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winter sunshine on st. mary's mountain. january 2023.

1/22/2023

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We got in a quick hike with some wintertime sunshine on St. Mary's Mountain earlier this month.

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~ January 2023 ~
Bitterroot Mountains



We always enjoy hanging out here on a rock outcrop overlooking Big Creek Canyon to the southwest, and looking back towards the valley to the southeast.

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This area also happens to be a great place for tick-hunting in May!! Ask me how I know?!? LOL!!!
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off-trail hiking + mountain wandering on st. mary's.

8/15/2021

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Got out for a little off-trail hiking and mountain wandering on St. Mary's with my husband this afternoon. No trail = no people. The smoke blocked our long-range views (quite common during fire season), but overall it wasn't too bad. We discovered a cool old lichen-covered tree trunk, and came across some rock outcrops for a little break. :)

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mill point and mill point west from st. mary's mtn.

4/19/2020

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​Rather than hiking a trail or walking a road, last night's little escapade took us off the beaten path up a steep hill on Saint Mary's Mountain to a rocky area with a view of Mill Point and Mill Point West. I find it interesting how a simple black and white photo seems to preserve things in time so much differently than a color photo.

​Both of these peaks are on my radar as possible off-trail destinations at some point.
​Who knows?? Set no limits. I'll share some pics if I decide to go for it. :)

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exercising with views on our mountain roads.

4/5/2020

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The girls and I decided to get out on the mountain for our walk a couple of days ago.

We walked up the mountain road for about an hour before heading back down. The higher in elevation we went, the more things continued to change.

Bare ground eventually turned to a snowy road.

The temperature grew noticeably colder.

It began snowing.

Spring became winter. 

But one thing remains consistent ... we always have a good time in the mountains. :)
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We enjoyed a bit of sunshine here and there along the way, but the clouds continued to move about on the mountain and over the valley below. 

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​I love the birds. We got to watch this little western bluebird, as well as several vultures flying overhead on this mountain adventure.

​Watching the larger birds soaring above always has a way of mesmerizing me. 

Hence my long time dream of parachuting, that I never thought would ever come to fruition because of my fear of jumping from a plane. But I conquered that fear in 2018 when I pursued my dream to "soar like an eagle". :)
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We often find a bit of brass at various shooting spots along the way.
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A nice view of the ridge to the south (on the other side of Big Creek).
We took an off-trail trek to get up there from the other side a few years ago.
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A close up view of our off-trail destination. (We did it without snow.)
​You can see down into Big Creek Canyon from up there.
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The snow is quickly moving in.
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As the snow approaches, it creates an interesting layered look in the trees above us.
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With snow in the air and on the ground, along with the lowering temps,
​our spring day quickly turned back to winter for a bit.
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The snow continued as we hit bare ground again coming back down.

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A bit of warmth returned as the snow let up and the sun peeked through the clouds again. From spring to winter to spring. Our mountain weather is always changing.
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We finished with a few glimpses of the Sapphire Mountains on the east side of the valley while the clouds continued to shift around in the skies above.

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telemark skiing on mountain roads. december 2019.

12/13/2019

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Having fun on the mountain with my first telemark ski lesson on the road. A little different than cross-country skiing. Baby steps for me, as I'm out of my comfort zone again. :)
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Some of our earlier snow had melted off during a warm spell, so we started out driving on bare ground, then hit ice where it had rained and frozen recently (time to put on tire chains), and eventually got to snow as we continued to climb in elevation. 

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At various places along the way while driving up the mountain, the view opens up to the valley below and the Sapphire Mountains on the other side.
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Driving through a hallway of bushes and trees makes it interesting.
​We didn't get our ski rack put on for the season yet, so we had to put the skis inside. It was kind of a tight fit, but it worked. :)
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St. Mary's Mountain has two main roads with a connecting road that runs between. The road to the right goes to the trailhead. We took the road to the left to ski. You get a view of the peak and fire lookout tower from the switchback road that runs between. 
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Up, up, and up we go. Where we'll stop, we don't know.
(We've been to the end before, but we're not sure how deep the snow will get.)
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Overlooking Big Creek Canyon with Ranger Peak disappearing in the distance.
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Not much room for turning around or meeting vehicles on the upper part of the road.
​Gotta be prepared for backing up if necessary.
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View of the ridge between Big Creek and Glen Lake.
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As the road gets narrow up high, the bushes and trees tend to stick out in the way a bit. (Sometimes much more than just a bit.) You can't be too picky about getting roughed up a little if you come up this far, as the mountain is likely to leave its mark on you. :)

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We made it to the end of the road without the snow getting too deep for us.
​Time to give my tele skis a try. :)
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I was a bit nervous starting out (afraid of falling and tearing my MCL's again), but I had fun learning to ski back and forth down the road. Jamie's a pretty good teacher. :)
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Eventually we got back to the icier part of the road and had to stop for the day. I'm definitely looking forward to getting back out for my next lesson. Lots more to learn, and lots more fun to come! :)
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early snow in montana. september 2019.

9/29/2019

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Fall meets winter in September this year, adding a mix of cold and beauty.

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One day it's fall,
​the next day it's winter.

That's Montana.

​​This weekend, western Montana was under an early winter storm warning.

Some areas further to the north lived up to their forecast and were buried under four feet of snow.

Although we didn't get as much in the Bitterroot as had been predicted, it was enough to look and feel like winter here.

The higher you go in the mountains, the more there is. Not sure how much snow is up on top?
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The snow had stopped and melted at home, so we headed to the mountains.
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It was still snowing in the mountains, which limited our views but added to the wintry experience.
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We traced back down our tire tracks to walk up a different road on the mountain.
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The only other tracks we saw out there since it snowed were from a guy riding a fat-tire bike and his dog running along.
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No matter the weather or the season, there is always beauty to be found on the mountain.

Although we enjoyed our snowy mountain excursion today, I'm still hoping for a little more fall before winter comes to stay. It's a bit too soon for me to get out my skis and snowshoes just yet. :)

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mountain peak sunset hike. august 2019.

8/19/2019

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We'd been planning to get out for a mountain peak sunset hike for a little while now, but getting my schedule coordinated with my son's schedule for a partly cloudy evening without chances of thunderstorms has been quite a challenge this summer. I checked the weather Saturday morning and the forecast was right, so I knocked on my son's door (he's our neighbor) and asked, "How about a sunset hike tonight?"

The clouds were very thick and heavy all day looking like rain, so I wasn't very confident in the forecast being correct and was a bit doubtful for our chances of a good sunset. But I decided we would go and just see what happens. Sunset was still a little ways off.

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No time to dilly dally. Gotta keep moving along to get to the top in time for the sunset.
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The fire lookout tower is in view as we get closer to the treeline, but we still have more to go. The layer of clouds is still very thick, so it's not looking hopeful at this point. :/
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As we got to the top, the wind picked up its intensity, giving us hope that the clouds might give way enough for a nice sunset after all. Our hope soon became reality. :)

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After an hour and a half of quick-paced hiking, we hit the peak with growing darkness and the wind blowing like crazy. There were still plenty of clouds all around, but color was beginning to appear, too. :) Time to get on some extra layers. We were expecting cold temps and high winds up on the mountain, so thankfully we were prepared for it.

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We never ended up actually seeing the sun itself, as it remained behind shifting clouds, but the sky was mixed with vivid color. I wish my camera could have fully captured the intensity we saw with our eyes, but here are some photos to give you a little glimpse. :)
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We stayed on the summit watching the changing color and clouds with the wind never letting up for 25 minutes. So as the sunset diminished, we scurried off the top and headed back down, hiking out by the light of our headlamps. A 5-hour round trip from leaving the house at 6:30 and getting back at 11:30. Actual hiking time of 3 hours.

It was another awesome mountain adventure! :)  See you on the next one...
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late fall hike up st. mary's mountain to mccalla lake

11/9/2016

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McCalla Lake on St. Mary's, looking eastward from the west end. - November 2016

We hiked up St. Mary's Mountain to McCalla Lake earlier this week while our son got in a little of his early season, backcountry skiing on the snowy slopes behind us.

Although we started out hiking on bare ground, we had snow underfoot for much of the way up. Shortly after passing the wilderness boundary sign on the summit trail we found the unmarked trail split. Much of the non-maintained trail to the lake was hidden with unbroken snow and was unrecognizable to follow, so we put on our gaiters and found our own way down through the snow, rock, and trees.

We arrived at McCalla Lake and had an enjoyable time hanging out for awhile. The lake was frozen over with exception of the perimeter and the two inlet areas, and the terrain around the lake was a mix of patchy snow and bare ground.

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Overlooking a portion of the valley and surrounding mountains with a couple of mountain ridges in the foreground.
 
We paused to take in the awesome view before our eyes as we reached the wilderness boundary shortly before getting to the trail split for our descent to the lake.

Because this hike was another one of our unplanned-spur-of-the-moment trips, we got a late start and didn't get back out until dark. But it was another great time in the mountains! :)

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    Nikki Weiss
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