It's Cooler in the Mountains

Where do Montanans go when the temperature outside reaches 100 degrees? To the mountains, of course!

Actually, that was not our plan when we left the house yesterday afternoon. We started in Boyd, turning off onto a gravel road. We were looking for "critters", but apparently it was too hot for them as well. All that we photographed was an old house. 

When we came down into Bridger, we turned toward Red Lodge, planning to traverse more back roads. About that time, it occurred to me that it would be much, much cooler at 10,000 feet! Dan agreed, so we circled back for gas and milkshakes. (Did I mention that it was really hot outside?) 

Back on the road, we drove through Belfry to the Chief Joseph Highway. We stopped once to photograph the red cliffs and the green grass, then stopped again at the top of Dead Indian Pass. I grabbed my camera to go find the ubiquitous (and photogenic) chipmunks, but instead, I found bumblebees - lots and lots of bumblebees! Big ones, little ones, colorful ones, and nearly black-and-white ones were all busily working the flowers against the railing. 

Eventually, I tore myself away from the bees. Rather than continuing on over the pass, we turned around and instead chose to explore a side road. It only went about three and a half miles before it dead-ended, but it was a really enjoyable ride. We never did find "critters" other than cows, but I did have fun trying to capture the row upon row of mountain peaks. Somewhere along the way, it struck me that yes, it IS cooler in the mountains, in more ways than one!

***Bonus Pics***

In amongst all the bees,
this grey hairstreak landed for just a second
directly in front of me. 

The only four-legged critter
that we photographed all day.