Author: BradinMontana

The first half mile or so of Dumpout Trail climbs nicely from Dump Gulch and then changes into a wonderfully rocky, twisty trail that kind of contours out and wraps around to a lovely meadow just before it passes through a meadow and connects with Prospect Shafts.  This is a fun trail. Too windy to…

54 years ago, the first Earth Day was celebrated. April 22 was chosen to maximize student engagement in the nascent, national environmental ethos that was developing in the years following Rachel Carson’s 1962 book ‘Silent Spring’. That, in turn, gave rise to Article IX, section 1 (1) of the 1972 Montana Constitution containing the clause…

Winter is here again, oh lord The opening line from 1978’s Wheel in the Sky fits today. Snow, wind, 30f (-1c) temps.  Springtime in Helena is always an epic battle between winter and summer. Winter is by far the stronger season here, but summer has a strong will and eventually prevails- though only for 3…

At the top of the small promontory at the end of the Ambrose accessible trail. We finally have some color in the hills. My first flower following the nearly ubiquitous Phlox was Mountain Douglasia (Douglasia montana). These two plants are typically our first to show color as soon as the snow melts. The first quarter…

This trip to Freezeout was amazing. Inaddition to all the Snow Geese (just a reminder, there were litterly tens of thousands of them) we found this lovely, if grumpy looking Great Horned Owl. This individual was unimpressed with my sudden appearance in ‘his field’. Obi and I stalked him carefully and slowly for about 30…

Today is March 25, 2024. March 25 is the date for when the largest number of Snow Geese and Trumpeter and Tundra Swans historically arrive at Freezout Lake. So the Labrador and I left Helena at a reasonable hour and made our way to Freezeout. We stopped multiple times along the way. We took quite…

Six inches (15cm) of snow overnight and shorebirds are starting to show up. This Greater Yellowlegs was nice to see wading around in the 22° (-5c) temps with a bit of a wind blowing. There are lots (like many 1,000’s) of gulls in the valley right now. I found one at the Reservoir that had…

At one point we were totally surrounded by Pinyon Jays. They started calling to each other and then they came in close to see what we were up to. Beautiful birds. This is a species of concern in Montana – we are always very happy to see them – especially in the numbers we saw…

Three weeks of physical therapy, and my leg is feeling a lot better. The amazing folks over at Gold Leaf Physical Therapy have been doing a right fine job of finding old muscles in my old body and waking them up. It’s been a long time since I had PT and I have to say,…

February’s quadrennial refusal to relinquish the month is past us; it is now March. As was reported today by our local, historically March 1st the single snowiest day of the year in Helena. It does not look like we will get a lot more, but it did snow overnight. With yesterday’s 60° f (15.5°c) and…