Waterworks Hill Hike

 I have a wonderful book titled "Day Hikes Around Missoula Montana". Each hike is broken down with descriptions, directions, difficulty, mileage, maps, etc. Since we've seen about everything around here that we want to see, we are spending my days off trying out a variety of hikes. We're starting with the more gentle hikes, not too steep and not over 3 miles. This one was 2.5 miles. Waterworks Hill is right across I-90 from downtown Missoula and the literature boasted both millions of wildflowers and awesome views of the city. We concur! The name comes from a huge, silver water reservoir on the hillside. I hope you will enlarge each of these photos to get the best view.

 Always a favorite of mine, the shy and beautiful Bitterroot adorned the hills here and there. These delicate, leafless flowers seem to prefer dry, rocky terrain. They even have a mountain range named for them.

 I could not identify this daisy-like flower, but was intrigued by the unusual leaf structure and color.

We climbed up and up quite a ways, then saw this scene ahead of us. Helpful hikers assured us there was a shortcut before the top of the hill which led to the return route we had planned. We decided that was the one for us!

 Looking back from the entrance to the shortcut we saw this gorgeous scene, Mt. Jumbo with the "L" and Mt. Sentinel with the famous "M". The valley between the two mountains is Hellgate Canyon where I-90 takes travelers east.

 Looking down from our high point we saw the trail below, heading back towards where we had left our car. It's called Cherry Gulch. I have always found it more difficult to go downhill rather than uphill, but what goes up must come down! These hills below are covered with a yellow flowering plant called Leafy Spurge, though it doesn't show too well in this photo.

 Coming down from the high, treeless and rocky hill above we came back into a young ponderosa pine forest with the leafy spurge thick all around.

One more photo along our trail, showing the spurge and other wildflowers, with majestic clouds shadowing Mt. Sentinel. The Waterworks Hill Hike was well worth exploring! We met lots of folks who were also out on this sunny, warm day.

The Mission Mountains

Our first glimpse of the awesome Mission Mountains this spring! The last time we came up here to view the snow-capped peaks we were completely fogged in, no mountains in sight! This scene is just south of the town of Arlee.

We always like to stop at Wilson Foods in Arlee, just because we share the name. Mr. Keith needs his coffee for the drive.

We thought we might get a good view of the mountains from the National Bison Range, remembering how high the road through there goes. But, the high road was closed for the winter and we were allowed to drive only on the lower outskirts of the range. We found a small group of Bison enjoying the sunshine and munching away on the dried grass.

The gorgeous Mission Mountains from the Bison Range.

 

I know these peaks must have individual names, but I wasn't able to figure it out from the map we had in the car.

As we drove back out from the Range we passed the bison again. I like the one lying down with the magpie on his back! Must be some bugs in that winter coat!

Driving northeast through the Charlo area we passed many farms and lots of cattle. These ranchers must be in heaven with a view like that every day.

A picturesque red barn along the way.

I couldn't get my fill of picture taking. This is near the Nine-Pipe National Wildlife Refuge where we saw lots of geese and other birds.

 

Here we are headed east back towards the main road, Highway 93.

The town of Saint Ignatius sits here, a settlement of about 900 people on the Flathead Indian Reservation. What a view they have!

One of our favorite places to visit is the St. Ignatius Mission, founded by Father Peter De Smet in 1841. We didn't go inside on this trip, but from a former visit we remember the amazing paintings on the ceiling and the beautiful interior of the church. We were happy that we got to see the gorgeous Mission Mountains with the snow still topping them on a sunny day. We will return when the Bison Range opens for the summer, and maybe we'll even go farther north to Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park!

Missoula Trails

 One activity I've missed desperately since osteoarthritis set in was walking for miles. But now, with a new hip, I'm back out there hiking with hubby, little by little. Missoula has many trails around town, mostly fairly level, which I need for now. The Clark Fork Trail goes along the river on both sides of the city. Here we found a creek that is running into the river. It must be even prettier when the leaves are on the trees.

Okay, hang up the cane and pose!

At the KOA office I found a magazine featuring all the hiking, biking and horse back riding trails in the area. We tried the one by the old Fort and came upon this well kept military cemetery.

A portion of the 1 1/2 mile trail. The fields and trees are still very brown, soon to be green again in a few weeks.

My favorite trail so far is this one, the McClay Flats Trail, along the Bitterroot River west of town. The bench is so very inviting!

I love this strange Ponderosa tree along the route. It's difficult to tell if it's 4 separate trees or one tree that somehow got divided a short way up the trunk.

So peaceful!

Walking here is easy on the feet, as the trail is cushioned with pine needles.

We were intrigued with this creek, or canal. The ice shelf was actually several feet above the water. I'm not sure how that happens. We found the same thing in the photo below.

This trail, the Tower Street Trail, goes along the Clark Fork. The ice we found here is, again, several feet above the surface of the river and the bank. Beware to anyone who might step out on that shelf! They would find themselves in some very cold water! As the days go by I find myself feeling stronger, needing my cane much less, and more than ready to try other trails around the city, even ones that take us uphill and down! Are you ready, Mr. Keith?

Philipsburg Montana

We were thrilled to have our best friends visit us last week! They drove 550 miles just to spend time with us! Driving to Philipsburg along the Anaconda Pintler Scenic Route seemed like a good day trip for us. Of course we visited the famous Sweet Palace, a destination for many travelers. They make the best taffy! Long the county seat of Granite, Philipsburg has a rich history of mining and ranching. Officially registered as a town in 1867 and incorporated in 1890, Philipsburg was named after Philip Deidesheimer, a prominent mining engineer who hailed from Nevada. After the Silver Crash in 1893 the town became a ghost town, but over the years has been re-established as a thriving community and fun tourist attraction.

 It was a cold, wintery day, but filled with sunshine. Most of the restaurants in town were closed for the season, but we did find a great one just at the entrance to the town. Here are our friends standing by the iconic silver prospector.

 We passed by a typical "ghost" building just outside of town. There's snow in them thar hills!

 The hills around Philipsburg sported herds of cattle here and there. I wanted a photo of this scene. We noticed a lone cow standing behind a fence, away from the other cattle, but in full view of the road. Ted suddenly exclaimed, "That cow has just given birth!" We stopped to look, and sure enough, there was a tiny calf lying on the ground. Mama cow watched us nervously as we snapped pictures and told her what a good girl she was. She was hidden from the other cows but not from the cars driving by.

 We knew the birth had just happened, as mama cow still had the afterbirth to discharge. What a thrill for us to see this little miracle!

On our way back up the highway we passed by this old, abandoned church in the tiny, historical town of Hall. It looked quite sad. We couldn't have asked for a better day with our friends, sightseeing in this beautiful area! We never tire of seeing the awesomeness of God's creation, the best of which is love and friendship with special people to help us enjoy what we see and do!

End of Year Highlights

We haven't been able to go anywhere for a few weeks so I looked through my photos to see what would stand out.
Here is one of the most unusual contraptions I've seen for awhile. Mr. Keith and I were in the local music store where I was selecting new piano music for my Christmas gift. This piano looks like a big clam! I wonder if they will find a buyer for it?

Since we've been having some freezing temperatures we wanted to see how frozen the Clark Fork River was getting. To our surprise as we stepped onto the overlook we saw that not only were there big banks of ice, there were actually swimmers in there braving the waves. And the cold! Brrr! Not me!

Climbing to the "M" above the University is popular at anytime. If you enlarge this photo you will see several hikers along the zigzag trail.

Fishing is such a sport in Montana. Mr. Keith is standing by a sculpture that attests to that fact. Caras Park is a great place to hike the trails, to view the river, and to watch other folks out on a good day.

I got to play piano (Here Comes the Bride!) at a wedding at the KOA Gathering Place. The bride is the daughter of one of our KOA employees. That's me behind the balloons, unseen, but not unheard.

I have a tiny Christmas tree for our 5th wheel, but this year, rather than try to find room to put it, I decorated my jade tree. Works just as well! Without family to entertain or to celebrate with we keep things very low key.

One of our favorite drives is up the Rattlesnake, a valley cut by a good sized creek that flows down into Missoula. It's fairly well populated with lots of houses, but the draw for us is that the deer love to come down from the hills and roam around the neighborhoods, unafraid. We can usually spot at least a dozen in people's yards or in the fields nearby. They didn't mind our rubber-necking.

Opening and closing with a piano — mine continues to give me great joy. Practicing old pieces and trying new compositions is one of my very favorite things to do, both at the end of the year and all through the next one!

Council Grove State Park

Knowing that in a couple of days we'd have some really cold weather, we took a drive on our day off a few miles up Mullan Road west of Missoula. We wanted a short hike to see the last of the autumn leaves along the lazy Clark Fork River. Council Grove State Park contains large, old-growth ponderosa

 pines, grassy fields by the park picnic area, and cottonwoods along the Clark Fork. In 1855, on this site, Isaac Stevens negotiated the Hellgate Treaty between the U. S. government and the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Orielle Indians to create the Flathead Reservation. The treaty was signed here on 

July 16, 1855. 

The park is peaceful and somewhat off the beaten path. There is the big sign telling about the treaty, a few picnic tables, and inviting trails along the river. The water is particularly low at this time of year as it meanders slowly downriver.

 

The view upriver — we were here a few years ago when the Clark Fork was overflowing the banks and rushing wildly along, full of spring runoff.

 It was sunny in the park, but off to the northwest the Mission Mountains looked dark and chilly. We had hoped to see an eagle in the tall ponderosa pines, and though we were not so fortunate, we did see an empty nest high up in an old dead tree.

We may not have seen any wildlife at the park, but on the way home we were watched by this curious mule, standing up on a knoll overlooking the road. All in all, it was a happy afternoon of exploring and enjoying nature.

Friend Time in Wallace Idaho

 We hadn't seen our best friends for a few months when we learned they were camping near Spokane WA. Since Wallace Idaho is the halfway point between Spokane and Missoula we agreed to meet there early for some good visiting time along with some sightseeing. After hello hugs, breakfast was first on the list! We found an old-timey restaurant on the main street where the  customers and the waitress were friendly and down-home. For those who don't know, the whole town of Wallace is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is known for having the last stoplight on I-90 from coast to coast. Their solution for that bottleneck was that they built the freeway right over the top of the eastern end of town! The stoplight is still there, but visitors have to exit the freeway in order to see it. Mr. Keith agreed to be our driver for some sightseeing to the old ghost mine of Burke.

 The whole valley just north of Wallace shows evidence of former mines and their accompanying buildings. All along the road we saw old foundations sticking out of the hillsides.

 We wondered how it must have looked all those years ago with mining equipment and huge constructions filling up the valley. All along the road were signs showing where mines had been. They had names such as 'Black Bear', 'Frisco', 'Yellow Dog', 'Mace'.

 The Burke Mill was the most intact, with fences all around to help preserve the mining structures.

 There were no signs saying what each of these buildings was used for. It gave us an idea what the whole valley must have looked like when all the mines were still operating.

 A lonely miner's home, falling into ruin.

 When we got back to town, we discovered they were throwing a parade for us! We found benches along the main street and enjoyed the locals passing by for all of fifteen minutes! We had ice cream cones and picked up the candy being thrown by the parade entrants.

 To end our time together we ate an early dinner at the Smokehouse. I got my second buffalo burger of the summer. Yum! The waitress here spent quite awhile telling us about the town and about her life there. You won't experience that at the big city restaurants.!

 The guys didn't want dessert — they'd had too much candy to snack on earlier, but Dawn and I agreed to split a piece of huckleberry cheesecake pie. Another yum! We parted with more hugs and words of affection from our friends of 41 years. We miss them all the time we are apart and are so grateful for any time we get to spend together.