Australian Shepherd Molly Montana writes of her outdoor adventures with human, Kinsey Barnard. Kinsey takes the photos. They live in Montana and travel in their RV Clementine. Exploring is their favorite thing to do. Follow them and enjoy great stories, travel photos as well as travel & hiking tips particularly in Montana
Today I decided to head on over to Swisher Lake Trail. On the way over I could reisit taking a photo of this hayrake. I was intrigued by the color and design. Funny how something as mundane as a piece of farm equipment can present you with such pleasant eye candy.
Hayrake
It's amazing to me how all the water has so completely changed the landscape. I drove right by Carpenter Lake and didn't even realize I had. I didn't recognize the turn because everything looked so different with all the vegetation growth.
I sure didin't miss Sophie Lake. The lake is so high it touches the road. Normally, it's about 75 feet to the water.
Sophie Lake, Montana
The water was so high the picnic tables were pretty much underwater.
Sophie Lake Picnic Area
Swisher Lake
Swisher is a fairly nondescript little lake. It is where the Gateway Boat Camp Trail begins. It's about 6.5 miles to the boat camp which is right on the Canadain Border. The boat camp is on the Koocanusa. My walk was fairly uneventful and I never reached the boat camp. I got way about halfway I veered off the trail and was drawn down to the lake shore. Really amazing how high the water is. The local paper says the lake is 18 ft. below full pool. They had better hope it doesn't hit full pool. There is still so much water flowing out of the mountains I would be surprised if we hit it. In addition to all the snow melting we have been having gully washer downpours in the afternoons.
Without further adieu I am just going to throw up some photos of some of the things that I saw.
Lake Koocanusa looking north into British Columbia
Looking west across Lake Koocanusa at the West Kootenai and Robinson Mountain, Monatana
It's tax time and I should be getting my stuff together for my CPA but I just hate to do it and will look for any excuse to avoid it. I'll even do housework in an effort to divert myself. I was able to burn up a couple of hours playing with Twitter and Facebook. I still don't have the hang of those places. After doing some housekeeping I went back to work on my photos. Gawd I'm good at being bad!
Here's another photo of the ice falls.
Koty spent the morning out on the deck yodeling his displeasure at not being out hiking.
We did go out after lunch and I found the most wolf tracks I've seen all winter. Looked like a pack of maybe 6 to 8.
Also, ran into a local couple driving the forest service road and passed the time of day, as is the custom in the country. I always learn something from these chats. What I learned today was that there are serious concerns about flooding down in the Flathead due to all the snow they've had. Even the high country up here is loaded. Should be an interesting spring.
