Getting up at 6 a.m. is worth it when the snow geese number in the 20,000 and you catch them as they rise with the sun. Besides, this drive was pretty, but a bit scary, as it included a full moon but deep patches of fog that reduced visibility but gave a halo to the moon glow.

After two trips out to Freezout management area mostly unsuccessful, we finally hit it. The birds weren't hanging out on the main lake as they normally do, but instead were mostly on the northern ponds, 1-4.  The swans were spread out over most of the ponds and Freezeout Lake; however, they don't rise all at once like the snow geese.

We did have a bit of a problem finding parking for three cars, but we were able to squeeze in one pull out and then walk about a quarter mile back to Pond Two. It as worth it as we bundled up against the cold.

The pictures speak for them selves.

Hiking in winter? We sure have been this year as it has been unseasonably warm except for two weeks. So this time, we headed toward Helena at 8 a.m. After a stop at the Mountain View Coop, we arrived at the trailhead at 10 a.m.

We welcomed Denise W from Sunburst on her first hike with us after many canceled hikes before we connected. She drove all the way from Sunburst to meet us at 8 a.m. We were impressed.

We had planned to meet Mary N from Missoula, but she canceled due to not trusting her two new knees enough to handle the hike; this left those wanting a slower pace to go at the faster pace of our mixed group. But everyone did great. We all made it to the high point with the fabulous views. It is a bit of a hump getting to the top, especially at the start of the hiking season.

We did see the beginnings of bitterroot coming up, so this might be a great place to come the first part of June to see our state flower in bloom.

The trail had quite a bit of snow and ice in sections, but we managed to maneuver around or cross gingerly so no one fell even without putting on our yaktrax. On the way back, the ice had softened and snow melted, making for a very muddy trail. Some thought the mud was slipperier than the ice. Our cars were caked with mud as we drove out on the dirt road.

All in all, it was a nice five-mile hike on a sunny day.

We arrived home around 3:30.
Who went: Denise W, Gail, Jo Ann, Susan, Kuntzie, Maria, Doreen, Katie

We hadn't been to Teton Pass area yet this year, so it was time: the weather looked great, the roads not too bad, so we headed out at 7:30 a.m. for a 3-4 mile snowshoe trek from the Teton Pass ski resort to Waldron Creek and out.

It was a bit cold with a breeze when we started out but quickly warmed up. The snow, however, was pretty crusty for the most part from melting a day or two before and didn't soften much as the day wore on. In a few places under the trees we did have some heavy powder, but at least we weren't breaking though the crust.

Since we didn't have to break trail, we made record time to Waldron Creek.  Sheila and Kuntzie decided to take a bit of a break while, Susan, Randi and Katie continued another quarter mile down the trail toward the bowl to get a bit better views.  We soon ran out of broken trail, so we returned to KuntZ and Sheila. Then we backtracked to the road, meeting Katie's husband Tom along the way. We also saw some very distinct cat tracks, probably a bobcat or smaller mountain lion. It must have been chasing all the snowshoe hares as the area around the creek was full of their tracks.

Along the way, we had a few falls, but nothing too dramatic. And Sheila has a famous quote on our home page now. When we took pictures of her, she said, "Does my hair look okay?" as if it would, wearing hats and getting battered in the breeze, haha.

Tom had driven the car down the road, so we were all able to put our snowshoes in the back, so we didn't have to carry them up the road about a mile back to the ski resort. The road was a bit icy in spots so we had to watch our step. As we approached the resort, a dog came at us, growling and barking, the hair on his back raised, but he settled down. Katie thought she might have to use her bear spray for a minute!

Then a family with food presented a better alternative for the black lab mix and he wandered away; as he did so, Tom pulled up in the car.

We got our lunches out and ate on the porch of the lodge except Randi and Sheila who decided to get back to GF, while Kuntz went in to order a Caesar salad wrap, homemade clam chowder and hand-cut French fries that she shared with everyone. They were delicious.

Meanwhile, Katie ran into many friends/acquaintances there: Gene Sentz, Susan Hildebrand, Hal Harper among others. It was fun to visit with people since the pandemic put a damper on socializing.

We arrived home by 3:30.

Who went: Randi, Kuntz, Susan, Sheila, Katie

We had so much fun hiking to Falls Creek Falls that we repeated the trip two days later so that more could go on this fun winter snowshoe or hike.

It did turn out to be a hike, although a few wore yaktrax for the icy parts, particularly the beginning quarter mile that is uphill (and downhill on the way back).  Otherwise, there was little snow, but plenty of water and mud to avoid along the way.

The falls didn't disappoint, with frozen springs along the cliffs as well. And no ticks yet! KuntZ lost her ear muffs but the Friday group found them! But the big find of the day was stromatolites!
Read more

We left Great Falls at 8:30 on day and 7:30 the other, so some could get back early. We arrived home by 3:30 the first trip, then by 2:15 and 3 p.m. the second group.

Who went: 1st group:  Katie, Randi, Kuntzie, Carol, Doreen, June; 2nd group: Katie, Shelley, Gail, Jo Ann, Deb; 3rd group: Beth, Carol, Roni, Deb, Judy, Brenda, Kalah

The Powerline always is a surprise for first-timers, and for KuntZ, it was quite a shock to see the seemingly straight up path she needed to snowshoe to get back to the cars.

The day started out with us meeting Kalah at the top of Kings Hill. Some had intentions of doing the double powerline, a much tougher hike, while some planned to take the traditional route. Neither worked out.

We completed the usual trip down to O'Brien Park area, where a few had a snack before taking on the dreaded uphill of the Powerline. At this point, KuntZ realized that she really was going to have to climb up it.  A few snowmobiles passed by, Katie joked that KuntZ should stick out her thunb now and not lose her chance for a ride to the top, but she instead resorted to another tactic. She pretended her children were at the top and were in dire need of water. They needed their mother to climb up quickly to rescue them from dehydration! And it worked. She made it up fairly quickly.  Some of the other gals forewent the snack and headed up first to take their snack on top.

Once we were all together again, Katie and Kuntz said they were going back to the cars and not tackling the second Powerline.  Kalah said the second one was across the highway, but Katie was sure it wasn't. She was certain she had two hills to climb when she had skied it years ago.  But Kalah was right: the second one was across the highway. Anyway, we all stayed together, with some planning to walk the berm along the highway from the plows back to the cars and others planning the double powerline. Along this way, we had very icy snow and uneven from the plows. We also had to weave in and out of trees. Susan lost a snow basket too. By the time we arrived back at the cars, the wind picked up and everyone decided to try the second powerline another day.

We left Great Falls at 8 a.m. and were back around 2 p.m.

​Who went: Susan, Beth, Kalah, Sara, KuntZ, Carol, Viki, Amber, Roni, Katie

After 18 days of sub-zero weather, we were fairly certain the creek crossing on the Sluide Boxes lower trail would be sufficiently frozen to cross without falling in, which it was, luckily.

We left Great Falls at 9 a.m. to face a five-mile stretch of dense fog that caused us to wonder if it were wise to continue. However, careful slow driving saw us into clear skies a few miles down the road. We also faced some ground blizzards and high winds. But once we geared up and hit the trail, the deep canyon protected us nicely from the breezes. And the sun came out, making for a bluebird day, which we commented on how blue the sky was.

There was one other car in the parking lot and an already broken trail. We mosied by the the remnants of Camp Don Bosco with commentary from Sheila who told us tales of Catholic youth misbehavior as well as how the camp was laid out. We saw mattresses, bunkbed frames, stoves and couches. We also saw a boiler and old rusted car frame along the creek, remembrances that a railroad once ran through this canyon to bring in miners and take out silver ore.

Then we got to the first creek crossing. The ice was solid wtih no issues. But the second one was a bit soft by the shore, so we took some tentative steps before going for it. But no events on any crossing. However, on the way back, we did see where the person in front of us, who wasn't on snowshoes, has fallen through the soft spots, so he did get his boots a bit wet. Our snowshoes distributed our weight, so none of us got into the water.

We arrived back home at 1:30 with no bad roads and only a bit of ground blizzard in one spot.
Who went: Sheila, Randi, Doreen, Viki and Katie

If Sacajawea was cured by the sulphur springs, then many would like to touch this healing water, so four of the GiG hiked the 3.5 miles to see this place where the mineral water burbles out of the ground, forming a creek to the Missouri River.

We admired Morony Dam, discussed maybe doing a float trip from this put-in, and looked at the building that used to be the city center and administration building for the community of dam workers. This building had been offered to the Little Shell tribe as its headquarters, which they declined. The building is in pretty bad shape, with the roof caving in now; however, it is a gorgeous brick structure.  Only foundations remain of the other residences.

At the springs, several of us touched the tepid water. These are not warm springs, but they do maintain a room-temperature year round. Just past the springs (or before it), we noticed a plowed section of dirt and a warning sign. It was an underground petroleum pipeline leading to the edge of the river; we assumed it went underneath it to cross.  By the pipeline, a rivulet of water full of algae, indicating heat, was flowing toward the river.  It looked as if the digging to replace/repair the pipeline had hit the sulphur springs or another one.  It was making a mud mess and eroding the bank leading to the river.

We didn't see anyone else on the trail.
​
If we thought the road to Ryan is bad, then we thought the lane going to Morony was deplorable. Hopefully, a road crew will fix the entire road soon.

The day was warm and windy.

Who went: Kuntz, Maria, Rose, Katie

Four gals took a short two-and-a-half mile loop to scramble among the hoodoos and look down on the Mighty Mo.

It was windy, but warm, but oh, the wind about blew us off our feet, which kept us from climbing on the hoodoos too much. Many have such dangerous drop-offs that a gust could cause some damage if we were to take a tumble.

The road into Ryan Dam trailhead is treacherous right now, with many potholes and very bad patch jobs.  Another thing about our drive is that the fallow fields were full of geese squawking and gleaning the left-over grain from last-year's crops.

We saw one family on the trail going out and a couple on the way back, but otherwise, the trail wasn't crowded at all.

We figured we might as well hike while we can. The open winter has been a blessing in town, while still snowing in the mountains, building a good snow pack to prevent summer fires.
​Who went: Kunz, Maria, Susan, Katie

Four gals took a two-mile hike among the hoodoos while the weather remained calm and warm for January.  We enjoyed walking among the hoodoos and walking off-trail to look down on the falls produced from Ryan Dam spill.

Thankfully, it was warm but not warm enough to bring out any snakes as we would our way on the up-and-down hills of the trail that leads to the dam maintenance road and eventually to the Rainbow dam tailrace island.

Along the way, KuntZ lost one of her powder baskets, so we retraced our steps to all the hoodoos we scrambled among to no avail. She will have to go to Bighorn to buy another.

We came across no one--had the trail to ourselves.
Who went: Katie, Maria, Kuntz and Susan
Side note: just had to throw Bernie in the picture since he is all the rage right now.

With no snow on the plains, we decided to head out for a short hike just out of Great Falls: the backside and rim of the Ulm Pishkun First People's Buffalo Jump.

We left town at 9:30 when Katie led the group the back way from West Central to McIver Road, a road some said they had not traveled before. In about 20 minutes, we arrived at the trailhead and did a loop along the back side of the pishkun butte.  We saw two other men running their dogs, but no one else on this part of the trip. The loop is around two miles.

Then we drove to the buffalo-jump side of the butte and walked along the rim, marveling at how steep and long the drop off was, imagining stampeding behemoths tumbling to their deaths over the side, the bottom littered with jagged rocks.

A few of the prairie dogs stuck their heads up at us while the left-over mullein heads swayed in the wind as we traversed the high cliff, marveling at the buttes around us: Square (in our face--which three of us had climbed earlier this year), Crown, Shaw, Birdtail, Lionhead among others.

As we approached our cars, Suzi, Doreen, Noreen and Jo Ann decided to explore a bit more, while Katie (with a broken toe still) and KuntZ decided to head home.

The second group was fascinated by the lichens on the rocks and the left-over mullein flowers, towering toward the sky. We also found some old equipment, a pump, and cow--or buffalo? bones.

We were home by 12:30.
​
Side note: We left late in the morning so that some could try to get a slot for the COVID vaccine, but not one was successful, even on this second try. The phone line was jammed up saying it wasn't a working number and the computer link wasn't working either. Sigh. When will this pandemic be over?

Who went Jan. 28: Suzi, Noreen, Doreen, Katie, KuntZ, Jo Ann
​Feb 4: Katie, Maria, Rose