Karl’s and my Christmas Day tradition has been a decadent breakfast followed by a long snowshoe run. It continued this year.

Snow is scarce in the valley. We headed around Flathead Lake on the way to Blacktail Mountain Road and higher elevation.

Driving along the lake, a few mountain peaks of the Continental Divide were visible in sun holes in the cloud cover.

We drove up the road through the low inversion layer of foggy clouds and emerged above it all.

It was a world of sunshine, snow ghosts and mountain mystery.