has been the worst fire season we've had in the Bitterroot Valley since the fires of 2000. The Lolo Peak Fire is burning to the north of us through some of our hiking areas and nearly to Hwy 93. This fire has grown to almost 40,000 acres at this time and is not yet contained on its southern perimeter, so the Forest Service has extended the "evacuation zone" to our road at the base of St. Mary's Mountain. Some of the next closest wildfires to us are the Hidden Fire just behind Fred Burr Lake, and the Chute Creek Fire that has reached about a mile from Blodgett Lake. There are many other forest fires burning in western Montana and Idaho right now that are a little further out from us in every direction. They all contribute to our smoke. We are not in any danger from the fires right now, but they have hindered our outdoor activities quite a bit, as we are inundated with smoke much of the time. The smoke levels have been labeled as "unhealthy" for breathing part of the time, and we sometimes notice effects from it on the really bad days. In addition to the smoke, road and trail closures have limited our hiking and backpacking in some areas. And not wanting to be too close to active fires has put some of our planned backpack trips on hold for now, too. The fires will eventually be extinguished, as they are no match for our winter mountain snow. It's just a waiting game right now while most of the valley is hoping for some really good rain or an early winter. Just thought I'd give you an idea of what living in western Montana is like this time of year. I got the opportunity to watch and photograph this owl in western Montana today. I'm always fascinated with how keenly aware owls are of their surroundings. And it's interesting to watch them blink, turn their heads, fly, and hear them hoot in the night. We often get to enjoy seeing deer and other wildlife come through our place here in rural Montana. My husband recently captured some video of this whitetail doe with her two fawns and uploaded it to my new youtube channel. Thought I'd share it with you today... enjoy! :) We love to stop and watch the wildlife any chance we get (and take a few photos). This small herd of sixteen elk captured our attention for a bit while on our evening bike ride tonight. Some of them kept an eye on us, but fortunately they weren't bothered by our presence enough to leave the area. So we were able to watch them and get a few pics and video before continuing on our way back home. :) |
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fitness groupLet me help you get "out here", too. I will soon be offering a hiking related fitness group with coaching and support for getting in shape and getting out in the outdoors more. Stay tuned. :)
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