Wolverine-Ten Lakes Scenic Area

 August 16, 2011

One of my favorite places is Ten Lakes Scenic Area and one of my favorite hikes is the hike to Wolverine Lake. Usually, people are celebrating 4th of July at the Terriault Lakes campgrounds but not this year. It was well after the fourth before the road was clear all the way to the lakes. It was even later to get in to Wolverine. I have been told by the ski mobile people that at one time they had to dig down eight feet to get to the cabin that is at Wolverine. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the cabin because I forgot to take one. But, It's in great shape with a brand new roof!

On this particular outing I had the great good fortune to have my friend Nick hike with me. Nick is from California and I wanted to share with him what I think is a very special place.

Nick takes a pic of Little Terriault Lake

I told Nick it was only a forty five minute hike up to Wolverine. I don't know where I got that idea because it took us more like and hour and a half. The trail is a truly lovely one wandering through forest shade and sunny fields of wildflowers.

Nick & Koty take a break amongst the wildflowers

Wolverine Lake is, in my opinion, one of the loveliest little lakes anywhere. The water is so clear you can watch the fish leisurely swim by. And the water color changes from deep blue to turquoise depending on the light. Sheer granite walls rise up in front of you in a rather dramatic sort of way. They even still had a dab of snow left on them. Utterly amazing for the middle of August.

I don't know how I managed it but I got water spots on my lens and wrecked this image but I'm putting it in here anyway because it will at least give you an idea how pretty and dramatic a landscape it is. All of the photos here were taken with a little Panasonic point and shoot. I left the big dogs home for probably the first time in my life.

Nick at Wolverine Lake

I had prepared a picnic lunch for us and we ate in total beauty and solitude. It was a real treat to share this spot with someone who had an equal appreciation for the beauty and grandeur of it.

Lunch Break

We had the lake all to ourselves for our time there and that was great good luck because as we returned down the trail we met two groups on their way up to camp. If you are ever in the area and you have the time, it's around thirty miles on a mostly a dirt and gravel road to the trailhead, I highly recommend a walk up to Wolverine. Unlike Glacier, you won't find a lot of tourists here.

©Kinsey Barnard

Mountain Lion Encounter-Grave Creek Montana

Once a week I take a hike with a dear friend of mine. Since I spend so much time not in the company of humans it is a very important day for me lest I lose all my social skills. This day we decided to drive up Grave Creek Road which takes one into the Ten Lakes Scenic Area. We were curious to see how far we could get before running into the snow line.

Grave Creek 4-22-10

We parked the car about ten miles in and walked as far as Clarence Creek before we hit snow. Clearly it will still be awhile before we can get to the lakes. We turned around and marched back down the mountain. When we got back to the car I said "Let's walk down a little further.", which we did. Shortly after passing the car Koty started pulling on his harness and acting like a crazy man. He'd been a whiny brat all day so I didn't really think that much of it.

We walked maybe three quarters of a mile before heading back up the mountain. Normally, when I'm in the woods, I am alone and very attuned to my surroundings. I often spot wildlife before Koty. But, when I'm with my friend I end up chattering like a magpie and paying absolutely no attention to what's going on around me.

As we were walking back to the car I was expounding on who the heck knows what, I have a theory about most everything. Suddenly my friend says "What's that?" I look up the road, maybe a seventy yards away, and I see a figure I can't quite make out standing not twenty feet behind the car. At first I thought it was a wolf. But then the coat was so dark I thought it might be a bear cub. I quickly snapped off a couple of shots.  Even looking through my 300mm lens I still couldn't quite make out what it was.  The animal just stood there looking at us until I started to move toward it. Then it scampered back down the bank toward the creek. It wasn't until we were back in the car out of the glare that we could clearly see what it  really was. Below is what we saw looking right at us.

Mountain Lion In Full winter Coat 04-22-10

No wonder Koty was having such a fit. He could smell this cat and knew it was quite near. Normally, I would have been on red alert based on Koty's beahvior alone but as I said this was my attention MIA day.

The rest of the day was anti-climactic but I still have a couple of nice photos I'll share. When we got back to the valley floor we went over to the campground. The below photo was taken from the bridge.

Over at the campground we puttered around in the rocks and boulders along the creek. I just love this stuff. The designs are to die for.


Intergalactic by Kinsey Barnard-----Loaded to Gallery

Here's another on I call "Moonstruck" because it looks to me like craters in the moon.



Moonstruck by Kinsey Barnard-------Loaded to Gallery

Well, this certainly wasn't a day I will soon forget. These are the days that I live for. These are the days when I know I am truly alive. These are the days that I bow down and give thanks for the inestimable privilege to live in this magical place!

©Kinsey Barnard Photograpy


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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

The West Kootenai & the Ten Lakes Area

This week we made a couple of junkets to the West Kootenai and one to the Ten Lakes Scenic Area. The picture above is of Sullivan Creek in the West Kootenai. The creeks and rivers are really rising as the snow begins it's melt in earnest. Anyway, mom went a little water crazy.


Next we tooled over to Tooley Lake. We were hoping to site a moose to photograph. Moose often hang out here but not this day. Speaking of moose, if I had a nickel for all the moose poop I walked over this week I would be a millionaire! And, we didn't see one darned moose! Mom took this picture of the lake. Cool in an eerie sort of way.


Around the middle of the week we headed over to the Ten Lakes Scenic Area. We thought we might make it to Weasel Lake and look for moose but we couldn't make it. There was still too much snow on the road. We hiked up the Blue Sky trail a couple of miles. Tons of moose poop but no moose! The photo is of Graves Creek. Lotsa water flowing down that baby!


Friday we headed back to the West Kootenai. We thought maybe a photo of Little North Fork Falls would be good with all the water coming out of the high country. Well, as it turned out there was too much water. The volume was so big it was like squeezing a toothpaste tube. The net result made for a very uninteresting picture. Or so mom said. As it turned out the photo of the day was of this regal eagle perched high above the Kookanusa.


That pretty much sums up our week. Hope yours was a great one!

©Kinsey Barnard Nature & Wildlife Photography