Ha! Ha! Mom couldn't make it another day without getting out for some hiking and photography. We were out doing some watering in preparation for departure to Canada when Scott, our neighbor, came down the road. He said he was off to the West Kootenai with a pal. He also mentioned they were going to stop by and take a look at some waterfalls.
After Scott hiked off I could see the wheels turning. No sooner were we done with the watering than mom says, "We're outta here!" To which I replied, "Yippee!" We piled our gear in the pickup and were off in a flash. Mom knew exactly what waterfalls Scott was referring to. She'd been meaning for us to take a trip over there and this chance encounter pushed her over the edge. :)
I have mentioned the Kootenai Forest several times. In fact we live smack dab in it. It's a really big forest. If your interested you can find out more about it here Kootenai National Forest .
We live on the east side so we had to take the bridge to get across the Koocanusa. On the drive down we saw a beautiful osprey gliding around. We also saw an eagle but he didn't care to have his picture taken.
When we arrived at the trailhead to the falls who do we see coming down the path but our friend Scott and his friend James! Humans have no idea how like us dogs they are. They met like they hadn't seen each other in a coon's age. I have no idea how long a coon's age actually is but I gather it's a long time. It had been about and hour and a half seen we'd seen Scott!
Mom had been a little concerned that there wouldn't be much water coming over the falls as it was so late in the season and it has been so dry. But the guys said there was still quite a bit. They took off for their hiking trail and we took off for the falls.
It's isn't much of a hike, like less than a half mile. As short a hike as it is it's very pretty. You hike in the shade along the creek, cross a bridge and there, in like a grotto, is Little North Fork Falls . It was nice and cool in there. I like cool!
Since the walk up to the falls wasn't much of a hike we drove back down the road about a quarter of a mile to a trail we had seen on the way up. We hiked up this trail for about an hour until the wind fall got so bad we couldn't go any further. This is grizzly country but we saw no sign. We did see beautiful, old growth ponderosa. While we were walking along I nearly jumped out of my coat when one of those old beauties must have given up the ghost. There was this crack that sounded like a gunshot (I don't like guns!) and then this whomp as it hit the ground. It was no where near to us but boy it sure sounded like it.
All in all it was a great day!
Until next time ....
©Kinsey Barnard
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