Montana - Day 2 (& Day 3)

Our first full day down here had great weather so we had to take advantage with a hike - especially as the next few days looked like they would rain.

These first two pics are taken out the car window on the way to our trail head.  We are seriously hanging out in a gorgeous place.

The trail we had originally decided on had 2 horse trailers parked at the base so we decided to go back to do another one we had passed that had no one in the parking area.  It was a great choice as the dogs were able to run free the whole time.

They started off soooo excited and were running back and forth all over the place.  I think they were happy to not be spending 10 hours in the car again.  The vegetation was interesting the entire trip. I have no idea what kind of plants these were below but they were a very cool pinky peach colour.

Unknown to us before we'd started, a forest fire must have been through in the previous year or two.  After the first couple of km, the pretty evergreens gave way to dead and burned trees.

The shrubs that had grown though were beautiful in their fall colours.

And so were the trees in their own unique way.

Hiking to the top of the ridge proved to be very frustrating.  We kept thinking that the next peak that we could see was the top, only to find another one behind it that we couldn't see until we got there.  Finally after thinking this for the 4th time, we were right.  :)  It was quite the 360 view at the top.

Then it was back down through the forest the same way we'd come.  We all got home tired and happy. Coulee actually got fed "Dinner in Bed" as she didn't even get up when I got their meals ready.  LOL.

Day 3 was spent just puttering around. The weather hadn't sounded promising although it turns out we could have gone for another hike. :(  We went in to town to try and get more information on hiking trails etc, but the hiking store was closed due to a big sale they are having today. We walked the dogs along the river and Marlin looked for some decent fishing places - he's pretty excited to give it a try.  The number of boats and fishermen on the river is crazy!  And there must be at least 4 fishing stores in town and it isn't that big of a city. We have a few more days of foul weather ahead so we might make another trip in to town and maybe go down to the hot springs nearby.