Butte Montana and the End of Summer

July and August in the northern Rockies lull us into a belief that the long, warm, sunny days will go on forever. Then you wake up one morning and the frost has killed the petunias. This is life: a cycle of growth and decline, hopefully a cycle of renewal despite the fate of any individual.

Among wildflowers, it's the time for hardy Primrose (Oenothera sp.):

And on the porches, it's geranium time:

My wife Jan Munday likes to end the summer with a campout near Virginia City, Montana. A ghost town specializing in historical tourism, we like to take in theatre by the Virginia City Players or the bawdy Vaudeville at the Brewery Follies.

We take in the sights:

Stop at the candy store:

And sit out on the deck and have a pint or two with our friends Celia Schahczenski and Jeff Schahczenski at the Bale of Hay Saloon. Life is good:

After the show, we stopped for a steak:

While RTD and Sheikah patiently(?) waited for their leftovers:

And headed to our campsite as the sun set on the beautiful Ruby Valley:

This year, we camped at nearby Branham Lakes. We hiked up to the ridge, where Celia convinced me that we should gather some whitebark pine cones and extract the nuts (much like pine nuts) for Jeff's gourmet cous-cous recipe:

Nothing like some lunch and a nap on the ridge:

Well, not just any ridge, but a ridge with a view:

There are just a few, thin cornices of snow left from last year's winter storms. In the warm sun of a late summer day, they were quickly melting away:

But don't let the sunny, warm weather on the south side of the ridge lull you into complacency. On the north side, a weather front was rolling up the valley and over the ridge:

The next morning was cool and wet, and on the way back to Butte we drove over snowy Pipestone Pass:

And though the front passed quickly, it left snow on the higher peaks and reminds us that change is the nature of life: