SPRING HAS SPRUNG & SUNDAY FALLS.

At last! Spring is in the air. This has been the coldest spring since I have lived here and it's great to finally be able to bask in the warm sun.

The biggest news is that I have had a Canada Goose pair nest and produce six little goslings on my larger pond. I have no photos of them because I haven't taken any. I haven't taken any because this pond, built in the center of my forty acre parcel, away from the house and any distraction, is especially for my wild visitors. It is meant to be a safe haven and sanctuary. To photograph them feels like an invasion of their privacy and I must respect my guest's privacy. But, I can tell you, it is a site to behold as they paddle the pond. The photo below is of a family riding the Tobacco River.

CANADA GEESE AND GOSLING


I have also spied another new resident Timothy Turtle. I hope he has a partner or he may not stay for long.

Mostly the week was about ranch chores. That wonderful sun makes the grass, and everything else, grow. But, we took yesterday off and went down to Sunday Falls. I have tried to photograph these falls before with little luck and I'm afraid I had much the same outcome this day.

SUNDAY FALLS, MONTANA

For some reason I just can't seem to capture anything special at these falls. I suppose the main reason is, short of standing in the creek, it's tough to take a stand. The falls were really barreling so standing would have been very difficult.

SUNDAY FALLS, MONTANA

Naturally, where there is a Sunday Falls, there might just be a Sunday Creek. And so there is. I have a favorite spot where I like to try and photograph the creek but there was a old motorhome parked in the spot so I was not able to get in there. With these tough times more and more people are living in the forest and this looked to be the case. Not a bad placed to live really. But, you will get rousted by the Forest Service every 14 days.

SUNDAY CREEK, MONTANA

After fiddling around the falls I decided to continue up the Forest Service Road on foot. I had promised Koty a walk and I was wondering if we could find Fire Lake. Poor Koty, when I'm busy working around the ranch he doesn't get enough exercise. After working several hours I just don't have the umpah to hike a few more!

It was an extraordinarily beautiful day for a walk in the forest. We soon came to a fork in the road. I didn't know which one to take. One thing you can count on in the National Forest, they'll give you one sign that will intrigue you and never another to get you there. I chose to take the road to the right. After awhile a small pickup with a canoe in the back pulled along side. They looked like they were on their way to a lake so I stopped them. It turned out the first Fire Lake was not far. The next lake was five miles further. They were on their way to the upper lake.

FIRE LAKE, MONTANA

Fire Lake isn't a particularly pretty lake and it's fairly small as well. There were two people trying their hand at fishing but I don't think they had had much success. I didn't have another five miles in me so we headed back down the road.

UNDERWATER GARDEN AT FIRE LAKE

I don't know what these plants are. They look like a lily pad except that they are red. Maybe lily pads growing underwater are red? I dunno.

It turned out to be not much of a day for photography, either that or I was off my game. But, any day spent in the woods of Montana is a day well spent. I live in the woods but I love to explore new places. I never know when I will stumble on that special opportunity to capture something truly unique and beautiful. Something I can share that people would never get to see any other way. That lights my candle. We'll come back and look for the other Fire Lake another day.

©Kinsey Barnard

Hanging Around Our Backyard

That's a kind of misleading title because our backyard is a wee tad larger than most. It's probably like about a million acres of National Forest and State Game Range. Early in the week we hiked the Game Range looking for a herd of big horn sheep. By golly we found them and I'm lucky I didn't get a whipping because I got so excited, and made such a racket, they up and ran away before mom could get much in the way of photographs. I'm a bad boy! ;)


On any given day you can see elk, big horn and other critters on the game range. This particular day, besides the big horn herd and a slug of mule deer, we saw this lone grouse up on the ridge sitting under a tree. They really are beautiful birds but dumber than posts. If I weren't on a lease I could catch one so easy! Mom says you don't need a gun to hunt them, you can just boink them with a rock. Mom is a reformed hunter but even in her hunting days she would not have found much challenge hunting these silly beauties.


There is an old apple orchard on the range. The trees are pretty close to giving up the ghost, having been planted nearly a hundred years ago by homesteaders. The bears come here in the fall to see what they can glean. And it is a beautiful setting.


We also took a walk along the Tobacco River. The river is rising as Mother Nature finally releases her grip on the snow pack. We spotted this Canada Goose pair with their brand new gosling. It simply amazes us how the little ones in the wild survive. The current in the river was fierce but that little gosling paddled like a trooper.


Now you're going to have to really look at this photo because there is more in it than can be readily seen in this low resolution photo. But maybe you can make out a wood duck pair and a male mallard. It was a pretty scene and you know how whacky mom is about those wood ducks.


Last but certainly not least mom got a new abstract for her collection. She just loves these photos that look like impressionist paintings.

Well, that was our week! Hope yours was a good one too!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

EEL LAKE & WINCHESTER BAY

Spring is certainly taking it's own good time getting here. We are still in Oregon waiting for winter to end in Montana. Here in Oregon it has been tough to get any outside time between rain drops.

We did find a small break in the weather and drove down to Eel Lake and Winchester Bay. Eel lake is a pretty lake and there is a very nice hiking trail that goes for about three miles along and above the shore. We did see some signs of spring, some flowers beginning to bloom and creature activity.

There were a number of Canada Geese winging in and out. They look so cool when they skid on the water to land. There were a few other wild things out and about. That slug for example.

But, the very most coolest thing we saw was this steelhead. Eel lake has a fish ladder for steelhead and salmon. Just as we arrived at the ladder this huge, and I mean huge, steelhead tried to leap straight up the dam instead of using the ladder. Boy, if only mom had been camera ready what a photo that would have been! Needless to say this guy's ambitions were a bit too much for him and he fell back into the stream. We never saw him try it again.

After Eel we drove up to Winchester Bay. This is another little harbor with fishing boats and such. It was not as interesting as some we have visited but it was nice. I asked mom which harbor village on this trip she liked best. She said she would have to go with Ilwaco. Ilwaco you may recall is just across the Columbia River in Washington.

That pretty much sums up this day. I'm gettin kinda anxious to get home to Montana. I hope the weather clears soon!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Waterfalls and Waterfowl in the Columbia Gorge

Yesterday was a great day! We were out photographing and hiking most of it. Makes my day and makes mom's too!

We started off at Bridal Veil Falls and Bridal Veil Creek and then on down the road to Wahkeena Falls and Wahkeena Creek . Mom muta been off her game because she didn't get shots of either of these falls that she liked.

From Wahkena we went to Multnomah Falls . I couldn't believe how many tourists there were for November. I think everyone on the planet must visit these falls.

From Multnomah we headed east along the Columbia Gorge to the Bridege of the Gods just above the Bonneville Dam. Then we headed west again toward Vancouver. Shortly after crossing the bridge mom scoped a Great Blue Heron wading in a pond. So, naturally, that was a stop.



Mom had been promising me a hike all day so when we came upon the Pacific Crest Trail we stopped for jaunt. Seems like everywhere you hike around here it's beautiful. The rain forest is so plush. Didn't see anything particularly interesting just a nice hike. As you know, anytime I'm hiking, I'm liking!

After our hike we continued down the north side of the gorge and quickly saw some Canada Geese . The geese looked like they were floating on a pool of mercury. Really pretty cool.

There are some very nice viewpoints of the river from this road. We eventually found our way to Vancouver and home again.

For dinner we met up with one of mom's old friends. Of course, I got stuck in the car as usual. How come nobody has dogie diners?

And that was our day!

LAKOTA SUNRISE

©Kinsey Barnard

British Columbia - Elk, Bull, & Kootenay Rivers

Well, I sad sacked around here all morning yesterday until my mom relented and drove us to British Columbia. The idea was to go to a place where the Bull River runs through the Rocky Mountain Sheep Project. We've been trying all year to hit the Bull just right. At a certain time, following the spring runoff, the river turns this amazing turquoise color. We've tried three times this year and struck out. It has been so dry, the river is but a trickle of its full flowing self. There will be no color anytime this year.

Mom was so disappointed because she wanted me to be able to show it to you. It really is something to see, this ribbon of amazing color flowing through the gorge. The only thing I can show you is a sliver that was captured in this photo of Canadian honkers . The photo was taken this past March and the water color isn't half its potential. Oh, well, she'll try again next year.

Speaking of dry, the Elk River which flows down from Fernie is but a shadow of its earlier self as is the Kootenay. We had the best snow pack, in the Rockies, we've had in the past fives years but the moisture this summer hasn't been "spit", as my mom likes to say.

Failing in our river mission we set out to see if we could find the big horns. Struck out there too. There's a pretty good sized herd in this project but we couldn't find the blasted things. We saw a few whitetail but nothing to make a photograph. I don't really care cuz I'm out on the trail and that's my major joy. Mom was pretty frustrated though. Poor mom. Anyone who thinks this nature photography is easy, is mistaken. Mother Nature isn't always co-operative. We drive and hike, miles and miles and often mom doesn't get a thing. These are not such good days for me either cuz mom then has a BADD (Barnard Bad Attitude Day) when she can't make photographs. To make her even happier, this day, I picked up a kajillion tiny burs. In a Husky coat this isn't funny. I get away with very little misbehaving on days like these. :)

Since we were not far, mom decided to drive over to Cranbrook. Cranbrook is a lot like Kalispell in that in the past five years it has grown by leaps and bounds. The great thing for Cranbrookians is that one would have to crawl into a hole not to have a stunning view of the Rockies.

We went over to Elizabeth Lake on the west side of town thinking maybe mom could get a photo of some waterfowl. Struck out there too. Only thing we saw were a few coots. With that mom threw up her hands and said "We're going home!".

So, once again, Mother Nature had reminded us She is not to be taken for granted. She will only reveal Her mystery and beauty in Her own good time. And, it isn't for free. You have to work for it!

But, Mother isn't without a heart for she gave us a beautiful sunset to soothe our weary souls.

Until next time.........

©Kinsey Barnard