It's flower time again. Prairie crocus in bloom on the Larry Creek trail. April 2022.
 I love to see the sandhill cranes! :)   We saw this pair of sandhill cranes just outside the refuge last month. They are quite the interesting birds to see. This last photo is not up to par on the focus, but I wanted to share a pic of the two together, and they didn't stay close together for long.
  This male Brewer's blackbird entertained us while we hung out along the water on a recent Big Creek hike. That is, until we heard a couple of loud gunshots right behind us that caused him to take off somewhere else. I did get a few photos before he left. :)    Driving back from our "check on the owls" trip to the refuge yesterday, I stopped in the road as I questioned, "Was there something up in that tree we just passed?" Of course I had to back up to see, and sure enough, there was a Canadian goose watching us from above. We always seem to see something somewhere. :) "Let the wind blow.... blow as hard as it can." (Song lyrics that came to mind on the trail yesterday.) It really blows on the open Kenai trail at the refuge on windy days!! Which is why we had the trail completely to ourselves. :)  Our view looking northeast with the Sapphire Mountains. The clouds were a stormy blue to the east, and a dreary gray to the west. The in-between felt pretty turbulent.  Our view looking southwest with the Bitterroot Mountains. I really do enjoy this kind of atmosphere. It's such a contrast to the fair-weather-sunny days, adding a different dimension to our experiences in nature. Just a little reminder that God's beauty is all around us, no matter what the weather is currently doing. :)  It was a beautiful, sunny day for our afternoon hike earlier this week. And as a bonus, Jamie and I enjoyed having the trail completely to ourselves. (Except for several deer.)  We had a few small stretches of bare ground, but most of the trail was snow-covered.  Hiking is a rejuvenating way to spend time, any season of the year. :)  In the beginning, you get glimpses through the trees.  Further along the way, things begin to open up for a bit.  Let it blow! The bursts of strong wind felt wonderful in the warmth of sunshine.  Jamie gets a bit blinded with the combination of sunshine and snow.  As the trail comes closer to the lake, the snowy slope merges right into the snowy lake.  The snow deepens the farther in we go. We missed getting photos of the deepest part, though.  The closer we get to the southern ridge near the western end of the lake, the more the sun disappears on us behind the ridge.  <--- Rock Creek and Como Trail junction. ---> (Several lakes are in my plans for a future backpack trip.)  Mounding snow is such a beautiful part of winter.  The inlet where Rock Creek flows into the west end of Lake Como.  The railing on the bridge really shortens with the build-up of snow.  We chose a sunny spot with a view for our break and plopped down on the snow. :)  Late afternoon quickly turns into early evening on our way back out.  I love the play of texture on the snowy lake in the diminishing sunlight.  And the snowy peaks with the glow of fading light are lovely, too.
---------------------- I hope you enjoyed coming along on our little hike in the snow. See you on the next one. :)  A beautiful day in the mountains on a quick 5-mile hike today.
Lots of trees, a bit of snow and ice, and a few glimpses of sunshine here and there. Bass Creek to Brooks Creek. Winter 2021-2022.  Always lookin' for a little bit of mountain fun! ;)
 Gleason Lake ... frozen in time. Gleason Lake is nestled up in the Sapphire Mountains on the east side of the Bitterroot Valley. Since this hike is not mentioned in the hiking books, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I knew from looking at my map that it would be a shorter hike than many of our mountain lake treks, but that we would also have some elevation gain. And I wasn't sure how much snow we might encounter along the way. We had a little route finding to do down lower, and some snow up higher. We had some serious uphill in the middle portion, with a flatter section just before dropping down to the lake. A bit of snow around the lake, but not too bad, along with some downed trees and mud. All in all, it was a fun adventure with some good exercise. Hope you enjoy the pics. :)  Beautiful views of the Bitterroot Mountains as we head up into the Sapphires.  A zoomed in view of Willow Mountain seen from the trail. It's on my list.  Hmmm... something else to go check out sometime?  There was plenty of up getting to the lake!  And awesome views when we got above some of the trees!  We weren't sure how much more up we had left to go at this point, but looking back down from here we could see we were getting somewhere. :)  We hit snow as we gained elevation. The trail leveled out quite a bit at this point.  Getting closer to the lake. Palisade Mountain seen here.  Got to the lake with enough time to hike around the perimeter before having a fire. As usual, the lake is bigger than it looks here, so you have to hike around it to see it all. If you don't take the time and effort to go around, you miss out on the best views.  Plenty of downfall along the south side of the lake makes for a little slower pace.  No trail. Just traipsing over, through, and around anything in our way.  Enough downed trees to build a cabin?  Antler rubbings.  And a white rabbit or hare in hiding.  We had a combination of sunshine and blue sky with clouds, snow and ice.   I enjoy playing around with B&W photography at times. I especially love the contrast of the dramatic sky separated from the smooth icy lake with the silhouetted trees in this early winter view of Gleason Lake.  The lake water has receded, revealing a muddy bottom with dead tree remains.  View from the grassy end.  Interesting discoveries here and there.   Palisade, Sapphire, and Skalkaho Mountains are all seen from Gleason Lake. More adventures on my list for someday. :)  Interesting evidence of the lake's higher water level in summer.  Back around to the end we came in at. This is the outlet, which is empty this time of year when the lake is low.  When the water isn't rushing through this man-made outlet, you can see the rock artwork someone cemented into the bottom.   I love the blue ice as the light changes on the lake just before we head back out.  Enjoying the views and diminishing sunlight as we head back down before dark sets in.
Another great mountain adventure! :)  Emily and I got out for a frosty hike up Bear Creek today. We took our break part way up a rock field with a nice view of Sky Pilot and more. A beautiful day with sunshine up high, but a bit cold down in the shade of the canyon. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable. :)      Sky Pilot, elevation 8818' ... one of my destinations planned for next year.
We were pretty close on our 2018 Big Creek to Bear Creek backpack trip with tentative plans on hitting the peak then, but when we were coming over Bear Creek Pass in lousy weather, I opted to leave it for another time to get down and set up camp sooner. |
authorNikki Weiss 
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