"The mountains are calling, and I must go."

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We went up Kootenai for a several hour hike a couple of days ago, and it was our first hike this year that actually felt like spring.

​We woke up to another dusting of snow this morning, and according to the weather forecast, winter will be appearing again this weekend with colder temps, but it was nice to enjoy a little sunshine and relative warmth in the mountains for a few hours. :)


Bitterroot Mountains, MT.
March 2020.
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It eventually grew too dark for photos.
​More to come on my next adventure. :)
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Spring is working on coming to our part of Montana, but the mountains will remain a winter wonderland for quite some time.

​These ice falls up Kootenai were our destination for today's hike. With no movement or sound, the stillness of the frozen water on the rock creates the feeling of a moment frozen in time.

​While we always look forward to our destination, we also enjoy the journey along the way. This afternoon's snowy hike gave us numerous reasons to stop and observe our surroundings, which extended the time it took to get to where we were going.

We spotted a mink's slide path down the opposing hillside and into the creek below, as well as various tracks of critters that had been pretty busy going to and fro.

We stepped over moose droppings in the trail from a cow moose we had seen in the area on last week's hiking/snowshoe trek. (At first it had appeared that she was lying down, but it quickly became evident that she was instead standing in snow up to her belly.)

We observed a waterfall on the canyon wall created by snow melt, which is a common sight and sound this time of year.

And we hiked over extra snow and debris deposited on the trail from an avalanche that had slid from above, over the trail, and continued down the other side of the steep slope until it finished settling into the bottom of the creek. (This had occurred quite recently - sometime since last week's trip in Kootenai.) 

​Heading way back into the mountains is the best way to find solitude, but when we don't have enough time for that, we discovered we can find a bit of solitude even on the busiest of trails by going up, up, up on the side until we get far enough away that we are out of sight and sound of the trail below. The mountainsides are pretty sloped, but we explore around until we find a wonderful flat spot or rock area from which we can enjoy the views.

​On this afternoon hike up a very familiar trail close to home, we spent about two hours hiking and exploring, and an hour and a half basking in the beautiful sunshine, enjoying the peaceful views and the sounds of the creek running along the bottom of the canyon below.