Lake McDonald - Glacier National Park

This past Sunday was an awesome day. Too beautiful not to just get in the car and go. Where we live it doesn't matter in what direction you go, you will be smacked in the face with incredible beauty.

Kinsey has a particular fondness for McDonald Lake in Glacier National Park. It was very beautiful at the lake. Maybe the snowy peaks could have been a little less shrouded in clouds but it was awesome just the same. There were lots of people with the same idea.

McDonald Lake-Glacier NP 02-21-16

Glacier National Park 02-21-16

We always marvel at our great good fortune to live where we can witness such incredible beauty at the drop of a hat.

After the park we went to some snowy woods near Hungry Horse and took a wonderful walk. I took a bit of a run.

Kinsey has been pretty focused on her painting project (see Following My Art) but I'm starting to detect a little spring fever in the air. That's gonna mean more exploring and getting out to do stuff. YAY for me!!!!!

©Kinsey Barnard
The Liberated Photographer

HUNGRY HORSE & THE JEWEL BASIN

On day three we rose early and headed back to Hungry Horse. Our objective this day was Handkerchief Lake. It's about thirty miles down the west side of the reservoir. As you can see from the above photos the reservoir was looking mighty fine this fall morning. It was an awesome drive. VIEW MORE LANDSCAPES



The only folks out on the road were wood cutters and there were lots of those. You can get a wood cutting permit from the Forest Service for five dollars and for that five dollars heat your home pretty much all winter. The rules are you can only cut down dead trees but because of the fire three years ago there are dead larch everywhere. Larch, otherwise known as tamarack make great firewood as they have a high BTU and there were some really nice sized trees. Montanans are always up for passing the time of day so we stopped to chat with these guys. Mostly the conversation centered around how lousy things were in the economy.



Finally we found our way to Handkerchief Lake. As usual it was a pretty lake. It's located right off the road so the only hike involved was around the lake itself. The above photograph is just of clouds floating on the water that I thought looked pretty. I'm a regular sucker for reflections.



Whilst picking our way around the lake we came upon this group of mergansers paddling along on the other side of the lake. I was so focused (pardon the pun) on the mergansers I tripped over a log and went flying. Fortunately, the mergansers didn't reach this photogenic spot until after I had righted myself.



This last shot is of Handkerchief looking northwest into the Jewel Basin. Handkerchief is fed by Graves Creek and the creek comes out of those mountains. I really fancy this photograph as it looks almost like an oil painting.

It was a great trip to Hungry Horse and the Jewel Basin. We will certainly do it again because there is a lot we didn't see.


©Kinsey Barnard

Hungry Horse and the Jewel Basin - Day 2

Next day we got up bright and early with the mission on our minds of hiking the Clayton Creek trail to Clayton Lake in the Jewel Basin. But, our first stop was a reprise of Lion Lake. The water was like glass and, as you can see, it made for a perfect mirror. Mornings like this make a person mighty glad to be alive.



The trailhead for Clayton Lake is about 20 miles in from Hwy 2. Once we got underway on the trail we were immediately treated to a riot of fall color. The mountain ash were just drooping with berries and we thought we might see a grizzly because the picking was certainly easy. But, unfortunately, we saw very little wildlife signs on this trail. A few elk tracks and one, two or three day old, bear scat at the lake.



Above is my handy dandy bear detector Koty Bear. And, in fact, this is exactly where we saw the scat but Koty is more interested in something he sees across the way. Koty is a great hiking companion, drawing my attention to things I might not otherwise see. Of course, this is a double edged sword as he can make it a little tough to capture wildlife photos. But, it is a price I gladly pay. To see more of Koty at Hungry Horse go to Koty's Korner New Photos




The hike to Clayton Lake is mostly up hill but it's a very easy hike. The distance from the trailhead is a little less than three miles. I'd reckon for the determined the hike wouldn't take an hour but for dawdlers like us it took and hour and a half as we have to investigate and admire everything along the way.

Mother Nature did a cleansing operation in the area about three years ago. You can see the bare trees on the mountain in the distance. It's just amazing how quickly things have come back. And, how beautiful it still is in it's own special way. Clayton Lake is a little Jewel and one of the things we so love about Montana is we mostly have these fabulous places to ourselves, especially in the off season. You can hike around the lake using either the west trail or the east trail. We chose the eastern trail.



We stayed at the lake for a couple of hours exploring and having a little lunch. On the way back down we were treated to this view of the Flathead Range and the Great Bear Wilderness. You can't see it but this view is looking east across Hungry Horse Reservoir. You can see on the left the dead trees that didn't survive the fire. More Mountain Landscapes



And, lo and behold what did we see on the way down but another human being! This fellow was a local and he was using this trail to get in shape for hunting season. Looked to us as though he had a way to go. ;)



And, so, we bid adieu to the beautiful Clayton Trail. Another day in paradise under our belts.

Be sure and check out KOTY BEAR'S 2009 CALENDER

©Kinsey Barnard

Clem Gets a Clean Bill - Day 1 at Hungry Horse

After much adieu the Dodge people (Clem has a Dodge Sprinter chassis) said they could find no problem with the electrical and to take her to an RV repair place which I did. After much adieu they too said they could find nothing wrong with the electrical. Whilst I was in no hurry to incur a large repair bill I would have felt more confident if they had found something and fixed it. It seems that our new cars have so much electronic equipment in them that even when you turn the engine off things are still drawing on the battery and can drain it after only a couple of weeks.



So, I decided we should spend a few days exploring Hungry Horse just in case Clem decided to misbehave again. It's not very convenient living 80 miles from the repair place. And, alright, I was hankering to get some fall color in pixels.

The dam was completed in 1953 and is the eleventh largest concrete dam in the U.S. and is situated on the South Fork of the Flathead. It got it's name from a tale about two hungry horses. For those into statics Hungry Horse Dam Stats



By the time we got ourselves situated at an RV Park in Columbia Falls they day was almost done. Days are getting mighty short, mighty fast around these parts. Our first stop was at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station where we picked up some hiking trail maps. The ranger told us Lion Lake was not far and a good spot to stretch our legs and take in a little fall splendor. And, by crackie, he was right!



The above is a lichen rosette growing on an aspen. Probably not of much interest to anyone but me but little natural art works are fascinating to me. It seems Mother Nature can make interesting art out of just about anything.



There certainly was a riot of color reflected on this Lion Lake and we whiled away the afternoon walking the little path that surrounds it. It was a perfect autumn afternoon in the Rockies. More Fall Color Photos


©Kinsey Barnard