SooNats

Curt and Katie Bosket

Page history last edited by Curt & Katie Bosket 1 yr ago

White Trillium (pink phase)

OUR MONTANA OUTINGS AND SIGHTINGS

6/18/08: As "members-at-large" in NW Montana, we'll try to keep you up-to-date on our own outings and sightings here in the Gem State.

Cheers, eh.

Curt

Fortine, MT - Google Maps.pdf

...Where we are...

6/15/08: Today we hiked up the North Fork Deep Creek, just a few miles from our house. The trail begins at approximately 4600', in primarily Engleman Spruce and Douglas Fir forest. The trail follows an abandoned logging road for about one-half mile, and then follows the creek up into the forest. Due to our above-average snowfall this past winter, we spent a good amount of effort crawling over and under a significant number of downed trees across the trail. Some of these were very large spruce and fir.

As we reached 5500' we began encountering snow fields and areas where the snow had only recently melted away. These areas were marked by many wildflowers which had yet to bloom or were only just beginning to bloom. Among others these included False Solomon's Seal, Avalanche Lily and Pioneer Violet. We also began seeing several types of orchids, and I've included photos of them below. They aren't the best photos as the bright sun and my sunglasses made it difficult to keep them in focus.

As we continued higher, we began traversing ever increasing amounts of snow on the trail until we reached 6000' where we encountered solid depths of up to four feet still. We went a bit further, to about 6100' or 6200' before losing the trail and turning around.

TO BE CONTINUED...