Skywatch Friday: Hiking & Trout Fishing

Final exam week + graduation + graduation parties = a "Skywatch Friday" post on Monday!


Let's start off with a skyview from graduate Emma MacKenzie's (MS-Technical Communication) apartment window here in Butte, Montana. Nailed up on a cross, various animal parts; as Wilson in the film Dead Man says, "looks like a goddamn religious icon:”

Troutfishing
Before things got so busy, I did have a good afternoon fishing the Jefferson River. Some nice brown trout came to hand:

As well as (in a ratio of about 3 to 1) lots of feisty little rainbows:

Sometimes, in fishing, I become so intent on the water that I forget to look around at the canyon cliffs:

Or at the turkey buzzards circling above the canyon walls:

At the EIGHT buzzards circling above my head:

Must be something dead around here. MollyTheDog says "Dead? Nope. Absolutely not. Nothin' dead 'round here. Nobody here but us dogs. And goose wings."

Hiking
And before things got busy, friend Dave Carter & I got out for a hike in the Humbug Spires, and especially scenic bit of the Boulder Batholith:

Along the Moose Creek bottom, the Red-Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) is in flame:

On the hillsides, the Rocky Mountain Douglasia (Douglasia montana) blooms are at their peak:

That's worth a closer look:

And in the meadows, there are Wyoming Kittentails (Besseya wyomingensis):

Biscuitroot (Lomatium cous):

And swelling rosettes of Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva):

On the way home, drive past the Anaconda Smelter Stack and check out the elk, migrating from winter range to their calving grounds (the elk are on the meadow below and to the right of the stack):

Mountains throughout the Day
Butte America lies just north of the Highland Mountains. I like the sunrise view from my front porch as MollyTheDog fetches the paper:

The noon view from the front door of my workplace:

And the sunset view, again from home:

Yes, there is still a lot of snow up there. And just two weeks ago, we had a "surprise" spring snow storm and good skiing at The Moulton:

Schools out for summer: let's get out there!