Author: BradinMontana
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February Freeze
Much of the country spent the last couple of weeks working through a cold snap. Montana has been no exception. Last weeks’ wekdays hovered in the mid single digits above and below zero. We also received about a foot of snow in the valley. So trails have been off limits. The Lab has a very…
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Cross Quarter Days
Today, Feb 2, 2025, is a cross-quarter day. That is, today is a day that sits about half way between a solstice and an equinox. There are four cross-quarter days of old, Samhain (Nov), Imbolc (Feb), Beltaine (May), and Lughnasa (Sep). The Library of Congress does a nice job of describing how old ways became…
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Wing Marks
The Helena valley has been seeing temps dropping into the single digits overnight and struggling to rise to much more than mid-20’s (around -6c) during the day. That’s not overly cold, but we’ve also been seeing dips into the single digits below zero (around -20c) every 7-10 days as well. When the cold goes below…
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Warming Thoughts
As the morning light slowly builds at the eastern edge of the Helena valley on this frigid January morning, I am inspired by these two quotes: In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world…
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Pinyon Jays; Number 48 on the 2025 Year List
Poor quality image, but high-quality experience. At the end of a 2 mile (3.2k) morning walk in the Scratchgravels, I heard a few Pinyon Jays in the distance to the west of the parking area. Since I was certain they were Pinyon Jays, I could count them for the year list by sound only, but…
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First Day Birding 2025
Jan 1, 2025 What a wonderful 1/1 birding day. We had a couple of simply magical moments and ended the day with 43 species positively ID’ed- by far our best First Day. All told, we walked six miles in several different locations. Before I go into the magical, I want to share the oddities. We…
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Obsidian, My Trail Companion
Obsidian Black Dog has accompanied me on every single one of the now 1,301 trail miles I’ve taken this year. And all the miles I’ve taken in the prior 8 years as well. He’s got lots of favorite trails and he often refuses to go the way I want to go- particularly when we get…
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1000 Miles in Helena’s Hills
On December 31st of 2023, while walking on the Helena Ridge Trail, I decided I wanted to walk every named trail in the south hills system and attempt to surpass 1,000 trail miles. The first goal was obtained when I walked Far East on November 10. From Aftershock to Waterline, and Barking Dog, to West…
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Butterflies and Moths
When I walk in the hills, I always have a few things in my pouch- dog items, bear spray, a small wind meter, and a Nikon super zoom camera are my mainstays. I also carry my phone. For flowers, rocks, and landscapes, I use my phone. For birds, mammals and most reptiles, I reach back…
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Last Day of Autumn
There are two ways to define winter. One is meteorological winter and the second is astronomical winter. They differ primarily in what criteria are used. Meteorological winter is based on temperature cycles and is aligned with the calendar. December 1 is the start of meteorological winter. Astronomical winter is based on the position of the…
Nature, every day. 