Well, as promised, here is Part III..........

Now that we have closed on the house, I have a little more time to write these Blogs.  We still are very busy trying to chose all the things that go into building a house.  I have not counted them all but I think the number is somewhere between 1.2 and 1.3 Million!  Could be more, I just can't count that high.  Really, after I have used my fingers and toes, math becomes too complex!  Anyway more than 20 of anything is excess!

To start from where we left off in Part II, we were on our way back from Maria's Pass on US-2.  We had just stopped to photograph the Goat Lick and headed on West toward West Glacier when we crossed the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

Out here in Montana, the early settlers were too busy surviving to worry about naming things. The Flathead River is formed by three Rivers coming together, and instead of naming each one, they just called them the South Fork, Middle Fork and North Fork of the Flathead.  They must have been preoccupied with Forks!  They even named a town Bigfork!

Debbie took this photo of the windswept landscape.  Stark, cold, ripples of windblown snow and snow blowing around the trees and on the horizon give this an ethereal look.  To us, it is Beautiful!

As we crossed the Middle Fork of the Flathead at Essex, the view of the River was just too compelling to pass up.  We like the scenes with Rivers in them, they just add a lot to the landscape.

Looking down at the River from the bridge shows how clear the water is out here. Notice the ice floating on the water.  The Rivers and large lakes don't often freeze over out here.  Some places where the Rivers are wide and the water is moving slower, will freeze over.

Cold Clear Water of the Flathead

Ice Patterns along the Flathead

This view always reminds us of Christmas as the Mountain is named Mount Saint Nicholas.  This forest was burned over in 2003, which was the first year that Debbie and I came out here for an art workshop. Notice all the new growth.

Mount Saint Nicholas framed between burnt trees from the 2003 fire.

Just another view of Mount Saint Nicholas

Continuing on toward West Glacier, the scenery is breathtaking with views of Cloudcroft Peaks above Threetops Mountain.

As we got closer to West Glacier the road  goes through a narrow gorge and on the mountainsides across the valley we saw Deer browsing on twigs.  As we blow these images up on our screen the mountainside is just covered with zigzag trails made by the Deer as they wander looking for that Delicious Twig!   There are at least 5 Deer in this photo and probably more behind some of the trees.

After a beautiful day of photographing the snow covered mountains, as we had time to do some Snowshoeing in Glacier National Park.  The trails are awesome!  Our trail took us along McDonald Creek.  Although the snow was inviting to walk over to the edge and look down into the Creek, we knew that it was simply an overhang of snow and a couple of steps toward the Creek would have ended up with us getting very wet!  So, we followed the trail fighting the urge to step over there!

Laurie along McDonald Creek

McDonald Creek

Edward's Mountain and Mount Brown from our trail.

The Snowshoe trail continued on through the woods looping around and back to the car. The scenery all along the trail is awesome.

Awesome views in the woods

Lichens add color and texture to the landscape

Debbie and Laurie in an open area along the trail

Animal tracks investigating a beaver entrance to the lake below.

We ended our day of photographing and Snowshoeing and headed for Mackenzie River Pizza Co. for some excellent food.

The next morning Laurie wanted to try Cross Country Skiing, and so did we!  So, off to Whitefish to take a  lesson, as none of us had been on Cross Country Skis before.  No cameras with us as we knew we would spend some time on the snow below!  But after skiing and being the first off the course, I got my camera and was able to get a couple of snapshots of Laurie coming back to the Clubhouse.

Was that big smile because she was having fun or that she was getting back to the Clubhouse without any broken parts!  I was nice to not take any snapshots of her backside, as it was snow covered!  We all fell some, Debbie very little, Laurie a few more times, and I was on my feet at least 50% of the time!  I lost track of how many times I fell, but by doing so, I got quite good at getting up!

We ended our day at Glacier NP photographing sundown at Lake McDonald.  The Scenes were awesome.

We are still not sure if these big smiles were because she was enjoying herself or if she was excited to go home the next day and rest up!  We think she was  'enjoying herself' and we are going to think that until she tells us differently!

We enjoyed Laurie's visit eminently!

Joey and Debbie

Well, as promised, here is Part II........

I have been a bit delayed on this as we have been having a lot of meetings with our Contractor, the Construction Dept. at the Bank and the Loan  Department.  Anyway we closed on the House today!  In Montana, you close on the house BEFORE it is built, so different for us.  Even though there are a lot of meetings and shopping for carpet, tile, floors of all kinds, plumbing, electrical lighting, the list goes on and on, I do hope to get some more blogs written.  But we are enjoying it the whole process!

Before we get started, here are a couple of photos that Debbie took on our trip to Blacktail Lodge on Sunday afternoon.  What a beautiful drive!  We also went Snowshoeing at Glacier National Park Sunday afternoon/evening and it was awesome!

Monday started out as a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky!  So, we decided to drive across US-2 to the East side of Glacier National Park.  Laurie, as well as Debbie and I, wanted to see the snow-covered mountains that we saw in the Summer when we made trips to Rising Wolf Ranch.  This route takes us between Glacier NP on the North and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex on the South to Marias Pass and on to the small town of East Glacier Park.  Lewis & Clark came close to finding Marias Pass but were interrupted at each attempt and crossed the Bitterroot Mountains, a very difficult route.  Had they found the Marias Pass, I think it would have shortened their expedition and made it much easier as Marias Pass is the lowest pass on the Continental Divide at just 5,213 feet.   Marias Pass was not recorded until the Surveyor for the Great Northern Railroad, John Frank Stevens, found the Pass in 1889, over 80 years after the Lewis & Clark expedition.

Upon arriving at Marias Pass, we found the scenery totally awesome, Little Dog Mountain, at 8610 feet, is directly across US-2 from Marias Pass and Summit Mountain, at 8770 feet, is just North of the Pass.  These Mountains top out at about 3,400 feet above where we are standing.  Elk Mountain is just Southwest of Little Dog Mt.

We talk about 'if you go anywhere in NW Montana, you take US-2' the ONLY road East - West this area is US-2 through Marias Pass.  The closest road to go East - West from the Plains of Montana to Idaho, is Montana 200, which is over 100 miles South of Marias Pass.

Little Dog Mt center and Summit Mt right

Elk Mountain

Skeleton Mountain is much lower and does not show up on most maps.  It is the ridge between Summit Mountain and Calf Robe Mountain, but to us it is Awesome as this is the view coming out of the driveway that leads back to Rising Wolf Ranch.  The straight line along the upper part of the ridge is the Lewis Thrust Fault.  If you are interested in Geology, you might click on this link and read more about it.  Keep in mind, much of the study of Geology is based on theories, so keep an open mind about how and when Geological  Events happened.  But Geology is a very interesting science for me!

Skeleton Mountain

Calf Robe Mountain

The ridge between Red Crow Mt and Bearhead Mt.

Calf Robe Mountain is just North of Skeleton Mountain.  It looks very different in Winter compared to Summer.  Just to compare the difference in Summer and Winter, here is a photo from this area looking Southwest to Summit Mountain.  Little Dog Mt is left, Summit Mt just right of center and Skeleton Mt is at the far right.

We continued on to East Glacier Park and Debbie took a few photos of the East Glacier Park Lodge covered in snow.  It is closed for the Winter, but if you visit this area in the Summer months, this is a Must See place!

East Glacier Park Lodge with the Peak of Dancing Lady Mountain behind it

Just on the outskirts of East Glacier Park the Mountains are awesome.  This is a photo of Dancing Lady Mountain.  The 'Old Squaw' shows up well in the snow.  It is a huge column of Argillite Rock that looks like a person from a distance, but it is more than 100 feet high.

Dancing Lady Mt 

Dancing Lady Mt, Bearhead Mt and Scenic Point Mt

Calf Robe Mt and Dancing Lady Mt

Next was Lunch at a small restaurant in East Glacier Park.  The town only has a few businesses and thankfully the restaurant was open.  After lunch we headed back on US-2 toward West Glacier.  To show some of the equipment they use here for snow removal we added this photo.

They use large road graders with blades and huge front loaders besides their normal snow trucks.  It does not take them long to clear a lot of roads here being they are out at the 'first flake' and have a lot of equipment.

Notice the snow cap!  Ready for an avalanche?

Going down through Marias Pass this is looking up toward Snowslip Mountain and Running Rabbit Mountain.  We are too close to the Mountains to see the Peaks.  Continuing on our way toward West Glacier we stopped at the Goat Lick.  At different times of the year, the Mountain Goats come down here from the high cliffs of the Mountains in Glacier NP and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex to these almost vertical cliffs to lick the salts that seep from the cracks and crevices.  The section to the right, now with a huge amount of snow piled at the bottom out into the Middle Fork of the Flathead River is sometimes covered with Goats.  There may be two or three dozen or more at one time seen on this cliff.

Since I have waited so long to get this one together, I am going to end it here and do a Part III.  Don't hold your breath, but I should have it in place in a few days, so check back!

Thank you for reading these.  I hope you have enjoyed them.  Joe

P.S.  Debbie has not had time to 'edit' this blog, so blame me for any goofs, you may find several.

Well, we had our First Guest from Indiana here for a few days, AND we survived!!!  AND so did our Guest!!!  Laurie, our guest from Cloverdale, Indiana, and a Great Friend, had been to Montana with us on Photography trips that we hosted at Rising Wolf Ranch on the East side of Glacier National Park. Those trips were in late August and early September so she had only seen Glacier National Park in the Summer and wanted to see it in the Winter.  I don't think she was at all disappointed as you will see from the look on her face in the following photos.
My 'excuse' for writing this Blog is to let our friends know what to expect when coming out for a visit.  We are excited for our friends and family to visit us.  We hope this inspires you to think about visiting us in the future.  We hope our house is built and we will be in it by the end of July.  So, make plans!

We picked Laurie up at the Glacier International Airport, (it is a bit smaller than Kennedy International in New York), and headed over to see our lot as they have cleared some trees and poured the footing.  We stopped at the Night Owl restaurant in Columbia Falls for lunch.

Not much to look at, but it IS exciting to us.  As it was well into the evening, we headed over to Glacier for Laurie to get a glimpse of the Snow Covered Mountains!  We did not photograph much, as the weather was overcast and it was getting late, so we just stopped at a neat little stream coming out of the mountains and running under the road.

These places are beautiful to us.  Notice the snow thrown up on the large Western Cedar to the right from the snow plows.  Laurie and Debbie were talking as I interrupted them for a snapshot.

With them becoming occupied taking some snapshots of this stream, I started across the road to see where the stream went from there and somehow my feet were suddenly UP! not down where they should be!  Of course this almost never happens to me!!!  Fortunately, I was able to 'right' myself before they could quit laughing and get their cameras pointed toward me!

One of the things Laurie wanted to try was 'Snowshoeing', so Saturday morning we headed up to Lone Pine State Park to give it a try.  Debbie and I have our own Snowshoes now as we enjoy it so much, but Laurie had not been on Snowshoes and she rented a pair at the Nature Center. We walked several trails and enjoyed the Overlooks of the Flathead Valley.

You can see the whole Flathead Valley from these overlooks, from Flathead Lake by Big Fork to Columbia Falls (the twin smoke stacks in the distant right) and Whitefish (distant left).  The snow-covered trees give you the feeling you are walking through a Christmas Card.

And we had to stop for photos!

Debbie and Laurie at Lone Pine

Laurie inspecting woodpeckers summer homes

Debbie and some old man?

We had a great 'late' lunch at Sykes downtown Kalispell and spent the evening watching the Olympics.
Sunday we headed up to Blacktail Mountain Lodge as it was overcast in Kalispell and we thought we might get above the clouds up on the Mountain.  The scenery was awesome as we went up to the Lodge. Starting up the Mountain and at the top were both overcast but we found some sunshine about three quarters of the way up.

A few of the trees had 'hats' on!

At the top we again had overcast but the scenery was spectacular.

We just could not help ourselves, we took lots of photos.  Debbie and Laurie posed for a few snapshots.  Have you noticed the Smiles!!!

I thought I would put this one in just so you could see the 'road conditions' up here on the Mountain.  It was a tiny bit slick but we were too busy to notice as the scenery was breathtaking.

To keep from making these too long, as few will get to this point anyway, I am writing another Blog for Monday and Tuesday.  We had two beautiful days and took lots of photos, so don't miss the next Blog which I will have up in the next couple of days................  Stay tuned for part II..........