Water, Water Everywhere!

All right, Mother Nature! 

These temper tantrums of yours have got to stop! 

Near-daily thunderstorms with torrential rainfall have Montanans on edge! Communities all along Montana's rivers have been on flood alert for weeks. While we watch the Yellowstone out of concern for our drinking water, we keep an eye on the Boulder River for purely aesthetic reasons. 

We took a drive yesterday afternoon up to Big Timber to see how high the water was in the Boulder. The river was running high enough that we proceeded out to Natural Bridge, despite the occasional shower and the mostly cloudy skies. Yes indeed, the riverbed was full, and the Boulder was putting on a show! The upper falls were flowing! (See She's Over the Top for an explanation of this geological phenomenon. For a short video, go to our Facebook page: Photography by Dan & Tammi Capron) The rain held off as we photographed the falls and the flowers and the birds. Eventually, a light sprinkle became more steady, so we returned to the car. 

Driving in, we had noticed a road that we have never driven. Since the sun was once again peeking out, we decided to explore. The road climbed steeply up from the valley floor, and before long we were overlooking the ranches and the river below, as well as the Crazy Mountains beyond. We never spotted the bear for which we were looking so hard, but we did spy some nice bull elk sprouting new racks. 

My new favorite view of the Crazies

The afternoon was waning, so after some debate, we turned around and left the rest of the road for another day... hopefully a day in the not-too-distant future. 

*** Bonus Pics ***