Today was a test, a test to see if we could hike but at the same time maintain a socially safe distance in light of the coronavirus threat. We didn't always pass this test. It was too hard not to help one another when scrambling over rocks, or not to hold another's poles or hand off a camera for a quick picture.  

But we had an excellent time on what is to be our last hike in light of Governor Bullock's shelter in place proclamation that was to go into effect the next day. 

We left Great Falls at 6:30 a.m., just a few minutes late to see the snow geese lift off, but in time to have quite a show of wings overhead on our drive. We had a caravan of eight cars, too many really to keep track of, and Bonnie W got separated. We caught up to her at Priest Butte Lake, but the parking lot was full so we couldn't turn around. We finally found a place and backtracked to the road with Bonnie in tow this time.  

Then we parked, and nine of us entered the gate, clearly marked "state land,"  including Sooz's sister-in-law and Kuntzie's husband. The wind pelted us a bit but it was a fairly warm wind as we headed up the main butte, the one with the three white crosses (one blew down two weeks ago in a week of particularly strong winds).

The staircase leading up the top and the area of the crosses is a bit rickety and at a steep angle. It didn't give anyone too much of a scare until the way down. Several tried different ways to keep from falling: backing down, going over the side to the rocks or sitting down on each rung.  At the top, we marveled at the views of the gorgeous snow-capped mountains of the Rocky Mountain Front and the beauty of Priest Butte Lake in the other direction; with its shore lined with swans and pin-tailed ducks hugging the ice line.

After we descended, we looked at the dinosaur tracks before saying goodbye to Sooz and sister-in-law.They had had enough and didn't want to climb the other three high points on the butte.

The rest of us continued, climbing the other high points, seeing the inlaid stones, placed carefully by the Blackfeet Indians for ceremonial purpose, which point toward the sacred Sweet Grass Hills, seeing the shed snake skins clinging to bushes, scrambling up rocks on the last butte, and enjoying the views.  On the third butte, Kunzie climbed on top of a hoodoo, giving us and her husband quite a fright as the hoodoo was on the edge of a cliff. But she made it up and down safely, posing with sticks in the air, even.

Then we retraced our steps, some needing help on the back scramble, checked for ticks, used hand sanitizer to protect from coronavirus; then we headed home in our separate cars. Who knows when we will be hiking together again? The lockdown starts tomorrow.

Interesting facts: The crosses were erected in commemoration of the three Jesuit priests who started a mission to convert Indian children. The crosses were replaced by iron crosses by the Jaycees, who later erected the steel ones we see today.The original courthouse in Choteau was built with sandstone mined from Priest Butte. Read more

Who went: Sooz and sister-in-law, Kuntzie and hubby, Susan W, Debra, Judy, Bonnie W, Katie

Debra, Gail and Katie headed out at 6:45 a.m. in separate cars to protect against coronavirus (COVID-19) to make the half-hour drive to Freezeout Lake. We hoped to see the snow geese, swans and many ducks fly from the ponds to the grain fields at break of day.  And indeed we did.

The dawn was beautiful with pastel colors filling the skies, outlining the Rocky Mountain Front,  along with the cries of the geese as they prepared to lift.

We got out of our cars to take some pictures and listen to the cacophony, but we kept far apart to prevent spreading coronavirus in the off-chance one of us had been exposed.  We were among about six or seven others viewing the spectacle. Every once in a while,  the cold wind forced us back into our vehicles to warm up.

We were on the south end of the main pond, viewing a group of maybe a thousand geese, hoping to see a major lift off, but it never happened. Groups of 25-50 flew away and a few from other overhead flocks landed and took off again. However, we saw many groups from other ponds flying in the distance, wave upon wave.

By 8:30, the show was just about over, but Katie and Debra headed up to Priest Butte Lake to check for swans while Gail headed back to town. The edges of the lake were covered with hundreds, if not thousands, of tundra swans along with some geese and ducks.We stayed briefly at the side of the road to marvel at them.

We didn't get any miles out of this outing, but observing nature was worth it.

Who went: Gail, Debra, Katie

No, we didn't wear facemasks, but we worried, as the coronavirus ramped up and went from a concern to serious while we enjoyed Mary N's cabin, probably the last trip most of us will take in a long time. 

While we snowshoed and played games, Governor Bullock closed schools and casinos and shut down visitation at prisons and senior-care facilities.  Missoula, Billings, Butte and Helena shut down bars and restaurants, except take out. We learned the term "social distancing."  And so it went. 

So much changed since we headed out on a Friday for Seeley Lake that it almost felt like a different world that we came back to.

In addition to the coronavirus scare, we also faced bad weather and possibly very bad roads on our return trip, but we soldiered on. After checking with our drivers, Roni and June, who said they were fine with driving home very slowly if the blizzard really hit, we left Great Falls at 8 a.m., stopped at the Deli Vaughn for breakfast, stopped again at the High Country  Beef Jerky store since a bus was at the gas station.  June had never stopped at this store, so she was in for a treat.

The snow was just starting as we crossed Rogers Pass, but lightly. We arrived at Seeley around 11, unpacked, ate lunch and headed out for snowshoeing. We figured it would be our best day. Mary led us on the Canoe Trail, one most of us had done before. The day was calm, but the snow old and icy, not the powder we have in the Little Belts. The mountains were surrounded in clouds, and the pussy willows just starting to come out.

After, we went back to Mary's to cook dinner. Susan made her lasagne, Deb some garlic bread and Katie asparagus with Parmesan bechamel.Jeanne provided apple crumb pie for dessert.

Then it was game time: we had a rousing three games of Catch Phrase, with Jeanne providing the most hilarity of the night with her definition of "hickey."  Ask her if you want to know, but maybe you had to be there.

On Saturday, the snow was still coming down from the night before. June, Katie and Susan headed out on a walk before breakfast, seeing a small herd of deer, the veterans memorial and then stopping for a latte.Then Katie and Gail cooked breakfast as we took our time since the snow was coming down and the temperature around 10 degrees. But we were still lucky to be out of Great Falls since GF had a foot of snow instead of two inches and was well below zero.

So we held off until after lunch to head out. And who should knock at the door, but Kuntzie, carrying a spray can of disinfectant and a roll of toilet paper! She said she came to save the day.  Actually, we were concerned about using all Mary's TP since everyone had made runs on the stores for food and TP. Everyone was out.  We talked to our husband's who were trying to get some supplies to be told the store shelves were basically bare, especailly the paper and cleaning aisles.

Then it was time to get going if we were to get any exercise in for the day. June got us going, but Gail and Cathy decided to stay behind.

This time, Mary took us on a walk without snowshoes on a snowmobile trail on the closed Clearwater Creek road. We even got a glimpse of blue and some sun off and on, revealing some of the peaks in the Swan Range.

Then we headed back to the cabin to clean up, go to the Chicken Coop to do Shake a Day and finally to dinner at the Double Arrow Lodge. No one was lucky at dice; however, several of the gals caught the eye of one of the men at the bar, who kept buying them free drinks. The Double Arrow didn't disappoint. Everyone's dinner was excellent, but dessert was pie again back at the cabin.

We were too tired to play games, so we headed to bed after checking the road report. It looked bad: several roads closed, including Rogers Pass with black ice most of the way back to Great Falls after the Ovando junction.

The next morning, we were in a hurry to get back to GF to give us lots of time to travel the bad roads and get our ahead of the new snow predicted. June made her special Amish pancakes; then we packed and headed out.

We were smart, the roads weren't too bad except on Rogers Pass where it was snowing and a bit of a ground blizzard, but nothing compared to the night before. We got back to over a foot of snow on the ground.

Who went: Mary, June, Susan W, Roni, Deb M, Gail, Katie and surprise guest, Kuntzie

, bypasSometimes, plan have to change. We started out planning to snowshoe to the Big Seven abandoned mine in the Neihart Mining District, but quickly changed our minds when we chatted with the guys club at the Inconvenience Store, who warned us that the road was way too icy and narrow to travel on it safely. So we changed our plans to the Powerline loop on Porphyry.

We left Great Falls at 7:45, after a bit of confusion on meet time; we then picked up Paula P at the Sluice Boxes turn and then newbie Kalah at the Cougar Canyon.Little did we know, we could have picked her up at her house, not too far from Paula P's.

By the time we had our potty break and chat at the Inconvenience Store, it was 9:30 when we reached Kings Hill Pass for the start of our trek. The weather was warm with no wind, so many of us stripped layers before we even started, knowing the first part was uphill, so we would get hot fast.

Most of the way was uneventful; no one really fell (Viki took a small stumble), we didn't happen upon any tree wells or other obstacles causing issues, so we moved along fairly fast. Amber led, breaking trail, though the snow had a good base.

Along the way, Kalah put up a few more pieces of marking tape to help guide the way on future trips on this trail that has few blue diamonds.And Susan said why not add the porphyry loop to the powerline loop to add a bit of distance, so we did, bypassing the O'Brien Creek trail and continuing on to the old abandoned trail.

When we hit the powerline portion, those who had not done this section were wondering how they would make it up this steep, steep hill, but we all made it, some panting more than others. Amber practically ran up it, making it in 10 minutes, her goal. Then she returned to offer to take packs from anyone who needed a little help getting up the last hill.

From there, it is mostly downhill back to the cars. We arrived just before 1 p.m.

Then is was off to Cougar Canyon for lunch/snacks and drinks.  The gal serving us was by herself and so service a bit slow, but we were in no rush since we finished early, due to the change in hikes. During lunch, we discussed books we had been reading, from Brenda with Where the Crawdads Sing to Paula O Beneath the Scarlet Sky to Katie The Volunteer.  But our day didn't end there: Kalah had told us about buying her place by Riceville and invited us to stop in on the way home, an opportunity we were only too eager to take her up on it.

So, we stopped at Kalah's new dream home, which she purchased from the Ferrin's. It was fun to see how nice it was: the loft, the sauna, the logs, the guesthouse, and greenhouse,triple-car garage; but the views were over the top!  All of the oohs and ahs didn't start to describe how gorgeous the mountains and valleys look from her windows on both floors.

Then Paula P offered us a tour of her cabin, just beyond Kalah's. This cabin was built by her husband, who greeted us at the door from his perch on the porch. The drive to Paula's cabin was interesting, with its steep curves on a narrow road.We were glad we didn't have ice.

We arrived back in Great Falls before 4 p.m.
​Who went: Paula, Susan W, Amber, Brenda, Kalah, Paula P, Roni, Paula O, Katie


Read more about the abandoned mines in the Neihart mining district and its history.
​Read about the toxic chemicals at the mine

With no snow on the ground in the low country, the GiG decided to hike instead of snowshoe this week.  So Katie contacted Linda S, who contacted Dave Shea, a retired ranger and naturalist, to see if Priest Butte were a possibility, and it was!

So three people from Great Falls picked up Viki in Fairfield and then we met Linda and Dave at the Priest Butte gate, for our climb of the four peaks of Priest Butte. With those of us planning on 20 peaks in 2020, we were happy to cross off another. (Katie's husband Tom was a tagalong too. Dan Bennett was also going to attend, but then his wife wasn't well, so he canceled). 

On the way up (600 feet of easy climbing), Dave told us how Priest Butte got its name from Jesuit missionaries who put up a school for Indian children. Then the crosses were put up and Easter services even performed on top. The crosses were wood, replaced by iron and finally by steel.

Dave also told us about the snakes that frequent the area to mate and shed their skins as well as showing us dinosaur footprints. He pointed out the native grasses and some of the plants. He has catalogued over 90 species on the butte.This butte was used for vision quests by the Blackfeet.

From the butte, we had fantastic views of the Rocky Mountain Front with its snow-capped peaks as well as soaring bald eagles. We could also hear the cries of the snowgeese on Freezeout Lake.

To get to the top with the crosses, we had to ascend a rickety wooden ladder, but it wasn't too bad. But boy, we had a surprise on top: One of the crosses had toppled over; Linda and Dave had been on the butte two days ago and it wasn't knocked down then, so it must have happened the last two days of "storm-warning" winds that we had had with gusts of 50+ mph, which closed the highway to Fort Benton. We then summited all four of the "peaks" of Priest Butte, the last one requiring a bit of scrambling on hands and knees.

We could look over to Rattlesnake butte, its twin. Both buttes provided sandstone for the Choteau courthouse, first Priest butte, but that courthouse burned down. The current one is constructed from Rattlesnake Butte sandstone.

The hoodoos were amazing. On the way home, we saw tundra swans, snowgeese and six bald eagles thinking they might have goose for dinner.The birds are just starting to show up on their migrations, two weeks earlier than usual.

Who went: Katie, Viki, Paula and Linda

From the Choteau Acantha
Priest Butte and its companion Rattlesnake Butte to its west are local landmarks three miles southeast of Choteau along U.S. Highway 89. Visible from 40 miles away, the buttes, or detached tableland, have a long history with the community. Native Americans, and later, pioneers, used the buttes as an invaluable guide in their travels through this section and they served as one of the best lookout stations in the neighborhood. Priest Butte got its name from a nearby early Jesuit mission that was established to serve the Blackfeet tribe in 1859-1860. Rattlesnake Butte was once called Table Rock or Grindstone Butte, a tribute to the iron-rich sandstone ledges that top the butte. The conspicuous rimrocks are capped by a dense layer of sandstone, the fi ne-grained Virgelle Sandstone, underlain by the Telegraph Creek Formation (mudstone and sandstone) and Marias River Shale. Settlers in 1893 opened the fi rst stone quarry in the area on Priest Butte. That year, contractors blasted out rock and carted it to Choteau where they built the fi rst county court house and jail. That courthouse burned down in 1897. The courthouse seen today was built in 1906 from rock quarried from Rattlesnake Butte. In the 1930s, the Choteau Methodist Church started having an Easter sunrise service on the promontory. In 1942, a church group erected three wooden crosses there. In 1961, the Choteau Jaycees replaced the wooden crosses with iron crosses, and in 2002,

The drive to Augusta was sunny, lighting up the mountains along the Rocky Mountain Front the whole way.  Five gals from Great Falls met people from Whitefish, Missoula and Clancy at the Mannix General Store before heading to the Sun River Canyon for our Wagner Basin and Pictograph hike. And yes, it did turn out to be a hike instead of a snowshoe.

On the way, we were treated to views of Sawtooth Mountain to our left and Castle Reef to our right with the North Fork of the Sun River in between before we turned off the road to cross the bridge into Hannan Gulch.

Sara introduced the group to the work of MWA while Katie explained a little bit about the area, how a squatter named Hannan built a cabin and out buildings that were later commandeered by the forest service to create the Sun River Ranger District headquarters.  She also explained about the Rocky Mountain Front being the entrance into the Bob with 59 species of concern from short-eared owls to shews to a dessert toad.

From there, Katie decided we should hike into Wagner Basin first since it was so windy and save the pictographs for when the sun was higher. The Basin already had sun shining on it. The snow was only a few inches deep, so we ditched the snowshoes and opted for yaktrax or just boots.

Before going into Wagner Basin, Katie led the group to the Mercy Flight Memorial plaque that commemorates the deaths of two doctors, a nurse and pilot whose helicopter went down on a sightseeing sidetrip on return from a training in Many Glacier.  Drs. Stoick and Grimes and Nurse Berndt lost their lives while videotaping bighorn sheep in Hannan Gulch. It is assumed a gust of wind caught the pilot off guard.  Due to the accident, the Mercy Flights today fly heavier copters, the crew must wear helmets and boots (they were in tennis shoes), the crews must report their position every 15 minutes and no sidetrips or sightseeing is allowed.

As we headed into the basin, Katie explained that the cabins were on forest service leased land. We saw Mary N's cabin along the way and saw where we normally park.  The snow wasn't even deep enough to cover the rocky section, so we had to watch our step. Luckily, it wasn't icy.  On this stretch, Katie noticed very large canine prints and many sheep tracks.  We surmised that two wolves were chasing the bighorns in this area, that very morning, since the snow was fresh.  

In the basin, we picked up another set of much smaller tracks alongside one of the larger ones. We figured these tracks were either a young wolf or a coyote following the wolves to eat some leftovers.  Luckily, we didn't happen upon a kill site; however, we did see where the sheep scattered in all directions and the wolves separating to surround the herd. Most headed to the river.

Then we arrived at our destination in the basin: the skull tree. This tree has various skulls hung on it, all painted on the forehead with birds. Mary N's niece is the painter. Inside her cabin are many of these artworks. We also saw a white-tailed deer run across the field.

Then we turned around and retraced our steps to the cars. We decided to eat lunch on the bridge before heading out to see the pictographs.

After a quick lunch, we walked the trail along the shore of the North Fork Sun to the pictographs, which lie at the head of Mortimer Gulch. Many have been faded by weather and some taken home as souvenirs, but many nice ones remain, especially hand prints.

After we hiked back to the cars, we finished by looking back at the cliff at the head of the basin. Katie explained what a nice hike it is in the spring.

Then we said our goodbyes in Augusta and headed home. We arrived back in Great Falls around 3:30 p.m.
Who went from GiG: Sara, Rose, Jaye,  Katie

Thank goodness Amber was driving; some of us couldn't even watch the road, the whiteout was so bad we couldn't see the ditches or center of the road. Amber had to rely on the rumble strip and reflector poles. But first, the beginning:

Katie almost canceled the trip due to bad roads indicated on the road report over Kings Hill Pass, but she decided we should go anyway but drive via Helena and Townsend, only about 15 minutes longer to the trailhead at Skidway campground and home of the former Skidway Peak ski hill. 

It was a good choice as the roads were dry and clear until the last mile or so going into the former ski area. We had a stop in East Helena and arrived at the trailhead at 10 a.m. after leaving Great Falls at 7:30.

As we started on the trail, it appeared to be broken with both a snowshoe and ski track, so we had a fairly easy time for the first mile or so. Then the track became scarce and then disappeared altogether. We think people were doing a small loop through the campground area or up and back and not doing the entire loop. 

By the time we reached the ridge, we needed a break, but the wind had picked up and the snow had started. We grabbed a quick bite and continued on.  Katie had scouted ahead a bit, hoping to spot a blue diamond trail marker, but she climbed the Skidway hill instead and encouraged the others to do the same to claim a peak in the 2020 Peaks Challenge.

Then it was on to looking for the trail. Since there were no trees along the ridge, determining which direction the trail headed was near impossible as we didn't have our usual blue diamonds posted on trees to guide the way. We did see one trail, but it headed uphill. Katie didn't think that was the right direction, predicting it continued on to climb Grassy Mountain, so she took off on the downhill side and did spy a blue diamond--Whew! We were back on trail.

And the trail in this section in particular needed breaking. Amber followed by Roni did the brunt of the breaking, some of the snow knee deep.

The blue-diamond back-country markers were pretty easy to follow for the most part. In a few spots, we put up a piece of blue marking tape that Susan had brought along to help others in the future follow the correct way.

In the end, we were able to complete the entire loop of about five miles. By the time we reached the car, some of us were tired. Paula said it well, "I'm out of gas," which set up perfectly for a soak at White Sulphur Springs. By now, the snow was really coming down.

So Paula and Roni took in the warm waters (Roni had never been before), while Amber, Susan and Katie walked main street checking to see which restaurants were open on a Monday. They also stopped in to Red Ants Pants.

Then the group met back up and went to dinner. Roni had a bit of a reaction to the sulphur, so her skin was very red for a while.  We ate at Bar 47, and had a great waiter who catered to us quite a bit. From blue-cheese burgers to wedge salads, we enjoyed our food. Could be we were just hungry after our hard trailbreaking.

We finished before 5 p.m. so we still had quite a bit of daylight left. Katie talked to Amber--the roads looked snow-packed and icy most of the way home. However, going through Helena would take even longer since we were in White Sulphur now.

​Amber said she didn't mind driving in snow as long as it wasn't too icy. The road report indicated snow cover, but not black ice, so off we went--big mistake.  The roads immediately started to get snow covered; then it was snowing so hard it was hard to see the road; then the mesmerizing flakes started in; plus the temperature really dropped, so the inside windows iced up, making visibility even worse. The whole time we wondered where the plows were. We didn't find the answer until we reached Armington Junction: Two were are the gravel area.

The entire drive until Armington Junction was white-knuckle for Amber but she handled it well. We took a brief stop at Bob's Bar, but other than that, she drove for one hour and a half on very bad roads. At Bob's we wondered if we should just get rooms for the night, but decided to carry on. We came across several stopped vehicles, one in the ditch with its read still in our lane. Amber had to stop quickly to avoid hitting it. It was a near miss. At this point, Paula mentioned her cabin by Sluice Boxes. Again, we wondered if we should give up on driving for the night, but we kept going.  

Luckily, we made it back all in one piece and no going in the ditch.  I don't think the GiG has ever had this scary of a ride before. We were so grateful for a great snowshoeing day with the gals that ended safely.

The gals decided to check out the new Falls Creek Trail, just recently purchased by the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation along with other entities. These groups were able to raise funds to secure an easement on this side to an area that has been landlocked for some time. Read more here.

Another new thing was a new face in our group: Paula P

We left Great Falls at 8 a.m. and got on trail by 10:15 after a quick stop in Augusta to pick up Viki. . Deciding that we only needed yaktrax and not snowshoes due to just a few inches of snow on the ground, we headed up the old road watching our step. The snow wasn't very deep; so between icy patches, we also had to keep an eye out for rocks and buried logs. We saw a few tracks: coyote and deer plus voles and birds.

This hike is quite short, so it didn't take us long to arrive at the grand finale; after a few small water falls and ice flows that drew "oohs" and "ahs," we saw it: a massive falls cascading down the narrow valley of Falls Creek. Our vantage point was from above on a cliff; so again we had to watch our step as the kinnickkinnick was a bit slippery where it poked through the snow.

We continued on a bit farther until we had a nice view of the stream set against the mountains. By now, it was lightly snowing, so we really didn't get good views.  However, the weather was fairly warm and the wind calm, a surprise from the prediction of 35 mph gusts.

Then we retraced our steps to the cars, took off our yaktrax and headed to Augusta. On the way, we met a man walking at a fast pace. We stopped to see if he needed a ride somewhere, but he said he was just out for a walk, yet he seemed out in the middle of nowhere.  On the way back, we took a wrong turn and then went back the other way; the road was a bit rougher than the way we came in but not bad.

Then it was a late lunch at the Buckhorn Bar. Our waitress was friendly and laughed at our special orders and Brenda's wiping the pickle juice off her plate--after all, a pickle is green. The waitress said she would have done the same.

On the way home, Brenda told us funny tales from her school. Some of us learned about the term "furry," as a preferred gender type. 

We arrived back home at 3:15. Paula said she had a good time. We hope she joins us again.