Icy Trail Necessitates Yaktrax, Careful Stepping on Way to Falls as GiG Explores Newly Opened Area
 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. |
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