Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Another Glacier Trip

Took a(nother) trip to Glacier - as I was heading out of town stopped to take this picture of sunrise above a barn in the Helena valley.

This cute little weasel popped up next to me while I was taking a break by a creek - first time I've gotten a pix of a weasel (however, not the first weasel I've ever met :)



He/she? posed a few times for me.





Gorgeous view from near Piegan Pass looking back where I hiked in from.







With the warm fall weather, there were still some flowers out. Paintbrush, asters and a few gentian like this one.









Sunrise at Red Rocks Lake











Monday, September 5, 2011

Yellowstone Lake

Paddled the south arm of Yellowstone Lake for 5 days with 4 friends from West Yellowstone. Didnt see any big critters but saw some bear and wolf prints. Got caught in one good rain/lightning storm but other than that was a great week on the Lake.























































Glacier with Todd

Todd and I went to Glacier and spent 2 nights at the Granite Park Chalet. Had good weather except for one strong hail storm on the way up to the chalet. Second day we hike to the lookout on top of Swiftcurrent peak and looked for critters along the highline trail. Found this one marmot who was snacking on a rock (not sure why, there was lots of other good stuff around!). We did see a bear and her cubs from a very safe distance from the chalet on the second night and last morning.





























Glacier in August with Ma

Me and Ma went to glacier and waterton for a weekend. Our big hike was the Highline-Loop trail which is an 11 mile hike with a 2,000 foot drop over the last 4 miles. I didnt plan real well and we made the last shuttle bus back to our car by 2 minutes (otherwise a hitchhike back or a 7 mile walk!). We had to get by some scary snow bridges (and the ubiquitous lady who was "so proud" of Ma for making it accross the snow). We also looked for bears near Lake cameron (didnt see any) in waterton and saw some mtn goats and big horn sheep. Saw some pretty paintbrush and heather on Logan Pass on our way out of the park.

























































































Yellowstone in July

I went to Yellowstone in July to hike up to Mt Washburn (the hard way from Canyon). Saw lots of wildflowers (arnica, columbine, lupine, paintbrush). At the top I took a nap and woke to find 20 bighorn sheep grazing around me (see pix of baby). Got some good morning shots of the lower falls. Also saw a Pine Marten on a short hike to Cascade Lake.