During my trip home to Minnesota I have taken what I have learned about aurora watching in Alaska, and transferred it to conditions in the midwest. In doing so, I traded watching the aurora over snow drifts to squinting my eyes over bean fields with moderate success! A big push of energy from the sun has elevated geomagnetic energy to KP 6 or a G2-“Geomagnetic storm level 2”, which boosts the aurora to Minnesota, and even beyond. The two nights I chased the aurora brought success in both capturing the aurora in central Minnesota, and for playing with some new techniques which I will be honing in the upcoming year and are featured below. I would love to hear your feedback!
This timelapse below is fairly short and does not have a brilliant aurora, but does give a great idea of where to look for the aurora in Central Minnesota. During this G2 storm. In Alaska the aurora during a G2 storm would be far overhead and taking up the whole sky. In Minnesota it rose slightly above the horizon. Viewing would have been better if the smoke haze and moonlight could have been removed.
The first night that I chased the aurora, a strong wing was rapidly pushing the clouds past this moon, which was fortunately setting. I really like the wind in the trees of this particular shot, as well as the long shadow cast by the moon.This star spin shot captures a 1.5 hours timelapse of star movement in the sky. Fortunately I captured the faint glow of aurora on low on the horizon, and directly below the pivotal star – the North Star.
One of the techniques I am very interested in growing is the ability to capture full panoramas of the milky way. The progression of images below shows a little bit on how that works. I learned a lot in this first attempt. A few key findings : 1) find the darkest skies possible! The light pollution shows here. 2) need to have more overlap in the shots 3 ) I tried to capture the whole galaxy in one sweep of the camera. I now know I can stitch multiple rows of shots to capture a larger area 4) keep the ISO of the camera low-ish to reduce noise. For those reading this with experience in capturing the Milky Way, please contact me, it would be great to pick your brain!
This image does a nice job of capturing a single image of the Milky Way. However, I would like to find darker skies. By taking multiple shots with the camera on the same plane, I can stick them together into the results below.Here is one of the things I am struggling with in capturing a full panorama of the Milky Way. This image has a gorgeous amount of contrast, however, after stitching, I did not have enough horizon to create an image that can be cropped well. I would love to get feedback on the best way to straighten and correct these images.This image is the best example I have of stitching the Milky Way, but is far from the entire arch. I do really like the bit of aurora that shows up here. Hopefully I can apply what I learned in my next attempt!This image of the aurora was taken in Rice, Minnesota during a G2 auroral storm. If it weren’t for the moon and the haze it would have been a much nicer show!
I have done a lot to curate my aurora gallery on Fine Art America. I would love if you checked it out!
We’ve finally come out of our ‘seasonably cold’ weather in Fairbanks. Looking back at the last months data, temperatures hovered around -20 most of time which is not good burbot fishing weather! The holes freeze up quickly both on the top and by filling in from the sides. However, temperatures this week hold the promise of our first 30 degree day all winter, and it was time get back onto the ice!
Here’s the weather graph of our temperatures since January 1st. Lots of 40 below in there, and not much above zero! These data were pulled down from NOAA from the Fairbanks airport weather station.
When we reached our destination, it was evident the cold snap had thickened the exoskeleton of the Tanana River. The first hole we drilled buried my normal auger bar, but that didn’t worry me! A few pins removed and added, and my 18″ extension was attached. With the entire auger now towering at six feet I was pretty confident I would get through to water. The newly lengthened auger took a some teamwork to make it efficient. For instance, starting a new hole and applying enough downward pressure required one guy on each handle and working at eye level until it had cut deep enough. However, we found water just a few more inches where the old auger hole had ended. We set our lines using the method from last season and walked away with anticipation for the next day.
Getting a tall auger started is a little harder and requires two people! Corey and I tag teamed this one.
Made it through about 4 feet of ice!
Have to get that auger back out of the hole too.
The setting crew – we kick butt!
The next day I returned with a slightly new crew. One of the things I have enjoyed most about burbot fishing is having a reason to go outside for a walk, gathering my own food through the winter, and introducing new people to the experience. Brian, Alison, and their 1-year old pup Rue were great additions on the Tanana. Rue in particular loved to dig the snow off the closed holes, steal bait, and watch as we scooped slush. A cute pup! To help out their experience, we pulled out a great looking, 30 inch burbot!
The crew looks on as Rue gets in closer for a look. It’s a lot of fun having a young dog on the ice!Rue liked to help “dig” the holes for us, and was very curious about scooping slush.Group success! The only bad part : I missed the focus on this shot. In my defense I wasn’t wearing my glasses. Oops!
One of the things I have learned from people as I have talked about burbot fishing to them, is there is a lot of misconceptions on how to clean a burbot. When I was home in Minnesota this Christmas I was fishing for walleye on Ottertail lake, when we pulled a nice eelpout (burbot), through the hole. The guys I was with admitted they had never actually kept and cleaned one. I have had conversations with others who suggest to only remove the meat from along the back, but in fact there is a lot more meat on the fish than that! Contrary to these ideas, cleaning a burbot is not a whole lot different than cleaning any other fish. Here’s a couple of tips:
1) Fillet around the ribs rather than through them and remove the whole fillet from the side of the fish
2) There are some large rib bones that stick perpendicular to the side of the fish, once you are around those you’ll be able to keep all the belly meat
3) When removing the skin from the fillet, hold the knife parallel to the table and then angled slightly down. Rather than push the knife through the fillet, pull the fillet (starting wit the tail end) towards you leaving the knife in place. It will result in NO meat lost EVERY time!! If you try to push the knife through the fillet you will likely cut through the skin and that’s frustrating!
For your information, and entertainment, I’ve put together a 50 second video highlighting these tips, a poor accent, and a slightly dry sense of humor. Good luck getting those burbot!
This Memorial Day I had a great time with family at our lake cabin in central Minnesota. The night I got there the humidity had dropped from the sky and the stars were intensely clear and beautiful. I walked down to our dock and immediately realized that in the completely still night the earth and sky were the same; the lake was reflecting the stars and lights along the shoreline with mirror-like precision. Not a ripple blurred them. Taking pictures from the dock I did my best to capture the beauty and stillness of the night.
The starry night was reflected perfectly in the lake. The only thing that discerns the the earth is the the dock.
I have a tremendous sense of place at our cabin. I’ve been going there since I was a little kid and have helped in many of the building changes, mowed its lawn, ate pancakes cooked by my grandma every morning, fried fish for dinners, and fished its waters. Fish stories and memories have been firmly set in my memory and the lore of the cabin. Bent hooks, broken rods, and big fish are remembered by uncles, nephews and cousins. A walk down the dock is the beginning and end of any fishing trip. Over the years the has changed in length, shape, style, and design. But regardless of how it looks it is ALWAYS there. I took these photos from that dock to capture a beautiful night.
The boat pictured here has been part of many, many fishing trips. It is decades old and has held up through perhaps a dozen different 4-10 horse engines. The night was so still the boat hardly rocked during this long exposure.This image is a single 8 minute exposure. The stillness of the night reflected the spinning stars captured above.
Yesterday Kassie and I made it to Sax Zim Bog (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/sax_zim_bog_iba.html) to go look for some of the boreal bird species that move in for the winter. In the region there are northern hawk owls, great grey owls, boreal chicadees and black-backed woodpeckers – of course there are many, many more!. Our goal was to beat the cold snap we are having in Minnesota right now – in fact due to the cold Governor Dayton called off school for Monday on Friday! That hasn’t been done since 1997. Although with windchill values exceeding 60 below for Sunday and Monday night I think it’s warranted. Amazing that I can experience the same intense cold in Alaska and Minnesota.
Cold temps in Perham this week!!
Sax Zim bog is located just south of Buhl, Minnesota on the ‘Iron Range’ (http://goo.gl/7mBiuM). I actually spent quite a bit of time up there as a kid, my dad is from the Hibbing region, and attended high school at Buhl.Here is the description of the area from the DNR website : ” Level to gently rolling topography are characteristic of this region. The largest landform is a lake plain. Soils include extensive areas of peat over both fine-textured and sandy lacustrine deposits. This site includes sledge meadows, lowland brush and hayfields. There are stemless lady’s slippers and other species of bog vegetation including sundew, pitcher plant, leatherleaf and bog birch.This well known wintering area for Great gray owls, Northern hawk owls, and Rough-legged hawks is an ideal habitat for more than 240 species of migrant and breeding birds.”. The opportunities are indeed great there! For more information on the area and the opportunities there visit : http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/sax_zim_bog_iba.htmlhttp://sax-zimbog.com/http://sax-zimbog.com/birding-festival/http://www.saxzim.org/
One of the northern migrants in Sax Zim are the northern shrikes. These birds are classified as song birds, but are carnivores. The eat insects and small rodents. They are known as ‘butcher birds’ because to cache food they impale their prey on sticks, thorns, or even barbed wire! The northern shrike below was stooping over the field hunting an unknown prey. I was able to capture the bird as he stooped into the blustery winds as and perching on a nearby branch.
Northern Shrike stooping in the blustery winds at Sax Zim BogNorthern Shrike at Sax Zim Bog
Even with the condition of blustery wind we had some great opportunities to see some cool birds. Boreal chickadess are a migrant here we found a couple at the feeders there. Gray jays and a red-breasted nuthatch were also found at the feeders.
Boreal Chickadee at the feeders in Sax Zim BogGray Jay at Sax Zim BogRed-breasted nuthatch at Sax Zim Bog
As we were driving along the roads looking for owls Kass spotted a ruffed grouse sitting in the trees. She thought it was an owl right away, and so did I!!
Ruffed grouse at Sax Zim Bog
At the end of the day we never did see any owls. The windy and cold conditions kept the owls hunkered down. However, I didn’t want to leave you without some pictures of them! Part of the reason we went up there was Erik Bruhnke, who runs Naturally Avian. Naturally Avian is his bird tour, education, and photography business and I absolutely encourage you to check out his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NaturallyAvian). If you enjoy birds and just feeling happy subscribe to his page, his posts and photography are both incredible. By visiting the page you’ll be able to see a lot of the birds that we ‘dipped’ (did not see) on. His pictures of boreal, great grey, and northern hawk owls are honestly second to none and are award winning. By visiting the Sax Zim bog website you can see great photography of the owl species and the boreal migrants.
It’s the great debate. As an Alaskan, winter resident, are you a skier? or do you don the snowshoes? I think the questions really waters down to : how much do you like getting off trails? Because, although I realize cross country skis CAN BE USED for off-road style outdoor adventure, I see that happening on a very limited basis. Anybody want to chime in here? I snowshoe because if you want to explore the woods during the winter you need mobility, and besides, I fall less on snowshoes :D.
Living in Fairbanks has proved to be a far different winter than my experiences of three years in Maine and my childhood (22 years a child) in Minnesota. One of the primary differences in the winter here in the interior is the wind! I have never seen anything like it, and my friends from Minnesota won’t believe this – we do not have wind. Blizzards, the bane of Minnesotan school systems, are unheard of here. In fact, school systems in Fairbanks do not close when the mercury dip to -40, they close when the weather warms up resulting in icy conditions! Snow that accumulates on railings and fence posts is likely to be in the same pile when the spring thaw begins. The stillness of the wind creates an interesting climactic condition in Fairbanks known as the ‘temperature inversion’. During the winter, the winds are an important mixer of air and because that mixing does not happen here, strong differentials are set as you climb elevation; in short, cold air is trapped in the valleys of the Interior region. This has a couple of ramifications, the first is as a home-owner you would rather have your house high on a hillside, because in extreme cases it could mean an extra 50 degrees of warmth! (http://www.alaskareport.com/science10059.htm). Secondly, below the inversion the development of ‘ice fog’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_fog) is a pest for home-owners and can build up on your house and car. I have watched this ice fog man mornings while studying from the Margaret Murie building on top of campus- a good example picture is shown in the Wikipedia article I’ve listed. The ice fog creates havoc for humans and incredible beauty in the wilderness. The white spruce, willow, dogwood and shrub birch become encases in ice crystals and look like long-forgotten freezer burned hotdogs. As you walk through the areas of hoar frost it is not hard to imagine scuba-diving through a snow-reef; the trees the coral and the snow the sand.
I’ve had a great time snowshoeing some of the lower and higher elevation areas of the Fairbanks. I’ve been focusing on Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest and the Murphy Dome region. Some of the days have been cold and require some extra face protection, but the views and sights have been exquisite. Although I did not see any wildlife, during my last trip to Murphy Dome I followed a fresh set of moose tracks, and found scat so fresh that I made sure to keep a watchful eye for any watching eyes; I was sure I was going to walk up on a moose. Snowshoe hair tracks were abundant as were red fox, mouse, and ptarmigan.
Snowshoe hare tracks were common in the Murphy Dome region. Here you can see them, their heart shaped print is very identifiable.
The series of images below represent the two different winter types of Alaska. The first three are all from Bonanza Creek. You’ll see that the wind doesn’t blow here too often, and tree-corals abound! The the sunlight illuminates them it is snowshoe stopping, many pauses were taken to observe the beauty of this classic,winter, wonderland!
The snow here is so light and fluffy, that even a small puff of wind will send snow flying. Here, you can see the havoc as a breeze (a rare wind!) pushed snow off the branches and into my face.Branches laden with light snow were lit up by the sunlight. Every new bend in the trail brought about new illuminated trees to focus on.All the gear and the views! Heres a look towards the river valley at Bonanza creek experimental forest. Warm boots, gloves and jacket!
This second set of images shows life in the ice fog area. The trees here are heavily laden with icy and snow and are bent and stopped. A stark contrast to the lightly laden branches of the bottom lands! The low-lying sun cast long shadows around all the trees. This time of year the sunrises at 10:20 AM and sets at 3:00 PM. The short days are illuminated by a sun that slides along the horizon, rather than going overhead and the cold sets fast once the sun is no longer keeping it at bay.
The longs shadows of the low sun played on the snow. The warm color of the sun was spectacular! The reds, yellows and oranges you see here are completely natural.Here I am posing in from the hoar-frost-coral-trees on top of Murphy Dome. Cold and stunning!The shadow of the this 6-foot white spruce cast by the low-lying sun is almost 30 feet long!Hoar frost behind, views in front! This picture was actually taken with my phone, you’ll see the selfie arm in my face mask.
I wanted to leave you all with a short timelapse video of the sunset on Murphy Dome. This timelapse is comprised of 530 shots over an 1.25 hours time and is played at 30 frames per second. Some of you read in my post about my problems with my camera in the cold shooting the Aurora. I wanted to shoot this timelapse in good light conditions at similar temps (-10 degrees F) and see how my camera reacted. It did pretty well, and makes me think that some of my issues with the Aurora shoot were due to the High ISO and a stressed sensor. Lots more to learn!
My goal of this timelapse video was to capture the changing shadows on the hillside and the sunset. Enjoy!
Since my last entry I have departed from Maine and driven to Minnesota with my dear mother. She was willing to tolerate me (and I her? 🙂 ) on the 1800 mile journey between those two states. After reaching home I spent a few days there before leaving on a sabbatical/vacation/adventure for the west with my Girlfriend, Kassie Pesch. This trip has a few purposes including seeing the west, birding, being a naturalist and visiting my brother in Idaho for a few weeks. I am struggling on the best way to display some of the many images taken on this trip. Group them by location? by activity type? by species? By genera? After a lot of consideration I have decided to display them chronologically or by species groups. I’ve also done my best to show my pictures which I feel demonstrate the region where they were taken.
NOTE: it’s kinda long blog entry, but I hope you’ll take the time to read through it all. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think or what you might like to see for next time!
NOTE 2: I’m not much of a proof-reader when it comes to non-critical things as a blog entry. SO, please ignore and work around any errors. THANKS! 😀
TEDDY ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK
Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) is located in the western side of North Dakota. It can be seen here (MAP LINK). The land is divided into 2 ‘units’. The north and the south.
Spotted Towhee are one of the common birds found throughout the praire lands of North Dakota. Here a spotted towhee is sitting above the painted canyons.
Spotted Towhee
And, speaking of the Painted Canyons here they are! These are extenstion of the Badlands of South Dakota, to which many are familiar. If anyone every drones on how flat and boring North Dakota is… it’s probaby because they have not been far enough west! These painted canyons are beautiful in any light, but when a sunset or sunrise pours over them the lights up in reds, browns, grays and and greens that twist together into one of the most memorable scenes you can have. These lands are aptly named by the ox-cart travelers. They cannot be farmed or easily traversed.
Painted Canyons, Theodore Roosevelt NP, Panorama
Here they are, the mosaic and color of the Painted Canyons! These clay balls become like grease when wet. They colors meld together into the painted landscapes that surround you on all sides as you hike through them.
This bird is unidentified, however, I just throught it was amazing how big of a meal he was able to find in the wilderness of the prairie. Dinner is served!
This American Crow may be one of the most common birds that people remember. They are known for the intelligence and social behavior. This one obviously knew that I was not a threat, and allowed me to approach him quite closely!
American Crow
Here are just a couple of the flowers that you’ll find in the prairie and painted canyon lands of North Dakota. The pink flower on the left is a rock rose and the flower on the right is prairie smoke. It certainly is well named. I can see both the red-fire of it’s flower and the smoke of the seeds poking from it!
Bison are the ICONIC mammal of the plains of ND, WY and SD. These mammals once numbered in herds that numbered in the millions, but were hunted to near extinction by pioneers and settlers throughout the course of the history in the early west. These days there are stable populations of these great animals throughout the plains. However, one thing that is hard to convey in a picture is just how enormous they are! Here, on the left, I’m hoping that the picnic table gives scale to this large bull who was scratching his beard on it. The bull on the left may have been even bigger! He had littler concern for us as we passed by.
Here are another famous mammal of the canyon lands. The residents of Prairie Dog Town! These rodents are known for colonizing large areas and often spend their days chewing grass. The advantage of being in such a large colony is that many eyes see coyotes, raptors and humans much better than few! The young prairie dogs shown on the left were about half grown. They were always the first do disappear when the warning “CHURRIPS!” were sound across the Town.
And, since we are on the mammals of Theodore Roosevelt Nation Park here is one the most sought after, mystical and famous. The ‘wild’ horses of the plains. These horses are not truly native, but are feral horses who range throughout the plains eating grasses and raising young. The thought of them being feral doesn’t take away from their beauty! They are often seen at sunset or in the dusky hour grazing in roadside areas. On the left they are shown on a distant ridge-top silhouetted against the waning sunset. On the right a group of horses are harboring two foals as they graze along.
There are naturally many birds that are throughout the painted canyons and TRNP. On this trip we did have some that we absolutely wanted to see, and here are a few of them! On the left a red-headed woodpecker browses through its favored cottonwoods. Unfortunately it was an overcast day when this photo was taken, because he’s such a beautiful bird! In the middle a lazule bunting sounds out to all the single females around him, hoping to find a mate. And on the right an orchard oriole sits up in the evening sun. One other oriole not pictured here, but was a ‘lifer’ (one that I had never seen) was the bullock’s oriole. Maybe next time I’m in TNRP I’ll get the opportunity to take pictures of them!
The sunrise of over TNRP in the morning was truly a treat, and was a great way to start the end of our stay at TNRP. The fog, sunlight, cottonwoods and canyons were a delightful combination!
Although tent caterpillars are never a welcome site, you cannot really deny their uniqueness and beauty. Based on the number of tents and emerging worms that were seen I think that it will be a bad year for the trees, but a good year for the birds! I predict it will be a prolific year. My grandmother, Phyllis, once told a story of these caterpillars being so thick when growing up in northern MN that the trains were unable to stop due to the slickness of the tracks! Here the tent worms are shown dappled in the sunlight.
MISSOURI NATIONAL GRASSLANDS
The Little Missouri National Grasslands (LMNG) are vast, and beautiful. They house many birds and animals. If you have have the opportunity to watch a thunderstorm roll over these plains, be sure you take it and enjoy it! It is powerful to watch the distant rain and thunder arc between sky and land. Our tour of the LMNG brought out many of the classic grassland birds. Here are just a few!
This marbled godwit was actually a bit pesky! It was so intent on protecting its nest it stood in front of the car and tried to shoo us away. You do not always think about the shorebirds of the Great Plains, but they are there, and plentiful to boot! Another interesting example is included below.
This is a Wilson’s Phalrope. One of the most interesting things about this bird is that the femals are colorful and the males are drab! In this species the male actually determines which of the females he thinks is the most fit and beautiful! They are a pint sized bird and I believe they are smaller than a robin. Here these two females are shown wading and foraging.
There are many, many types of blackbirds in the prairie! Here, a yellow-headed black bird looks on while perched on a cattail and a bobo-link trills perched on top of this fencepost. Fence posts are actually a great place to observe many of the grassland birds as it offers them a vantage point for predators and a high visibility location for likely mates to see them. Below are a few more of the examples birds that like to sit high on the posts.
This horned larked (left) was sitting on his vantage point. I’m not sure if he was just enjoying the sun or watching for predators. However, the savannah sparrow (right) had a purpose for his high post! Sing and show off for the ladies. This sparrow sat on top of his post and quivered his wings sporadically and held poses before signing to anyone would listen. When we departed 5 minutes later he was still intent on wooing a mate!
Below is another of iconic birds of the grasslands. The eastern meadowlark is known for its beatiful voice and striking yellow breast. They will often sit as high as possible, but are often very skiddish to approaching humans.
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
After leaving grasslands of the Little Missouri we were off to Montana and Glacier National Park (GNP) which can be seen at this link here: MAP LINK . Montana is known as the big sky country, and rightfully so! Our trip to Glacier was filled with grand views and grasslands. We skirted to the south of GNP and then came into the west side of the park, where I had never been before. About 8 years ago I had the opportunity to do some backpacking in the east side. One of the great parts of the west side, as I found out, is that many of the roads are maintained as gravel for cultural reasons. The terrains and means of getting to it are rugged. We stayed 2 nights at the Bowman Lake Campground, located on the south end of Bowman Lake (MAP LINK) . I will put in a shameless plug for this area now and say if you get a chance to visit it, please do!!
However, before we made it up to Bowman Lake we had a few other things in Mind. Here, a river rages into the north end of McDonald lake, one of the biggest lakes in West Glacier. Our hike to this spot yielded a varied thrush, a lifer for me! We also had a special duck on the brain when visiting this area. Did we get him?? You bet! See below!
Harlequin ducks are one of the most unique ducks I can think of. They remind me of clowns. Harlies breed in the river areas of mountains and feed on invertabrates. On the left two males are shown looking for larvae and crayfish. I thought it was simply lucky and incredible to catch this male with his head in the water while looking straight at me. Look at those eye spots he has!! The female in the middle is drab compared to the males, but a very cool duck. On the left a male takes a rest on the rocks in the middle of the river. There was a significant event in GNP in regards to these ducks this year. Biologists now know that they get OLD! In short, a banded duck was found that is a minimum of 17 years old. For the full story you can visit here: STORY OF 17 Y/O HARLIE DUCK
You have never seen night until you experience it in an area with no lights except the stars! The number of stars in the sky is truly unbelievable. Here, three different starscapes were captured. On the left the starts were captured looking straight up through the ponderosa pines. In the middle the stars are captured looking to the north over Bowman Lake. And in the image on the right an 8 minute exposure shows the celestial movements that never cease!
The next morning we headed out the the Numa Lookout Fire Tower. The climb to the tower moved up 3000 feet and ended at 6900′. The trail was well graded throughout and I would recommend it to anyone! The view from the top was beautiful, see for yourself! Here, the panorama of the mountain top show as well as a Glacier Lily set to a mountainous landscape in the rear.
We also found several birds to look at throughout the day. Some of the highlights included ruffous humingbird ( not pictured), pine siskins (left), WESTERN TANAGER, McGillvary’s Warbler, Dark Eyed Junco (oregon phase) and townsend’s solitaire. Of course, of all of these birds the tanager is the visually most stunning! I’m a bit disappointed that the light was so dingy when we saw them, but I think you’ll get the point!
Our way up and down was also graced with may types of flowers. One of the most dainty and beautiful is the fairy slipper, which is pictured below. Can you imagine a fairy wearing it??!
Up and down the trail there were also many stalks of bear grass. It looked as though thousands of of tee-balls were stacked throughout the woodlands waiting for a couple of teams of players.
Were also found a wild form of clematis , Western virgin’s bower. Clasping-leaf Twisted-stalk which reminded me of soloman’s seal and the Glacier Lilies, which I’ve featured again.
Our next morning yielded a foggy, moody morning over the mountains which had been layered in stars just two nights earlier. Again, I can’t emphasize just how breathtaking EVERY moment was here!
SANDPOINT, IDAHO
And finally, a few of the pictures of the instigation and reason for this trip, family! The reunion of my brother, sister-in-law and nephew is sweet indeed! Here we are on our hike up a portion of Mt. Mickinnick
On our trip up the mountain we came across quite an array of flowers! One of the most unique to me was the Coral root, shown here.
And, here, in no particular order, are some of the others! I do know their names, but for now, perhaps just the visual will do?
So, that’s the first week of my 3 week trip to the west! Please check back in for parts 2 and 3 of this blog which will include conquering the daunting Scotchman’s peak, trips to Kootenaie NWR and to the Redwoods or California! I will leave you with this one last photo of an osprey feasting on a Kokanee salmon in the Kootenai NWR. COOL!
