©Bert Gildart: From all indications, it appears as though the window of opportunity for departing Montana’s Flathead Valley may be on the horizon, and if the weatherman is correct, then we will mostly likely be departing for the Southwest this Saturday.

Our first extended stop will probably be Death Valley.

For awhile, I was having regrets about leaving what was beginning to shape up as being a winter wonderland, but today, just as the weatherman predicted, rain began to fall last night, and now the roads are sloppy with snow and dangerous to travel.

Most likely, however, the rain will enable cars to whip free all accumulated snow, so we’ll be on roads that are clear, and hopefully by Saturday, ice free.

But just look at what the winter we’ve been enjoying these last few weeks.

STILL A SKIER’S DELIGHT

This past Sunday, Jim Andler, Bill Hutchinson and I made a short drive from our homes and drove toward Jewel Basin, looking for a recently groomed trail near Krause Basin.

Snow had fallen during the night and the trees, all draped in snow, made the setting look like a fairyland. Branches were laden with snow and so were the small berries of mountain ash.

Cross-country skiing is one of the best ways to enjoy such settings, and the trail we skied on coursed over meadow and stream for about six miles. Because the snow was cold and dry we literally zipped along, completing the entire course in about three hours.

We could have completed the trip in a much shorter period of time, but we took over an hour for photography.

In between our brief outings for skiing, we’ve been loading our Airstream for extended travels that may take us to the East Coast. We’ll be carrying kayaks for some stories I will be writing about Padre Island. And we’ll be attempting to improve our ability to connect our relatively new Hensley Hitch. Several others and I agree that once hitched, towing is a delight; the problem is getting hitched, but representatives tell us it’s just a matter of practice.

BEFORE ANOTHER STORM BLOWS IN

In the meantime, we’ll continue to look toward the mountains, where snow rather than rain continues to fall. It’s beautiful up there, but it’s also beautiful in the Southwest, and now… it’s back to some serious packing, before more storms blow in.

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THIS TIME LAST YEAR I WAS ICE FISHING:

*Grumpy Old Men

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 6:03 am and is filed under Montana Photography, Outdoors, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.