december hike up chaffin butte for sunshine + views.

Heading east on Soft Rock Road to hike up Chaffin Butte for sunshine and views.
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Just enough snow to conceal the "C" in the earlier part of the day.
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The clouds stubbornly hung around the Bitterroot Mountains. Full views another day.
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Getting up to cloud level on the east side.
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As we hike up, the trees become smaller and more scarce, opening up the views.
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Looking down on a small piece of rural Montana.
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Stopping to enjoy the changing views along the way.
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You can see so much along the way up ... it makes for slow progress!
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Up and up we went. The actual top remains out of sight from here.

Only a few small trees on the upper portion ... a hot trek in summer!
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Getting a bird's eye view of the gentle rolling hills of rural Montana.

Another little glimpse of rural Montana in the middle of open expanses of land.
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View looking further east.
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So much to see from the top!
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​A closeup look at some of the mountains as the clouds shift for brief views.
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​Looking a bit cold back in the canyons. We picked a little warmer place for this hike. :)
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Looking west over the valley to the Bitterroot Mountains on the other side.
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Heading back down in the warming sunshine.
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​It doesn't take long for the sun to do its work when the clouds allow.
​We started out with early winter...

... and two hours later ended with late fall. ;)​
As we got back down, the "C" became visible from beneath the melting snow.
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​It was another good day for another good hike.

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Thanks for following along on my mountain adventures.
See you in the next post. :)