The day started cold and dark as I had my wife drop me off at the Lost Trails Pass rest area at the cross roads of Montana and Idaho on Hwy 93
She asked yet again if I really wanted to do this, my response was as usual, always the same
Yes...
A day pack with a few essentials and a set of snow shoes, I was ready to take my journey...
The pass had about 4 feet of snow, I was trying to push this hike to the last minute before fire season started, hoping to find a few sheds and see some new babies in the process...
Over the last bunch of weeks, the storms just kept coming in over the mountains and laying several feet of snow in the highlands
With all my estimating, I had figured it would take about two weeks to walk from the pass back to my house in Anaconda, 55 miles as the crow flies
I also figured with all the steep up and down, along with the round abouts thru the canyons, I would probably end up with about 80-95 miles at the end of the trail...
I had to put on the snow shoes right off the bat as the snow was soft enough, even with all the ski trails that I was falling thru the crust, even as cold as it was
I hiked thru the mountains all that day to start with, putting on probably only about 8-10 miles and set up my first camp
There wasn't much to see as the snow was still a little to deep to bring the big animals out and the smaller ones were mostly in hibernation
The first three days ended up being pretty stormy and dumping another 18" of snow on me as I slogged over passes and thru valleys...
About half way, I dropped into a deeper valley that had grass growing and things happening
There were some elk on far away parks, and deer were herded up as they awaited the snow to melt and they could move upward
There were also moose sign every where, even though I didn't get to see to many and the ones I did spy were to far away to get any good pictures
As I was walking along thru the long grass, I just about stepped on this little guy, he wouldn't move, not even blink as I walked up closer and got a couple good pics before moving on...
This little elk calf was a nice surprise after a week of not seeing much...
As I moved up the other side of the valley, I ran across another baby, this one was really attentive to what I was doing, he just wouldn't move more than his eyes and head as he watched me take a few steps closer in my approach to get his pic...
I don't normally let myself get this close to babies, so was quick to notice this little guy had black spots where his new nubs would be next year...
It was also quite nice to find new plants growing and life springing up from every where, even the snow had flowers sprouting out of it...
It's time to move on for now, I'll continue this maybe tomorrow or when I get a little more time...
She asked yet again if I really wanted to do this, my response was as usual, always the same
Yes...
A day pack with a few essentials and a set of snow shoes, I was ready to take my journey...
The pass had about 4 feet of snow, I was trying to push this hike to the last minute before fire season started, hoping to find a few sheds and see some new babies in the process...
Over the last bunch of weeks, the storms just kept coming in over the mountains and laying several feet of snow in the highlands
With all my estimating, I had figured it would take about two weeks to walk from the pass back to my house in Anaconda, 55 miles as the crow flies
I also figured with all the steep up and down, along with the round abouts thru the canyons, I would probably end up with about 80-95 miles at the end of the trail...
I had to put on the snow shoes right off the bat as the snow was soft enough, even with all the ski trails that I was falling thru the crust, even as cold as it was
I hiked thru the mountains all that day to start with, putting on probably only about 8-10 miles and set up my first camp
There wasn't much to see as the snow was still a little to deep to bring the big animals out and the smaller ones were mostly in hibernation
The first three days ended up being pretty stormy and dumping another 18" of snow on me as I slogged over passes and thru valleys...
About half way, I dropped into a deeper valley that had grass growing and things happening
There were some elk on far away parks, and deer were herded up as they awaited the snow to melt and they could move upward
There were also moose sign every where, even though I didn't get to see to many and the ones I did spy were to far away to get any good pictures
As I was walking along thru the long grass, I just about stepped on this little guy, he wouldn't move, not even blink as I walked up closer and got a couple good pics before moving on...
This little elk calf was a nice surprise after a week of not seeing much...
As I moved up the other side of the valley, I ran across another baby, this one was really attentive to what I was doing, he just wouldn't move more than his eyes and head as he watched me take a few steps closer in my approach to get his pic...
I don't normally let myself get this close to babies, so was quick to notice this little guy had black spots where his new nubs would be next year...
It was also quite nice to find new plants growing and life springing up from every where, even the snow had flowers sprouting out of it...
It's time to move on for now, I'll continue this maybe tomorrow or when I get a little more time...
