Lake Koocanusa at Record Lows

The first thing one might think when reading that headline is that there is a shortage of water around here. That would be far from the case this year. The lake has been drained to record low levels because the mountains are just loaded with snow. Most drainages in the area are 200%+ for snowpack and it's been so cold there has yet to be much melt. I've also heard this has been the longest winter on record. I don't know if that's true but I can say it's been a doozie!

Yesterday, I decided to go down to the lake and take a closer look at the lake.

The Canadian Rockies. This photo was taken right through the windshield as I made my way down the mountain. Unfortunately, they were shrouded by clouds which is quite common.

For those who may not know Lake Koocanusa, which is not really a lake but a man made reservoir, is located in the Tobacco Valley in northwest Montana. It was created by the construction of the Libby Dam completed in 1972. It runs some ninety miles right into British Columbia. The damn dam blocked the Kootenai River, the third largest tributary to the Columbia. Old timers still pine for the days it was once just a beautiful river valley. The goofy name comes from Koo - for the Kootenai, can - for Canada and usa - for USA. My image "Kootenai Spirits" is my small homage to the Kootenai Indians that once roamed these lands. It is a photo of the rock walls that were blasted out to make the lake. Your can read the story of the photo at EVERY IMAGE HAS A STORY.

I first stopped in at the campground at Rexford. And, wow, I was impressed.

This is the boat launch. No launching this day. You can see a couple of vehicles driving down to the bluff to look in the distant drink.

This is what the folks in those vehicles would be looking down on.

A few years back, 2007 I think, I took a photo of what I thought was the lowest I would ever see the resevoir. I called it "HEAVENLY EYE". Ha, I was sure wrong about that! The point in the photo above is the same as the one seen in Heavenly Eye but from a different angle. Still I think you can see the extraordinary difference. Here's the story from EVERY IMAGE HAS A STORY.

This is looking across the lake at Douglas Hill campground. If you look closely up in the left hand corner you'll see an RV. Unfortunately, I didn't see it myself until I downloaded the image but it gives you some perspective. Anybody, wanting to reach the water these days will have to use climbing gear to get to it!

Next I went over to Mariners Haven a private boat launch. Not any launching going on here either.

I walked right out to the end and it was kinda scary. It just dropped off into a huge canyon.

Another beached launch. Not surprisingly, there were no boats on the lake for Mother's day. 

Lake Koocanusa, Montana

The water is just beginning to run and it's running out of every creek and crevice.

We haven't seen much melt yet and the snow has continued to pile up all spring. According to the weather channel we are headed into the high seventies this week. If they're right, the amount of water that will come tumbling out of these mountains is going to be epic. I'm glad I'm up on the side of a mountain because I'm afraid some low-landers are in for some excitement.

©Kinsey Barnard

Kootenai Rockies

Today we decided to get off the ranch. We have had the most gawd awful Fall so far but today was glorious. Both Koty and I were having a little cabin fever. I'm ok with going out when it's snowing but I don't like rain. It's too wet.

The Kootenia Rockies were looking particularly beautiful off in the distance so we decided to head to British Columbia and our favorite little provincial park Kikomun. I didn't know if it would be open so Fernie was our fall back plan.

Kootenai Rockies as seen from Grasmere Road

Honestly, I've never seen this much snow on the Canadian Rockies so early in the season. This looks about normal for January.

As luck would have it Kikomun was open. Looks like it stays open all year if you care to camp there, some of the roads were closed but not those to the camp sites. We headed over to the Kootenai river side and hike up the shoreline.

Kootenai Rockies from Kikomun

Of course Koty was happy to be out. I can't believe he's ten years old and has not slowed down one little bit. The other day we were in Murdock's in Kalispell and a couple of clerks asked me how old he is. I said five. They said "Oh, we thought he was a puppy." Amazing! What a dog!

Koty at Kikomun

It really was a beautiful day and once again we had the whole beautiful place all to ourselves.

Kootenai River Looking West

Last time I wrote about this place I wasn't sure if this was the headwaters of the Koocanusa or the Kootenai River. I've since educated myself and it is the Kootenai River.

Kootenai River Looking South East


Kikomun Klouds

We hiked along the river for a couple of hours. I made a big mistake not bringing my telephoto lens along. I could have had some really awesome shots of the mountains. It never fails! LOL! Not only that but we saw a pretty big herd of elk take off in the trees. Beautiful to watch.

We drove on down to the river campground just to see if there were any intrepid campers. Not. I did see a couple of those elk from the road.

Cow Elk

Driving on out toward the entrance I spied a dirt road and took it. Just out of sight from the road there was a gate across it. I always like to travel roads I've never traveled before so we took off on foot. It was such a beautiful afternoon.

Just down the road we came to another barrier and a private ranch. The road was the ranch access road. I wondered where they hooked up to it but before we could get to the beginning we hit a particularly nasty cattle guard that neither Koty or I wanted to traverse. On the way back we had this view of this seclude ranch.

Kikomun Ranch

By now it was getting late, later than yesterday actually as we just went on daylight savings time last night. Days will be getting mighty short pretty darned quick.

©Kinsey Barnard

November 1, 2009

Geraldine & Horseshoe Lakes

September 8, 2007

Well, for crying out loud! There wasn’t a lot of sleep going on around here last night. About two o’clock this morning the heater blower came on and all it was blowing was freezing cold air. Not that cold air bother’s me so much. Mom got up and started trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I could hear her mumbling about the heater being broken. She finally drug out the old manual and discovered that when the temperature goes below freezing outside the electric heater doesn’t work and you have to switch to gas. I sure wish she would get this stuff figured out. I need my beauty sleep! Finally, at about 2:30 it was lights out again.

After the evenings follies we didn’t get off to a very early start. When we did head out it was to the Geraldine Lakes. The trail is down near Athabasca Falls on 93A. The trailhead is about 5 miles in on a single track, dirt road. The first Geraldine Lake is about 1.5 miles up the mountain. It really wasn’t worth the climb. There is a big waterfall at the far end. We tried to get to it but threw in the towel after scrambling over boulders for a time and concluding we were never going to get close enough to for any kid of a photo. Mom read in a hiking book that the Geraldine Lakes beyond are pretty cool but it was more scrambling up the mountain over rocks and boulders so we decided to pass. Well, mom decided, I woulda done it! As it was, mom took a pretty good flier coming down the mountain. She slipped on a wet tree root and planted her behind right in the mud! She did take a bunch of photos of native plants. She loves plants and stuff you find in the forest.

Our next stop was Horseshoe Lake. The lake is only about a five-minute walk from the highway but it’s quite pretty. It was kind funny really because we had just slogged up this muddy trail to the first Geraldine for not much of a site and here was this very beautiful lake practically on the road. Of course, there isn’t much serenity here for that very reason. Apparently, lots of people come to this lake to jump off the rocks. Yikes! I wouldn’t like that. I like cold but I’m not all that fussy about water. Humans sure can be nutty!

We headed back to the campground. I stayed outside and held court on the picnic table. I don’t know what mom was doing probably some editing. After awhile some elk came wandering by and I made quite the ruckus and had to come in. That was the end of my day.

Until next time ....

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