The Enchanted Forest

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. ~ Robert Frost

If you ask people who have lived in or visited Michigan about their favorite place there, most will mention one of the many lakefronts. Some might point out the historical sites or the great small towns. But my very favorite spot in ALL of Michigan is a place called Wildwood. No trip home is complete without a stop there. 

My beautiful momma in her natural habitat - harvesting something!

My love affair with Wildwood started before I was even born, when my dad and mom got their Pontiac convertible stuck in a sandy spot in the road. (Did I mention that none of these roads are paved?) Yes, I was along for the ride! As I grew older and gained siblings, many family outings took place in Wildwood. Part of the allure of the place was the traces left by early settlers. Old houses were scattered here and there, and foundations were plenteous. The best thing that the settlers left, though, continues to flourish, and that is their orchards. In any season except winter, there was always something to harvest, and it was free for the taking. We picked mushrooms in the spring, berries in the summer, and apples, pears, and nuts in the fall. The beautiful mix of oak, elm, maple, birch, fruit and nut trees put on a show of color that I still miss. 

Once in a while, after an evening church service, my dad would slow down as he rounded the corner just before pulling into our driveway, then go right on by the house. Yay!! a night-time drive through Wildwood "shining" for deer. My dad lived to hunt, and many of our forays were thinly-veiled scouting trips. He harvested many pounds of meat from Wildwood over the years. This was also the place where I got my first taste of hunting, sitting in a blind with my daddy. (All I really remember was being SO cold!)

I could ramble on much longer... about the nest of baby field mice, about the sandy hole in the side of the hill that Daddy said was home to fox kits, and about climbing the trees. And of course, Dan and I did much of our dating driving around Wildwood in his big, green Chevy pickup (much more suited for two-tracking than a sports car, Dad & Mom, haha)! Who needs a lakeshore? A day spent in Wildwood is, to me, a day of heaven on earth!

Worth the Hassle

Well, then... 
It's Friday, and the sun is shining. Where shall we go today? Having planned to go to the East Rosebud drainage last weekend (see Six Eagles and a 3-Mile Hike), and being thwarted, we figured that that was a good place to start. We saw some eagles along the way, but only one close enough to photograph.

We drove almost to the campground at the end of the road before we hit snow that was a little too deep. At that point, we backed up and turned around. 

Since we have seen moose in this area before, I was closely watching the hillsides around us. Suddenly, I spotted a frozen waterfall. Dan stopped and backed up to where we could see it again (he drives as well in reverse as he does in drive), but there were trees blocking a really good shot of the falls. What to do? Hike up to it, of course! The many, many young pine trees and fallen logs left by a fire about 10 years ago made for tough going, but it was worth it! We were able to get right to the base of the ice flow. Dan has "King of the Hill" syndrome, so we worked our way up further. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down. On the descent, Dan slipped and nearly skewered himself on a cool set of whitetail antlers (skull still attached). We otherwise probably never would have seen them in the dense underbrush. But now he had to make it the rest of the way down carrying his prize. But make it down we did. I think that we will both be feeling this one tomorrow. 

My King of the Mountain :)

Eagles and Bison and Sheep, Oh My!

AKA Same weekend, Part 2

Having been told on Friday about big horn sheep wintering outside of Cody, Saturday's agenda became "go find sheep"! 

We took the road out of Cody past the Buffalo Bill Dam toward the east entrance of Yellowstone Park. Sure enough, we found the sheep -- like 100 of them-- plus a few other willing subjects. 

Mission accomplished! 

Six Eagles and a Three-mile Hike

Due to technical difficulties, this is a week old, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. 

When we left the house Friday morning, we were going to go down to the East Rosebud drainage, looking for eagles and moose. But a dysfunctional gas pump changed all that. We planned to fill up the truck in Fishtail, but now we were going to have to go into Red Lodge to get fuel before going back to East Rosebud.

Cattails on Greenough Lake

If the ice held me...

Since we were already in Red Lodge, I suggested that we drive as far as we could up the Beartooth Highway and see if we could spot an elk or a moose. (We had already seen four eagles.) We detoured off the highway into the Rock Creek Campground for a few pictures of the creek and the mountains. We met a young man coming out who said that he had hiked to Greenough Lake and seen a couple of foxes and possibly some mountain lion tracks. Obviously, Dan was intrigued, so we set out on foot. We didn't see either the foxes or the cat, but we did hear a coyote yip and howl. At one point, the trail that we were on and the road to the Glacier Lake Trailhead were separated by scarcely more than the creek, so Dan decided that we should go back to the truck by way of the road, rather than backtracking the way we came. We therefore crossed the frozen creek (he more confidently than me!), and returned to the truck.

The trip home offered photo opportunities for two more bald eagles, a golden eagle (I think), and a beautiful sunset.

To be continued...

"Be ver-wy, ver-wy quiet..."

"... we're hunting wabbits!" ~ Elmer Fudd

 

Coolest rainbow EVER!!



I had every intention of staying home and being domestic today, but Dan had to point out that the sun was shining. He called up a friend of ours who is ALWAYS willing to go four-wheeling with us, especially if there is snow involved. Grif suggested that we go down to Belfry and check out the rabbit population. His son John also joined us, and once again we were off and running.

 

If at first you don't succeed...

The guys said that I should take the lead, since I am the "light-weight" of the group (whatever...), so away I went. But it didn't take long to find a drift big enough to stop me. I backed up and hit it again. Now I was STUCK! The boys got me loose and I backed up farther and hit it faster. SUCCESS!

 

...try, try again.

 

The bunnies made themselves scarce, so we just rode. Eventually we came to a drifted incline that just wouldn't be conquered. I tried at least three times, and once again, the guys had to come to my rescue. Grif gave it a go, but only got a little farther than I did. We decided to call it a day.

 

The truck was in sight when we came to the last Y in the road. Knowing that the guys would follow me (Dan says males are stupid that way!), I turned away from the truck and hit the throttle. What a blast! The road looped back to the truck and we were losing daylight, oh, and I was hungry, so we packed it up.

 

                                                 Nope, not this time.

 

Maybe tomorrow I will get the Christmas tree down... If the sun doesn't shine!

 





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.  

 
 

Spending my Birthday in Red Lodge

New road, new views

A girl only gets one birthday a year, so it should be embraced and celebrated! I had already decided what I wanted to do today, so I was a little concerned when I woke up to grey skies. But fortunately, the clouds started to break up, and by the time I made myself as pretty as possible, the sun was shining.

Yep, been to that tippy-top!

Off to Red Lodge! In honor of the occasion, Dan even found a road that we have never taken before ~ not an easy feat! The gravel road had its own surprise for us ~ perhaps the most head-on view of Silver Run Peak that we have seen. We have an affinity for this 12,500 foot peak. Climbing to the top of it will do that.  Along the way, we were reminded that while the new truck has more "muscle" under the hood, the tires are NOT what we had on the old truck. (Soon to be remedied!) Only once was I afraid that we just might not get up the hill, even in 4-wheel drive. But after a couple of tries, she got her wheels under her and we made it to the paved road and on down into Red Lodge.




While I love Montana and can't imagine living anywhere else, I am very glad that I did not arrive in this era!
  

Red Lodge is a favorite mountain haunt of ours ~ It is the start of our all-time favorite drive, the Beartooth Highway; the trailhead to Silver Run Peak, our longest, highest hike, is not far out of town; and the little shops and lack of corporate America reminds me of my hometown in Northern Michigan in the 70's and 80's. We did a little Christmas shopping, visited with a couple of local professional photographers (there is always something we can learn), and had an awesome plate of nachos at Bogart's. Of course, no stop in Red Lodge is complete until I have been to the Candy Emporium. I guess that is enough for one birthday.

A beautiful end to an enjoyable day