Skywatch Friday: Hiking Around Butte America

Summer has arrived with a vengeance--temperatures in the 80s everyday and most days not a cloud in sight. One sure way to avoid the heat is a hike in the hills surrounding Butte America. It's also a major mosquito year, but the dry heat should take care of them very soon.

Warm Springs Ponds

We hiked a pleasant morning around Warm Springs Ponds at the headwaters of the Clark Fork River. Here is Mt Powell reflected in one of the ponds, with the 500+-foot tall Anaconda Smelter Stack on the left:

Bald eagles have long has a nest site at the ponds, and we were at first puzzled to see two dark eagles (which we took to be a golden) near the nest while a bald eagle looked on:

We were even more puzzled when they perched together:

Mystery solved: birder friend Andrea Stierle explained to us that these are juvenile bald eagles--apparently not all juveniles have the white flecks or underwing markings that usually characterize them. Though not a birder, I appreciate the abundant flying things (well, maybe not the mosquitoes) that populate the ponds. These range from swarms of blue damsel flies:

To white pelicans:

And yellow-headed blackbirds:

Continental Divide

On a small west slope (i.e. Pacific-bound) drainage, we visited a favorite pond to celebrate Independence Day, roast weenies, and where the dogs could have a swim:

The dense grove of quaking aspens along the creek makes for good black bear habitat, with tracks and other fresh sign:

And the usual bear claw marks on some aspens:

In the lush grass along the creek, we found Starry Solomon's Seal (Smilacina stellata):

And on a dry, open slope, the first flowering Beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) of the year:

ATVs (aka "four wheelers") frequently go (illegally) off road in the area, and it seems wherever they travel weeds grow behind them--such as this Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula):

Walkerville Creek

Friends Brent and Karina Patch are in town for the upcoming Montana Folk Festival. Brent and I hunted and backpacked together before he moved over to Pocatello, and we took this opportunity (along with two other friends and two dogs) for a hike on a small creek just off the Continental Divide near town. I've hiked and skied this area often, but we dropped off a steep ridge and came upon this tumbledown miner's cabin that I'd never seen before:

Inside, the old cook stove was about all that remained:

But nearby we found a few tasty morel mushrooms:

The wet spring has made fungi abundant, and even when I don't know the species (or whether they are edible) I love their shapes, textures, and colors:

The wet meadows (and they are still VERY wet--wish I'd brought a change of socks!) are home to Blue Camas (Camassia quamash; the roots were an important food source for Indians that once lived here):

Also our native Elk Thistle (Cirsium scariosum):

On the way back down to the LandRover, we stopped by a mid-elevation lake where the young (and young at heart; and dogs, of course) could cool down with a refreshing swim:

Back at the Rover, MollyTheDog was too tired to chew the elk leg bone she had found. She lay down on it, however--just in case someone else might want it.

This weekend: the Montana Folk Festival--three days of peace, love, and music with musicians from around the country.