Wonderful Waterfalls

In my very first blog post, I promised you waterfalls. So, without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...

WATERFALLS

I have always been enchanted by moving water. There is just something completely mesmerizing to me about the ebb and flow, the eddies, and the currents in a river. Twice in my life I have stood at Niagra Falls in utter awe of the sheer volume and power of the water. Taquamenon Falls in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is another world-class favorite of mine. Victoria Falls (yes, the one in Africa) is on my bucket list, but it may well still be in the bottom of the bucket when I kick it!

Upper Woodbine Falls

Montana has hundreds of waterfalls. Dan and I took a hike in the Beartooths outside of Red Lodge several years ago, and we photographed six different waterfalls in twelve and a half miles. 

What I especially love about Montana waterfalls is how they change from season to season. In the spring, as snowpack in the mountains starts to melt, the rivers rise and the volume in the falls increases. But as soon as summer heats up, some of the falls slow to hardly more than a trickle, and some disappear entirely. For instance, the falls at Natural Bridge (the photo at the top of the page) actually only looks like that in the spring, and even then, not every year does it flow over the top. (See She's Over the Top for more on Natural Bridge and Falls.)

Woodbine Falls in winter.
The top portion is the one in the close-up
photo above, but good luck getting there
once the snow falls. 

Winter creates a very special waterfall - a frozen one. Sometimes run-off freezes into a "waterfall" that is a limited-time offer... they are gone when spring comes. 

The very best part of Montana waterfalls, though, is that there are still so many left to explore, and that's just the ones that are known and named. I wouldn't be surprised if there are still some unseen by human eyes. But I'm not sure that I am hardy enough for those! I'll have to leave those for the intrepid, modern-day adventurers. I have plenty to keep me entertained for many years to
come. 

This is a "winter special" on the trail to Souix Charley Lake.
When the weather warms up, there is not even a spring here. 

   

Some of My Friends Are a Little "Fishy"!

Dave "wets a line" at North Picket Pin Lake.

Hooray for friends! While Dan and I certainly don't mind doing what we do by ourselves, it's even more fun when our friends come along. Saturday morning, we were joined at our favorite campsite near Nye by four friends who came to ride Picket Pin with us. 

The weather was pretty chilly for the first week of August. The tops of the mountains were socked in, and for a while, I really thought we might get snowed on. (Hey, it's happened before... Maybe someday I will do a "throwback" post on our climb to Silver Run Peak.) Our friends Leroy and Nona were in the lead, and they took us down a trail that we had never before traveled. At the end of the trail, we came to a beautiful little lake. The sun was finally starting to burn through the clouds, but a layer of mist hovered over the lake. Dave and Ronny could hardly get their fishing poles out fast enough. Of course, Dan and I were equally eager to get out the cameras. After a little bit, Dave had to admit that this lake appeared to be more of a photo op than a fishing op. 

The lake was absolutely still, and the reflections
were as much fun to photograph as the surroundings. 

We finally tore ourselves away from the lake and resumed our ride to the top. The view from there, Iron Mountain, was panoramic, and while the mountains were hazy, we could see for miles in every direction. We then dropped back down a little, circumnavigated another hill, and splashed through a creek before ascending Chrome Mountain. This is another 10,000 ft peak with million dollar views. 

Apparently, fishing is a
dangerous sport! ;)

By now, it was late afternoon, so we started back down the mountain. Ron and Dave had one more chance to land a fish when we reached the bridge over Picket Pin Creek, but the fish remained elusive. However, the fact that the guys came home "fishless" didn't seem to diminish their enjoyment of the day. (That is one thing to be said for photography: we did not leave empty-handed.) Oh well, the fish will be there another outing. 

Bonus Pictures

This bug is on the perfectly clear surface of the lake. 

Indian Paintbrush

I "caught" a fish, even if the guys didn't!

Creeeeeeepy!

My best friend and photo-buddy!

Elk Horn Cemetery (Part 2)

An "elk horn" cemetery of a different sort
(If that doesn't make sense, you probably didn't read Part 1)

When we made our plans to go to Yellowstone this weekend, we were hoping to have a first timer in tow. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. Since we had spent the night in Bozeman, and we had to get home somehow, we decided to go through Yellowstone anyway. Because the entrance at West Yellowstone is actually about as far from home as we can get, we backtracked a bit to Livingston and entered at Mammoth. Our only plan for the day was to work our way generally homeward. 

Without a set agenda, we ended up on Blacktail Plateau Road. It is one of our favorite drives, and its season is short, so why pass up an opportunity? We parked the car and set off on foot. NOW we understand why this area of the park is closed during the spring when the bears come out of hibernation. It is very apparent that the elk winter here, and the winter-killed elk becomes quite literally an all-you-can-eat buffet for the bears! We found sheds, bones, and even half a dozen or more skulls with antlers still attached. The only kind of elk we did not see was a live one. In fact in our four-mile loop, the only wildlife we saw was a solitary coyote. 

The heat and the hike tired me out, and I stared rather vacantly out of the window as we made our way across the rest of Blacktail. Until I spotted the bear in the trees just off the road, that is! Wide awake, I yelled at Dan to stop! We backed up, but the trees made it really hard to get a picture of the bear. It moved a little deeper into the trees, and I was saying that it was still fun to see one when the bear actually turned back toward the road. I climbed up through the sunroof (since the bear was too close to get out of the car) and got some better photos. We then left the bear jam that we had created, much more satisfied with our day. 

We turned toward Lamar Valley and Cooke City with plenty of daylight left. Just after getting through a sheep-jam at the Yellowstone Picnic Area, we came around a corner and spotted some antelope. Well, what do you know... BABIES! I tried all spring to spot a baby antelope, without success. Now we had at least three, and the shutters were clicking again. 

After a while, my heat and sunlight induced headache returned and we again turned toward home. But we'll be back!

Elkhorn Cemetery (Part 1)

This spring on our annual camping trip to Pipestone, we talked about making a side trip to Elkhorn. But alas, it did not happen, so when Dan suggested it for this weekend, I was all for the idea. 

Friday afternoon found us wandering around the semi-ghost town. We found picturesque relics even before reaching the town itself, and the bees and butterflies also kept us entertained as they worked their way from thistle to thistle. 

Eventually, we arrived in the city proper.  While most of the properties are privately owned, two of the buildings - Gillian Hall and Fraternity Hall - are open

to the public. Some of the other historic buildings are easy to photograph from the street, and the few property owners that we did encounter where gracious enough to allow us to take a few shots on their places as well.

After exploring the town, we bounced our way up the rough road that lead to the cemetery. There was no one else around, and we enjoyed the peace and quiet as we stopped at each grave marker. Death is truly no respecter of persons... we saw many tombstones for babies and children (mostly victims of a diphtheria epidemic in 1888-91) as well as those of people who lived a long time. The tombstones varied from plain wooden planks to intricately carved monuments. The dates ranged from the late 1800's up to as recent as 2015. 

As so frequently seems to happen, our time and daylight ran short before we were really ready to leave, but at least I can finally cross Elkhorn off of my ghost town "to do" list. 

Our Very Own Yellowstone

 

 Not every time that we head to Yellowstone National Park do we have a set agenda, but yesterday we were off to Trout Lake to try to find otters. We were out the door by 8 am and in Red Lodge by 9. The Beartooth Highway is probably our favorite route to Yellowstone, and this time, it was definitely the shortest route to our destination. 

Of course, you know the old saying about best laid plans... The parking lot at Trout Lake was full beyond capacity. We have found that the best way to truly enjoy a day in Yellowstone is to be flexible, so we traveled on to Blacktail Plateau Road. We hiked this area once before and photographed some shed elk antlers, so we re-visited the sites. The first set was nearly undisturbed, and we continued to the hillside where we had found 8 to 10 sheds in a concentrated area. We were dismayed to find them ALL gone! But as Dan was looking around for them, he realized that there was a black bear directly below us! The wind was in our favor, and the bear had no idea that we were there. So, we sat down on the hillside and ate our lunch while the bear ate his. Eventually, the bear moseyed off into the underbrush, apparently for an afternoon nap. We returned to the car, commenting that it is amazing how you can have even Yellowstone all to yourself just by hiking a little bit. 

With the afternoon waning toward evening, we returned to Trout Lake. It was still busy, but we managed to wedge the Suby in and we were off. The trout were indeed spawning, but the otters were nowhere in sight. We turned toward Buck Lake, and oddly enough, we were once again alone except for the birds. Unfortunately, we still didn't find the otters, but it was a beautiful, peaceful spot to end our day! 

Buck Lake

 ~ Bonus Pics ~

I don't have a bird book,
 but I am pretty sure that these are called golden eyes. 

FINALLY, I got a red-wing black bird
 to sit long enough for a good photo!

So Happy Together

When Dan suggested the Pryors for our camping destination for this weekend, I must admit, I internally rolled my eyes and thought, "Pryors? AGAIN?" But hey, it beats sitting at home, right? 

We pulled the camper down Thursday night after work. We arrived at our campsite (thankfully, our VACANT campsite), at about 2:30 am. If you have never stared up into a cloudless, starry night in the high desert, well... you have missed out on something truly special. After marveling at the incredible display of stars, we retreated into the camper and promptly fell asleep. 

By late Friday morning, we were up and ready to ride. We got a whole three and a half miles in before we were off of the machines with cameras and tripods in tow. Since we were still at lower elevations, I was on high alert for snakes. Then I decided that maybe, if I saw it first, it would be a cool photo. Which, of course, guaranteed that I never saw one. (Murphy's Law of Photography.)

Since it was just the two of us and we had no set agenda, we just wandered. Late in the afternoon, we ended up at the irrigation pond where we saw Mama Bear and her two cubs a couple of years ago. The bears were not at home, but the bumblebees and the butterflies were busy. The whole area was vibrant ~ the red soil, the green grass, and the blue skies were just beautiful. The old song, "So Happy Together" came to mind and stayed in my head the rest of the day. 

Our buddy Ronny came up to ride with us on Saturday. Ronny loves two things about the Pryors ~ the wild horses and the big horn sheep. So we set out for one of our favorite roads to the top of the wild horse range, Burnt Timber Road. Okay, I know that it was a beautiful, sunny Saturday in June, but seriously... I thought that I had been teleported to Yellowstone! I don't think we have ever seen that many vehicles in the Pryors! Everyone had the same destination in mind, the high meadow where the horses hang out. I did want running horse pictures, but I was starting to feel sorry for the poor creatures. They would run to one end of the meadow only to be pushed back the other way. We had had enough of the circus and headed back down toward the Big Ice Cave. When we were here a couple of weeks ago, Dan noticed a trail that we have not ridden, so we gave it a try. As we expected, it dead-ended at the edge of the canyon. But, we had the whole place to ourselves and I could breathe again. 

As we pulled out of our campsite at the end of the day, I was so glad that we had come, once again, to the Pryor Mountains. It truly is my "happy place"!

Bonus pics:

We did find sheep, too, as well as something that we have never before seen in the Pryors: A turkey!