KOOCANUSA ICEFALLS

Saturday I made a junket off the mountain and in to town. It was clean out the mailbox day. Where I live the Post Office fears to go so I must make a weekly pilgrimage to town to pickup the mail.

When I have to come down off the mountain I always try to work in some photo scouting. My thought was ice falls along the Koocanusa. Usually at this time of year there are some extraordinary icefalls to be found. Last year the icefalls were everywhere and some were too beautiful for words. The image below is one such Koocanusa icefall.



This year was certainly nothing like last year. I was barely able to even find any ice. And here it is the middle of January for pity sakes! I was kind of thinking about trying to get into Little Norfork Falls if all else failed.

Whilst I was creeping along I did find some ice falls right along the road that looked like they had some potential. As is always the case when I see something I would like to photograph there was no shoulder to pull over. But, the road on the west side of the Koocanusa is a forest service road and gets next to no traffic in winter. That is unless I have parked in the road and set up my tripod at the edge of the pavement. About the time I got myself setup two axe men (read logging trucks) came barreling down on me. Let me tell you those boys stop for no one and nothing. They flew by me, using the oncoming lane, like I wasn't even there. I wish I could have gotten a shot of them coming at me. It would have been impressive.

I never saw any other vehicles in the time I was there, probably three hours. I did make my way down to the Little Northfork Falls turn off but guess what? That's exactly where those logging truck were working. No way this girl is going down an icy single track road with logging trucks on it. No freaking way!

At that very spot where I saw my life pass before my eyes I was able to get one photograph I thought was nice. I was darned grateful for even the one. It's totally different from last years catch but I think beautiful in it's earthy contrast.



Weather here in Montana can change on a dime. It's still just the middle of January so maybe there will be more opportunities ahead. Will just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has to say about that.

©Kinsey Barnard

My Week in Pictures-Montana

It was a pretty gray week here in NW Montana. This is not unusual. Sunny days, in winter in my area, are the exception. If you are a sun worshiper you would not like it here in the winter.

This icicle was exceptionally long and lovely but whilst I was trying to find a good angle to photograph it, i.e. without the eave of the house, it fell to the ground in a heap!

Throughout the winter I have been trying to capture Mother Nature's artistry in the form of icicles. Earlier in the week I published my results Icicle Series.

The snow has been so deep I have had to put on my snowshoes to take my hikes. The snowshoes were also one of the most colorful sites I saw all week. Here I am lying flat on my back looking up hill. The stuff was like walking in mashed potatoes. Koty is also looking up the trail yelling "Get up you lazy bones!"

Along the way I took this photo of some aspen trunks. I just find their skins so interesting and beautiful.

In case you can't tell, this is a photo of Koty's front paw. The reason I'm showing it to you is because I find this fascinating. Notice all the feathery fur sprouting from between his toes? This is something that only happens in winter to help insulate his pads from the snow and ice. By summer it will all be gone. I think that's so amazing.

Speaking of ice.

 

Thursday we had a reprieve from the gloom. This is a photo of "The View". I call it that because it is what I see when I look out my living room window. This landscape is ever changing and ever beautiful. No two are ever the same.

Since it was kind of sunny I took the opportunity to slide into town and run some errands. This is the main county road down to town. It isn't paved either. Around here we don't drive SUV's with four wheel drive just to look cool. If I didn't have one I'd never be able to live where I do. I also use studded tires in winter.

I love clouds and Montana has some of the best.

One of the chores I must attend to is taking my trash to the dump. No garbage service in the wilderness. I really don't mind. It's a great value and I can attend to it on my own timetable. This photo is of the Canadian Rockies (sorry for the strand of barbed wire across the bottom. I was too lazy to get out of the car). :) The reason I'm showing it to you is because even from the dump the views around here are spectacular!

Not to belabor the point but the views are spectacular even from the parking lot at the market. What you are looking at is the Galton Range and, I believe, Poorman and Kasanka Mountains.

Ho hum, just the landscape on the drive home.

Another phenom I find interesting. When it starts to warm up, which it has done in the past couple of days, these tiny insects appear on the snow. It looks like someone has sprinkled pepper all around. They just started showing up a few years ago. I don't know what they are. I call them snow fleas but they are much smaller than dog fleas. I thought this photo of them looked like a portrait of Koty.

That's all I have to report for this week. As I was writing this it started snowing so I reckon winter has quite thrown in the towel yet.

Until next time .....

©Kinsey Barnard