BEAR STORY

This is a very short bear story. Last night a marauding bear came up on my deck and had at my Baby Weber. I've got a big old honking gas grill which I never use. Charcoal is the only way to BBQ for this old dame.

I've read where bears will go after your grill if you leave it out. My Baby Weber has sat out on the deck for ten years without anyone bothering it. Well, now I believe it. Actually, I always did but it wasn't anything to bother about as far as I'm concerned.

This is a short story and I only bother to tell it because these are the things that texture my life in this place. Such occurrences light up my day with wonder and gratitude. To have wild things as a part of my daily life is a gift beyond measure.

I forgot to mention that when I returned from the Promptcare place to get my stitches the other day I nearly ran into a beautiful young black bear. His coat was simply exquisite. It looked like pure sable. He ran down the road in front of me going about thirty and then darted into the forest. No chance you would ever out run a bear.

©Kinsey Barnard

SEO Blues - Bear Business

I recently hired and SEO company to try and get my website rankings up. Yesterday I went to my site and all my photographs were gone ( http://www.kinseybarnard.com/gallery/category/landscapes.html ) and I could no longer gain entry to the site to try and fix things. I literally wept. Neither the web host nor the SEO company is willing to take responsibility.

No I have not "lost" my original photographs. My original work is backed up six ways to Sunday. What was lost was four years of uploading, descriptions and linking, hundreds of hours of work.

It was too much to take so I rounded up Koty and headed for the forest.

We still haven't had much in the way of warm weather, although they say we could get near 80 next week. For now it's cool and rainy.  Everything is such a rich green it's like a dream but we are way behind in terms of blooming. My apple trees have yet to bloom and the only wildflowers, besides dandelions, that I have seen are clematis. Deer enjoy dandelions but I don't think anyone is interested in the clematis. They are a lovely vine.

Clematis

So up the mountain we went. The route I took was pretty much straight up hill and quite a good aerobic workout. There's nothing like a workout in the woods to fight off the effects of life's curve balls. I didn't see any bears but I sure saw where they had been. Due to the lack of much else to eat they are ripping up old stumps looking for ants, grubs and anything else they can find. I think coming out of hibernation hasn't been much fun for them so far this year.

Bear at work.

This piece of stump had rolled down the mountain and onto the trail. It doesn't look very big in the photos but I can say without a doubt that it would have cleaned your clock if one were walking by at the particular moment the bear sent it rolling.

Stump caught on a tree.

All over the mountain side above me I could see where the bears had been at work.

I didn't see any bears themselves this trip. They have been up at the house in the night leaving their calling cards all over the lawn. One night a plastic water bottle I had left out was tooth punctured and mangled. Another one had been up on the deck looking for who knows what.

I must say a walk in the woods was the right prescription. I felt much better even though nothing had changed. I try to tell myself it doesn't matter, all that hard work lost. But, I can't say I'm totally successful. I am well and truly depressed about it.

 Koty, always the happy camper, sniffed out a squirrel. He dug for it furiously for about 15 minutes and when he came up empty handed he didn't care a whit. He was just happy to have had the joy of the hunt. I guess there is a lesson in that for me. Would that I could be as enlightened as my dog.

Koty with his head in the hole he made looking for a squirrel.

©Kinsey Barnard

Happy Fourth of July From Dancing Deer

We've been at the ranch all week working on several projects long over due. It's been colder than a well digger's behind this past week but gads it is beautiful. Along with the cool has come lovely rains and the grass is greener and more lush than I have ever seen it. The wildlife against this backdrop is beyond beautiful. Yesterday I had so many bucks passing through it was just amazing. The bucks are still in velvet and they are a ways away from full racks but there are going to be some beauties.

One of the things the deer come for is the clover, deer love it.  Clover grows everywhere around here and of course I have salted the place as well. When clover blooms it makes a very pretty flower.

Then there was the robin that took up residence on top of my outside sun screens. Lucky for me it's been too cool to need them because I would certainly have been out of luck! It won't be long now as the babies are now thriving and growing like weeds. And, just in time too as I think the warm weather may be just around the corner.

The little female grouse below was just posing on this rock for me. Grouse are really funny birds. I often joke that you don't need a gun to hunt them. You could just as easily get one tossing a stone and save your ammunition. Of course, I wouldn't do either unless I was starving.

Speaking of wildlife this year a little cinnamon black bear has taken up residence in the area and comes to visit a least once a week. I have named her Cindi after my oldest and dearest friend. I don't really know if it's a female or not but "she" is quite small. I reckon she is either one or two. Anyway she came to call yesterday and got up in a plum tree and was looking awfully cute. I don't know why she was up there except just for the fun of it because there is no fruit this time of year.

One of my most favorite wild flowers is the wood lily. Normally, these beauties bloom in June but I guess that the cooler than normal weather has kept them back as they are just starting to bloom now. In this photo you can see the raindrops on the petals.

This last, I'm not sure if it's a wildflower or a weed. It's growing in my meadow and whatever it is it is very pretty.

So, that's what it was like this week at Dancing Deer.

Koty and I wish you all a great Fourth of July!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

JUST ANOTHER WEEK IN PARADISE

There were two major events this week, one kind of sad and one quite exhilarating.

The sad one was, Friday marked the seventh anniversary of my mother's passing. I was compelled to write something about my feelings on my other blog "Musings and Memories". I didn't advertise it because it was really just me indulging myself. If you would like to read it you can find it here ... REMEMBERING LADY JANE.

The exhilarating moment happened early Tuesday morning. It was a glorious summer morning. I could not resist taking Koty for a walk in our forest. One of the especially nice things about having acreage is you can walk a long time and never leave your property. To give you a visual of how much of a beautiful morning it was I took this photo of my "Walden Pond".

WALDEN POND

I call it Walden Pond because I am a very big fan of Thoreau and my time here kind of reminds me of his at Walden Pond. The big difference being he was only at his for two or three years I've been here seven and have no desire to ever leave.

Back to the "big" moment. Koty and I were walking along just enjoying being when I caught movement up ahead. Sure enough two cubs were scampering up a tree. My first thought was "Uh, oh, where's mama bear?" Bears with cubs are about as dangerous as moose and their babies. The grass was quite tall where we were standing and no sooner than I had the thought the mama rose up out of the grass right in front of us. That is the first time I've ever been close to a standing bear. I said in a quiet voice, "Pardon me, mama" and slowly backed away. She just stood there and watched us leave. It's a good thing Koty is always on a leash or the outcome could have been quite different. As it was, this was another moment never to be forgotten. The kind of moments we live for. The kind that let you know you are alive!

YELLOW SPIDER

We didn't take any particular trip this week. Too much work to do at the ranch and there's plenty of images to capture right here. I don't know what kind of spider this is but I thought it interesting.

WHITETAIL DEER

As usual there was a steady parade of deer passing by. These guys were standing just off the front deck and I was wanting to test my zoom lens just back from Nikon repair. Seems to be working again. Something had run acropper with the contacts.

TURKEY CHICKS

About two minutes after the deer passed by along came a mother turkey and her little brood. I say little because four isn't all that many. I have often seen mothers with a dozen or more. The coyotes have been awful this year and all mother's have had a hard time protecting their young.

TREE FUNGUS


TREE FUNGUS

I always find these tree fungus to be beautiful. It is a never ending fascination to me that something so mundane can be so intriguingly beautiful.

LOADING LOGS

Of course, we did have to make our obligatory trip to town to pick up the mail. There is no mail service here so we must to drive into town to get it. But, even a drive to town offers up interesting and beautiful sights. The above photo is of logs being loaded at the ranch below us. You may remember we had a nasty wind storm awhile back? Rumor has it this rancher lost over one thousand trees. And, lost is the appropriate word. Even though they are shipping them out they'll be getting bottom dollar for them.

CATTLE CALL

A little farther down the road I found this bucolic scene. I tell you it's tough not to experience beauty around here. It's simply everywhere.

And last, but certainly not least, the most beautiful wild thing on this ranch!

WILD THING

So, that was our week around the ranch. Hope you had a great week too!

©KINSEY BARNARD PHOTOGRAPHY

GLACIER NATIOANL PARK - POLEBRIDGE & MISC.

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! My oldest and dearest friend and her husband came to call and we had a great time. If laughter is the best medicine (I believe it is) then I'll be in very good shape for quite some while.

GRIZ BIZ

I couldn't resist showing you this photo. The other day whilst I was out working in my forest I came upon this enormous old log that was just shredded. Bears tear up old logs and stumps mining for ants and grubs. The picture doesn't do justice to how impressively the bear ripped this log open. There is a grizzly working the area so I'm thinking that's whose handy work this was.

BABY ROBINS

Spring and summer are such grand times to experience new life and it is everywhere, even in my rain gutters!

WOOD LILY

And, of course, the wildflowers continue to do there thing. Each month new entries become visible. The daisies are particularly lovely this year, planting themselves in perfect places to make it look as though I had been gardening.

For a very long time I have wanted to go to Polebridge. Can't say why really except that I thought it might be interesting. You can access this remote little place either through Ten Lakes Scenic Area or the west entrance of Glacier Park. The Ten Lakes way is a little rugged so we went down to the west entrance. The road to Polebridge is dirt most of the way but it is a beautiful if dusty drive. The funny thing is the drive was over a hundred miles to Polebridge but as the crow flies it is probably less than forty from where I live.

POPPIES & POLEBRIDGE

Looking at a map all these years I had thought that Polebridge and the two lakes up there, Kintla and Bowman, were outside the park which made them great candidates for exploration. The bad news was that whilst Polebridge is outside the park the lakes are not. There is a park entrance right at Polebridge.

KINTLA LAKE AT THE KINTLA CREEK OUTLET

We headed for Kintla Lake first as it was the furthest, some fifteen miles that takes well over an hour to negotiate. I had it so firmly entrenched in my mind that this lake was outside the park that when we got there I proceeded to strap on my .357 and get Koty ready to hike. Both of these things are highly illegal in the National Parks. It wasn't until I reached the trailhead and was brought up short by the info sign that I realized the error of my ways. My little sister Mona was with us on this trip and she thought I had taken leave of my senses.

KINTLA LAKE

So much for exploring Kintla or Bowman. By the time we got back down the road to the Bowman turnoff we decided to skip Bowman in favor of our stomachs. There is basically nothing in Polebridge except the Polebridge Mercantile. But, that's all we needed as the mercantile is also a bakery!

MONA & FRIEND LUNCHING AT THE POLEBRIDGE MERCANTILE

We both had a warm pork sandwich that was so, so. But, we also bought some pastries that were to die for. The one I chose had peanuts and hucklberries, two of my all time favorites. When I first moved to Montana I kept hearing people talk about huckleberries like they were manna from heaven. I thought "Yeah, yeah, huckleberries big deal." That was until I tasted them. They really are manna from heaven. Even Koty will eat them.

After lunch we headed north to the border crossing which is closed as you can see from the photo. It's about another 15-17 miles from Polebridge. This crossing is closed to entry but it is well patrolled and several new corrals suggest there is going to be mounted border patrolling this season. Over the years that I have lived here I have seen the guarding of the Canadian Border become stronger and stronger.

BORDER CROSSING

The section of road between Polebridge and the border is where I should have been. It's all National Forest and open to exploring with your best friend. I'll come back and do that one day.

It's been a great couple of weeks, as usual. We hope you've been enjoying your summer too!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Koty & Kinsey Travel to Weasel Lake

This week Koty and I decided to head up to the Ten Lakes Scenic Area. The main event being the Therriault Lakes. The lakes are at the end of the road and nearly thirty miles in from Montana Hwy 93. We got a bit of a late start so we decided to just go up to Weasel Lake.

There were still some valiant late bloomers along the road.

To see more stunning wildflower photos CLICK HERE



The vastness of our national forests, this one the Kootenai National Forest, never cease to make me in awe. The air is clear and bright and it seems one can see forever.




Weasel is a smallish lake but quite picturesque. People like to come here to fish, picnic and just revel in being there.



We were going to walk all the way around but the foot bridge was out. Ok, so I'll grant you that doesn't look like much of a crossing but in my defense I was hauling two cameras and being towed, not so gently, by Koty. Discretion being the better part of valor, we just reveled in being there ourselves!



Since our time at Weasel Lake was made short by the bridge being out we decided to go to Weasel Cabin. Now Weasel Cabin isn't at Weasel Lake it's farther up the road. The cabin is off the main road about a mile down a secondary road and sits on Weasel Creek. This cabin is a first come first serve affair and, as you can see, the cabin was already occupied by happy campers.

We thought we might park the car at the cabin and keep walking down the spur road just to stretch our legs. But, we only got about a quarter of a mile before we came upon a Forest Service sign that said "DANGER - Bear snare - Do not loiter in this area." We take these things very seriously and since I wasn't carrying anything other than my cameras we beat a hasty retreat.

By now the sun was dropping blow the mountains so we headed for the barn.



And, so the sun set another fun adventure!

Our week was great. Hope yours was too!

To view more beautiful landscape photography CLICK HERE

Koty & Kinsey

©Kinsey Barnard

Alberta Trip Gets Cut Short - Koty Sees the Vet

Well, phooey! We had to cut our Waterton/Glacier trip in half. It's kind of my fault although I really couldn't help it. I went off my feed, which isn't unusual for the first couple of days of a trip but when it started to drag out mom got worried and I'm glad she did! I'm fine now but I was mighty uncomfortable I can tell you that. Turned out that some bones I had eaten had made kind of a calcium block in my intestine. Mom thought I wasn't pooping because I hadn't eaten but that wasn't the reason and I couldn't tell her. Lucky for me the block had worked it's way nearly to the exit and an enema fixed me right up. I guess that's more than you wanted to know but there it is.



Our last day at Waterton we went up Red Rock Canyon to the Crandall Lake turnoff. Mom wanted to walk along Crandall Creek and see if she could find some nice wildflowers. We didn't find any wildflowers of note but we did find this big black bear. He was just strolling along enjoying the day. No one's heart was in the walk so we headed back to the campground. That's when mom decided we were pulling up stakes in the morning.



Mom always likes to say every cloud has a silver lining and really it does. On the way home we stopped at the Crowsnest info station and discovered there was a really neat place to explore only 75 miles from home and after fourth of July we are going to do it! The photo is of Crowsnest Mountain.



We went straight to the vets when we crossed the border and after I got fixed up there we headed to the ranch. At the gate we were greeted by a Whitetail doe and her fawn. You gotta get a kick out of those whitetails when they go flying off!



So, we hung around the ranch for a couple of days and visited with our friends here. Mom chopped some wood and I played tag with a doe. It was really fun. I was in my enclosure and the doe and I chased each other round and round until we were both pooped out. Mom was too busy chopping wood to get a photo. She's got her work cut out as we had a lot of blow down this winter and there's nothing tougher to split, and she does it all by hand, than dead wood.



Yesterday we took a little trip down to the Stillwater National Forest. Wanted to check out Fish and Bull Lakes. These lakes turned out to be yawners. The bear grass is starting to come out and mom did get this photo of some lilly pads from a bluff overlooking a private pond. I was a nice hike anyway.

So, that was our week. Hope yours was great too!

Visit my mom's website to see her most recent photographs. Or visit any of her many galleries. Prints start at just $8.95.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

British Columbia

We hiked to British Columbia today. For some folks that would probably be quite a trek, for us it was only about two hours on foot. That sign there says it's the 49th parallel and the international boundary between Canada and the United States. Mom was a good girl and stayed on our side but I scampered into Canada as far as my lead would allow. No mounties came after me! The border here is a pretty impressive sight. It's just this, what looks like a fire break, cut through the forest as far as the eye can see.

On the way up we saw a beautiful back bear. His coat was like jet black velvet. There wasn't any opportunity for mom to get a shot as he took off as soon as he heard us. Bears have VERY good ears and they can run like the wind. Course, so do I. I bet I could've caught up with him if mom would've let me. But, I'm not allowed to chase. Darn!

It's really hard getting photographs of animals in the wild. Technically, the animals in the parks are in the wild but they are so accustomed to cars, people and cameras it's a lot easier. For us, in the wild, means where you walk all day and never see another human being. Here in Montana that isn't hard to do. Montana is the fourth largest state land mass wise and still has less than one million humans in the whole place. The animals in these forests are pretty leery of humans and just the crunch of human boots on the trail is enough to send anything around flying. Me I could sneak up on them, I have quiet shoes. Problem is I'm not too good with a camera.

Mom tried to get some pictures in an old mine shaft but neither one of us was very crazy about being in there in the dark and all she got was a fuzzy picture of my behind.

Until next time......

Murphy Lake

Yesterday, we went to Murphy Lake near Fortine. It's also a wildlife viewing area. The main thing you will see there are loons. We couldn't get to them but we could here them calling. If you've never heard a loon you've missed something. It's a very special sound.

After walking around Murphy we decided to see if we could find Martin Lake. We took off down FS 7006 on foot. Mom likes to walk places as much as possible cuz we see and experience more. The first thing we saw and experienced was a tree nearly falling on us. The wind came up, we heard this big crack and an old tree came tumbling down not 20 ft. from us. Mom is not crazy about hiking in the forest in the wind and this is why.

Shortly after that an 8 pt. whitetail buck came crashing down the hill above us, flew across the road and into the forest below. It was a sight to see but happened a little too fast to capture. I pointed out several bear scats (poops). I really have a nose for this. It wasn't fresh, maybe a day or two old. I could also tell there were bears around by the torn up logs and stumps. Bears love to eat the ants and grubs that live in them.

We finally came to a concrete barrier and a little way from that, a trail. It had a sign that just said "trail". Not real helpful. We could see it was a trail. We would have liked to have known to where. We took it up the mountain a mile or so but it was getting late in the day and mom decided we'd better head back. Turned out to be a good idea too because as we walked along in the warm, summer sun the wind kicked up again and before we knew it, the skies turned dark and the temperature dropped like a rock. Those old trees were really rocking and rolling. The thunder was also rolling. We turned up our speed and made it back to the truck just as the rain came down in sheets!

Note to hikers & bikers: I'm sure you've heard it before but it bears repeating; always be prepared for weather changes in the Rockies. It can happen so fast it'll make your head spin. We've seen the temperature drop 40 degrees in less than 5 minutes. If you don't have the right gear you'll be mighty uncomfortable or worse.

Until next time.....

Hike in the Kootenai

Hoooray! This was my kind of day! We went for a nice long hike in the Kootenai!

It's been hotter than heck here in Montana this summer but today we had nice cloud cover and the temperature was in the sixties. I can't begin to tell you how much I like the lower temperature.

Naturally, mom carries her camera with her everywhere we go. The picture you see here is of a little black bear that crossed the trail in front of us today. I'll let you in on a little secret, my mom is a perfectionist and I had a dickens of a time getting her to let me post this picture. She doesn't like to publish anything that isn't perfection. But, I have convinced her that our friends would like to see just "pictures" of the interesting things we see in a day. So she gave in.

At our ranch here in Montana we live with the black bears, grizzlies, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, moose, you name it. Even though I see these guys pretty regularly it never fails to excite me. I want you to see too!

If you want to see the good stuff you need to go to www.kotybear.com

One of these days mom will figure out how to tie this blog to the website and I won't have to keep typing it in.

That's all for today!