Glacier National Park

We've been into Glacier twice so far and both days were completely different. There are two main things to do in Glacier: (1) drive Going to the Sun Highway for the spectacular views, and (2) hike any of the 700 miles of trails (inhabited by bears!). So far we've just done the driving thing. Hiking and a trail ride are on the schedule. The first day we drove up to the top (the road is closed at Logan Pass for repairs; it may open before we leave if we're lucky), it snowed! Two days later it was so warm (hot, really) that I wished I had worn shorts.

Lost Trail Wildlife Preserve

This picture was taken at sunrise in a valley that spread out before our eyes like a treasure. The preserve is about 50 miles southwest of Kalispell, MT near the little town of Marion. I'm not sure how large the peserve is (but it IS big) because there are no brochures or information kiosks, and I couldn't find much information on the internet. I'm sure this beautiful place remains the same as it was when the earliest explorers and settlers came to this part of Montana.

We've made two trips to Lost Trail, one in the morning and one in the evening, and saw different animals each time: Lots of deer, a gray wolf, a fox, elk, moose, little chipmonk-like critters, sand hill cranes, blue herons, yellow-headed blackbirds, woodpeckers, ducks, hawks and other assorted birds.
Here's a Kestril (small hawk) who caught a little critter for his breakfast.




You can see more pictures of this momma deer chasing a gray wolf on EB's website.

Hailstone National Wildlife Preserve

See the little dirt road on the left? That's how we got to this NWP, northwest of Billings, MT. The drive was worth it because we saw several Golden Eagles, which turn out to be the biggest birds we've ever seen. There were immature and adult eagles, as well as Swainson's Hawks, antelope, lots of prairie dogs, deer and other assorted birds.




Here's an immature Golden Eagle . . . This is one big bird!




Probably no new pictures until next week. We're hitting the road for Kalispell, MT and Glacier National Park day after tomorrow.

Happy trails!

The Billings Zoo

The Beartooth Mountains

The Beartooth Mountains in Montana, just north of Wyoming at the northeast side of Yellowstone National Park. Elevation at the top is just under 11,000 feet.

Charles Kuralt once called the Beartooth Highway the most beautiful drive in the U.S. It was definitely awesome . . . and scary . . . getting to the top. E.B. kept saying, "Trust me, we're not going to run off the road!" (We were in the car, of course, not the motorhome.) The wind was ferocious and cold.

As always, click on the title above to see the rest of E.B.'s pictures.

Geocaching in Billings, MT

We are staying at a campground in Billings, MT beside the Yellowstone River which is bordered by these cliffs called rimrocks. Birds of prey nest in holes at the top of the rimrocks.

We hiked a total of three miles and found two out of three caches, including our 100th cache!

At the top of the cliffs, E.B. got a shot of a Peregrine Falcon that kept circling us because we were standing on the cliff just above its nest.

Here's part of the trail. First we hiked up to the top of the cliffs to see the view. Then all the way down to the bottom of the trail to the river. And finally back up to to the top to get on the trail back to the car. Whew! This was vertical geocaching! At the river we saw deer, raccoon and possibly bear tracks, but didn't find the last cache. Maybe a bear took it??? Oh well, two out of three is pretty good.












Cache #100 . . .













Three hours of hiking just three miles! Ah, but visions of the local Dairy Queen spurred us on the long upward treck back to the car. :)

Battle of Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Crow Indian Reservation, Montana
Click on title above for more pictures

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Click on the title/link above for more pictures.

Geocaching in Phantom Canyon

We found two caches in Phantom Canyon, outside of Colorado Springs last Friday.
This is a narrow, winding dirt road that follows a stream through a narrow canyon.

There are at least four different kinds of pine trees and lots of aspens waving their little bright green leaves in the wind. One of the pines has new bright green growth at the tips of the branches that look like little curled baby fingers.

There were lots of wildflowers and cacti blooming, including this bright red one called a hedgehog cactus.

This canyon was so remote that I kept looking for bear or moose or elk along the stream, but no luck. We met a fellow who he said he'd found a cache that was scattered about, probably by a bear. Here's one of the caches and a view of the road from the cache site (these two photos are taken by me, not the professional photographer).

And, finally, here's a picture that I took of the real photographer!

Pike's Peak

This is what the world looks like from 14,110 feet! At the bottom of the mountain it was 85 degrees and at the top it was snowing! There was plenty of leftover snow on the ground starting at about 9,000 feet.

EB drove all the way to the top, but I stopped at the gift shop/snack bar at about 11,000 feet and waited there. After he got back, EB said that was probably a really good idea because of my fear of heights. The road up to Pike's Peak is paved for the first three miles, but the other 16 miles are unpaved, although pretty wide for a mountain road. There are people who actually ski and snowboard down the very steep cliffs up near the top. . . I had trouble just walking and breathing at the same time!

There's a company that organizes bicycle rides down from the top. I saw the riders at the visitor center toward the bottom of the mountain and they looked pretty normal and sane to me.

On our way back down, just outside of Colorado Springs, we had a flat tire. So it was off to Wal-Mart for a new tire this morning.