Exploring the Blackfeet Nation

Wowie. Zowie. It rained cats and dogs last night. Started about midnight and kept up until around 6:00am. On Clementine’s roof it sounded like popcorn popping all night. I mean it was seriously hard to sleep.

A little peace and quiet would be nice. I need my beauty rest.

Despite the weather we ventured over to the entrance to Glacier Park. The news was not good. The road was closed right at the visitor center. Usually, by this time of year you can get a little furtherThwarted at the park we took a walk around some of the roads before the main entrance. Even there they didn't want the likes of me on the trail. But, old Kinsey she can find something that intrigues her no matter what the limitations and barriers. The woman has an imagination. I think this must be why she is so happy all the time. She sees beauty in everything around her. Here's what she saw just walking along a path. She calls it "PONG". What the heck is a pong?

Marvelous Molly Montana on the shores of St. Mary Lake

We ran out of roads to walk so we headed up to Many Glacier. Many Glacier is only eight miles north of St. Mary so it’s a short hop. Not surprisingly, it was cloudy up there too. It wasn’t just cloudy. The clouds were so low they chopped off the mountain peaks halfway to the the bottom. It’s a pretty drive into Many Glacier but I’m a dog what do I care about pretty drives? Many Glacier is a good spot to view wildlife but all we saw were a few big horn ewes resting on a hillside.They camouflage themselves pretty good in the rocks don't they? I growled at them which did not win me any prizes with Kinsey.

 

Big Horn Ewes at Many Glacier

By noon we were back at Clementine, fixing lunch and hoping the weather would lift for an afternoon outing.

Things did get better so we went out again around 3:30 pm. This time to see if we could find some horses on the Blackfeet Reservation. She loves horses and likes to photograph them when she can, especially the painted horses. We went to a place where she has had good luck in the past but we weren’t as lucky this time. I wanted to get out and chase them around. You can guess what luck I had with that.

Mare and Foal cavorting on the Blackfeet Reservation

Around six the weather started closing in again so we called it a day.

Kinsey puts photos she just wants to have for memories in a personal gallery. It will get more photos as she gets on with her editing work. You can have a look at Blackfeet Reservation. 

Also, be sure and check out Kinseys new blog The Liberated Photographer.

Ciao for now,
MOLLY MONTANA 

©Kinsey Barnard

Many Glacier Will Have to Wait

Well, howdy. Did I get a big disappointment this week. Mom packed up Clementine, hooked up Shadow and I thought we were headed for Many Glacier. The plan was to go to Kalispell, get Clementine some routine maintenance and then head on over to St. Mary's.

The work on Clem was scheduled to take about four hours so we took off for the Great Northern Historical Trail.


The "trail" is a tarmac walkway but very nice and lots of things to see. It heads west from Kalispell and takes you into a very pretty rural area.


There is an amazing array of birds to be found on this walk. We saw beautiful meadow larks, blue birds and mountain swallows. Pictured above a mountain swallow sitting on a post. View full version.



We also spied this little robin who had built her nest on an old trestle beam. View full version.



Then there were these painted turtles doing, well, what ever they were doing. There really were a lot of critters to see on this, really, not very primitive trail. View full version.


Before log we started to see nasty looking clouds forming and a few people we met started talking about winter weather over on the east side. Mom called the park and sure enough they were expecting snow. Well, that was the end of our trip. Mom wasn't about to drive all that way to sit in Clem for a week. We high-tailed it home in the rain. Mom could be heard grumbling for two days as she hauled everything back out of Clem. Full version.


So, we've been amusing ourselves around here and took another walk along the Tobacco River where we came across this old car which looks like it has seen better days but mom thought it was kind of photogenic. Okay, so mom's a little daffy. :) Full version.


Mom was very delighted when we came across this blue-winged teal pair. Full version.

Anyway, I guess it's never a good idea to get too married to plans cuz they sure have a way of changing. Darn! But, mom says we will give it a go again when the weather improves. So, I wait impatiently.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography