Montana | The Road Home

On the way to Polebridge, MT

Polebridge, Montana…gateway to the western-most entrance of Glacier National Park, 20 miles from the border of Canada…

40 miles on a mostly gravel road north of Columbia Falls, MT ensures that only the hardiest travel that way. Most of the local population are against paving the road as that would mean more traffic and visitors.

Sandy and Jerry have not met a dirt or gravel road they wouldn’t travel. I knew this road would not faze them one bit so off we went. The road was not that bad as far as rough riding – the dust, though, that was impressive!

We stopped at a river access I know…

We all meandered, including Karl.

Here, there and everywhere along the river.

Jerry gets credit for this one…the darned wildlife…always turning away from the camera :)!

A fellow traveler obliged for a group photo…on the way to Polebridge, MT.

Friday: Jewel Basin

Down (actually UP!) the road we went to the Jewel Basin Trailhead Parking lot – Camp Misery by name. No, I don’t know why they call it Camp Misery – it is beautiful.

We were headed up and suddenly a large bird swooped over the road. Jerry thinks the owl was after some critter on the road – we saw a lot of chipmunks … but our presence disrupted things.

All three of us had seen owls at night or dusk, but never in the day time. What a treat! I don’t think the great horned owl had the same perspective on the encounter since lunch got away…

Not too much further along there were 3 goats on the road. Let me point out that neither Sandy nor I specialize in wildlife photography… we missed the goats in the road and unlike in Glacier National Park where they seem trained to pose for tourists, these goats headed for cover.

The photo above is actually later, when we were walking on a trail. And once again – this goat stood spectacularly posed until we had cameras raised.

Both Sandy and I got great photos of the goat’s behind…

Fall Fog

Sunrise through the fog.

Aspens turning gold.

Misty mountains.

Morning walk in Fall Fog.

More mountains, more Karl, more Bob: Sunday morning

The forecast for the forseeable future is clear, sunny (low 70F) days and clear, cool (low 40F) nights. As the sun hits my corner of the world from a more southern angle, the light and the clear air make for crayola-like color.

Golden grass of fall…the sun shining on the curl of Karl’s tail…see the arrow to the right (dbl-click to see any of the photos full screen size). He is investigating something in the grass. Probably something I don’t want to know about.