Author: BradinMontana

his a beautiful Rockcress- I’m struggling a bit to ID it to the species level. It’s the right color for Lyall’s, but likely too low in elevation. The flowers droop like Collins, but they are also hairy like Second- which I learned as Holboell’s. So. Does it matter? Nope. It’s quite pretty and I enjoyed…

I love finding these papery little flowers- I only found a couple last year. This year, this trail had dozens. Bitterroot Meadows area on NE Mount Helena. I’ve found lots of two species of cactus in bloom, but I have yet to find a Spiny Star. I’ve heard that some are found along the trails…

I’m pretty certain this one is Holboell’s Rockcress. Sometimes called Second Rockcress. This one is really pretty and I spent a little longer than usual lying on the ground to get this shot. There is also loads of Nuttall’s Rockcress out there right now. Still waiting on Lyall’s Rockcress. It’s amazing to me what the…

Painted Lady butterfly. This one was waaaay skeptical of me. It took a while for me to get this shot – and I had to lie on the ground to do so. It hasn’t happened this year (yet) but once in a while some other hiker comes across me lying down to get an image,…

Officially, Wildflower week starts next Monday, but I celebrate Wildflower Month for the whole of May. I found a white Shooting Star on the 1906 trail, Sagebrush Buttercups on the Diretissima trail and Prairie Smoke on the Swaney trail. Wildflowering season is upon us!

I didn’t expect to find two species of snakes hanging out in the 40 degree weather. But there you go! Neither one would allow me to catch them for a better image, which is probably for the better. I haven’t handled snakes in a long time and I would not have wanted to hurt either…

Sometimes you just need to put the Lab in the car and head out on a short road trip to see what the birds are doing in other areas. So today we popped off to Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge just north of Great Falls. Picked up 10 new species for the year. Nice break…

We ventured into the Big Belt Mountains today to see if we could find any Kelseya Uniflora in bloom on the limestone cliffs. As a staring point, we revisited our successful sighting location from last year. There was a lot of Kelseya, but from our vantage point, 100ish feet (30m) below the plants it did…

Part 1 We made it out on six hikes across several areas of Mount Helena and a nice loop over and around Bompart Hill.  I am at 22,500 steps for the day and the total trail mileage is 10.4 (16.7k). The Lab is pretty tired. The density and diversity of wildflowers on Bompart is amazing…

The early flowers, birds, and butterflies have all done a terrific job of lifting spirits and bringing color and life back into our ‘closer-to-the-North-Pole-than-the-equator’ world. In the easier to reach, lower elevations of the hills surrounding Helena, several of the flower species are peaking right now and a couple are beginning to wane. Rockcress and…