Month: March 2020

In September there was a “freak” windstorm that destroyed trees throughout the forest, including several in our yard. “Wow, that never happens!” people told us. Then in November it happened again. “Seriously,” people said, “I’ve lived here thirty years and I’ve never seen wind like this.”

Last Friday, it happened again. Winds gusted above 60mph for nearly a full day. The trees were shaking, and we were hoping they’d be okay. Alas, no. Pepper was looking out the window at one point and saw one topple in the forest to the north of us. Around 1pm the power blacked out– trees had fallen on power lines down by the highway. We made the most of our last day with Kyra and Hannah, enjoying a nice candlelight dinner…

… and playing our newest board game, Splendor, with candles and lanterns:

As the hours passed, it became clear the power wasn’t coming back that night. The wind was unbelievable, and the electric company’s crews couldn’t safely work on the lines. So we finally went to bed around midnight. By then the house had dropped to 45 degrees (our heating system is electric, not gas). All of us slept under piles of blankets and managed to stay comfortably warm.

But throughout the night, as the wind howled and literally shook the house, we could hear distant whumps outside. I knew those were trees falling. We just prayed they wouldn’t hit the house as we passed a fitful night.

In the morning, the full extent of the devastation could be seen. We lost another enormous tree in our back yard:

A towering larch dropped right alongside the driveway:

In the front yard, one remains leaning precariously, supported by a helpful neighboring tree:

But the brunt of the damage was in the forest just to the north. It literally looked like it had been clear-cut in places.

Dozens upon dozens of majestic trees lay uprooted, and the forest that used to stand there had been reduced to a few lone trees.

The view from the house is noticeably different now– we can see the lake, and over to our neighbor’s property, whereas before all of it was hidden by trees. These pictures don’t really convey the full extent of the damage; it’s astounding.

That said, we’re very grateful no trees hit our house, and Katie reminded us that we still have hundreds of trees surrounding us. The forest is thinner, to be sure, but it’s still a forest.

Now, if I had a nickel for every person who told me, “No, really. This seriously never happens…”

One of the items on Hannah’s bucket list was to visit Glacier National Park, so we trucked up there today. We’re definitely getting our money’s worth from our National Parks pass! This marked the third time we’ve been to Glacier in two months. What’s interesting is the park seems different each time, even though we’re going to the same places. (Only a tiny fraction of the park is open in the winter months.)

Of course I had to take a photo of my two favorite girls.

Kyra took one of me and my favorite wife.

We stopped along the shore of Lake McDonald, as usual. The weather was bright, sunny, and (naturally) cold. I could take pictures of the amazing rocks at the lake all day.

In the crystal-clear glacier water, the colors are even more brilliant:

Hannah took some pretty great shots as well. If you look closely, you can see big snowflakes falling. It was very strange, because the sky above us was crystal blue without a single cloud.

Later in the day, the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped, giving a more “moody” look to the mountains to the north.

It was great to be back, and I’m really excited for warmer months when we can see even more of this magnificent place.

Tonight was a pretty clear night, so all of us went out to the courtyard for some stargazing. I thought I’d try my hand at astrophotography again. Last time didn’t work so well; my focus was off. Tonight was a little better.

Here’s Orion over the house. There were some wispy clouds, illuminated by the lights of Polson (16 miles to the south).

And a shot of Cassiopeia rising over the trees. Bonus: a shooting star!

Today we decided to head out for some snowshoeing. After considering a few options in the area, we agreed to go up Blacktail Mountain– the tallest peak on the west side of Flathead Lake.

At the top there was an amazing view of the Valley:

We celebrated after hiking to the summit.

Here are the two besties atop a rock, showing off their fancy shoes.

As we trekked through the forest, there were a few mishaps.

We hiked for a little over three hours and decided to get some dinner at the outstanding Tamarack Brewery. But it was only late afternoon, so we needed to waste some time. What better way than to head down to the shoreline of Flathead Lake? This time we were on the western side. Kyra and Hannah decided to climb on a nearby dock that was maybe twenty feet from the shore. They had to wade through water roughly a foot deep, but keep in mind the water temperature is right around 40 degrees!

Once they reached the dock, they climbed up for a better view of the lake. Note the water level: this is a good illustration of how much lower it is in winter months.

After an excellent dinner, we headed back home and I managed to get a good shot along the Swan River:

Yep, another good day out in Big Sky Country. The girls have informed me that tomorrow is going to be a “lazy day” so they can rest up from all this hiking…

After hiking in Jewel Basin, we decided to give Kyra and Hannah a closer view of the lakes near us. We swung past Echo Lake, and were surprised at the low water level. Here’s a photo I took back in October:

And here’s a photo today from the same spot. The lake is gone!

A bit disappointed in Echo Lake, we went to Flathead Lake State Park and walked around the northeast shoreline of Flathead Lake. There were some cool rocks that are normally underwater (the lake is currently eight feet below “full pool”).

The clouds were “brooding” a bit…

Here are my two favorite ladies.

Hannah snapped a shot of me looking out over the water.

No matter what time of year, or what the weather, Flathead Lake doesn’t disappoint.

Today’s weather was nice, and with Kyra and Hannah visiting we felt like we should take advantage of it. We piled into the CR-V and headed north to Jewel Basin. We stopped at the ranger station to learn about trail conditions, thinking we might need snowshoes. But the rangers didn’t know anything about the conditions, because no one “official” checks on the trails or even the roads in that area of the mountains during the winter.

We drove up into the hills, crawling up an old forest service road that had a thick layer of snow and ice (mostly ice). Eventually we found the road to be impassable, and stopped at a trailhead. According to the map, five miles uphill was a nice lake. We started upward and made it maybe two miles before we hit enough snow that we had to turn back. The trail was becoming hard to follow (unmaintained, you know) and Kyra had only brought tennis shoes on her trip.

At our turnaround point we stopped for some pictures. Here are the three girls.

We had come high enough up the mountain that we could see the vast Flathead Valley spread out before us. In the far distance are the Salish Mountains, with Flathead Lake barely visible in front of them (center right). On the left is the east side of the Swan Range– our house is on the opposite side, probably near the left edge of the photo. In the foreground is Echo Lake and the forest surrounding it. Pretty cool view.

Hannah brought her camera– actually, she brought three– so it was fun to shoot alongside her.

The hike was fun, and we agreed that it’ll be great to tackle it again in the summer when the trail is clear and we can make it up to the lake.

This morning I woke up really early and was surprised at how much light was in the house. Looking out over the lake– which we can see from the master bedroom– I saw an amazing full moon reflecting in the water.

When we were cross-country skiing, we stopped for a brief lunch. Pepper pulled out the food she’d packed, and I sat down beside her. “Where’s your lunch?” she asked. In answer, I dug into my jacket and found an old Lifesaver.

She thought it was so ridiculous that she took a picture of it. Contrast her carrots, blueberries, sandwich, and hummus against my energy ring:

What can I say– this is how I hike.

Open burning started this month, and I’ve seen a few smoke plumes around the valley. While that’s kind of a bummer, it does make the sunsets more spectacular. Here’s last night’s:

You can see a thin haze along the mountains across the lake. And yes, the sky was really that pink.

This is Todd.

This is the kind of stuff Todd makes:

He’s a chainsaw artist with an open-air shop behind a local gas station. Today as Pepper and I were driving past, we saw him working out there and decided to stop and meet him. It’s pretty cool art! Here’s the four-foot-tall bear he’s currently carving:

We agreed it might look pretty good on our front porch. Or this cute little guy (maybe a foot tall) inside the house somewhere?

Pepper pointed out that I’ve had fun with our chainsaw, so maybe I should get into some art. Yeah.