Archive for the ‘Montana’ Category

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Cliff & Wade Lakes Area, MT

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Have wanted to visit Cliff & Wade Lakes in Montana for some time, mainly because it’s an official wildlife viewing area. The area is located between West Yellowstone and the town of Ennis, just past Earthquake Lake. In the picture above, the Earthquake Lake avalanche area is in the center of the picture. Continue on the road through there to get to West Yellowstone.

Looking back on the dirt road to Cliff & Wade Lakes. It’s a dusty dirt and gravel road with some washboarding. People pass you going 35 mph and leave you in the dust. The road gets worse near the lake areas.

It turned out to be a bad time to visit the lakes. The area was crowded and it was dusty and windy. The one thing that made my visit worthwhile was seeing the above eagle. I’ll return to the area again when it’s not so crowded.

Between Earthquake Lake and West Yellowstone is Hebgen Lake (below), another popular boating and fishing area.

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West Yellowstone 2011

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Above, the Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin.

. . . and the buffalo do roam. Took around two hours to go from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction one day because of bison. First there were a group of females with young ones, then two young males walking down the center of the road. I should clarify that the bison were for the most part not causing the traffic jam–it was people wanting to get pictures. Later in the day, back in West Yellowstone, a young woman with children said her family just turned around and came back to town. Being in a car with young children would make the wait more difficult.

Gneiss Creek trail has two trailheads: one along the Madison River between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction, and another a few miles north of West Yellowstone. You can walk the whole 13 miles if you want! I just went maybe a mile along the Madison River and saw a number of birds, including the Clark’s nutcracker above. The trail is closed a lot of the year to allow for a bear habitat. Probably not a trail you should walk alone.

Pulled into a pullout for no particular reason and was surprised to see a family of sandhill cranes. Could not get close to them, but was thrilled to see the young one.

Near the campground I stayed at, along the Madison River, I was watching some osprey nests when I saw something stick it’s head out of the water. Found it was two river otters swimming upstream. They intermittently stuck their heads up out of the water to keep track of each other.

Posted in bison, Clark's nutcracker, marmot, National, otter, sandhill crane, West Yellowstone | Comments Off

Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Have visited Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge south of Missoula, Montana several times in past years. It has usually been in a drought. Not this year. Above you see snow still on the Bitterroot Mountains. The parking lot for a trail along the Bitterroot River was flooded and water was flowing over the main refuge road.

A bobolink.

Above, an eastern kingbird and a juvenile robin.

A muskrat in a marsh with clouds reflected on it.

Below, wild male turkey’s.

Posted in bobolink, kingbird, Missoula, muskrat, robin, turkeys, wildlife refuge | Comments Off

Lowell to Lolo

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

First picture, Lochsa Wild and Scenic River. The second picture is a stream that flows into the Lochsa. There were raging steams like this every half mile or so along the river.

Wilderness Gateway Campground is a major base for people rafting and kayaking the Lochsa River. The river was running so full and rough, from all the rain and snow melt, cannot understand why anyone would want to do this. Must be a testosterone thing. The campground was full of red-eyed vireo’s. I identified them from their voice, but never saw one because of the dense forrest foliage.

Completed the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway, following the Lochsa Wild and Scenic River to Lolo Pass. At Lolo Pass Visitor Center, there was still snow on the ground. They said it was the latest there has been snow. Leaving the pass, headed into Montana.

Lolo Pass Visitor Center

Red-naped sapsucker along Lolo creek, in Montana.

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Montana’s forests in peril

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Anyone who has traveled in Montana has seen all the damage beetles have done to their forests. Nowhere is this more evident than around the state’s capital, Helena. It looks like almost all the trees you see from the city are dead. The picture above is from a campground in the Helena National Forest. The red trees are dying and the gray trees on the right side of the picture are just skeletons. It looks like the policy is to let them die and blend in somewhat with the green trees.

I know in the Helena Forest, and in other parts of the state, patches are put on some of the trees to repel beetles. Some National Forests and BLM areas are using controlled burns on the worst sections. I’ve wondered why Helena doesn’t do this to all the dead trees that can be seen from the city. In Glacier National Park they say they are just spraying the more valuable trees that take centuries to grow.

Stayed at an RV park in Three Forks, Montana to wait out a 2 day storm. Wanted to have hookups and internet access if I was stuck inside.

I’m seeing a lot of this plant in the National Forests in Montana. It looks like spotted knapweed, an invasive weed that the Forest Service and BLM want to get rid of.

I stayed a few days in a National Forest campground on the edge of the Lolo Forest. It was a dry area near Missoula with mainly ponderosa pine and little understory.

Next stop was Aspen Grove Campground in the Helena National Forest.  On the third day at the campground I saw a least chipmunk jump onto one of my front truck tires. Bells went off as I realized it might be trying to nest in the motor area. Sure enough, on lifting the hood, the chipmunk’s head popped up several times. I propped the truck hood up about a foot, as I’ve seen other campers do to keep critters out of their engines.

On subsequently talking with a camp host in a Utah campground, found he uses the two-day rule. He moves his car every two days to prevent squirrels from nesting in the engine. In my case, my truck had been sitting for 3 days, leading me to believe there might be something to the two day rule.

Below, a hairy woodpecker.

Posted in Airstream, Helena, National, squirrel, Three Forks, woodpecker | Comments Off

Lolo National Forest

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Have been in Lolo National Forest for most of the past few weeks. Highway 12 goes up to Lolo Pass, where you enter Idaho and the Clearwater National Forest. In Idaho it’s called the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. This is the route Lewis and Clark, and Indians long before them, used.

Above, two gray jays. The first ones I’ve ever seen. They are very elusive and were in my campsite area only a few minutes.

Highway 12 follows along a number or streams and rivers. I saw lots of  stellar jays while driving, but only a few in my campground.

A kestral in farmland in the town of Lolo.

A blue-grouse (I think) seen along a forest service road.

A red-breasted nuthatch (top) and a red crossbill (lower).

A red squirrel that buries nuts that bears often dig up. It, like many of the birds, is not interested in handouts from humans. They generally run and jump quickly away from you.

There were a huge number of these moths (?) flying around one campground for a few days.

Above, an adult and fledgling yellow-rumped warblers. They were seen near Big Sky in the Gallatin National Forest.

Made one quick trip to Spokane, Washington, to get my trailer serviced. Was surprised to see a pair of marmots in the industrial area.

Posted in American kestrel, grouse, jay, Lolo, marmot, red crossbill, Spokane, squirrel, warbler | Comments Off

Beartooth Scenic Highway, Oh My!

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Drove through Yellowstone National Park to get to Cooke City and a National Forest Service campground in order to drive the Beartooth Scenic Highway (US Highway 212). It is an unbelievably beautiful drive. I kept saying “wow” at every turn.

Above, pictures of the summit, at close to 11,000 feet.

The above picture is a view from the road around 25 miles from Cooke City. All the time I was there, it was clear and nice in the mornings, but in the afternoon a thunderstorm would pass through. The storm would pass after a few hours, only to have another one come through in the late afternoon.

Large hail I encountered on my first drive on the highway. Not tennis ball size, but large enough that at first I thought rocks were hitting my windshield. Couldn’t figure out where they were coming from, as no other cars were around. Pulled to the side of the road and waited for the hail to stop. Felt sorry for all the motorcyclists on the road. It seems to be a favorite road of theirs and they had to ride in a lot of bad weather.

Beartooth Lake

The road on the “Cooke City side” as it starts to climb to the summit.

The road on the Red Lodge side of the summit.

I would not want to be driving on the Red Lodge side during an earthquake. There is a lot of loose dirt and rocks.

A marmot seen when I pulled over to take some pictures.

The original campground I had planned to stay at was closed at the end of July because of increased bear activity. The one I stayed at stopped allowing tent camping because of a bear sighting.

Above are marks on a tree at my campsite where a bear had torn off bark to get to the inner bark that they like. Never saw any bears though. Darn!

Had originally planned to stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs campground in Yellowstone. When I got there, however, I found it to be hot and crowded, so I proceeded on to Cooke City.

Above, a picture of the town of Gardner near the entrance to Yellowstone.

The landmark entrance to Yellowstone. Always wanted to get a picture of it.

It was still early when I passed through Lamar Valley in Yellowstone, where there is a large herd of bison. It is the season for male and female bison to co-mingle. The male bison were making growling sounds and sticking out their tongues, while staying close to a female bison. Passed a pair of bison walking down the middle of the road towards Cooke City, out of Yellowstone Park. A ranger said they do not go after them. The female bison had a tracking device around her neck though.

Posted in Airstream, bison, Cooke City, Gardiner, marmot, National | Comments Off

Earthquake Lake

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Spent some time at Earthquake Lake near West Yellowstone. A ~7.5 earthquake that occurred in 1959 killed 28 people when 80 million tons of earth from a mountain collapsed and blocked the Madison River. Water quickly started to rise behind the blockage, creating a 190′ deep, six mile long lake. The lake is slowly leaking back to the Madison River, and in one or two centuries it is expected to be gone. Many dead tree trunks remain in the lake, providing a place for cormorants to perch at night.

Above, the collapsed mountain earth doesn’t look 50-years-old, except for the trees that have grown in the center of the picture. The picture below it is of the Madison River and Highway 287 looking north from the landslide.

An eagle surprised me when it flew by. Must have been perched nearby. The birds around me seemed to react to it. Didn’t get many pictures of birds. The mosquitoes kept me inside. The camp host said it rained all of June, making for a bad mosquito season.

A beautiful black bear also surprised me by running in front of my truck on the campground road. There were also sightings of a female moose and it’s calf, but I missed this.

The rains also brought lots of beautiful wildflowers.

Posted in eagle, National, West Yellowstone | Comments Off

More from West Yellowstone

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Midway Geyser Basin

Found one place that was not super crowded, Fairy Falls trail. Rode my bike on the gravel trail, but really needed a dirt bike. Great bird watching area: bluebirds, northern flickers, and a western tanager (seen above).

Juvenile bald eagle seen next to the Madison River by my campground. Two adult eagles were in a tree just out of camera range.

A lone bison bull was walking along the road two days in a row. They aren’t stupid. It’s a lot easier traveling on the road than through the woods.

Two days in a row, on leaving the park around 8:30 pm, found myself in a huge traffic jam. Just turned the motor off several times. Subsequently found it was two elk bulls with massive antlers in the Madison River that were causing people to stop for pictures.

Posted in bison, eagle, National, tanager, West Yellowstone | No Comments »

West Yellowstone

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

I’m staying in the West Yellowstone area, just a few miles from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It’s a traffic jam, as usual to visit the park. Traffic comes to a stop when elk are seen. In past visits I saw a male elk with huge antlers just a little way into the park. This visit I have consistently seen female elk with some young ones. Some females have an electronic tracking device around their necks. Yellowstone may want to build a large herd in the area.

So far, I’ve just seen one bison, the bull above, when I came to a traffic jam of people taking pictures. One day in the campground I’m staying at, a ranger came by and said to stay inside if I saw bison. A herd was being tracked nearby by a helicopter. Unfortunately, they didn’t come through the campground.

There has been road work being done between Madison and Norris during all my visits the past few years. This year it’s worse than ever. There is a half hour wait going both ways and the road is really rough.

A lone swan I’ve seen several times near where there is an empty eagles nest.

Firehole Lake area.

Below, the first fireweed I’ve seen in Montana.

Posted in antelope, bison, National, swan, West Yellowstone | No Comments »

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