The Eagles Are Back!

Today is our 26th wedding anniversary! It is also the first day that we have had nice weather when we were not at work. What difference does that make? Well, it has been nearly three weeks since we bought our new camera, and we have been dying to try it out.

We loaded snacks, water, and both cameras into the truck and hit the road. We left the interstate at Columbus and made our way toward Absarokee. Before too long, the mountains came into view and we stopped to take a few pictures with both cameras, just for the sake of comparison. Not long after that, we spotted the first bald eagle of the day. It was one of a pair, and we got a few pictures before they took off. Not much later, we came across another pair. One flew away immediately, but the other one was too busy watching the river below it to care about us. Unfortunately, it was a little too far away for truly good pictures. The next one was on Dan's side of the road, so he parked the truck and walked back. He got a few shots, but when the eagle took off, it headed back my way, away from Dan and the camera. It took a minute, but I "woke up" and grabbed the old camera, and as the eagle circled overhead, we both kept clicking away until it flew out of sight.

We did have a destination in mind when we set out this morning. We drove up past the Stillwater Mine to the Souix Charley trailhead at the end of the road. Leaving the parking lot on foot, we were amazed at how much snow and ice were built up in the river. At one point, it was even completely frozen over. We have never seen it like that! About half a mile up the trail is a frozen waterfall. It is only there in the winter and it is different every year. We have photographed it four times before now, but never this early in the season. It will be interesting to see how it changes as winter progresses.




On the way home, we encountered a young big horn ram with an attitude (in the road), a photo-bombing deer, and two golden eagles (neither of which was overly photogenic). All in all, it was a beautiful sunny day and spending it with the with the one I love, doing something we both enjoy just made it that much better.